535-03 Page 10 (2)- "While here, the Indians were
.called together for worship, which
Was performed in a very simple
manner, by reading a short di, -
course in their own language,
singing a few verses of a hymn.
The missionaries and Indians
treated us with great respect, and
seemed to rejoice .n the prospect
of having the Gospel preached to
the white settlers on the banks
of the river below.".
Refreshed by their stay at Old
Moraviantown the circuit -rider and
his companion went on their way
to a white settlement. At the first
house they saw, NathanBangs
rode towards the door and saw -a
settler working in the yard on the
other side of the fence. He greeted
him and asked, "Do you want the
Gospel preached here?" Bangs
says that the stranger looked at
him "with curious, earnestness and
replied 'Yes, that we do; do you
preach the Gospel?l" The mission-
arry eagerly said that he did and
that he was ready to do it the next
ay if he could have a meeting
'ouse. The settler promised Bangs
he use of his house for a church,
victuals and lodging for the
preacher and provender for his
horse. With the assurance given
that Bangs' companion would be
welcomed also, the preacher re-
joiced to himself: "This first in-
terview in my new sphere of labor
pleased me much."
Well Received
At once his host saddled his
horse and rode throughout the set-
tlement to summon all the neigh-
bors to a service next day at 10
o'clock. When the hour came the
house was crowded with curious
settlers and Bangs first told his
name, whence he came, whither
he was going and what his errand
was, Also the new minister felt
that he should initiate the listen-
ing strangers into the mystery o
the service:
"I am a Methodist preacher;
and my manner of worship is, to
stand while singing, kneel while
praying, and than I stand while I
preach, the pe9ple meanwhile sitt-
ing. As many of you as see fit to
join me In this way can do so, and
others may choose their own
method."
After singing led by his com-
panion, Bangs preached.a sermon
in the crowded log house.
"At the end," he says, "when I
kneeled in prayer, they all kneeled
down; such a sight I never saw be-
fore." With a few words selling
them how circuit -riders were sup-
kported and their meagre salaries
of f20 Halifax a year, collected
�eery three months, he asked: "All
f you who wish to hear any more
; uc , preaching, rise up." Every
mangy woman and child stood up and
Bangs. made an appointment for
two weeks later. "Thus," he says,
"was my circuit begun,"
In Thamesville
The house in which the scat
tered inhabitants had gathered for
the service was on the large home-
stead of Lemuel Sherman. Part of
the farm is today in the Village
of Thamesville.
When the young preacher had sat
down many of the audience came
up to welcome him, Among them
Was an immigrant, a Mr. Everett,
who had known the famous Metho-
dist leader, Bishop Ashbury, seven
Years before when he had lived in
New Jersey. He invited Bangs to
visit his clearing 10 miles down the
river at Louisville and to preach
there. So, one of the Everett boys
was sent post-hasteon a horse
to notify the families in the lower
region to come to another service
on.the same day at three,,&cIock.,'fi
met Messmore, , his German cor-
'.respondent who had sent the letter
of invitationtwo years before.
Next day at Messmore's cabin, 21
miles farther west, he preached
gain, and guided by the German
ettler he 'rode another 10 miles
own the river and preached in the
ouse of an Indian woman, the
widow of a French-Canadian who
had left her considerable property.,
Nathan Bang, described her and
his life in her house:
Then to Sandwich
"She was good, simple -hearted,
earnest creature, and reminded me
of the Shunamite, for she pre-
pared for me in an upper room, a
bed, a table, a chair, and a candle-
stick. In this room, I preached,
and ate, and slept, and no one was
allowed to enter it in my absence,
except to keep it in order. She
never asked me to sit at the table
with her, deeming herself un-
worthy, but prepared the food and
put it on the table in my room. She
considered herself highly honored
by having the Gospel preached in
her house, and she treated me in
this way during all my stay In this
country, When Iparted with her
the next day after my first visit,
in. shaking hands with me, she left
a dollar in my palm. It was much
neded, for, I was nearly out of
money.
"The next day we traveled, partly
through a scattered French settle-
ment and partly through a prairie,
50 miles, to Sandwich, a small vil-
lage opopsite Detroit, where I
preached in the evening."
At Sandwich he preached to the
prisoners in the jail: Most of his
audience were French-Canadians
and were unable to understand him.
