CARTWRIGHT, PETER, was born Sept. 1, 1785, on James river, Amherst county, Va. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and soon after our independence as a nation was acknowledged by Great Britain, his parents moved to that part of our country known as Kentucky, then inhabited by hostile Indians. There not being any wagon roads, the moving was done on pack horses. Their's was one of two hundred families that moved in a body, guarded by one hundred young men, well armed. On the night of the first Sunday after their departure, and while they were encamped with the women and children in the center, surrounded by part of the men guarding, while others slept, the father of Peter Cartwright heard something moving towards him and grunting like a hog. Knowing there was no swine with the company, Mr. C. had his suspicions aroused and kept a sharp look-out. He soon perceived a dark object much nearer him than the sounds at first indicated, and readily made up his mind that it was an Indian aiming to get as near as possible, and then spring upon and murder him in the dark. Mr. Cartwright took aim and fired. The crack of the rifle raised a great commotion in camp, and as soon as a light could be procured, an Indian was found dead, with a rifle in one hand, a tomahawk in the other, and a bullet-hole through his head. Their line of travel was marked by the dead bodies of white people slain by the Indians, with other evidences of hostility. As the moving party approached Crab Orchard, where a temporary fortification had been erected, the last day's march was a very long one. Seven of the two hundred families fell behind the main body, and worn down with fatigue, they encamped and went to sleep without guards. In the night they were attacked by twenty-five Indians, and all except one of them slain. The Cartwright family first settled near what afterwards became Lancaster, Lincoln county, Ky. After a stay of two years, in the fall of 1793 Mr. Cartwright moved his family to a place nine miles south of Russelville, Logan county, Ky., and within one mile of the Tennessee line.

While the family resided there Peter entered into the spirit of the rude sports and vices that prevailed in the community, such as horse-racing, card-playing and dancing. His mother had long been a member of the M. E. Church, and prayed for and plead with her son to turn from the error of his ways. He was converted, and united with the Ebenezer M. E. Church in June, 1801. He displayed such talents and fervor in speaking, that he very unexpectedly received the following paper:

"Peter Cartwright is hereby permitted to exercise his gifts as an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, so long as his practice is agreeable to the Gospel.

"Signed in behalf of the Society at Ebenezer.

"JESSE WALKER, A. P."

May, 1802.

In the fall of that year his father determined to move to Lewiston, near the mouth of the Cumberland river. Peter applied for letters for his mother, sister and himself. Upon receiving his own he found that it was not only a letter of dismissal to a sister church, and to exhort, but that it gave him authority to hold meetings, organize classes, and form a circuit. It also required him to report at the fourth quarterly meeting of Red river circuit the next fall.

In his new home he found an academy, or school of a high grade, and for a time prosecuted his studies with great success; but in consequence of persecutions that arose, he abandoned the school and commenced organizing the circuit, which he reported in the fall of that year--1803. In October he became a regular traveling preacher, with a colleague, on the Red river circuit. His first sermon led to the conversion of an infidel. He received twenty-five members during the first quarter, and six dollars for his support at the end of the same. For the years 1805 and '6 he was appointed to Sciota circuit, in the State of Ohio.

At the meeting of the Western Conference, held in East Tennessee, Mr. Cartwright was ordained Sept. 15, 1806, as a Deacon in the M. E. Church, by Francis Asbury, the first Bishop of the church in America. He was next appointed to Marietta circuit. In the fall of 1806 he left that circuit, with a blind horse, almost destitute of clothing, and seventy-five cents in money, started to travel more than five hundred miles to see his parents. The next meeting of Conference was held Sept. 14, 1807, at Chillicothe, O. His appointment for 1807-8 was to Barren circuit, in Cumberland district, Ky. About the close of his labors in that circuit--

Rev. Peter Cartwright and Frances Gaines were married Aug. 18, 1808. She was born Aug. 18, 1789, in Charlotte county, Va. When she was in her seventeenth year her parents moved to Lincoln county, Ky. Her father died there, and her mother moved two years later to Barren county, where Frances was married.

The Conference was held at Liberty Hill, Tenn., commencing Oct. 1, 1808. At that meeting Mr. C. was ordained--Oct. 4, 1808--to the office of Elder of the M. E. Church, by William McKendree, who had become one of the Bishops of the M. E. Church. The ordination took place Oct. 4, 1808. His next appointment was to Salt Creek circuit, Ky. During that year his father died, and some time was spent in settling the estate. The next Conference was held at Cincinnati in the fall of 1809. His appointment was to Livingston circuit, Cumberland district, Ky. Mr. C. continued to preach in Kentucky until they had seven children. During that time he saw and understood the pernicious influence of slavery, and after consulting with his wife, who was of the same ??ind, they determined to remove to a free State. In the spring of 1?? in company with two friends, start?? explore Illinois in search of a home. T?? ascended the Wabash valley, and crossed the prairie to the Illinois river above Fort Clark, now Peoria. They went west and south and then east, crossing the Illinois river at what is now Beardstown, where there was but one family in a small cabin. From there they ascended the valley of the Sangamon river to a settlement in Sangamon county, on Richland creek, where he found a family living in a double log cabin, with a few acres of land under cultivation. Mr. C. bought the claim, and entered the land when it came into market.

He returned to Kentucky and brought out his family, arriving Nov. 15, 1824, at the place he had purchased the year before, in what is now Cartwright township, three-quarters of a mile north of Pleasant Plains. They had two children in Sangamon county. Of their nine children--

ELIZA B., born in Livingston county, Ky., May 11, 1810, married Peyton L. Harrison. See his name.

