CARTWRIGHT, PETER. 



CATLIN, GEORGE. 



87 



ta and Barbara Marcbisio. Oarafa was natu- 

 ralized in 1834, and was the successor of Le- 

 sueur as Member of the Institute. He was also 

 named Professor of Composition at the Con- 

 servatoire. His operas had the defect of not 

 being original, but he has left some charming 

 compositions, and he wrote well for the voice. 

 CARTWRIGHT, PJSTEB, an eccentric but 

 useful Methodist preacher and author, born 

 in Amherst County, Va., September 1,1785; 

 died at his home, near Pleasant Plains, San- 

 garnon. County, 111., September 25, 1872. His 

 father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 

 and about 1790 removed with his family to 

 Logan County, Ky. In his autobiography he 

 thus describes the condition of affairs in the 

 rude district where his boyhood was passed : 

 " When my father settled in Logan County, 

 there was not a newspaper printed south of 

 Green River, no mills short of forty miles, 

 and no schools worth the name. Sunday was 

 a day set apart for hunting, fishing, horse-rac- 

 ing, card-playing, balls, dances, and all kinds of 

 jollity and mirth. We killed our meat out of 

 the woods, wild, and beat our meal and hominy 

 with a pestle and mortar. We stretched a 

 deer-skin over a hoop, burned holes in it with 

 the prongs of a fork, sifted our meal, baked 

 our bread, ate it, and it was first-rate eating 

 too. We raised, or gathered out of the woods, 

 our own tea. We had sage, bohea, cross- 

 vine, spice, and sassafras teas, in abundance. 

 As for coffee, lam not sure that I ever smelled 

 it for ten years. We made our sugar out of 

 the water of the maple-tree, and our molasses 

 too. These were great luxuries in those days. 

 We raised our own cotton and flax. We water- 

 rotted our flax, broke it by hand, scutched it ; 

 picked the seed out of the cotton with our fin- 

 gers ; our mothers and sisters carded, spun, and 

 wove it into cloth, and they cut and made our 

 garments, bedclothes, etc. And when we got 

 on a new suit thus manufactured, and sallied 

 out into company, we thought ourselves ' so Mg 

 as anybody." 1 " The Methodist preachers had 

 just begun to make " circuits" in that section, 

 and Rev. John Lurton obtained permission to 

 hold public services in Mr. Cartwright's cabin 

 whenever he touched there on his rounds. 

 After a few years a conference was formed, 

 known as the Western Conference, the sev- 

 enth then in the United States. In 1801 a 

 camp-meeting was held at Cane Ridge, at 

 which nearly two thousand persons were con- 

 verted. Peter was then a wild, wayward boy 

 of sixteen, fond of horse-racing, card-playing, 

 and dancing. He was soon convicted of his 

 sinf ulness, but resisted the good influences 

 which surrounded him for some time, plung- 

 ing more recklessly than ever into his wild and 

 wicked life, until, after a night's dance and de- 

 bauch at a wedding some miles from his fa- 

 ther's house, he felt deeply convicted and be- 

 gan to pray. Ho sold a race-horse he had, 

 burned his cards, and gave up gambling, to 

 which he was greatly addicted, and, after 



three months' earnest seeking, he, too, was 

 converted. He immediately started out to 

 preach as a " local," but was soon (in 1803) 

 received into the regular ministry, and or- 

 dained an elder in 1806 by Bishop Asbury. 

 He had done effective work about sixty-seven 

 years. In 1823 Mr. Cartwright removed 

 from the Cumberland district and travelled 

 through Illinois in quest of a home, settling 

 the year following in Sangamon County, at 

 that time peopled only by a few hardy and en- 

 terprising pioneers. After a few years he was 

 elected to the Legislature, wherein his readi- 

 ness at reply and resolute spirit made him the 

 victor in many contentions into which he was 

 drawn. He soon retired from politics and ever 

 afterward devoted himself exclusively to the 

 duties of his ministry. He attended annual 

 conferences with almost unfailing regularity 

 for a series of years, and was always a con- 

 spicuous member. Year after year he attended 

 camp-meetings, finding his greatest happiness 

 in the good fruits which followed his preach- 

 ing. He was a delegate to numerous general 

 conferences, and retained his interest in the 

 spread of religion to the last. He was, from a 

 very early period, a zealous opponent of sla- 

 very, and was rejoiced when the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church was rid of all complicity 

 with it by the division in 1844. He was for 

 more than fifty years presiding elder in the 

 Church, which he saw rise, from 72,874 mem- 

 bers when he joined it, to nearly one million 

 and three quarters when he left it to receive 

 his reward. He was a powerful preacher and a 

 very laborious pastor. He was quaint and eccen- 

 tric in his habits, and in his style in the pulpit 

 and out, and was possessed of a fund of humor 

 and humorous experiences which always gained 

 favor and popularity wherever he went. He 

 was for manv years contemporary with Bishop 

 Asbury. His " Autobiography," published in 

 1856, is, we believe, his only published work, 

 except some pamphlets long since out of print. 

 CATLIN, GEORGE, an American artist and 

 author, born in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne County, 

 Pa., 1796 ; died in Jersey City, N. J., Decem- 

 ber 22, 1872. After he had received a good 

 academical education, his father sent him to 

 Reeves's Law School, in Litchfield, Conn. 

 There young Catlin remained for two years, 

 bending all his energies to the mastery of law. 

 Then he proceeded to Philadelphia, where he 

 practised in his profession two years ; but, 

 notwithstanding his legal studies, he had for 

 several years devoted his leisure moments to 

 the art of painting, for which he had always en- 

 tertained a passionate admiration, long before 

 he left; his father's roof. Art was his idolized 

 profession. So strong did his passion for art 

 become that he finally abandoned the law, and 

 came to New York, where he was soon en- 

 gaged in the painting of portraits and minia- 

 tures. In 1829, being then thirty-three years 

 old, Mr. Catlin had his attention called to the 

 fact that the pure American race was disap- 



