View source for John Littlejohn (preacher)

{{Short description|American tradesman, preacher, and politician (1756–1836)}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = John Littlejohn
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1756|12|07}}
| birth_place        = [[Penrith, Cumbria|Penrith, Cumberland]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1836|05|13|1756|12|07}}
| death_place        = Near [[Corinth, Logan County, Kentucky]], US
| burial_place       = [[Russellville, Kentucky]], US
| occupation         = {{flatlist|
*Preacher
*saddler
*land agent
*sheriff
*tax collector
*magistrate}}
| spouse             = {{marriage|Monica Talbott|1778|1828|end=died}}
| children           = 5
| module             = {{Infobox clergy|embed = yes|church=[[Methodist Episcopal Church|Methodist]]}}
}}
'''John Littlejohn''' (December 7, 1756 – May 13, 1836) was an English-born American tradesman, [[Methodism|Methodist]] preacher and politician. Born in [[Penrith, Cumbria|Penrith, Cumberland]], he briefly attended trade school in [[London]] before returning to Penrith. When Littlejohn was around twelve years old, he immigrated to [[British America]] to pursue various [[Apprenticeship in the United States|apprenticeships]] under tradesmen in [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] and [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]]. While not particularly religious as a youth, he was inspired by Methodist [[Christian revival|revivalist sermons]] and began service as a [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit rider]] in 1776, after the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War]].
As part of his preaching efforts, Littlejohn traveled across the new [[United States]], including [[Virginia]], [[Maryland]], [[Delaware]], and [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]. After several years of [[Itinerant preacher|itinerancy]] he settled in [[Leesburg, Virginia]], where Littlejohn served as a local preacher and saddler for several decades, and occasionally as a county [[magistrate]], [[sheriff]], and tax collector. As the [[Loudoun County, Virginia|Loudoun County]] sheriff during Britain's [[burning of Washington]] in 1814, he protected a safehouse containing the relocated [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]], including the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] and [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. 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 [[Logan County, Kentucky|Logan County]] in southern Kentucky, where he became a [[Slavery|slaveholder]]. Littlejohn died in 1836, after sixty years of preaching.
== Early life ==
John Littlejohn was born on December 7, 1756, to a wealthy [[Church of England|Anglican]] family in the town of [[Penrith, Cumbria|Penrith]], [[Cumberland]]. One of eight children, he initially attended [[Latin school]]. Following the collapse of his father's business, Littlejohn and his father relocated to London, where he attended school and then became the apprentice of a local tin manufacturer. Within a year, he ran away, traveling {{convert|284|mi}} by foot back to his mother's home in Penrith. At around twelve, he became apprentice of Thomas Broomfield, a shopkeeper based in [[Port Tobacco Village, Maryland|Port Tobacco, Maryland]]. He crossed the Atlantic with Broomfield in 1766 or 1767, departing from [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] aboard a ship carrying convicts and [[Indentured servitude|indentured servants]]. A disease outbreak and multiple deaths aboard prolonged the journey. The ship arrived at [[St. Mary's City, Maryland|St. Mary's]] after a twenty-one week passage,{{efn|Typical sailing times between England and the North American colonies during the 18th century averaged around four weeks.<ref>{{cite web |title=18th century sailing times between the English Channel and the Coast of America |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/18th-century-sailing-times-between-english-channel-coast-america-how |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=28 December 2023 |date=Nov 8, 2018 |archive-date=December 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228202200/https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/18th-century-sailing-times-between-english-channel-coast-america-how |url-status=live }}</ref>}} and Littlejohn traveled to work at Port Tobacco.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=73}}
Littlejohn began attending [[First Great Awakening#Early revivals|revival preaching]], after hearing a sermon by Irish [[Methodism|Methodist]] preacher Robert Williams in 1769.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=74}} The mayor of Norfolk issued a ban on revivalist preaching, claiming that it would incite a slave rebellion. Due to personal opposition to slavery, Littlejohn was greatly angered by this proclamation, writing in his journal that "if I were a man, I would thrash [the mayor] for this."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1965 |title="I Began To See A Beauty In Preaching" – John Littlejohn's Story |pages=17, 19 |work=[[Russellville News-Democrat]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-john-littlejohn/55153470/ |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120034229/https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-john-littlejohn/55153470/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Harvey|1962|p=105}}
Fisher died in 1772 or 1773, and Littlejohn briefly stayed in [[Baltimore]], where his mother had relocated following his father's death. He then began an apprenticeship under Joseph Selby in [[Annapolis, Maryland]]. Here, he began regular church attendance, but had difficulties with Selby, who boarded other tradesmen and collected fines for breaching household rules in order to supply alcohol for parties. In December 1773, the seventeen-year-old Littlejohn was appointed foreman and manager at a store in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], and he began attending regular Methodist preaching with his boss's family.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=74}}
== Religious awakening ==
[[File:Methodist circuit rider in river.png|thumb|1880 depiction of a Methodist circuit rider|left|alt=A lithograph of a man on horseback wading across a swamp or river.]]
