a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, was born in Clark County, Kentucky, January 14, 1802, and was of Irish extraction on his father's side. When young he learned the printing business. He was converted at sixteen, and at twenty-one became an itinerant minister. For some years he was engaged in the work of a circuit preacher, but gradually rose to the highest positions in the Church, and in 1854 was elected bishop. He died March 19, 1884. Before the division of the Church he was a member of the general conferences of 1832, 1836, and 1844 on the last occasion leading the Kentucky delegation. At this time he seems not to have taken any public part in the debates on slavery, though he fully sympathized with the position of the Southern delegates, and his name was signed to all their documents. Bishop Kavanaugh was closely identified with the Southern Church from its origin, and one of the most vigorous men, physically and intellectually, that Methodism has placed in the episcopacy. His presence was commanding, his voice good, his language copious, and his power in the pulpit great. See (N.Y.) Christian Advocate, March 27, 1884; Simpson, Cyclop. of Methodism, s.v.; Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the M.E. Church South, 1884, page 155.