John Littlejohn
Born(1756-12-07)December 7, 1756
Penrith, Cumberland, Great Britain
DiedMay 13, 1836(1836-05-13) (aged 79)
Near Corinth, Logan County, Kentucky, United States
Burial placeRussellville, Kentucky, United States
Occupations
  • Preacher
  • saddler
  • land agent
  • sheriff
  • tax collector
  • magistrate
Spouse
Monica Talbott
​
​
(m. 1778; died 1828)​
Children5
ChurchMethodist

John Littlejohn (December 7, 1756 – May 13, 1836) was a tradesman and Methodist preacher who served as sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia, during the War of 1812. Born in Penrith, in the English county of Cumberland, he briefly attended trade school in London before walking home to Penrith to stay with his mother. Littlejohn immigrated as a boy to the Thirteen Colonies to pursue various apprenticeships under tradesmen in Virginia and Maryland. While not particularly religious as a youth, he was inspired by Methodist revivalist sermons and served as a circuit rider during the Revolutionary War.

In his preaching, he traveled across hundreds of miles of the early United States, including Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Settling after several years in Leesburg, Virginia, he served as a local preacher and saddler for several decades, as well as variously as a county magistrate, tax collector, and county sheriff. During the 1814 British raid on Washington, the Treasury entrusted custody over the relocated National Archives, including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, to Littlejohn for two weeks. In 1818, Littlejohn moved with his family to Kentucky where he served as a land agent, preaching alongside his work during travel across the state. He retired to his home in Logan County in southern Kentucky, dying in 1836 after sixty years of preaching.

Early life

John Littlejohn was born on December 7, 1756, to a well-to-do family in Penrith, an English town within the county of Cumberland. One of eight children, he initially attended Latin school. Following the collapse of his father's business and relocation to London, he was transferred to a trade school and became the apprentice of a London tin manufacturer. Within a year, he ran away from London, walking 284 miles back to his mother's home in Penrith. At twelve, he became the apprentice of a shopkeeper in Port Tobacco, Maryland. He crossed the Atlantic without his family by 1767,[lower-alpha 1] departing from Newcastle upon Tyne aboard a ship carrying convicts and indentured servants. During the passage, a disease outbreak killed at least one servant, and a crew member died falling overboard. The ship arrived at St. Mary's after a lengthy twenty-one week passage, and Littlejohn traveled to work at Port Tobacco.[1]

Writing retrospectively in his journals, Littlejohn described beginning to frequently gamble and play cards, abandoning religious observances instilled by his mother.[2][3] In 1769, his family followed him to the Thirteen Colonies, settling in Prince George's County, Maryland, with his father dying soon after. Littlejohn frequently changed apprenticeships as a youth, traveling first to Northumberland County on the Northern Neck of Virginia with a local saddler, then to Norfolk, Virginia, to apprentice for a harnessmaker named Eldred Fisher. In Norfolk, Littlejohn began selling "the private [pornographic] adventures of Sailors"[4] and captured cardinal birds to local sailors, using the money for gambling and cockfighting with Fisher's other apprentices.[2]

While in Norfolk, Littlejohn began to attend revival preaching. When Robert Williams, an Irish Methodist preacher, began singing and preaching at Norfolk's courthouse, Littlejohn took interest, writing that he called to his coworkers that "[T]here is a Crasy fellow at the Co House & I will go & see him."[5] Littlejohn read The Pilgrim's Progress[6] and began to frequently attend preaching, but the mayor of Norfolk prohibited it, claiming that it would incite a slave rebellion. Littlejohn was greatly angered by this proclamation, writing in his journal that "if I were a man, I would thrash [the mayor] for this."[7]

Fisher died in 1772, and Littlejohn briefly stayed in Baltimore with his mother before beginning an apprenticeship under Joseph Selby in Annapolis, Maryland. In Annapolis, he began regular church attendance but had difficulties with Selby, who boarded other tradesmen and collected fines for breaching household rules to supply alcohol for frolics. Moving in December 1773 to Alexandria, Virginia, where the seventeen-year-old Littlejohn was appointed foreman and manager, he began attending regular Methodist preaching with his boss's family, despite ridicule from a Catholic coworker.[5]

