Peter Cartwright (1785-1872)

Peter Cartwright, Jr. better known as simply Peter Cartwright was an American Methodist revivalist minister of the nineteenth century. He was also a twice elected legislator for Illinois.
The Cartwright family in 1793 settled in Logan County, Tennessee. As a youngster he helped his family survive the severe conditions of frontier life. He relaxed by horse racing, card playing and dancing.

Aged 16 he went forward at ecumenical revival held at a Presbyterian church. He prayed for mercy. (Read his conversion story in his own words from his Autobiography The Backwoods Preacher.) - ‘thy sins are all forgiven thee .’)

He immediately joined the Methodist church and began speaking in local services. 1802 ,aged 19, he was granted an exhorters license and hit the road as an itinerant preacher - salary $80 a year. (Read - The itinerant preacher)

In 1808 he married Frances Gaines - a strong and independent woman. They had a warm and hospitable home. They had 9 children, only one did not reach reach adulthood.

In 1823 decided to move: in 1824 they moved and stayed in Illinois for the rest of their lives.
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In 1824 he became involved in politics. In 1832 his opposition was Abraham Lincoln and he won. 1861-5 saw Lincoln as president.
( Read politics and education)

He served as a presiding elder for over 50 years and saw the numbers in the Methodist church soar from 72,784 to 1,756, 000 members. Fantastic growth.

He was referred to affectionately as ’ Uncle Pete ’ in his later years but he remained faithful to his calling of preaching the Gospel whenever the need arose.

Sources used
Wikipedia
Ambassadors for Christ contribution from Doug Sweeney
Britannica Online Encyclopedia