Susanna Wesley: The Methodist Movement’s Matriarch
John and Charles Wesley’s mother raised seventeen children in a small rectory while developing an educational system that influenced millions. She held daily academic sessions tailored to each child’s abilities. When her husband traveled, Susanna conducted home church services that attracted neighbors. Her method of examining her children individually each week shaped John’s “class meeting” system. Her emphasis on personal piety and practical education directly influenced Methodism’s spread throughout England and later America.
