MEMOIRS OF DR. STUART CONTINUED—“FATHER OF THE UPPER CANADA CHURCH.”
Mr. Stuart immediately returned to America and proceeded to his mission, preaching his first sermon to the Mohawks on Christmas of the same year, 1770. He preached regularly every Sunday after the service had been read in Indian. In the afternoon he officiated in the Mohawk chapel to the whites, mostly Dutch. “In 1774 he was able to read the liturgy, baptize and marry in the Indian tongue, and converse tolerably well with them. He subsequently, assisted by Brant, translated parts of the Bible. After the commencement of the rebellion, until 1777, Mr. Stuart did not experience any inconvenience,” although in other places the clergy had been shamefully abused; he remained at Fort Hunter even after the Declaration of Independence, and constantly performed divine service without omitting prayers for the king. Mr. Stuart’s connection with the Johnson family, and his relations to the Indians rendered him particularly noxious to the Whigs. Although they had not proof of his being active in aiding the British, everything was done to make his home unbearable. “His house was attacked, his property plundered and every indignity offered his person. His church was also plundered and turned into a tavern, and in ridicule and contempt, a barrel of rum was placed in the reading desk. The church was afterwards used as a stable, July, 1778. He was ordered by the Board to detect conspiracies, to leave his home and repair forthwith with his family to Connecticut until his exchange could be procured.” He was to leave within four days after receiving the orders, or be committed to close confinement. “Mr. Stuart appeared before the Commissioners two days after receiving the above order, and declared his readiness to convince them that he had not corresponded with the enemy, and that he was ready and willing to enter into any engagement for the faithful performance of such duties as may be enjoined him.” The Board took his parole, by which he was obligated to abstain from doing anything against the Congress of the United States, or for the British, and not to leave the limits of Schenectady without permission of the Board. Soon after he writes there are only three families of my congregation, the rest having joined the King’s forces, nor had he preached for two years. In the Spring of 1780, the Indians appeared in the county infuriated because of the conduct of General Sullivan the previous year. Mr. Stuart had to abandon his house and move to Albany. So imminent was the danger that the fleeing family could see the houses about in flames, and hear the report of arms. At Albany, Mr. Stuart received much civility from General Schuyler, and obtained permission to visit Philadelphia. Having returned, he made up his mind to emigrate to Canada, and communicated his resolution as follows: “I arrived here eight days from the time I parted with you (at Philadelphia) and found my family well, and after being sufficiently affrighted, the enemy having been within twenty miles of this place, and within one mile of my house in the country, considering the present state of affairs in this part of the Province, I am fully persuaded that I cannot possibly live here secure, either in regard to ourselves or property during the ensuing season; this place is likely to be a frontier, and will probably be burnt if the enemy can effect it. For these and other weighty reasons, materially weighed, I have resolved, with the approbation and consent of Mrs. Stuart, to emigrate to Canada, and having made an application for an exchange, which I have reason to believe will be granted.”
Mr. Stuart applied by letter to Governor Clinton, to be exchanged, March 30, 1781. His application received prompt attention, and he was the same day allowed permission on certain conditions, which are stated by Mr. Stuart in a letter to Rev. Mr. White, of Philadelphia. The letter is dated Schenectady, April 17, 1781. “Being considered as a prisoner of war, and having forfeited my real estate, I have given £400 security to return in exchange for myself, one prisoner out of four nominated by the Governor, viz.: one Colonel, two Captains, and one Lieutenant, either of which will be accepted in my stead; or if neither of the prisoners aforesaid can be obtained, I am to return as a prisoner of war to Albany, when required. My personal property I am permitted to sell or carry with me, and I am to proceed under the protection of a public flag, as soon as it will be safe and convenient for women and children to travel that course. We are to proceed from here to Fort Arin in waggons, and from thence in Batteaux.” The danger of the journey was adverted to, and the probability of obtaining a chaplaincy in Sir William Johnson’s 2nd Battalion of Royal Yorkers, which is nearly complete on the establishment. “My negroes being personal property, I take with me, one of which being a young man, and capable of bearing arms. I have given £100 security to send back a white person in his stead.”
