Dow, Lorenzo

Dow, Lorenzo

(dou), 1777–1834, American evangelist, b. Coventry, Conn. Although connected at times with the Methodist Church, he was an independent preacher for much of his life, traveling between the North and the South on horseback. By 1830, Dow was nationally known, not only for his eloquence, but for his oddities of manner and dress. He visited Ireland and England, where he introduced camp meetings.

Dow, Lorenzo

(1777–1834) Protestant evangelist; born in Coventry, Conn. He began preaching in 1794 as an independent and later established a connection with the Methodists, for whom he evangelized in the southern U.S. In company with his wife, he made a notorious round trip from Boston to Natchez on the Mississippi River in 1807. He retired afterward to a farm in Connecticut, where he wrote contentious pamphlets and worked up accounts of his travels.