Lee, Jesse, 1758–1816, American Methodist clergyman, b. Virginia. He is known as the apostle of Methodism in New England where, from 1789 to 1798, his labors as an itinerant preacher over a wide area met with signal success. After serving (1797–1800) as assistant to Bishop Asbury, Lee was appointed presiding elder of the South District of Virginia in 1801. He served three terms as chaplain in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. His Short History of Methodism in America (1810) is the first history of American Methodism.
See his memoirs (1823, repr. 1969).
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