The History of Caroline County, Maryland, From Its Beginning

William Frazier - Methodist Organizer

        In the year 1767, Sarah Frazier of Dorchester deeded to her eleven year old son a tract of land in that county known as Willenborough.  Three years before, upon the death of his father, Alexander Frazier, the boy had inherited the home plantation with other tracts of land lying between Skillington's and Edmondson' creeks, fronting the Choptank river.  With the formation of Caroline this land (about 1400 acres in all) was included in the new county and became known as Frazier's Neck.
        The house upon the home plantation is still standing and its splendid structure carries out the tradition hat it is one of eight similar dwellings built on the Eastern Shore about seventeen hundred and fifty.  Its splendid furniture was made in London and until a generation ago many of the original pieces remained in the house.
        Of William Frazier's life we know little, but in March, 1776, when he was commissioned 3rd Lieutenant of the 4th Independent Company of Maryland.  In December of the same year he became 1st Lieutenant in Captain Dean's company of the 5th Regiment of the Maryland Flying Camp.  Later he was promoted to a captaincy in the militia.  In March 1783 he became a Justice of Caroline County Court, but William Frazier's prominence in Caroline's affairs came neither through his military or judicial career.  He was a devoted follower of John Wesley and as such was largely responsible for the organization of Methodist societies in the lower part of the county.  In his home at Frazier's Flats, the front room on the upper floor was used as a meeting place and is known today as the "Church Room."  An outgrowth of this was Frazier's Chapel, supposedly located on the present site of Preston, which later became Bethesda congregation and is now Preston Methodist Episcopal Church.
        To Frazier's hospitable home came Jesse Lee, the Methodist circuit rider, and later Francis Asbury on his annual trips from Massachusetts to Georgia rejoiced in the rest and companionship found there.  In the latter's journal we find repeatedly such noted as these:

          May, 1801 - We had a long ride (from Cambridge) to William Frazier's through dust and
          excessive heat.  It was hard to leave loving souls, so we terried until morning.

         April, 1805 - We came to brother Frazier's.  The fierceness of the wind made the Choptank
         impassable; we had to rest awhile and need had I, being sore with hard service.

In the family burying ground at Frazier Flats two stone slabs may be seen bearing these inscriptions:

      Captain William Frazier.  Born 1756.  Died 1807.
        Henrietta Maria Frazier.  Died 1846, in the 84th year of her age.

A nobler monument is erected to their memory in the form of Methodist churches scattered throughout lower Caroline which are the result of the patient labors of this good man and his wife.