Author: Glendinning, William
Biography:
GLENDINNING, William (1747-1816: Hollis)
He was born in Moffat, in Scotland, and apprenticed to a tailor. In 1767, both parents having died, he emigrated to America and worked for a time in Baltimore, attending Presbyterian services. He began to have intense religious experiences. He joined the Methodists as a circuit preacher about 1774 and carried the word through several of the northern and southern states. Between 1784 and 1788, he was tormented by visions of the devil. After his recovery, he fell out with the Methodist authorities over his inclusion of these experiences in his preaching, but wrote an autobiography (The Life of William Glendinning, Preacher of the Gospel, 1795) to exonerate himself. In 1796 he married Sarah Lile. The couple settled in Raleigh NC, where it appears that he ran a drygoods business and was eventually reconciled with his Methodist colleagues. His name is sometimes given as Glendenning but Glendinning is the spelling he used in his own publications. (The Life of William Glendinning [1795]; J. L. E. Carroll Sr, The Reverend William Glendenning, 1747-1816 [1994]) HJ