The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Albright, Jacob
1759–1808, American religious leader, founder of the Evangelical Association (later the Evangelical Church), b. near Pottstown, Pa. A German Lutheran, he was converted c.1790 to Methodism. Preaching and forming classes among his converts in the German settlements, he was ordained a minister (1803) by representatives from these classes and was elected bishop in 1807. The movement, unrecognized by the Methodists, did not take the name Evangelical Association until after Albright’s death. The Evangelical Church in 1946 united with the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
