Makemie, << muh KEHM ih or muh KAYM ih, >> Francis (1658?-1708), a minister and a businessman, founded the first Presbyterian presbytery in America in Philadelphia in 1706. He was born near Rathmelton, County Donegal, Ireland. Makemie chose to be a minister, although Presbyterians were being persecuted in his homeland at the time. He became an ordained minister to the American Colonies. He traveled widely in America and also went to the Caribbean region. But he did his most important ministerial work on the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia, where he founded a number of churches. He was prosecuted in New York colony in 1707 for preaching without a license, but won acquittal. This was an important victory for religious toleration in America. Makemie died in the summer of 1708.