“Mr. Stewart set out with his family, consisting of his wife and three small children, on his long and tedious journey, on the 19th of Sept., 1781, and arrived at St. Johns on the 9th of the following month, thus accomplishing the journey in three weeks, which is now done in twelve or fifteen hours. As there was no opening in Montreal, he took charge of a public school, which, with his commission as Chaplain, gave him support.” In a letter to Dr. White, dated Montreal, October 14, 1783, he says: “I have no reason hitherto to dislike my change of climate; but, as reduction must take place soon, my emoluments will be much diminished, neither have I any flattering prospect of an eligible situation in the way of my profession, as there are only three protestant Parishes in this Province, the Pastors of which are Frenchmen, and as likely to live as I am.” Soon after, Mr. Stuart determined to settle at Cataraqui, where was a garrison, and to which a good many loyalists had already proceeded. He was promised the chaplaincy to the garrison, with a salary of one thousand dollars a year, and he writes, “I can preserve the Indian mission in its neighborhood, which, with other advantages, will afford a comfortable subsistence, although I wish it laid in Maryland.” After the acknowledged independence of the United States, and the separation of the Episcopalian Church of America from the mother Church, Dr. Griffith, the Bishop elect of Virginia, invited Mr. Stuart to settle in his diocese; but Mr. Stuart declined. He writes, “The time has been when the chance of obtaining a settlement in that part of Virginia would have gratified my utmost desire; but, at my time of life, and with such rivetted principles in favor of a Government totally different, ‘it is impossible.’” Though Mr. Stuart did visit Philadelphia in 1786, he never seems to have repented his removal to Canada. Yet the isolation in which he sometimes found himself, would sometimes naturally call up memories that could not fail to be painful. “I am,” he writes, “the only Refugee Clergyman in this Province, &c.” As a relief from such thoughts, he turned to the active duties of his calling. “I shall not regret,” said he, “the disappointment and chagrin I have hitherto met with, if it pleases God to make me the instrument of spreading the knowledge of His Gospel amongst the heathen, and reclaiming only one lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In this spirit he set out on the second of June, 1784, to visit the new settlements on the St. Lawrence, Bay Quinté, and Niagara Falls, where he arrived on the 18th of the same month. Already, 3,500 Loyalists had left Montreal that season for Upper Canada. His reception by the Mohawks, ninety miles from the Falls, was very affectionate, even the windows of the church in which he officiated were crowded with those who were anxious to behold again their old Pastor, from whom they had been so long separated. This church was the first built in Upper Canada, and it must have been commenced immediately after the Mohawks settled on the Grand River. He officiated also at Cataraqui, where he found a garrison of three companies, about thirty good houses, and some 1,500 souls who intended to settle higher up. He next proceeded to the Bay of Quinté, where some more Mohawks had settled, and were busy building houses and laying the foundation of their new village, named Tyendinaga. Though Mr. Stuart had now received from the Society, whose missionary he continued to be, discretionary powers to settle in any part of Canada, he remained in Montreal another year, as assistant to the Rev. Dr. DeLisle, Episcopal Clergyman of that town. He finally removed to Cataraqui, in August, 1785. His share of the public land was situated partly in Cataraqui, and partly at a place, which, in memory of the dear old place on the Mohawk River, was now called New Johnstown. Sometime in 1785, Mr. Stuart says, “I have two hundred acres within half a mile of the garrison, a beautiful situation. The town increases fast; there are already about fifty houses built in it, and some of them very elegant. It is now the port of transport from Canada to Niagara. We have now, just at the door, a ship, a scow, and a sloop, beside a number of small crafts; and if the communication lately discovered from this place by water, to Lake Huron and Michilmackinac proves as safe, and short as we are made to believe, this will shortly be a place of considerable trade.” Reference here must be made to the route up the Bay and River Trent. “I have been fortunate in my locations of land, having 1,400 acres at different places, in good situations, and of an excellent quality, three farms of which I am improving, and have sowed this fall with thirty bushels in them. The number of souls to westward of us is more than 5,000, and we gain, daily, new recruits from the States. We are a poor, happy people, industrious beyond example. Our gracious King gives us land gratis, and furnishes provisions, clothing, and farming utensils, &c., until next September, after which the generality of the people will be able to live without his bounty.” The above must have been written in 1785, as in May, 1786, he opened an academy. In the summer of 1788, he went round his Parish, which was then above 200 miles long. He thus describes his voyage on this occasion. “I embarked in a batteau with six Indians, commanded by Capt. Brant, and coasted along the north shore of Lake Ontario, about 200 miles from the head of the lake; we went twenty-five miles by land, to New Oswego, the new Mohawk village on the Grand River; these people were my former charge, and the Society still styles me their Mohawk Vill. Missionary. I found them conveniently situated on a beautiful river, where the soil is equal in