In 1774, Littlejohn listened to sermons from several locally notable Methodist ministers including [[John King (Methodist)|John King]] and the [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit rider]] John Sigman. Sigman's preaching especially affected Littlejohn, who wrote "His words got to my heart as never any did before; tears gushed from my eyes as voluntary as the water from a fountain."{{sfn|Andrews|2000|pp=74–75}} 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.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|pp=84–85}} Littlejohn was greatly inspired by this dream, and took it as a divine signal of future persecution of Methodists and his duty to become a preacher, although he continued to struggle with self-doubt.{{sfn|Price|2016|p=247}} Two months later, in October 1774, he reported returning home from evening preaching and hearing a voice call his name, with another whispering "Thy Sins be forgiven thee" as he arose from his bed.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=85}}
Littlejohn initially took a cautious outlook on this dream, but felt a rush of joy and reassurance a week later. Littlejohn confided in Sigman about the experience, writing that he felt redeemed as a Christian and wished to join the Methodist fellowship.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=247–248}}  On November 20, 1774, he joined with itinerant preacher William Duke to found Alexandria's first Methodist society.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wrenn |first1=Raymond Fitzhugh |title=Northern Virginia Methodism: The Early Years |url=https://novaumc.org/northern-virginia-methodism-the-early-years/ |website=Northern Virginia District of the Methodist Church of Virginia |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120102320/https://novaumc.org/northern-virginia-methodism-the-early-years/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after, he partnered with two other young Methodists to establish a regular prayer circle at a "large thatched pen" in [[Falls Church, Virginia|Falls Church]], drawing several hundreds from the surrounding area.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=95}}{{sfn|Price|2016|p=248}} These activities led to conflicts with the local magistrates and an Anglican minister.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=95}}
He was dismayed to find his strongly Anglican mother's displeasure in his pursuit of Methodism. Depressed, he began to fear that his preaching had disgraced [[The gospel#In the Bible and Christianity|the gospel]] and considered drowning himself. He ultimately continued in his duties, with Reverend [[William Watters]] appointing him to the [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]] circuit in 1775 or early 1776.{{Efn|Prior to 1789, Fairfax County included Arlington County, including the now-independent cities of Alexandria and Falls Church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arlington County |url=https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/local/locality.asp?CountyID=VA015 |website=Library of Virginia |access-date=28 December 2023 |archive-date=December 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228211350/https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/local/locality.asp?CountyID=VA015 |url-status=live }}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}} In the spring of 1776, he was appointed as an itinerant-in-training,{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=95}} and accompanied Watters on the [[Berkeley County, West Virginia|Berkeley]] circuit, in what is now part of [[West Virginia]]. Setting out on his own later that year, he traveled across much of Virginia preaching. Initially serving in Fairfax County, he was reassigned to southern Virginia at [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]], preaching in various localities as he traveled south.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=249–252}} 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 reading the Bible daily. Such sets of resolutions were common for Methodist circuit riders.{{sfn|Wigger|1998|p=55}}
In 1777, he preached to a large mixed-race assembly in [[Richmond, Virginia|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.{{sfn|Wigger|1998|p=119}} Littlejohn left Virginia in 1777 and returned to Maryland.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=58}} While on the Baltimore Circuit, he made trips to [[York County, Pennsylvania]], preaching near [[New Freedom, Pennsylvania|New Freedom]].{{sfn|Bell|2013|pp=5–11}}
=== American Revolution and persecution ===
{{Quote box
| quote = I wish 'em [the Loyalists] safe out of the Country, for w<sup>t</sup> all their <br> confidence in the British cause, I feel they are mistaken,<br> the [American] cause is Gods.