But theie was one among them who
understood him; he had been con-
victed of horse -stealing and for that
crime was sentenced to be hanged,
Bangs brought "hope and com-
fort to him in his extremity," al-
though the consolation was not so
great as to prevent the young
penitent from clinging to the
preacher with a breaking heart as
his last and only friend. When the
minister sadly went away from the
gallows he says that he "could not
but reflect upon the severity of that
criminal code which condemned
a man to death for stealing a
horse. Such undue severity, in my
opinion, instead of preventing
crime, tends to harden the heart
and promote crime."
From other sources than Bangs'
diary the writer has learned that
the minister gave his sermon in
the court room of the Old Court
House and Jail in Sandwich. The
date was August 15, 1804. The con-
demned prisoner was lodged in the
same building. However, execution
of the sentence of hanging for the
crime of stealing the horse did not
take place in the jail but on the
brow of a hill. at Sandwich, at one
time near Mill street, and later at
Russell street. -
The record of an. early punitive
instruction stated:
"Murderers, horse and sheep
thieves shall be hung in some pub -
lie thoroughfare in full view of
passersby until the flesh rot from
their bones."
A special iron framework to
make possible the entire fulfillment
of this gruesome sentence was in
the possession of the sheriff of the
district.
01
, ent Tribute
Set For Site,
Honor Bangs
By C. B. Graham 060�:,�
One hundred and fifty �e 1!rs
ago this month Western Ontario's)
best-known pioneer saddle -bag[
preacher, Nathan Bangs, con-1
ducted a service in the Thames-
ville area The event which will
be recalled tomorrow in Thames-
ville United Church is the first
Preaching by the famous itiner-
ant minister in the home of''
Lemuel Sherman.
The house where this event oc-1
curred on August 12, 1804,wasi
on the north bank of the Thames
River, about 300 yards west of
the present bridge on. Highway
f{uG. Thamesville Cairn Unveiled /
YET
the service at Thamesville
ie first Methodist minister
,i Hussey, chairman of Kent
United Church; Mrs. Harry
1. A. A. Scott, moderator of
i rival of Nathan Bangs of
A stone monument over the grave of David Sherman
also marks the site of the old family home where
Nathan Bangs, Methodist saddle -bag preacher, held
his first service in the Thamesville area-150 years
ago. The coming of Nathan Bangs will be com-
memorated at Thamesville tomorrow.
tario now lies, a cemetery. And
a memorial to David Sherman
marks the exact site. -
In Same Region
The barn, too, which was used
in 1813 as a military hospital,. was w'
also located where the cemetery
now lies. It was moved from this
location to a new site closer to
Thamesville where it burned in ,LS.
YOU wen t e Unveil Cairn .
(Gospel preached here?" 1929
In addition to 'the special.) The.barn's timbers bore the
Cabin Filled church service tomorrow, a me —carved names and initials of men
"That we do," answered the morial cairn will be.unveiled in of the Kentucky Rifles who were
settler, Lemuel Sherman. And the afternoon at Nathan Bangs'.treated there for their injuries
the next day, August 12, the i Memorial Park on Highway 21. following the battle with the
house was filled for the service) at the bridge over the Thames 'forces of Proctor and Tecumseh
of worship. Where the old Sherman cabarlat Moraviartown, The Americans
Nathan Bangsremained in thestood on that day when Method !also wintered in the barn during,
area for some time, his. Circuit had got its start in Western On -'the following. winter. �+
Historic Barn
The Sherman property lays
claim to another historic event.
A barn on the property, which
burned to th ground 25 years ago,
is believed to have been the first
military hospital. in Ontario. It
was used for such a purpose by
invading American forces during
the War of 1812,
Memorial services tomorrow in
Thamesville United Church will
commemorate the arrival of Na-
than Bangs in the district.
Began in 1800
Mr. Bangs, born of Puritan
stock in Connecticut in 1778,
moved to Upper Canada with his
family in 1799, and became a
school teacher. In September,.
1800, he commenced preaching as
a traveling Methodist minister.
While preaching on the Niag-'
Ira circuit, from the Grand River
to Long Point, he received, a let-
ter from. a German Anabaptist
named Messor near Chatham,
asking him to bring his preach-
ing to settlers in that area. It was
L804 before the minister found)
In opportunity to do so.
Arriving at a settler's cabin on
The bang of the Thames, he
leaned over the fence and asked
he settler: "Do t h
extending from Mesa Township
in Middlesex. County, on the east,
to Detroit in the west. He
preached in all the settlements
throughout this region.
His journal records that, on
August 15, he preached in the
court room in Sandwich where
his listeners included a horse
thief about to be hanged.