fertility to any I ever saw. Their village contains about 700 souls, and consists of a great number of good houses, with an elegant church in the centre; it has a handsome steeple and bell, and is well finished within.” By this we learn, that not only was the first Protestant Church built at the Grand River, but as well here was the first steeple to contain a bell, which was the first to be heard in Upper Canada. Brant, when in England, collected money for all this. With the above, they had the service of plate, preserved from the rebels on the Mohawk; crimson furniture for the pulpit, and “the Psalmody was accompanied by an organ.” “This place was uninhabited four years ago.” “I returned by the route of Niagara, and visited that settlement. They had, as yet, no clergyman, and I preached to a very large audience. The increase of population there was immense, and indeed I was so well pleased with that country, where I found many of my old Parishioners, that I was strongly tempted to remove my family to it. You may suppose it cost me a struggle to refuse the unanimous and pressing invitation of a large settlement, with the additional argument of a subscription, and other emoluments, amounting to near £300, York currency, per annum more than I have here. But, on mature reflection, I have determined to remain here. You will suppose me to be very rich, or very disinterested; but, I assure you, neither was the case. I have a comfortable house, a good farm here, and an excellent school for my children, in a very healthy climate, and all these I could not have expected had I removed to Niagara. But, that you may be convinced that I do not intend to die rich, I have also declined an honorable and lucrative appointment. Our new settlements have been divided into four districts, of which this place is the capital of one, called New Mecklenburgh, and Courts of Justice are to be immediately opened. I had a commission sent me, as first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. But, for reasons which readily occur to you, I returned it to Lord Dorchester, who left this place a few days ago.”
In 1789, Mr. Stuart was appointed Bishop’s Commissionary for the settlements from Point au Boudette to the western limits of the Province, being the district now constituting Canada West. Though this appointment added nothing to his emoluments, it increased considerably his duties. At the meeting of the first Session of Parliament in 1792, he was named Chaplain to the Upper House of Assembly, an appointment which required for a time his presence at Niagara. He occasionally visited and officiated for the Mohawk Village, at the Bay of Quinté. But, notwithstanding the laudable exertions of the society, and the partial indulgence of the British Government to this tribe, no flattering accounts can be given either of their religious improvements, or approach to civilization; on his return he usually stopped at Col. McDonnell’s, Marysburgh, and preached in his house. In the year 1799, the degree of D.D. was conferred on Mr. Stuart, by the University of Pennsylvania, his Alma Mater, a complement he appreciated from his native state. About the same time he received the appointment of Chaplain to the Garrison of Kingston. “He had secured about 4000 acres of valuable land to which he occasionally made additions.” In his prosperity and wealth he exclaimed: “How mysterious are the ways of Providence! How short-sighted we are! Some years ago I thought it a great hardship to be banished into the wilderness, and would have imagined myself completely happy, could I have exchanged it for a place in the City of Philadelphia,—now the best wish we can form for our dearest friends is to have them removed to us.” It must be remarked that the above is taken from letters written to a friend in Philadelphia, and no doubt, being private and social in their nature, there is often a coloring favorable to the States which emanated from no love to that country. “The remainder of Dr. Stuart’s life seems to have passed in the routine of his duties, interrupted however by attacks of illness, to which the increase of years, and the fatigue attendant on a mission in so new a country, could not fail to subject him.” Dr. Stuart departed this life on the 15th of August, 1811, in the seventy-first year of his age, and was buried at Kingston, where he lives (says one of his cotemporaries) in the heart of his friends. “He was about six feet four inches in height, and from this circumstance, was known among his New York friends as “the little gentleman.” His manners were quiet and conciliating, and his character, such as led him rather to win more by kindness and persuasion, than to awe and alarm them by the terrors of authority. His sermons were composed in plain and nervous language, were recommended by the affectionate manner of his delivery, and not unfrequently found a way to the conscience of those who had long been insensible to any real religious convictions. The honorable title of Father of the Upper Canada Church, has been fitly bestowed on him, and he deserves the name not more by his age and the length of his services, than by the kind and paternal advice and encouragement, which he was ever ready to give those younger than he on their first entrance on the mission.” “By his wife, Jane O’Kill, of Philadelphia, who was born in 1752, he had five sons and three daughters.” All of his sons subsequently occupied distinguished positions. His eldest son George O’Kill, graduated at Cambridge, England, in 1801, entered Holy Orders, and was appointed missionary at York, now Toronto, from whence he returned on his father’s death to Kingston, where he became Archdeacon. He died in 1862, at the age of eighty-six.
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.”