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A Red Letter Day in
the First Church, Picton A Class That Has
Been in Continuous Existence With Leadership
almost in One Family - Kingston Sent Out
the Clergyman Who Started the Work - Many Admirable
Addresses The Picton papers have extended reports of
the celebration of the centennial of Methodism in that town on Jan. 27th. On Jan 27th, 1793, a class of
thirteen was formed composed of Andrew and Mary Johnson, Henry and Elizabeth
Johnson, Alexander and Mary Peterson, David and Sally Yeomans,
John and Susannah Low, Martha Johnson, Nicholas Peterson and Samuel
Wright. They were the fruit of a grand
revival at the church on the south side of Hay Bay in the township of
Adolphustown. Andrew Johnson, the
first leader, was the grandfather of William Henry Johnson, the present
leader. He was a man eminently well
fitted both by natural endowments and by the gifts and graces of the spirit
for the important post assigned. Quiet
and unostentatious, he was nevertheless fervent, faithful, zealous and
whole-hearted. Rev. Darius Dunham was
pastor, a pioneer minister of zeal, perseverance and courage. On Jan. 27th, last, the
services began by Rev. Dr. McDiarmid, who announced
the hymn, “All hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” After prayer he spoke of the past and of
the present. “We have in this church
(First Church) a membership of 500 and 300 in Main street church and eighty
per cent of the church membership in Prince Edward county is Methodist.” This was an occasion for thankfulness and
consecration. The covenant service was
then conducted. Following came a
reunion of Mr. Johnson’s class, at which the leader, Mr. Corke,
aged 76; Mr. Levitt, German Williams,
A. Williams, Mr. Cohoon, Mr. Ross, David VanDusen, Mr. Brown, A. Doxsee,
Mrs. Rawson, aged 80; George Johns
spoke. Appropriate songs were also
sung. In the afternoon, W.H. Johnson read a
paper on the class. The records,
covering sixty years, contained the names of 430 persons, of whom he knew 135
were dead. Andrew Johnston, the first
leader, was born in 1759. He lived
seventy-eight years. His wife was born
in 1761, and lived eighty-one years.
These were the speakers’ grand-parents. His grandmother had the honor of being the
mother of the first white child born in what is now Picton. How long Mr. Johnson held office is not
known, but his successor was Henry Johnson, a younger brother, and
grandfather of J.S. Johnson,. He was a
very successful leader, probably the most so of any of the name. The class meetings were held for some
length of time in his house, in the eastern part of the town. He was succeeded by his son, John, father
of Robert Johnson and grandfather of W. F. Johnson, both of Picton. Then came P.V. Elmore for a short time,
possibly because he was a surveyor and away considerable of this time. He was succeeded by William Johnson, father
of the speaker. then came William
Vance and in 1853 W.H. Johnston took charge.
He said”: “This month seems to have been a very eventful month in my
history; as I was born in January,
converted and joined this class in January, was married in January, and made
a leader of this class in January, and last of all permitted to take part in
this celebration in January. It is
forty years this month since I was appointed leader by pastor Wm.
McFadden.” There are six members of
the class now in it when he took charge.
the class now numbers eighty members. George Johnson, of Belleville, followed
with reminiscences. He said: “When a small child, my mother, whose ashes
lie out here in God’s acre, was called home to the God she loved. I was placed in charge of my grandparents,
Andrew and Mary Johnson, known as Andreas and Maricha. They had seen turbulent times, and were
then quietly living their lives over, having retired from life’s scenes; they lived over the past, their mind and
conversation were of the past. For
hours I have knelt at my grandmother’s knee, with my head on her lap, and
listened to the thrilling adventures of their lives until my hair almost
stood on end.” He related, lengthily,
the story of the American revolution and of the removal of his grandparents
to Picton from New York state. The
hardships were great but the courage and bravery was indomitable. Of the conversion of his grand-parents, he
said: “In the fall of 1792, a stranger
passing through stopped at their home over night, and had a stirring tale to
tell. A crazy or wild man was holding
some kind of a pow-wow down at Adolphustown, where
men and women sang, screamed, fainted and rolled over the floor, possessed of
the Evil One. He called himself a
Methodist, but was believed to be an agent of Satan. Grandmother was horrified, but as her good
man had known something of Methodists in New Jersey, he prevailed on her to
go and see. They paddled a log canoe
down one evening. They came, they saw,
and were conquered. They both went
home that night happy in the Saviour.
The next day they prevailed on the brother and sister-in-law to go,
and four were saved, and these four were the seed of Methodism in Prince
Edward. They held prayer together, a
few came in, and on the 27th day of January, 1793, the first class
was formed.” Rev. S. J. Shorey,
Napanee, a former pastor, preached a magnetic sermon from Ecclesiasties
VII, -10, declaring that the former days were not better than the present,
either in the history of the church or of Christian life: “We are gathered together to-day in the
history of other days, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
first Methodist church in this place.
Then there was indeed but one Methodist church, and that was the old
Adolphustown church, but one Methodist church in this dominion; now we have 4,000. There were, perhaps, two ministers in this
country; now there are 1,800. There were then from four to six leaders,
where now we have 7,000 class leaders;
from 50 to 100 members, now 240,000.
