BASCOM, Henry Bidleman, M. E. bishop, born in Hancock, Delaware County, New York. 27 May 1796; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 8 September 1850. He was descended from a Huguenot family. He had but little education, but before the age of eighteen he was licensed to preach, and admitted to the Ohio conference, where he did hard work on the frontier, preaching in one year 400 times, and receiving a salary of $12.10. His style being too florid to suit the taste of those to whom he preached, he was transferred, in 1816, to Tennessee; but, after filling appointments there and in Kentucky, he returned to Ohio in 1822, and in 1823 Henry Clay obtained for him the appointment of chaplain to congress. At the close of the session of that body he visited Baltimore, where his fervid oratory made a great sensation. He was first president of Madison College, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1827-'8, and from 1829 till 1831 was agent of the colonization society. From that time until 1841 he was professor of moral science and belles-lettres at Augusta College, Kentucky He became president of Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1842, having previously declined the presidency of two other Colleges. Dr. Bascom was a member of the general conference of 1844, which suspended Bishop Andrew because he refused to manumit his slaves; and the protest of the southern members against the action of the majority was drawn up by him. In 1845 he was a member of the Louisville convention, which organized the Methodist Church South, and was the author of its report; and he was chairman of the commission appointed to settle the differences between the two branches of the Church. In 1846 he became editor of the " Southern Methodist Quarterly Review," and in 1849 he was chosen bishop, being ordained in May 1850, only a few months before his death. Dr. Bascom was a powerful speaker, but was fond of strong epithets and rather extravagant metaphors. He was the author of "Sermons from the Pulpit," "Lectures on Infidelity," "Lectures on Moral and Mental Science," and "Methodism and Slavery." A posthumous edition of his works was edited by Rev. T. N. Ralston (Nashville, Tennessee, 1850 and 1856). See "Life of Bishop Bascom," by Rev. Dr. M. M. Henkle (Nashville, 1854).