Religious awakening

1880 depiction of a Methodist circuit rider

In 1774, Littlejohn listened to sermons from several locally notable Methodist ministers including John King and the circuit rider John Sigman. Sigman's preaching especially affected Littlejohn, writing "His words got to my heart as never any did before; tears gushed from my eyes as voluntary as the water from a fountain."[8] He began to pray frequently, and reported an intense dream where he attempted to preach as armed soldiers shut down a Methodist revival in Norfolk, only to be pelted with stones by a mob as he climbed the timbers of a house to escape.[9] Littlejohn was greatly inspired by this dream, and took it as a sign of future persecution of Methodists and his duty to become a preacher, although still struggled with doubts.[10] Two months later, in October 1774, he reported returning home from evening preaching and hearing a voice calling his name, with another whispering "Thy Sins be forgiven thee" as he arose.[11]

Littlejohn initially took a cautious outlook on the dream, a week later feeling a rush of joy and reassurance. Taking the experience as conformation that he had been redeemed as a Christian, Littlejohn confided in Sigman. He wrote that he had begun to better understand Methodist practices and wished to join them.[12] On November 20, 1774, he joined with itinerant preacher William Duke at Alexandria, Virginia to found the town's first Methodist society.[13] Soon after, he partnered with two other young Methodists to establish a regular prayer circle at a "large thatched pen" in Falls Church, drawing several hundreds from the surrounding area.[14][15] These activities led to conflicts with the local magistrates and Anglican minister.[14]

He was dismayed to find his mother's displeasure in his conversion to Methodism. Depressed, he began to fear that his preaching had disgraced the gospel and considered drowning himself. He ultimately continued in his duties, with Reverend William Watters appointing him as a class leader in the Fairfax County circuit in 1775 or early 1776. He was soon appointed as an itinerant in training,[14] and accompanied Watters on the Berkeley circuit, now part of West Virginia. Setting out on his own later in 1776, he began to travel across much of Virginia preaching. Initially serving in Fairfax County, he was reassigned to southern Virginia at Petersburg. He preached to Quakers at Winchester, before traveling through Fredericksburg. Here, he was denied shelter, and rode thirty miles before he was able to find rest at a sympathetic inn in Hanover County, before continuing onward to Petersburg.[16] In November 1776, he wrote in his journal a list of nine resolutions to follow daily, including waking up as early as possible, avoiding the discussion of worldly matters, and daily Bible reading. Such sets of resolutions were common for Methodist circuit riders.[17]

In 1777, he preached to a large mixed-race assembly in Richmond. Cries and exclamations from Black worshipers frightened the white congregation, and Littlejohn continued preaching to an all-Black audience after white attendees vacated the service.[18] Littlejohn left Virginia in 1777 and returned to Maryland.[19] While on the Baltimore Circuit, he made trips to York County, Pennsylvania, preaching near New Freedom.[20]

American Revolution and persecution

I wish 'em [the Loyalists] safe out of the Country, for wt all their
confidence in the British cause, I feel they are mistaken,
the [American] cause is Gods.

John Littlejohn, in his journal, August 1777[19]

As the Revolutionary War began, Methodist preachers fell under increasing scrutiny from Patriot authorities. Although Methodists were not pacifists, emphasis on "passive nonresistance" led to many refusing military service. American magistrates fined and imprisoned many for preaching and refusal of service, believing John Wesley and the Methodists in general to hold Loyalist sympathies. In June 1775, during the incipient phase of the revolution, an Anne Arundel magistrate fined Littlejohn for travelling without a pass, describing Methodist preachers as Tories.[21]

