Philip Gatch dating history

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Philip Gatch (1751-1834) was an early American Methodist minister involved in the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born in Baltimore County, Maryland on March 2, 1751, the son of a German father and a Burgundian mother. Brought up in a strict Anglican home, Gatch was taught to read at an early age and in his early teenage years refused to attend church. However, after the death of his sister and uncle, he fell into a depression in which he was "alarmed by dreams, by sickness, and by various other means, which were sent by God, in his mercy, for my good." Upon attending a revival meeting held by a Methodist minister named Nathan Perigau in January 1772, Gatch grew increasingly attracted to the small group of local Methodists, despite his father's displeasure. He was eventually converted under the preaching of Robert Strawbridge and began his own preaching career at the age of twenty-two in 1773.