PHOEBUS, William, clergyman, born in Somerset county, Maryland, in August, 1754: died in New York city, 9 November, 1831. He early united with the Methodist church, and in 1753 was admitted on trial into the travelling ministry, with an appointment to the Frederick circuit. In 1784 he was appointed to. East Jersey, and was a member of the Christmas conference of that year, when the church was organized under the superintendence of Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury. Thereafter he had various circuits in New Jersey, New York, and Long Island, but in 1798 he located in New York city and engaged in the practice of medicine, still preaching on Sunday. In 1806 he was readmitted to the New York conference and stationed in Albany, whence in 1808 he was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, but returned to New York city in 1811. He then filled several stations in New York and its vicinity, except during 1816, when he was in Albany. In 1821 he was returned as a supernumerary, and in 1824 placed on the list of retired clergy. He at one time published a magazine, and wrote a defence of Methodist ordination and the "Memoirs of Bishop Whatcoat."