Writing while in Baltimore in early 1777, Littlejohn described feeling as a "fatherless child, abandoned by my friends" due to his preaching and refusal of military service, despite Patriot sympathies.[19] Repression intensified as fighting in Maryland increased, with many circuit riders ceasing travel out of fear of harassment and interrogation. The Act for the Better Security of the Government, passed in December 1777 by the Maryland legislature required an oath of allegiance to the state government by all free men over eighteen, barring those who refused from preaching, commerce, serving in political office, or practicing law and medicine, as well as issuing a tax on their property. Similar requirements of oath were also passed in Delaware and Pennsylvania. When asked to take the oath by a Methodist colonel, Littlejohn supplied his own draft of a separate oath that he would agree to adhere to. Despite the urging of his friends, he refused to swear the oath to the state, and was one of twenty preachers indicted in a single October 1778 case of the General Court of the Western Shore.[22]

Despite legal difficulties, Methodist preachers saw large growth in church membership during the war. In 1777, over 6,000 Americans were members of Methodist societies, with around half in Virginia and roughly a third in Delaware and Maryland. By the end of the war in 1782, membership had doubled to nearly 12,000. Repression of revivals and circuit riders was lightened as the war continued, with lower courts seldom indicting the preachers. Methodists were officially exempted from bans on preaching in 1782, a year after many other restrictions were lifted.[23]

Leesburg

The Old Stone Church Site in Leesburg, where Littlejohn preached. The first Methodist church in the United States was built here in 1768.

Littlejohn was promoted from probationary to full membership in the Methodist conference in May 1778.[24] While regarding it as temptation,[24] he had begun considering settling down since early in his career, having received a negative response on the prospect from preacher George Shadford in 1776. In June 1778, he met with Bishop Francis Asbury in Delaware and asked him about locating; Littlejohn was instead sent by Asbury to return to the Baltimore circuit.[25]

In letters sent in 1778, various other Methodists cautioned him against locating, with one settled preacher expressing deep regret. He was generally alarmed at the response from his fellow preachers, and decided to continue traveling. He met with his mother in Baltimore, who threatened to disown him if he did not stop itinerant preaching and return with her to England. Littlejohn refused, and travelled to confess his love to Monica Talbott, the daughter of a Fairfax class leader he had first met several years prior.[7][24] Monica initially refused his advances, asking that his affections be abandoned. Staying at the Talbott residence the following day due to a storm, Littlejohn was able to eventually convince Monica to marry him. When appointed to circuit ride in Maryland, Littlejohn declined, considering it improper for a married preacher.[7]

I have know the Rev. Mr. Littlejohn to finish a saddle,
preside on the bench as a magistrate, preach a funeral sermon,
baptize a child, and perform a funeral service, all on the same day.

Col. Armistead Thomson Mason[26]

John Littlejohn and Monica married in December 1778, settling at Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia, where he would serve as a local preacher for the next three decades. While preaching, he was generally not bound to a specific church, travelling through the local area to serve at baptisms, weddings, and funerals. He continued employment in the trades in order to supply for his family, including twins born in September 1789, as well as Monica's two sisters staying with the household.[27]

He had many friends in Leesburg, some of whom he had known prior in Norfolk, having migrated north due to wartime conditions. Following the birth of his children, rumors of monetary problems led to an offer from the Anglican nobleman Bryan Fairfax, promising material benefits from glebe and ordination within the Church of England in return for assuming responsibility for two local parishes. Littlejohn refused, but continued positive relations with the Anglican church, the two officially separated following the formation of an independent Methodist church in December 1784.[27]

War of 1812

Becoming a well-established local preacher, Littlejohn served in various civil positions including county magistrate and sheriff. Starting before 1814, he served as a tax collector for the twenty-second district of Virginia, collecting federal revenue taxes on property which had been revived due to the War of 1812. These were not levied after 1816, but he continued as a nominal tax collector until moving to Kentucky in 1818.[28]

Rokeby, one of several possible houses where the National Archives were stored under Littlejohn's watch

