Louther Taylor, John A. Granade, and Learner Blackman, who had previously entered the itinerant field, received appointments for the first time in Kentucky. Of the early life and conversion of Anthony Houston we have no information. He entered the Conference this year, and was appointed to the Barren Circuit, where, "by his piety and zeal," he was remarkably useful. In 1804, he was sent to New River, in Virginia; the following year, he was appointed to Holston; in 1806, he was sent beyond the Ohio to the Scioto Circuit; in 1807, to the Wachita; and in 1808, to the Claiborne, in Mississippi. In 1809, he was returned to Kentucky, and appointed to Limestone and Fleming Circuit, and, at the close of that year, located. During the seven years of his connection with the Conference, he was excelled by none of his colleagues in his devotion to the Church. Whether he preached in Virginia, in Ohio, in the lowlands of Mississippi, or in Kentucky, he made "good proof of his ministry," everywhere laboring to the utmost of his strength. Unable longer to endure the toils incident to the life of a traveling preacher, in 1810, he asked for a location. He settled in Flemingsburg, where he engaged in the practice of medicine. The Rev. Jonathan Stamper thus speaks of him in his "Autumn Leaves:" "Dr. Houston was a man of more than ordinary preaching talents. He was fond of investigation, and often went into such fine-spun metaphysical dis quisitions as to be sometimes suspected of heterodoxy; but he always insisted that he was a Methodist of the Wesleyan school. He was possessed of a serious mind, and his manners were grave and dignified. Great afflictions had befallen him in his family relations. He lost his wife, and every child but two, in the course of a single week, by cholera, during the prevalence of that disease in 1833; but he submitted without a murmur. He was finally called away by apoplexy, without a moment's warning, and I trust rests in peace. John McClure, who entered the Conference this year, was appointed to the Limestone Circuit. In 1804, he was sent, with Asa Shinn, to the Wayne, and in 1805, to the Clinch Circuit, which "included Russell, Scott, and part of Lee counties, Virginia, and a part of Tennessee, lying north of the Holston River." In 1806, his appointment was to Powell's Valley, which "embraced all the settled counties lying between Clinch River and the Cumberland Mountains, from about Lee Court-house in Virginia, on as far west as the settlements extended." The following year, he had charge of the Cumberland Circuit. In 1808 and 1809, he presided over the Mississippi District, as successor to Jacob Young. The three following years, he sustained a superannuated relation. In 1813, he was sent to the Flint Circuit, in the Nashville District, and, at the close of the year, located. Adjet McGuire was also admitted this year, and appointed to the Salt River Circuit; in 1804, to the Danville; and the following year, to the Licking. In 1806, he was sent to the Mad River Circuit, in the North-western Territory; and, at the close of the year, was returned to Kentucky, and traveled again on the Salt River Circuit, on which he finished his labors as an itinerant. At the Conference of 1808, he located. The name of Fletcher Sullivan appears on the Minutes for only two years. In 1803, he has charge of the Shelby Circuit; and in 1804, he is the colleague of William Crutchfield, on the Nashville; after which his name disappears from the roll of the Conference. Louther Taylor became an itinerant in the spring of 1800, and was appointed to the Dover Circuit, and in the autumn of the same year, to the Cecilthe former in Delaware, and the latter in Maryland. In 1801, he was transferred to the Western Conference, and appointed to New River, and in 1802, to the French Broad Circuit, both in the Holston District. In 1803, he enters Kentucky, where he continues but one year, having charge of the Limestone Circuit. The remaining two years of his connection with the itinerancy, he spends in Ohio, on the Scioto and Muskingum Circuits, and locates at the Conference of 1806. Among the early itinerants in the West, no one, perhaps, attracted more attention, considering the brief period of his connection with the Conference, than did John A. Granade. He was a remarkable man. He came to Tennessee about the year In the State of North Carolina, where he had previously lived, he had made a profession of religion; 1798. and believing it his duty to preach the gospel, yet rejecting the Divine call, he lost his religious enjoyment, while deep despair settled over all his hopes. The deep anguish of heart evinced in his melancholy countenance excited the sympathy of the Church, and the commiseration of all who knew him. By the community in which he resided, he was termed "the wild man." His "agony was so intense that he scarcely took food enough to support nature," while his abstinence was fast wearing him away. By many he was thought to be deranged. "Days, and weeks, and months together, he slept in the woods, crying for mercy." The Bible was his constant companion. He attended preaching when within his reach; and "on his way to church, sitting on his horse, he would lift his hands toward heaven, and pray to God to have mercy upon him." Endowed with a poetic talent, during his depression he would give vent to his feelings of anguish in strains of melancholy poetry, that would touch any heart. He continued in this state of mind until the extraordinary meeting held at Desha's Creek, in 1799, by John McGee, at which time he was reclaimed from his backslidden state. His conversion presented a "scene that was awful and solemn beyond description. It drew the attention of hundreds of people on the ground; and the clergy as well as the laity were struck with wonder, while they witnessed a change, the like of which had never before come under their notice. Heaven was pictured upon the face of the happy man, and his language, as though learned in a new world, was apparently superhuman. He spoke of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, and dwelt with rapture upon the fullness and freeness of the gospel of Christ for the salvation of a lost world." * In a poem written by himself, commemorative of this event, are the following stanzas: One evening, pensive as I lay Alone upon the ground, As I to God began to pray, A light shone all around. Glory to God! I loudly cried, For me, for me the Saviour died My peace is made with Heaven.† Of commanding appear From the time of his conversion, he went forth as a herald of the cross. ance, of a vivid imagination, and familiar with the Bible, everywhere he preached, listening and anxious multitudes crowded around him, eager to catch the words of life as they fell from his lips. Success attended his ministry; and hundreds, through his instrumentality, were brought to Christ. In his exuberant zeal, he indulged in some views that caused the arrest of his official character by the Quarterly Conference over which Mr. McKendree presided, and his suspension from the ministry for three months, yet giving him permission to hold religious meetings and exhort. When the secretary of the Conference read to him the decision of the *John Carr, in Christian Advocate, February 19, 1857. |