CHAPTER XXVIII.
Contents—A Missionary—Chaplain at Niagara—Pastor to the Settlers—Chaplain to Legislature—Visits Grand River—Officiates—A Land Speculator—Receives a pension, £50—1823—Rev. Mr. Pollard—At Amherstburgh—Mr. Langhorn—A Missionary—Little Education—Useful—Odd—On Bay Quinté In Ernesttown—Builds a Church—At Adolphustown—Preaches at Hagerman’s—Another Church—A Diligent Pastor—Pioneer Preacher around the Bay—Christening—Marrying—Particular—His Appointments—Clerk’s Fees—Generosity—Present to Bride—Faithful to Sick Calls—Frozen Feet—No Stockings—Shoe Buckles—Dress—Books—Peculiarities—Fond of the Water—Charitable—War of 1812—Determined to leave Canada—Thinks it doomed—Singular Notice—Returns to Europe—His Library—Present to Kingston—Twenty Years in Canada—Extract from Gazette—No One Immediately to take His Place—Rev. John Bethune—Died 1815—Native of Scotland—U. E. Loyalists—Lost Property—Chaplain to 84th Regiment—A Presbyterian—Second Legal Clergyman in Upper Canada—Settled at Cornwall—Children—The Baptists—Wyner—Turner—Holts Wiem—Baptists upon River Moira—First Chapel—How Built—Places of Preaching—Hayden’s Corners—At East Lake—The Lutherans—Rev. Schwerdfeger—Lutheran Settlers—County Dundas—First Church East of Kingston—Rev. Mr. Myers lived in Marysburgh—Marriage—His Log Church—Removes to St. Lawrence—Resigns—To Philadelphia—Mr. Weant—Lives in Ernesttown—Removes to Matilda—Not Supported—Secretly Joins the English Church—Re-ordained—His Society Ignorant—Suspicion—Preaching in Shirt Sleeves—Mr. Myers Returns, by Sleigh—Locking Church Door—The Thirty-nine Articles—Compromise—Mr. Myers continues Three Years a Lutheran—He Secedes—The End of both Seceders—Rev. I. L. Senderling—Rev. Herman Hayunga—Rev. Mr. Shorts—Last Lutheran Minister at Ernesttown, McCarty—Married.
THE FIRST EPISCOPALIANS, CONTINUED—PRESBYTERIANS, BAPTISTS, AND LUTHERANS.
The Rev. Robert Addison came as a missionary from the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in 1790. He probably discharged the duties of chaplain to the troops stationed at Niagara, and also was Clergyman, and officiated as such, to the settlers. When the government was formed at Niagara, in 1792, Mr. Addison, was appointed Chaplain. He occasionally visited the Grand River Indians, officiating through an interpreter, and baptizing and marrying. Col. Clark says, Mr. Addison was a land speculator. In 1823, an act was passed by Parliament, granting Mr. Addison a pension of £50 per annum during life, for service rendered as Chaplain to the House of Assembly for thirty years. Another Episcopalian Clergyman, who came to Canada about the same time, was the Rev. Mr. Pollard, whose station was at Amherstburgh.