| author = John Littlejohn
| source = in his journal, August 1777{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=58}}
| align = right
| quoted =
}}
As the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] began, Methodist preachers fell under increasing scrutiny from [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] authorities. Although Methodists were not pacifists, emphasis on "passive nonresistance" led to many [[Conscientious objector|refusing military service]] in either military force. American [[magistrate]]s fined and imprisoned many for preaching and refusal of service, believing [[John Wesley]], and Methodists generally, held [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] sympathies. In June 1775, an [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel]] magistrate fined Littlejohn for traveling without a pass, condemning John Wesley and describing Methodist preachers as [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]].{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=56}}
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 sympathies for the Patriots.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|p=58}} Beyond Littlejohn, few Methodist preachers actively supported the revolutionary movement due to prevailing pacifism. Littlejohn cautioned fellow Methodist preachers against judging the revolutionaries, writing on July 4, 1777, that "those that were willing to defend their rights had more power of religion than any others I have met on this side of the [[Rappahannock River|Rappahannock]]."{{sfn|Harvey|1962|p=177}} 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 General Assembly|Maryland legislature]], required an [[oath of allegiance]] to the state government by all free men over eighteen, barring those who refused from various professions, including preaching, law, and public service. The law additionally issued a tax on rejectors' 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 Annapolis-based General Court of the Western Shore.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|pp=56–58}}
Littlejohn was among eleven Methodist preachers listed in a 1779 summons by the General Court, but all were able to evade attendance. The itinerant nature of the preachers meant many simply left the jurisdiction before trials could progress. The court's unpopularity led to jurors and witnesses refusing to make the journey, preferring local courts and refusing summons to Annapolis when they were issued. Additionally, the increasing popularity of Methodism in Maryland{{Efn|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.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|pp=60–62}}}} led to some juries refusing to indict preachers.{{sfn|Harvey|1962|pp=311–313}} Attempted repression of circuit riders lightened as the war continued, with lower courts seldom indicting the preachers. Maryland Methodists were officially exempted from oath requirements and bans on preaching by an act of the [[Maryland General Assembly]] in November, 1782.{{sfn|Andrews|2000|pp=60–62}}{{sfn|Harvey|1962|p=315}}
== Leesburg ==
[[File:OLD STONE CHURCH SITE, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA.jpg|thumb|The [[Old Stone Church Archeological Site|Old Stone Church Site]] in Leesburg, where Littlejohn preached. The first Methodist church in the United States was built here in 1768.|alt=A suburban park, with a large clearing covered in leaves, some trees, and a signpost.]]
Littlejohn was promoted from probationary to full membership in the Methodist conference in May 1778. While regarding it as temptation to sin,{{sfn|Price|2016|p=252}} he had considered settling down since early in his career, although 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 [[Methodist local preacher|locating]]; Littlejohn was instead sent by Asbury to return to the Baltimore circuit.{{sfn|Wigger|1998|pp=66–67}}
In letters sent in 1778, various other Methodists cautioned him against locating, with one settled preacher expressing deep regret. He was 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 traveled in August 1778, to propose to Monica Talbott, the daughter of a Fairfax Methodist whom he had first met several years prior.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=248, 252}} 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.<ref name=":0" />
{{Quote box
| quote = I have known the Rev. Mr. Littlejohn to finish a saddle,<br> preside on the bench as a magistrate, preach a funeral sermon,<br> baptize a child, and perform a marriage ceremony, all on the same day.