Prior to the British sack of Washington in August 1814, the federal government evacuated the National Archives, including crucial founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.[29] Stephen Pleasonton, a Treasury Department official tasked with protecting the documents, initially hid them inside a Virginia gristmill adjacent to Chain Bridge. However, a nearby armament foundry prompted fears of a British attack, and the archives were moved further west to a vacant house in or adjacent to Leesburg. Local sources have traditionally cited Rokeby, although some historians have proposed the location to be another vacant house within Leesburg itself. On August 25, the day following the British capture of Washington, Littlejohn was given the keys to the home and tasked with supervising them. Littlejohn supervised the documents for two weeks before they were collected and returned to Washington.[30]

Kentucky and later life

Wishing to have more property to divide among his children in inheritance, Littlejohn and his family purchased land in departed Leesburg to Kentucky in early September 1818. On October 29, Littlejohn and his wife arrived by boat in Louisville after delays due to low water, meeting his son Thomas, who had arrived several weeks earlier with various household goods.[7] Upon discovering that Louisville residents had been raising money in reward for his preaching while in town, he wrote that he "begged it might be stopted [...] I could not think of prostrating the charrecter of a Local Methodist Preecher for Money."[31] Littlejohn refused the offer of an appointment as stationed preacher in Louisville by local Methodists.[32] From there on, Littlejohn traveled to Christian County, where he discovered land acquired from a fellow Methodist was unsuitable and falsely advertised. The family instead settled in Warren County, near Bowling Green, where his son John had purchased additional land.[7][33]

In 1819, he briefly returned to Leesburg to make trips to Washington City and Georgetown, where he conducted six marriages in less than two months. His host in Leesburg connected him with contacts in Virginia, and Littlejohn was hired to serve as a land agent in Kentucky. Upon returning to his family in December, they moved to Logan County, to a site on the Red River later identified with the unincorporated community of Corinth.[34][35] Traveling within Southwestern Kentucky, he continued to preach while simultaneously serving as a land agent. He embarked on another journey from February to April 1820, traveling from Louisville to the Bluegrass on land inspection business. Staying with various family and business contacts, he traveled in a loop throughout the region. He visited Lexington, the state capital at Frankfort, and various other smaller Bluegrass settlements – especially in Bourbon County, where he stayed with a Colonel Respesses, another migrant from Loudoun County, Virginia. Littlejohn, then in his late sixties, continued to work as a land agent throughout the 1820s, splitting time between itinerant preaching, attending land auctions, and assessing the quality and boundaries of land tracts. He additionally made money by charging fees for marriage ceremonies as he traveled.[35]

In June 1821, Littlejohn's favorite horse was stolen. Accompanied by one of his sons, he pursued the horse across the state, eventually finding the thief imprisoned in Harrodsburg. The thief told the Littlejohns to search for the animal in Jeffersonville, Indiana, but by the time they had arrived the horse had already been shipped up the Ohio River. Contacting Thornton Fleming, presiding elder of the Pittsburgh district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Littlejohn was tipped to the location of the horse, finding it "very much reduced" in Lawrenceburg.[36] Monica Littlejohn died on January 16, 1828, and was buried at Russellville. His son Lewis died that August, leaving behind a young daughter. Captain Hunter, a business contact of Littlejohn in Franklin County, took in the girl at the request of Monica Littlejohn.[37] In June 1830, he arrived and preached at his old hometown in Leeburg, staying there until May 1831 and the Methodist general conference in Washington, D.C. Here he was granted readmission to the Baltimore Conference, with Littlejohn seeking to rejoin the conference where he had begun preaching.[7][38]

In his seventies, Littlejohn purchased several slaves for his property. The 1830 Census recorded his household as having seven slaves, including two children. Only 40% of households in the county owned slaves at this time, with the majority of slaveholders owning less than five.[39]

Death and legacy

John Littlejohn died at his home in Logan County on May 13, 1836, possibly of cholera, and was buried in Russellville at the same graveyard as his wife and one of his sons.[7] An obituary was later published in the Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church.[3]