There were no Sabbath school officers and teachers, and there are now
about 24,000 officers and teachers and 232,000 Sunday school scholars. Then, perhaps, in 1793, from $500 to $1,000 possibly was raised for
church purposes, and now we are raising $2,000,000 a year for the purposes of
Methodism in this land. Then perhaps
the value of all our church property was five or six hundred dollars, and
now, we have property valued at twelve millions of dollars. All this has been accomplished in 100
years, and yet there are some who may feel like saying that “the former days
were better than these.” I don’t mean
to say but that there might have been some things in the past that we might
have kept with advantage till to-day.
I do sometimes long for a revival of the old heavenly piety that
marked the lives of the old fathers.
But we have become refined and thoughtful and I suppose more
intelligent in our piety; I would not
find fault with that, but I do believe that the old heavenly fire, if you
please, that burned in the hearts of those zealous people has placed
Methodism on its present footing. May
the fire never die out. “One hundred years from to-day, if some one recalls, the past, if some
one heaps up before him the statistics that mark the progress of the
church for the last 100 years, I wonder what they will be. I could tell if I knew what kind of lives
men and women were going to live. In
our church to-day if I knew that the young people who are taking the places
of their fathers, had the same spirit the same trust in God, the same valor
in His service, then I know that the history of the church in the next 100
years would be one of increasing and mightier prosperity than in the
past. All the earth, it seems to me,
would be won for God.” W. H. R. Allison, Q.C., made a few
remarks. He said Methodism was
introduced into this country by this means:
British soldiers who were Methodist local preachers, Capts. Webb and Tupper and Major Neale, preached from
1781 to 1786. In 1788, a local
preacher, by the name of Lyons, from the states, taught school in
Adolphustown and preached to the people.
After this came Losee, and others from the states. At this service letters were read from
Rev. G.R. Sanderson, D.D., London, a former pastor, who cherished many
precious memories of Picton friends;
Rev. George Young, Toronto, aged seventy-one, could not undertake a
journey in such weather, but, if spared, he would try, next summer, to visit
his native country; from Mrs. Letitia Youmans, Toronto, who,
forty-three years ago, entered Picton a stranger, to teach in McMullen’s
academy. For forty-nine years, she had
been a member of the Methodist church.
“As I recount the seventeen ministers who have, during these years,
been pastors of the church, I am reminded that five of them have gone home to
heaven. And those who used to worship
with us, a great company, are, to-day, before the throne. Doubtless their spirits mingle with you as
you worship together.” John N. Lake,
New York, recalled old days. In 1855,
he preached his first sermon in Picton.
In 1856-7 300 souls were converted, among them, many pillars in the
present church. A dinner was served in the evening, and
afterwards the church was crowded.
Ex-Mayor Porte presided. He
said the original church, built on the site of the present church, was moved
off its foundation thirty-eight or nine years ago and was burned last
year. R. B. Mastin
gave a welcoming address to the congregation on behalf of Mr. Johnson’s
class. He believed the same fire of a
hundred years ago was still burning in the hearts of his classmates. H.C. McMullen delivered an address, on “One
Hundred Years of Methodism in Picton.”
It was a stirring review. In
1791, William Losee was appointed to the Kingston circuit, covering fifty
miles east and west of this city. In
the next two years he formed many classes, and in 1793 Losee and Darius
Dunham were appointed to take charge of the Canadian work, divided into two
circuits, Oswegatchie
and Cataraqui, instead of Kingston.
Mr. Dunham had charge of the Cataraqui circuit, and Losee of the
lower, located in the vicinity of Ogdensburg. Mr. Dunham, having received
full ordination, ranked as the senior minister. Revivals seemed almost constant in those
days, as the membership on the Cataraqui circuit had increased to 255 and on
the lower circuit to ninety by May 1793.
During this year the first class was organized at Hallowell bridge,
now Picton, as the original list of members, now in W. H. Johnston’s
possession, bears date, January 27th, 1893 and is signed by Darius
Dunham. In 1817, the Hallowell circuit
was formed and in 1818 it had 372 members.
now there are 4,000 members in the same bounds as the original
circuit. Following the address came vigorous
remarks from Revs. W. Tomblin, A. D. Miller and
O.R. Lambly.
At a fellowship meeting Messrs, James Ross, Richard Williamson, J. B.
McMullen, W. H. Austin, (Trenton), and G. W. McMullen spoke. Among the ministers present who took part
in the services were: Rev. W. Tomblin, Centreton; Rev. O. R. Lambly,
Wellington; Rev. W. Briden, Bloomfield;
Rev. S. J. Shorey, Napanee; Rev. G. Horton, Adolphustown; and Rev. A. D Miller, Picton. The committee appointed at the last
meeting of the quarterly official board to take charge of the centennial
celebration was composed of the following members: Rev. Dr. McDairmid,
C. S. Wilson, W. J. Porte, W. H. Johnston, G. D. Platt, R.B. Mastin, H. W. Branscombe and H.
C. McMullen. |
