The first bishop of the Methodist Church, Thomas Coke, was an attorney and the mayor of Brecon, Wales, and was thought to be John Wesley’s successor. After coming to America after the American Revolution, he and Francis Asbury were the first superintendents (bishops) of the Methodist Church in America. As he journeyed to India for full-time missions work, he died at sea on May 4, 1814. Though some accounts give different days, May 4 seems to be the most accurate guess. Coke and Asbury’s legacies continue to live on in the Cokesbury bookstore, named from a merging of the men’s last names.
