kindness"shown him by families" with whom he made a brief sojourn. Truly, he was "made perfect through sufferings "—an evangelist, in the highest sense of that term.

In the Minutes of the Conference, the names of three preachers, not previously mentioned in connection with the work in Kentucky, appear in the list of Appointments: Thomas Allen, John Kobler, and Williams Kavanaugh.

Of Thomas Allen we have no information, only such as we derive from the General Minutes. The present year he was admitted on trial, and appointed to the Danville Circuit. The following year, he was sent to the New River Circuit, in Virginia. At the subsequent Conference, he was returned to Kentucky, and appointed to the Salt River and Shelby Circuit; and in 1800, to the Lexington. This year closed his itinerant labors. At the following Conference, he located.

The health of the Rev. Francis Poythress-who, since the Conference of 1787, had held the responsible position of Presiding Elder over the District in Kentucky-had, through incessant labors, so far declined as to render it impracticable for him to perform any longer the onerous duties of the office. In the Minutes of this year, he is returned as a supernumerary, and John Kobler is reported as his successor on the District.

Williams Kavanaugh,* whose name is this year

*He was the father of Bishop Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh, Benjamin T., Leroy H., and Williams B. Kavanaugh-all Methodist ministers.

mentioned in the list of Appointments for Kentucky, was born August 3, 1775. In a family Bible now in the possession of the family, there is the following record, in his own hand-writing:

"My grandfather in the paternal line was named Philemon. He was descended from an ancient Irish family, (I have understood,) much devoted to the Stuart interest. About A. D. 1705, he and one other brother came to Virginia, and first settled in Essex county, though my grandfather's final settlement was in Culpepper. He was twice married. His last wife's maiden name was Williams. She was from Wales. My grandfather had several children by each marriage. My father was (by the last marriage) a posthumous child, and was called by his mother's maiden name.

"My grandfather in the maternal line, (whose name was Harrison,) was born, I believe, in England, though he came from New England to Virginia. He and two brothers, who came with him, all lived to very great ages. His wife's maiden name was Johnson, or Johnston, of a Scotch family. My father and mother were both born in February, 1744, Old Style. When they were married, I do not know."

His father, Williams Kavanaugh, came to Kentucky at a very early period, and settled in Madison county. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a warm-hearted, zealous Christian, he impressed upon the tender heart of his son the importance of Christianity, and the doctrine of the new birth. Converted in early life, Williams Kava

naugh, Jr., at nineteen years of age, entered upon the labors and duties of an itinerant preacher. In 1794, at the Conference held at Lewis's Chapel, in Jessamine county, his name was placed upon the Conference roll. His first appointment was to the Green Circuit, in East Tennessee, with Lewis Garrett as his colleague. Mr. Garrett says: "Williams Kavanaugh and myself proceeded to Green Circuit. This circuit was a frontier circuit. It lay along the Holston and French Broad Rivers. There were few settlers south of French Broad, and what there were either lived in forts, cooped up in dread, or lived in strongly built houses, with puncheon doors, barred up strongly when night approached. The Cherokee Indians, who were their near neighbors, were in a state of hostility. We visited those forts and scattered settlers, in quest of perishing souls." To reach this remote field, he had to pass "through the wilderness, which was both difficult and dangerous." In company with "about sixty men, six of whom were traveling preachers"-among whom were John Ray and Lewis Garrett-he left the Crab Orchard, the place where the company met, and set out upon his journey. The first night he encamped in the vicinity of a fort in the woods, with no covering but the clear blue sky. Around their camp-fires they worshiped God-"the intrepid, fearless, zealous Ray" leading in the devotions.

The next day, the company "passed the gloomy spot where, a short time before," several persons "had been massacred by the Indians, two of whom

were Baptist preachers;" and again, at night, they slept in the woods.

The third day, they "crossed the Cumberland Mountains, and reached the settlement on Clinch River, where" they "rested until the next day."*

Although only a youth, he was not insensible to the responsibilities of the holy office to which he had been called. He prosecuted with a commendable zeal the duties imposed upon him, and won a warm place in the confidence and affections, not only of the people, but of his colleague, Mr. Garrett, by whom he was always kindly remembered.

In 1795, he was sent to the Brunswick Circuit; in 1796, to the Cumberland-both lying in the State of Virginia. In the Minutes of 1797, his name appears in connection with two circuits-the Franklin, in Virginia, and the Salt River, in Kentucky. It is probable that he spent the first six months on the Franklin, and the latter in Kentucky.

On the 29th of March, 1798, he was married to Miss Hannah H., daughter of Dr. Thomas Hinde; and at the ensuing Conference, he asked for and obtained a location.

While we deeply regret that a minister who promised so much usefulness to the Church as did Mr. Kavanaugh, should have retired from the itinerant field, yet we cannot be insensible to the reasons that decided him in this purpose. The vast extent of territory embraced in a single circuit, separating a minister from his family nearly all the time, to

*Recollections of the West.