Mchenry, Barnabas

Mchenry, Barnabas, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in one of the eastern counties of Virginia Dec. 10,1767; was converted when only fifteen years of age, and shortly after joined the Church. Called to preach the Gospel, he entered the itinerancy in May, 1787, and was appointed to Yadkin Circuit. Thereafter he successively served the cause of his Master in the following appointments: in 1788 at Cumberland Circuit: in 1789 at Danville; in 1790 at Madison; in 1791 at Cumberland; was placed in charge of the district in 1792, and in 1793 of an enlarged number of circuits; in 1.794 he was sent to Salt River Circuit; in 1795 was located on account of impaired health; in 1819 was readmitted, and appointed presiding elder of Salt River District, Tennessee Conference, but his health again failed him, and he was finally obliged to retire from active work, and take the place of a super-annuate. He died at Mount Pleasant, near Springfield, Ky. June 16, 1833. "Barnabas McHenry," is the testimony of one, "was a man of strong mind and able in argument. He stood upon the walls of our Zion and defended her bulwarks when she was assailed by an enemy." Bishop Bascom says, "Of the early years of his ministry but little is known, except vague yet cherished traditions of the beauty, unction, and eloquence of his preaching, together with the dangers and hardships to which he was exposed as a pioneer missionary in the wilderness of the West from 1788 to 1795.... Even a century in a single community produces few such men as Barnabas McHenry and Valentine Cook. They were men by themselves, and their memory would adorn the history of any Church or age." See Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, 7:143 sq.; Finley, Sketches of the M. E. Church South; Minutes of Conferences, 1834.