Phineas bresee biography

Phineas Franklin Bresee D.D.

(31 Dec 1838 - 13 Nov 1915)

Bresee was born on a farm near Franklin, New York, and raised there and in nearby Davenport.

He was converted to Christianity in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Davenport in 1856 and delivered his first sermon later that year. He helped his family move to Iowa in 1857 and entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry in Iowa soon afterward.

Phineas bresee biography

In 1860 he married Maria Hebbard, his sweetheart from back in New York.
He was a pastor in Iowa from 1857 until 1883, serving various charges including East Des Moines, Chariton, Wesley Chapel (Des Moines), Broadway Church in Council Bluffs, Red Oak, and Creston.

He also served a term as a presiding elder (now district superintendent) and was a delegate to 1872 General Conference of the M. E. Church, held at Brooklyn, New York. In August 1883 he relocated his large extended family (which included six children, his parents, and a nephew) to the West Coast in a box car whi