MARIA H., born Sept. 20, 1812, in Christian county, Ky., married in Sangamon county, July 28, 1833, to Rev. W. D. R. Trotter, who was born near Bowling Green, Ky., and came to Sangamon county in 1830 or '31. Mr. Trotter was a traveling preacher in the M. E. church from the time he came to the State until 1872, when he became superanuated, and resides in Jacksonville. They have five children, all married.

CYNTHIA, born March 27, 1815, in Christian county, Ky., was killed Oct. 23, 1824, by a tree, near which they had encamped and kindled a fire, falling on her while they were all asleep on the ground. They carried the corpse of their child twenty miles, and buried it in Hamilton county, Ill.

MADISON A., born July 4, 1817, in Christian county, Ky., married Dec. 29, 1835, in St. Louis, to Matilda Purvines, both of Sangamon county. They had six children, namely: WILLIAM T. married Emma Slater; had one child, EVA A., and he married Florence Moore; had two children, EDGAR EVERETT and ASBURY L., and reside in Cartwright township. MARTHA J. married Daniel Harnett, and died August 8, 1862, at ??t Plains. PETER S. married ??es Maria Irwin; have two children, ??NIE E. and ROBERT A., and reside near Chanute, Kansas. ELIZABETH F. married Peter L. Harrison. See his name. JOHN M. and ANNIE M. reside with their parents at Pleasant Plains.

WEALTHY M. J., born August 9, 1819, in Christian county, Ky., married March 17, 1840, to Gorham Eaton, who was born in Merrimac county, N. H. They had three children, EMILY F. married William G. Purvines. See his name. MARY A. married A. S. Nottingham. See his name. HORACE G. married Ella Allen, had one child, ELLEN, and Mrs. Eaton died. He resides near Pleasant Plains. Gorham Eaton died August 26, 1846, and his widow married March 26, 1850, to Elmer Mickel, who was born in Cape May county, N. J. They have six children, ANNIE, CHARLES H., CAROLINE M., ARMINDA B., MYRA E. and EDWARD LINCOLN, and reside two miles northwest of Pleasant Plains.

VALENTINE C., born May 19, 1821, in Christian county, Ky., married in Sangamon county, Feb. 9, 1841, to Cinthelia Scott. They have nine children. SARAH F. J. resides with her parents. THOMAS B. married Mary E. Cloud, daughter of Rev. Newton Cloud, of Jacksonville; have two children, MAUD and CLAUD, and reside near Waco, Sedgwick county, Kansas. CARRIE E. married Samuel D. Pallett, and resides near Waco, Kansas. HATTIE J. married David O. Williams; has one child, LESTER, and resides near Waco, Kansas. CHARLES A. resides near Waco, Kansas. ALBERT B., MINNIE P., NEWTON C. and WALTER D., reside with their parents. V. C. Cartwright lived near Pleasant Plains until 1874, when he moved to Sedgwick county, near Delano, Kansas.

SARAH M., born July 2, 1823, in Christian county, Ky., married Sept. 1, 1841, to Henry Smith, who was born in Cape May county, N. J. They had ten children; two died in infancy. MARIA F. married Frank N. Elmore. See his name. PETER C., born Oct. 24, 1844, married Margaret McDonnell, who was born Nov. 17, 1844, at Lexington, Ky. They have four children, HENRY, MARY O., NETTIE and CARROLL, and reside at Pleasant Plains. WILLIAM T. died Feb. 22, 1869, in his twenty-third year. MADISON N. resides west. CAROLINE E., HENRY D. and EDWARD P. reside with their mother. Henry Smith died March 20, 1873, and his family reside at Pleasant Plains.

CAROLINE M., born Sept. 9, 1826, in Sangamon county, married August 30, 1848, to Rev. Benjamin Newman. They had one child, PETER C., who married and resides at Mattoon. Mrs. C. M. Newman died May 23, 1853.

ARMINDA F., born Oct. 3, 1828, in Sangamon county, married Aug. 30, 1848, to Rev. Levi C. Pitner. They have one son, LEE PITNER, and reside at Evanston, Ill.

Rev. Peter Cartwright, D. D., died Sept. 25, 1872, and his widow died Feb. 7, 1876, both near Pleasant Plains, Sangamon county, where they settled in 1824. Mr. Cartwright had been a member of the M. E. Church more than seventy-one years, a preacher nearly three score and ten years, and a Presiding Elder more than half a century. To attempt a description of the man and his labors would be useless in a sketch like this. Nothing but his own "Autobiography" and "Fifty Years a Presiding Elder" could do justice to the subject. His system of theology does not admit of a belief in special providences; and yet, it would appear to others as though he was especially raised up to illustrate what one man can accomplish in mental and physical labors in a good cause, sustained by the power of God. He had just entered upon his eighty-eighth year, and his wife in her eighty-seventh year. At the time of her death she had fifty-three grand-children, sixty-two great-grand-children, and five great-great-grand-children, a total of one hundred and twenty-nine descendants.

The circumstances of her death were exceedingly impressive. She was attending a religious meeting at Bethel Chapel, about one mile from her home, in the opposite direction from Pleasant Plains. The minister conducting the services called on her as the first to give her testimony, which she did, remaining seated. She spoke with much feeling, closing with the words: "The past three weeks have been the happiest of all my life; I am waiting for the chariot." The exercises continued until sixteen persons had risen and spoken a few words each, the last of whom was her eldest son. The lady sitting nearest her thought she had fainted, and the windows were thrown open to admit fresh air; but "The chariot had arrived."