User:WilyD/William Case/John Robinson

John Robinson was a Methodist circuit rider.

Robinson was born November 26, 1769 in Maryland. He was baptized by George Whitfield. Robinson converted to Methodism when he was nineteen. He was received on trial in 1789, the year after his conversion, but rode only for a single year. He was received on trial again in 1794, and assigned to ride the Freehold Circuit in New Jersey. He spent 1795 riding the Chester and Lancaster Circuit of Pennsylvania. He served as assistant to Solomon Sharpe in 1796, riding the Milford Circuit. He served with Anthony Turk on the Delaware Circuit in 1797, and rode the circuit the next year with William Vredenburg as his assistant. He rode the Dorchester Circuit in 1799, and the Mohawk Circuit in 1800.

In 1801 Robinson volunteered to ride a circuit in Canada, and was assigned to the Ottawa Circuit, with Caleb Morris as his assistant. The next year he was moved to the Niagara Circuit, where Daniel Pickett served as his assistant. Regarded as a talented preacher, Robinson was entrusted as Presiding Elder of the Upper Canada District at the 1803 convention. He was officially located at the 1804 convention. That year, however, his romantic interest fell serious ill, and Robinson neglected his duties to care for her. They married as soon as she was well, and settled on a farm provided by Robinson's father in law. There he preached locally. Robinson died in 1848 in Philidelphia.