Bishop William McKendree

Bishop William McKendree was born in King William County, Virginia. During the American Revolution, he served as adjutant in the commissary department supplying the armies of Generals George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau, was present at Yorktown in 1781, and witnessed Cornwallis' surrender. Nine years later, he was ordained a deacon and subsequently set apart to the office of an Elder by Bishop Francis Asbury. At Baltimore, Maryland, McKendree was elected the first American-born bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1808. Two years later, he moved here with his father and other family members. Near here, Bishops McKendree and Asbury presided over the formation of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1812. Before reinterment at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Bishop McKendree's body was buried locally in the McKendree family cemetery.

Portland, Tennessee · United States