The American preacher Peter Cartwright (1785-1872) was largely responsible for the rapid growth of Methodism in the Ohio River and Mississippi River valleys.

Born on Sept. 1, 1785, Peter Cartwright followed his pioneering father, Justinian, from their home in Virginia to Logan County, Ky., a brigand-infested locality near Tennessee. Justinian encouraged Peter's gambling habits, but his mother, who mourned the criminal debaucheries of two of her children, constantly urged repentance. At age 16 Peter converted to Methodism. After briefly studying at Brown's Academy, Cartwright began circuit riding in October 1803. In 1806 Bishop Francis Asbury ordained him deacon. At 23 "the Kentucky boy," as he was called, was ordained an elder. The low salary of an itinerant preacher encouraged bachelorhood, but Cartwright married 19-year-old Frances Gaines because, as he said, he thought it his duty.

As the Methodists spread throughout the South, their long-standing strictures against slave holding lost strength. Fearing the effects of...