| author = Col. [[Armistead Thomson Mason]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Littlejohn |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/554100865/?clipping_id=135483114 |work=[[Russellville News-Democrat]] |date=Oct 28, 1965 |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120102316/https://www.newspapers.com/image/554100865/?clipping_id=135483114 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| align = left
}}
John Littlejohn and Monica married in December 1778, settling at [[Leesburg, Virginia|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, traveling 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.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=252–255}}
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 Anglican planter [[Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Bryan Fairfax]], promising ordination within the [[Church of England]] and material benefits from [[glebe]] in return for assuming responsibility for two local parishes. Littlejohn refused, but continued positive relations with the Anglican church, despite the official denominational separation following the formation of an [[Methodist Episcopal Church|independent Methodist church]] in December 1784.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=252–255}}
=== War of 1812 ===
In addition to becoming a well-established local preacher, Littlejohn served in various civil positions, including county magistrate and sheriff. During the [[War of 1812]], he served as a tax collector for the twenty-second district of Virginia, collecting a series of federal property taxes levied following the wartime resumption of federal taxation. These were not levied after 1816, but he continued as a nominal tax collector until moving to Kentucky in 1818.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nubbe |first1=Adam |title=Littlejohn, John |url=http://masonfamilyaccount.gmu.edu/node/2576 |website=Mason Family Account Book |publisher=George Mason University |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120222352/http://masonfamilyaccount.gmu.edu/node/2576 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:ROKEBY, LOUDOUN COUNTY.jpg|thumb|[[Rokeby (Leesburg, Virginia)|Rokeby]], one of several possible houses where the National Archives were stored under Littlejohn's watch|alt=A photograph of a stately 18th century brick house with stone stairs leading up to it.]]
Prior to the British [[burning of Washington]] in August 1814, the federal government evacuated the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]], including crucial founding documents such as the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]], and [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gustafson |first=Milton |date=2002 |title=Travels of the Charters of Freedom |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/travels-charters.html |website=National Archives |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019174353/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/travels-charters.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Stephen Pleasonton]], a Treasury Department official tasked with protecting the documents, initially hid them inside an [[Arlington County, Virginia|Alexandria County]] [[gristmill]] adjacent to the [[Chain Bridge (Potomac River)|Chain Bridge]]. The presence of an armament foundry nearby 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 (Leesburg, Virginia)|Rokeby]], although some historians have proposed the location to be another vacant house within Leesburg itself. On August 25, the day following the British occupation 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 after British forces withdrew from the city.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scheel |first=Eugene |date=August 18, 2002 |title=In Debate About Documents' Hiding Place, a Loudoun Legend Lives On |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/08/18/in-debate-about-documents-hiding-place-a-loudoun-legend-lives-on/d39e399b-816c-48b7-9627-4480e4c98e73/ |access-date=December 28, 2023}}</ref>
== Kentucky and later life ==
Wishing to have more property to divide among his children in inheritance, Littlejohn and his family purchased land and departed Leesburg for Kentucky in early September 1818. On October 29, Littlejohn and his wife arrived by boat in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] after delays due to low water, meeting his son Thomas, who had arrived several weeks earlier with various household goods.<ref name=":0" /> 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."{{sfn|Wigger|1998|p=32}} Littlejohn refused an offer from to be stationed as a preacher in Louisville.{{sfn|Price|2016|p=256}} From there on, Littlejohn traveled to [[Christian County, Kentucky|Christian County]], where he discovered land acquired from a fellow Methodist was unsuitable for farming and falsely advertised. The family instead settled in [[Warren County, Kentucky|Warren County]], near [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]], where his son John had purchased additional land.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=255–256}}
In 1819, he briefly returned to Leesburg to make trips to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington City]] and [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|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, Kentucky|Logan County]], to a site on the [[Red River (Kentucky River tributary)|Red River]] later identified with the unincorporated community of [[Corinth, Logan County, Kentucky|Corinth]].<ref name=":2"/>{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=260–263}} 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 region|Bluegrass]] on land inspection business. Staying with various family and business contacts, he traveled in a loop throughout the region. He visited [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], the state capital at [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]], and various other smaller Bluegrass settlements. He frequently lodged in [[Bourbon County, Kentucky|Bourbon County]], where he stayed with a colonel who had moved to the area from Loudoun County. 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.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=260–263}} Following the theft of a prized horse in 1821, Littlejohn tracked the animal across Kentucky and [[Indiana]], eventually recovering it in [[Lawrenceburg, Indiana|Lawrenceburg]].{{sfn|Price|2016|p=259}}
