daring. As early as 1780, he came to Kentucky, but returned to Virginia. In 1786, he, with his wife and family, came again to Kentucky, and settled in Nelson (afterward Washington) county. In the wars against the Indians he had taken an active part. "After his settlement in Kentucky, there was not a single expedition into the Indian country in which he was not engaged, except that of Gen. St. Clair, from which he was prevented by an accidental wound, received while using a carpenter's adze."* In the spring of this year, he was sent by Gen. Wilkerson with overtures of peace to the Indians. The impression rested upon his mind that he would never return; but, true to the instincts of a brave and noble nature, he accepted the dangerous trust, willing, if need be, to sacrifice his life to his country's good. He reached an Indian camp, on his way to the Miami villages, attended by an interpreter-about a day's journey from where Fort Defiance was afterward built. He remained during the night with the Indians, who, in the morning, massacred him.

The loss of Col. Hardin to the State of Kentucky was deeply felt. No man had contributed more than he to the protection and safety of the settlers. The cause of Christianity, too, lost one of its brightest ornaments. As early as 1787, he embraced religion, and joined the Methodist Church, and, by his zeal, his influence, and his piety, had contributed much to its growth and prosperity.

*Collins's Kentucky, p. 339.

But in his home the stroke was felt with the greatest severity. For several months hope was entertained of his safety-that he was only a prisoner, and might still return.

On the 13th of the following April, Bishop Asbury, on his way to the Conference in Kentucky, visited Col. Hardin's family, and makes the following record in his journal: "From the quarterly meeting we came to Col. Hardin's. He has been gone some time to treat with the Indians: if he is dead, here is a widow and six children left. I cannot yet give him up for lost."

With deepest solicitude-with feelings of mingled fear and hope-his devoted wife waited for his return. The frosts of autumn came, and the snows of winter followed, and then the sad intelligence of his massacre. How desolate then his home! His impressions were prophetic: he never returned!

The cultivation of this field of ministerial labor required not only intellectual endowments of a high character, but also a devotion that no difficulties or trials could impair, and a resolution that no influence could shake. For more than two generations, the names of Ray, and Northcutt, and Page, occupy a place in the columns of the passing history of the Church.

The itinerant career of both Isaac Hammer and John Sewell was short. There is no account of the admission of Isaac Hammer into the Conference. His name appears in the Minutes of this year (1792) for the first time, as colleague to Henry Birchett on the Salt River Circuit; after which he unaccountably

disappears from the roll. The failure of his health, in all probability, rendered him unequal to the task of an itinerant preacher, and compelled him to retire from a work that he had not the strength to perform.

John Sewell was admitted into the Conference in 1791, and traveled the Holston Circuit, in Virginia, one year, before entering on his labors in the wilderness of Kentucky. His appointment for this year was to the Lexington Circuit, with Benjamin Northcutt and John Page as his colleagues. His labors, however, in the Conference were brief. In 1793, he traveled the Danville Circuit, and located at the close of the year.

Richard Bird entered the traveling connection this year, and was appointed to the Danville Circuit. Wilson Lee, whose memory is so fragrant to the Church, was the preacher in charge. The subsequent year, Mr. Bird traveled on the Hinkstone Circuit; in 1794, the Limestone; after which he is transferred to Virginia, and travels successively on the New River, the Bottetourt, and the Greenbrier Circuits; and then his name disappears from the list of appointments.

It is but seldom that three such names appear so closely together, in answer to the question in the General Minutes, "Who are admitted on trial?” as those of Northcutt, Ray, and Page. Each, a giant in his sphere, was well qualified to assist in laying the foundations of the temple of Methodism amid the perils of the West.

Benjamin Northcutt was born in North Carolina,

January 16, 1770, and came to Kentucky in 1786. In the twentieth year of his age he was converted to God, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The year after his conversion he was licensed to preach, and was employed the same year as helper on the Lexington and Danville Circuit. The following year he joined the Conference, and was appointed to the Lexington Circuit, and the next year to the Limestone. He remained,

however, but a short time in the itinerant work.

No man, in a local sphere, labored more assiduously than he, or did more toward the development and growth of the infant Church; and but few in the itinerant ranks have contributed more largely toward the prosperity and elevation of Methodism in Kentucky. The principal societies in Fleming, and many in Mason, Nicholas, and Bath counties, were formed by him; and in the extraordinary revivals of religion which pervaded the State about the close of the last and the commencement of the present century, he was remarkably prominent as an efficient instrument in producing that glorious work of God. Reared amid the privations of frontier life, and conversant with the great revival of 1790, he was well prepared for the toil and the enjoyment connected with those remarkable demonstrations of Divine power-the subject of so much. speculation-with which our State was favored at a later period. Side by side, at Cane Ridge, at Indian Creek, at Sugar Ridge, and in other portions of the State, with Ray and others, he labored day and night for the salvation of the people; and in

later life, so far from being weary of the noble work, he not only preached on Sabbaths, but often devoted whole weeks together in attending meetings, both near and remote from his home. On camp-meeting occasions, he was a powerful preacher. In every department of the ministerial work he was perfectly at home. Whether in the altar, pointing the penitent to Christ, or standing before the vast multitude, pleading with sinners that they might be saved, he never faltered. In preaching, his voice, at first low, yet soft and musical, would gather compass and strength as he proceeded in the discussion of his subject, until he could be distinctly heard by the largest assembly. He resided in Fleming county, and in the community in which he lived his influence was more commanding than any other minister. It was not only his extraordinary intellect, but, added to this, the firmness of his Christian character, and the purity of his life, that endeared him to the people. One who knew him well, said of him: "Few men have been permitted to live an age in one community, and go down to the grave with the universal testimony that their lives were of unimpeachable purity. Yet this was the lot of Benjamin Northcutt."

He died at his residence, in Fleming county, February 13, 1854, of cancer. His sufferings were great, but he bore them with Christian patience. When spoken to in reference to his future prospects, he always expressed himself with great confi

* Rev. Jonathan Stamper, in Home Circle, Vol. III., p. 30.