A fourth Church of England Clergyman, and one with whom we must become more familiar, was the Rev. Mr. Langhorn. According to the statement made to us by the late Bishop Strachan, Mr. Langhorn was sent to Canada as a missionary by a Society in London, called “The Bees,” or some such name. He was a Welshman by birth, possessed of but little education or talent, yet a truthful, zealous, and useful man. Odd in his manner, he nevertheless worked faithfully among the settlers from Kingston to Hay Bay. Upon arriving he took up his abode in Ernesttown, living at Hoyts, the present site of Bath. Here he was instrumental in having, before long time, erected an English Church. Soon after coming he visited Adolphustown, and preached at Mr. Hagerman’s, where Mr. Stuart had previously occasionally held service. Steps were at once taken to build a church also at Adolphustown, and Mr. Langhorn came to hold service regularly every second Sabbath. Mr. Langhorn was a diligent pastor in his rounds among his flock, over an extensive tract with great regularity, and once in a great while he went as far as the Carrying Place, where it is said he preached the first of all the pioneer ministers. He likewise occasionally visited Prince Edward, and preached at Smith’s Bay, and at Congers, Picton Bay. He was very careful to have all the children christened before they were eight days old, and never failed to question the larger in the catechism. Marriage he would never perform but in the church, and always before eleven in the morning. If the parties to be joined failed to reach the church by the appointed time, he would leave; and would refuse to marry them, no matter how far they had come, generally on foot, or by canoe. Sometimes they were from the remote townships, yet were sent away unmarried. After performing the marriage ceremony, he would insist on receiving, it is said, three coppers for his clerk. For himself he would take nothing, unless it was to present it to the bride immediately. Seemingly he did not care for money; and he would go in all kinds of weather when wanted to officiate, or administer to the wants of the sick. One person tells us that he remembers his coming to his father’s in winter, and that his feet were frozen. No wonder, as Mr. Langhorn never wore stockings nor gloves in the coldest weather. But his shoe buckles were broad and bright; and a broad rimmed hat turned up at the sides covered his head. Upon his back he generally carried in a bag some books for reading. We have referred to his peculiarities; many extraordinary eccentricities are related of him, both as a man and clergyman. He was very fond of the water, both in summer and winter. “In summer,” (Playter says,) “he would, at times swim from a cove on the main shore to a cove in the opposite island, three miles apart, and in winter, he would cut a hole in the ice, and another at some distance, and would dive down at one hole, and come up the other. He had some eccentricities, but he seemed to be a good and charitable man.”
Mr. Langhorn, when the war of 1812 commenced, acquired the belief, it is said, that Canada would be conquered by the United States, and so determined to escape. The following somewhat singular “Notice” appeared in the Kingston Gazette:—“Notice—To all whom it may concern,—That the Rev. J. Langhorn, of Ernesttown, intends returning to Europe this summer, if he can find a convenient opportunity; and all who have any objections to make, are requested to acquaint him with them, and they will much oblige their humble servant,—J. Langhorn,—Earnesttown, March, 1813.” The Rev. gentleman did go home, and some say that he was again coming to Canada, and was shipwrecked. Before leaving Canada, he made a valuable present to Kingston, as the following notice will show:
“The Rev. Mr. Langhorn, of Ernesttown, who is about returning to England, his native country, has presented a valuable collection of books to the Social Library, established in this village. The directors have expressed to him the thanks of the proprietors for his liberal donation. Many of the volumes are very elegant, and, it is to be hoped, will, for many years, remain a memorial of his liberality and disposition to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge among a people, with whom he has lived as an Episcopal Missionary more than twenty years. During that period his acts of charity have been frequent and numerous, and not confined to members of his own church; but extended to indigent and meritorious persons of all denominations. Many who have shared in his bounty, will have reason to recollect him with gratitude, and to regret his removal from the country.”—(Kingston Gazette).
After his departure, the churches where he had preached were vacant for many a day; and, at last, the one in Adolphustown went to decay.
There died, at Williamstown, U. C., 23rd September, 1815, the Rev. John Bethune, in his 65th year. He was a native of Scotland. Came to America before the rebellion, and was possessed of property, all of which he lost, and was thereby reduced to great distress for the time being. The foundation was then laid for the disease of which he died. During the rebellion, he was appointed Chaplain to the 80th Regiment. At the close of the war he settled in Canada. He left a widow and numerous family.
Ex-Sheriff Sherwood, of Brockville, says that “the Rev. Mr. Bethune, a Presbyterian Clergyman, was the second legalized Clergyman in the country. He settled at an early period at Cornwall. He was father of the Rev. John Bethune, now Dean of Montreal, (1866).”
BAPTISTS—WYNER, TURNER, HOLTS, WIEM.
The first Ministers of this sect were Elders Wyner and Turner, a brother of Gideon Turner, one of the first settlers of Thurlow. One, Elder Holts, also preached around the Bay, but a love of brandy hindered him. Yet he was an attractive preacher. This was probably about 1794.
A considerable number of Baptists settled up the river Moira, in Thurlow. The first chapel built here was for that denomination, in the fifth concession. Its size was thirty feet square. But, prior to the building of this, a dozen or so would meet for worship at the house of Mr. Ross. The chapel was mainly built by each member going to the place and working at the building, from time to time, until it was completed.
