Dow – died

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Lorenzo Dow died 2/1/1834 at Georgetown, WDC.  He was born at Coventry, Connecticut in 1777. In his 20’s he became a Methodist itinerant evangelist in American (said to have preached in most of what was then the US) and made preaching tours in England/Ireland 1799, 1805 & 1813.  (His trips there influenced the founding of Primitive Methodism.)  He is said to have shouted, cried, flattered, insulted and used stories and jokes.  He attracted crowds (some as large as 10,000) and was influential enough that the 1850 US census shows “Lorenzo” as one of the most popular first names.  He preached where ever (not just in churches) and to Methodists, Baptists, Quakers and Catholics, though he took a strong stand against their doctrine and the Jesuits. Most of his travel was on foot and without much with him but a box of Bibles to sell or give away.  At one time his biography was second only to the Bible in US sales.

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