Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 30, 2024

John Littlejohn (1756–1836) was an American tradesman and Methodist preacher. Migrating from Great Britain to the Thirteen Colonies when he was around 12, he traveled between various apprenticeships in Maryland and Virginia. After encountering Methodist revivalists, Littlejohn experienced a religious awakening and began preaching as an itinerant circuit rider during the Revolutionary War. Harassed by colonial authorities despite his revolutionary sympathies, Littlejohn managed to evade legal persecution and settle as a local preacher and tradesman in Leesburg, Virginia, where he variously served as a county magistrate, tax collector, and sheriff. In 1814, he was called upon in his duty as sheriff to protect the Declaration of Independence and various other important documents evacuated during the British raid on Washington. He moved to Kentucky several years later, where he entered work as a land agent after being sold falsely advertised land. He died at his home in Logan County in 1836.