Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Peter Cartwright

Born: Amherst County, Virginia, September 1, 1785
Died: Pleasant Plains, Illinois, September 25, 1872

Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Cartwright helped found McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and Illinois Conference Female Academy in Jacksonville - now MacMurray College. He passed away in Pleasant Plains and an Illinois Historical marker honors him near his home and grave.

Biography: Peter Cartwright was a Methodist, revivalist, preacher, in the Midwest. A Methodist missionary, he helped start America's Second Great Awakening, personally baptizing twelve thousand converts. Opposed to slavery, Cartwright moved from Kentucky to Illinois, and was elected to the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly in 1828 and 1832. He was twice elected legislator in Illinois. In 1846 Abraham Lincoln defeated Cartwright for a seat in the United States Congress. As a Methodist circuit rider, Cartwright rode circuits in Kentucky and Illinois, as well as Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio. His Autobiography (1856) made him nationally prominent.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Howard Cartwright on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=howard+cartwright


Selected Titles

Autobiography of Peter Cartwright,
ISBN: 0836967615 OCLC: 353997

Books for Libraries Press Freeport, N.Y., [1972]

 

 

Accessibility