Mr. Turner traveled through different sections, preaching wherever he found his fellow communionists. He occasionally preached at Capt. McIntosh’s, at Myer’s Creek, and now and then at the head of the Bay. The Baptists were, probably, the first to preach at Sidney, and Thurlow. Myer’s Creek was not a central place at which to collect the scattered settlers until it became a village. Before that, the preaching place of the Baptists, and afterwards of the Presbyterians and Methodists, was up at Gilbert’s house, in Sidney, or at Col. Bell’s, in Thurlow. When the village grew, services were held at Capt. McIntosh’s and Mr. Mitz’s, at the mouth of the river, by different denominations, and still later, in a small school house. Preaching also was held up the river, at Reed’s and Hayden’s Corners.
The first Baptist Minister that preached at East Lake, Hallowell, was the Rev. Joseph Wiem. Not unlikely, he and Elder Wyner are the same.
THE LUTHERANS—SCHWERDFEGER, MYERS, WEANT.
Among the early ministers of religion who attended to the spiritual interests of the pioneers, were several of the Lutheran Church. Of this denomination, there was a considerable number in the County of Dundas, chiefly Dutch. There were also a community of them in Ernesttown, and another in Marysburgh. The first church built in Upper Canada, east of Kingston, perhaps the next after the one built at Tyendinaga, was erected by the Lutherans. It was put up in 1790, named Zion’s Church, and a Mr. Schwerdfeger, who resided near Albany, was invited to be their Pastor. This invitation was gladly accepted, as he and his family had suffered severe persecution from the victorious rebels. He died in 1803.
At an early period, indeed it would seem probable before Mr. Schwerdfeger came to Canada, although the time cannot be positively fixed, the Rev. Mr. Myers, from Philadelphia, lived in Marysburgh and preached to the Lutheran Germans of that Township. He married a daughter of Mr. Henry Smith, one of the first settlers there, where stood his log church, about twenty-four feet square, upon the brow of a hill overlooking a lovely landscape. Mr. Myers removed to the St. Lawrence, and “in 1804 became Pastor of the Lutheran churches there.” (History of Dundas). He resigned in 1807, not being supported, and removed to Pennsylvania.
The second Lutheran clergyman to preach upon the Bay, was the Rev. Mr. Weant. He lived a short distance below Bath, and went every four weeks to preach at Smith’s Bay; and, in the meantime, preached to the Lutherans of Ernesttown, where he built a log church, the first there. In 1808, he received a call from the Lutherans of Matilda, “which he accepted, and for some time preached acceptably, residing in the parsonage.” He, too, seems to have been inadequately supported by the people, and yielding to inducements, too tempting for most men to resist, he, in 1811, secretly joined the Church of England, and was re-ordained by Bishop Mountain, in Quebec. Upon his return, he pretended still to be a Lutheran minister, and preached, as usual, in German exclusively. Suspicions, however, soon arose that all was not right, for he began to use the English Book of Common Prayer, and occasionally to wear the surplice, practices which gave such offence to his former friends, that they declared they would no longer go to hear a man who proclaimed to them in his shirt sleeves. A few were persuaded by him to join the Church of England. The majority remained faithful. In 1814, the Lutherans again invited the Rev. Mr. Myers; upon his consenting to come, they sent two sleighs, in the winter, to Pennsylvania, and brought him and his family to Dundas. But Mr. Weant would not give up the parsonage and glebe, and put a padlock on the church door, and forbade any one to enter, unless acknowledging the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England. A compromise resulted, and the Lutherans were permitted to use the building once in two weeks. For three years, Mr. Myers continued his ministrations as a Lutheran, in the meantime being in straitened circumstances. In 1817, strangely enough, Mr. Myers also forsook the Lutheran Church, and conformed to the Church of England. (Hist. of Dundas.) The end of Mr. Weant and Mr. Myers, according to accounts, was not, in either case satisfactory. The latter died suddenly from a fall, it is said, while he was intoxicated, and the former was addicted to the same habit of intemperance.
The successor of Mr. Myers was the Rev. I. L. Senderling. He came in 1825, and stayed only a short time.
In 1826, Rev. Herman Hayuniga became the Pastor; and succeeded, after many years, in restoring to the church its former prosperity, notwithstanding much that opposed him. He had a new church erected. His successor was the Rev. Dendrick Shorts.
The Kingston Gazette contains a notice of perhaps the last Lutheran Minister at Ernest town. “Married. In Ernesttown, 29th Jan, 1816, the Rev. Wm. McCarty, Minister of the Lutheran congregation, to Miss Clarissa Fralick.”