Monica Littlejohn died on January 16, 1828, and was buried at [[Russellville, Kentucky|Russellville]]. Their son Lewis died that August, leaving behind a young daughter. Captain Hunter, a business contact of Littlejohn in [[Franklin County, Kentucky|Franklin County]], took the girl in.{{sfn|Price|2016|p=262}} In June 1830, Littlejohn arrived and preached at his old hometown in Leesburg, staying there until May 1831 and attending the Methodist general conference in Washington. Here he was granted readmission as a [[wikt:superannuated|superannuated]] preacher to his original Baltimore Conference,<ref name=":0" /> although he returned to the Kentucky Conference in 1832.{{sfn|Methodist Episcopal Church|1840|p=143}} Despite previous opposition to the practice, Littlejohn purchased several slaves in his old age. The 1830 Census recorded his household as having seven slaves, including two children.{{sfn|Price|2016|pp=256–257}}
== 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.<ref name=":0" /> An obituary was later published in the ''Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church''.{{sfn|Methodist Episcopal Church|1840|pp=486–487}} Littlejohn's death was preceded by all of his children except John, who died the following year at age 21. Most of Littlejohn's estate was willed to his son John, and granddaughter Catherine; however, his three granddaughters each inherited one slave, and John received two enslaved boys. Each slave was prescribed to be [[Manumission|manumitted]] at the age of 25.<ref name=":2" />
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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1965 |title=Littlejohn Grave to be Dedicated |pages=17 |work=[[Russellville News-Democrat]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-littlejohn-grav/135460023/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121044633/https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-littlejohn-grav/135460023/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jetton |first=Susan |date=July 1, 1965 |title=John Littlejohn's Grave |pages=1 |work=[[Russellville News-Democrat]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-john-littlejohn/135461527/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121044637/https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-john-littlejohn/135461527/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bishop Roy Short of the Louisville Methodist Conference held a group prayer and dedication of the new gravestone on October 31, 1965.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1965 |title=A Big Day for Methodists |work=[[Russellville News-Democrat]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-role-of-circuit/135461606/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121044633/https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-role-of-circuit/135461606/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2008, the Logan County Garden Club and Kentucky Historical Society unveiled a historical marker to mark his gravesite.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 26, 2008 |title=New historic marker unveiled during Hometown History Day |pages=32 |work=[[News-Democrat & Leader]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-new-historic-ma/135461441/ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121044635/https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-democrat-and-leader-new-historic-ma/135461441/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />
== References ==
=== Citations ===
<references />
=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Dee E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ssfd |title=The Methodists and Revolutionary America, 1760–1800: The Shaping of an Evangelical Culture |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2000 |jstor=j.ctt7ssfd |isbn=9780691092980 |via=JSTOR |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120183703/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ssfd |url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Raymond Martin |title=Methodism Moves into Central Pennsylvania |journal=The Chronicle: Journal of the Historical Society of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church |date=2013 |pages=5–11 |url=https://www.lycoming.edu/umarch/chronicles/2013/3bell.pdf |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111093144/http://www.lycoming.edu/umarch/chronicles/2013/3bell.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Harvey |first=Marvin Ellis |url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanmovement0000harv |degree=PhD |title=The Wesleyan Movement and the American Revolution |publisher=University of Washington |place=Seattle |year=1962 |access-date=December 29, 2023}}
*{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/13680353.688.emory.edu |title=Minutes of the annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the years 1829–1839, Volume II |author=Methodist Episcopal Church|publisher=T. Mason and G. Lane |year=1840 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Price |first=Hunter |date=2016 |title=The Traveling Life of John Littlejohn: Methodism, Mobility, and Social Exchange from Revolutionary Virginia to Early Republican Kentucky |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43918583 |journal=[[The Journal of Southern History]] |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=237–268 |doi=10.1353/soh.2016.0087 |jstor=43918583 |s2cid=159864302 |via=JSTOR |access-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120034229/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43918583 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wigger |first=John H. |url=https://archive.org/details/takingheavenbyst0000wigg |title=Taking Heaven by Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1998 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |isbn=978-0-19-510452-3}}
{{refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlejohn, John}}
[[Category:1756 births]]
[[Category:1836 deaths]]
[[Category:Methodist circuit riders]]
[[Category:Methodists from Virginia]]
[[Category:Methodists from Maryland]]
[[Category:Methodists from Kentucky]]
[[Category:People from Penrith, Cumbria]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]