We will now put together a few details of the origin of this society. Hugh Bourne was born at Stoke-upon-Trent, April 3, 1772. {73} Although his family was said to be ancient, his ancestors having come to England at the Norman Conquest, he belonged to a humble rank in life, living at Ford Hays Farm. He was in early life educated by his mother, a godly woman, and while very young he learnt by heart the Te Deum, the Litany, and much of the prayers of the Church of England. He worked for his father, and an uncle who was a millwright, but found time to study hydrostatics, pneumatics, natural philosophy, as well as Hebrew, Greek and Latin. His mother’s influence had given him a serious bent of mind, and he early acquired strong religious convictions. His biographer says of him “He tells, in child-like simplicity, how, when only four or five years old, he pondered over thoughts of heaven and hell, the last judgment, and other solemn subjects. During the next 20 years his inner life was one of hopes and fears, doubt and faith, conflict and victory.” His mother, going to Burslem on business, borrowed of a Wesleyan friend, some religious books, among them being Baxter’s _Call to the Unconverted_, Allen’s _Alarm_, and a sermon by Wesley on _The Trinity_. Her son Hugh naturally read these, and Wesley’s sermon made a great impression upon him. One Sunday morning he was sitting in his room, reading Fletcher’s Letters on _The Spiritual Manifestation of the Son of God_, when he declares that he was led “to believe with his heart unto righteousness, and with his mouth to make confession unto salvation.” This was in his 27th year, A.D. 1799. He joined the Wesleyan society in June of that year, the special occasion being a love feast at Burslem, to which he was taken by an aged neighbour, a farmer near Bemersley, named Birchenough, at whose house services were conducted, who offered him a ticket which constituted him a member, and thus in his own words I was “made a member without knowing it.”