Conversion to Methodism
It is the family history that has been written by Elizabeth Cooper, nee Tiplin, that tells us that Ann Rosser was converted by the preaching of John Wesley.
So we need to ask where this particular proposition may have come from. The hand-written documents circulating in the family from Elizabeth Cooper represent a “dialogue” between Elizabeth Cooper and her mother, Susanna Tiplin, nee Lewis who was a granddaughter of Ann Rosser. Susanna would have been 12 tears of age at the time of Ann Rosser’s death and so she was old enough to have understood any conversations that may have occurred with her grandmother.
It therefore seems very likely that her grandmother told her that she had been converted by hearing the preaching of John Wesley. It is very unlikely that Susanna would have made such a story up.
However, there is a problem. Elizabeth Cooper records the conversion as having taken place at Devauden.
John Wesley, throughout his travels around Britain, kept very detailed diaries that are available in print. These diaries do tell us that John Wesley did preach at Devauden, on Devauden Green, on 15th October 1739. This particular sermon is famous as the first sermon preached by John Wesley in Wales. So no doubt Ann Rosser would have told her granddaughter about this sermon.
But the diaries don’t specifically record Devauden as a venue for any further sermons preached in Wales. References to this part of Wales in the diaries usually mention Chepstow as the place where he preached. Hence the conversion of Ann Rosser would not have taken place at Devauden. So this part of Elizabeth Cooper’s family history does not stand up to scrutiny.
Perhaps Susanna joined the two stories – preaching at Devauden and conversion – in her young mind?
Examining now the proposition that Ann Rosser was converted by hearing John Wesley preach we can see from his diaries that he did preach several times in the Chepstow area. But one time stands out and that is 25th August 1769 when John Wesley preached in Chepstow. Ann would have been 22 years of age at this point. We know from the obituary published by the Methodist Church in 1832, that she had been a member for 62 years at the time of her death. Thus she would have been 22 years of age when she joined the Society – and this brings us to the time of the sermon in August 1769.
This date therefore remains the most probable one for a conversion to have taken place at a sermon of John Wesley.