23 Facts About William McKendree

William McKendree was an Evangelist and the fourth Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the first Methodist bishop born in the United States.

William McKendree entered the ranks as a private, but eventually served as an adjutant in the commissary department.

William McKendree was present at the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Lord Cornwallis.

William McKendree soon volunteered to take part in public religious meetings, and his addresses produced a powerful effect.

In 1788, while living in Brunswick County, Virginia, William McKendree was received on trial into the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr William McKendree, sympathizing with him, sent in his resignation as a minister.

Rev William McKendree soon obtained leave to travel with Bishop Asbury, that he might ascertain for himself whether his impressions had been well founded.

William McKendree therefore devoted himself to a careful examination of the Rules and Discipline of the Church as drawn up by John Wesley, and as established by the General Conference in the USA McKendree became fully convinced both of their harmony with the primitive church and of their particular adaptedness to the circumstances and wants of this nation.

In 1793 the Rev William McKendree was sent to South Carolina, but returned the next year.

In 1801, the conference sent William McKendree to oversee the church's efforts in Southeastern Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and western Virginia and part of Illinois.

William McKendree subsequently became Presiding Elder on the Cumberland District.

William McKendree served as a circuit preacher in addition to his organizational efforts, becoming a respected figure in the region.

William McKendree was the leader of the Great Revival in the West.

The Rev William McKendree became widely know and most highly esteemed because of his popular talents in the pulpit and his faithful attention to every part of his work.

From that time, then, Bishop William McKendree traveled with Bishop Asbury, or alone, over every part of the Church.

William McKendree's family had moved to Sumner County, Tennessee about 1810.

William McKendree died 5 March 1835 at the home of his brother, Dr James McKendree, in Sumner County near Nashville.

William McKendree was a man of great energy and genius, and was deeply pious and modest almost to timidity.

William McKendree's mind was clear and logical, his knowledge varied and extensive, his imagination lively but well regulated, and his eloquence was unusually powerful.

William McKendree was careful in the administration of discipline, and intruduced system into all the operations of the church.

Bishop William McKendree's influence was patent everywhere, but especially was he regarded in the West.

William McKendree had given years of earnest labor to establishing Methodism on the western frontier.

William McKendree therefore felt a deep and abiding interest in the success thereof.