By the 1960s, his gravesite had fallen into disrepair, prompting the Kentucky Historical Society to partner with a local Methodist congregation to restore the site, with a new gravestone carved by a local Methodist surveyor.[40][41] Bishop Roy Short of the Louisville Methodist Conference held a group prayer and dedication of the new gravestone on October 31, 1965.[42] In October 2008, the Logan County Garden Club and Kentucky Historical Society unveiled a historical marker to mark his gravesite.[43]

Notes

  1. ↑ Sources disagree on when Littlejohn left to the colonies. If the 1767 date theorized in an 1840 obituary is correct, he left at age ten or eleven, although this source states that any date prior to 1769 is possible. Alternatively, counting backwards from the death of Eldred Fisher in 1772 puts his arrival in 1766 at age nine or ten.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Andrews 2000, pp. 73.
  2. 1 2 Andrews 2000, pp. 73–74.
  3. 1 2 Minutes of the annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the years 1829-1839, Volume II. New York: T. Mason and G. Lane. 1840. pp. 485–486.
  4. ↑ Andrews 2000, p. 73. Bracketed text original to Andrews.
  5. 1 2 Andrews 2000, p. 74.
  6. ↑ Price 2016, pp. 246–247.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ""I Began To See A Beauty In Preaching" - John Littlejohn's Story". Russellville News-Democrat. October 28, 1965. pp. 17, 19.
  8. ↑ Andrews 2000, pp. 74–75.
  9. ↑ Andrews 2000, pp. 84–85.
  10. ↑ Price 2016, p. 247.
  11. ↑ Andrews 2000, p. 85.
  12. ↑ Price 2016, pp. 247–248.
  13. ↑ Wrenn, Raymond Fitzhugh. "Northern Virginia Methodism: The Early Years". Northern Virginia District of the Methodist Church of Virginia. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Andrews 2000, p. 95.
  15. ↑ Price 2016, p. 248.
  16. ↑ Price 2016, pp. 249–252.
  17. ↑ Wigger 1998, p. 55.
  18. ↑ Wigger 1998, p. 119.
  19. 1 2 3 Andrews 2000, p. 58.
  20. ↑ Bell, Raymond Martin (2013). "Methodism Moves into Central Pennsylvania" (PDF). The Chronicle: Journal of the Historical Society of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church: 5-11.
  21. ↑ Andrews 2000, p. 56.
  22. ↑ Andrews 2000, pp. 56–58.
  23. ↑ Andrews 2000, pp. 60–62.
  24. 1 2 3 Price 2016, p. 252.
  25. ↑ Wigger 1998, pp. 66–67.
  26. ↑ "Littlejohn". Russellville News-Democrat. October 28, 1965.
  27. 1 2 Price 2016, pp. 252–255.
  28. ↑ Nubbe, Adam. "Littlejohn, John". Mason Family Account Book. George Mason University.
  29. ↑ Gustafson, Milton (2002). "Travels of the Charters of Freedom". National Archives.
  30. ↑ Scheel, Eugene (August 18, 2002). "In Debate About Documents' Hiding Place, a Loudoun Legend Lives On". The Washington Post.
  31. ↑ Wigger 1998, p. 32.
  32. ↑ Price 2016, p. 256.
  33. ↑ Price 2016, p. 255-256.
  34. ↑ "Littlejohn Grave to be Dedicated". Russellville News-Democrat. July 15, 1965. p. 17.
  35. 1 2 Price 2016, pp. 260–263.
  36. ↑ Price 2016, p. 259.
  37. ↑ Price 2016, p. 262.
  38. ↑ "Littlejohn, John". McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia. 1880.
  39. ↑ Price 2016, pp. 256–257.
  40. ↑ Jetton, Susan (July 1, 1965). "John Littlejohn's Grave". Russellville News-Democrat. p. 1.
  41. ↑ "Littlejohn Grave to be Dedicated". Russellville News-Democrat. July 15, 1965. p. 17.
  42. ↑ "A Big Day for Methodists". Russellville News-Democrat. November 4, 1965.
  43. ↑ "New historic marker unveiled during Hometown History Day". News-Democrat & Leader. September 26, 2008. p. 32.

Bibliography

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