535-03 Page 8 aNOt-han Bangs,
Left Western
By Charles S. Buck PIA
,�
Nathan Bangs, saddle - bag
preacher sent by the Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1801 to bring
the gospel to the early settlers in
Canada, had commenced his work
In Niagara. Later he had come
through the Burford and Oxford
districts and still later to the
Chatham and Sandwich regions.
On a very tiring journey he had
come by the way of Delaware
Town, the Long Woods and down
the Thames to Sandwich. At the
latter place he had been a sym-
pathetic chaplain at the execution
of a horsethief.
Saddle -Bag Pr
Ontario Circuit
settlers "despondent and perish-
ing." At one place he met Lord
Selkirk's Scotch colonists fleeing
from the pestilent region of Bal-
doon one Lake St. Clair. "No less''.
than twenty-one of their number
had 'died within a few days," he
says. "Notwithstanding their of-.
fliction, they were drunk and up-
marious." He gave them a tract
on temperance and a sermon and
Parted w r arted from them w with the! hearty
blessings. To others gambling in a
tavern farther up the river, his
sudden approach down the road
brought guilty alarm. The boister-
Chastises Americans
ous gamesters jumped up with ter -
From Sandwich, Bangs crossed
roe and escaped by windows and
the river to Detroit and found
edoors before the grave
there that the people were "print -preacher
Prcould admonish them.
-�, pally French Papists; the rest
As' he went along the trail by
mixture of English, Irish, and
the Thames River and deeper in-'
Americans, all as wicked apparent-
to the wilderness he gave up any
they could well be." In fact,
hope of remaining in the western
be discovered
be that the minister of
region during the winter. The rains
n
the place was "in a backslidden
of late autumn were making it;
state," and that young rowdies
dangerous to cross back and forth
had planted charges ofgunpowder!
over swollen river. The roads
In the meeting house candles to
beethe
were ecomin4_ aaahl.nA the_
explode during worship, and that
on his second appointment to
le were always dispersed
preach, "alas! only a few children
settlements, ten, twenty, and even
madetheir appearance!" All these
forty miles apart with intervening
circumstances convinced him of
forests." He would be unable to
the iniquity of the American met-
travel the circuit 1n winter. Ac-,
tlement. The third proof of it cited
cordially, in the middle of Novem-''
above was the sign of such terrible
ber he determined. to set out for
depravity that Bangs shook the
Niagara before he was trapped by
dust of Detroit from his feet, men-
snows in the west.
tally adding a favorite condemn -The
"as
The journey home began well
tion, a testimony against
enough but some of the later
them" and left them. Almost
ages of it were close to agony.
immediately the inevitable judg-
It was pleasant to spend another
went came upon the abandoned
day with the Moravian Brethren
Place which he notes in his journal
in the Indian Mission Fairfield;
thus: "In about four weeks the
the few hours his vplea at Mon•
visits
whole town was destroyed by fire."
a
avtantum were the pleasant In -
Even on the Canadian aide of
summer of his sojourn in the
the Detroit River he found a void
Wes
Western peninsula. Next day he
of morality too big to fill. From
set out and at evening. he came
Sandwich he went to Fort Mal-
to the last long but before which
den and then among settlements
the Long Woods stretched out for
on Lake Erie where Dutch, Ameri-
over 40 miles without is house to
cans, English, Scots and Irish had
Delaware Town. He rested that
settled. By the preacher's verdict
night in a tavern and found aii-
It was "a morally destitute re-
other traveler bound in the same
gion;" for instance, children had
direction. Early in the morning
grown to young men and women
they saddled their horses and an
without hearing a preacher until
tered the woods. During the night
Nathan Bangs visited the neighbor-
a snow storm had covered the
hood. During the next three months
road' with snow but it merely
he rode the circuit among pioneer
made the mud a little deeper, often
communities which are the founda-
up to the knees of their horses.
tions of many towns in the present
They found that all the creeks
counties of Essex and Kent,
which had to be forded were open
"Lake Fever"
but flooded high and that to cross
In settlements among .the stag-
them now it was necessary to dis-'
nant swamps bordering the
encumber their horses of all bar-
"hsince -River, Nathan Bangs found
spas and baggage to allow them to
,(cores of people suffering from
swim: over and then to raft them-
"tever and ague, or Lake Fever as
selves and burdens across on fal-
it was called." He says: "The fever
len logs. No wonderhe could ex -
began to rage in September, and
claim: "The route was sombre In
during its progress, in almost every
its winter desolation!"
. family, less or more were sick; and
Night In The Woods
in some instances every member
Before they were out of this
of the family was prostrated at,j
- stretch of woods, notorious for its
the same time." When he visited al
I depth and gloom,. night came down.
family -dur-ing - this --season and i,
when they reached the edge of an-'
greetings were over, they usually
lather stream. It was impossible to
presented him with a whiskey bat-.
continue after dark, se, they had to
tle and an invitation to drink the
themselves to sleeping in
Hquid to ward off the disease. But
,,resign
'the woods. Fortunately, for such
Bangs ,.:insistently preferred tea to
an emergency the travelers had
the settlers' beverage and trium-
carried with them some food for
Pliantly pointed to his ability to ride
themselves and their horses, flint
the circuit as proof of the milder
and steel, and an Indian toma-
remedy's effectiveness.
ahawk. They made a small wigwam
After one more visit to Detroit1lof
tree branches, than, Banks in
be began a journey which ended at l
his narrative as";
Niagara in the beginning of win-ir
"My companion attempted to
ter. In the American town he found,
!strike fire for us, but his hands
all the taverns crowded with so
j were so stiffened with the cold
many ague -stricken people that'
that he failed. I succeeded with.
be could obtain no public lodging:,
the flint, steel, and, a piece o,
Quickly he returned to Canada'
'punk,' and we kindled a musing.,
_ and rode up -country by the wind -I
fIssue, heaping on brush and logs.!
�y�ry
eaci9 a r, u"I k of his good Asbury,
i
'I knew said Asbury, shaking
his gray locks, "1 knew that the j
in 1804 young maidens would be all after
him; but as he has conducted the i
matter very well let his character
TTTf�It melted the snow; and soon drIc l
the surface of the ground some
distance around. We tied our
horses to trees, gave them some
oats, ate some food ourselves, went
to the creek and drank, and then,
having prayed, lay down to sleep
in our booth, the stare shining)
brightly above us and the winds
moaning through the solemn
,woods. After three hours I awoke,
and found my fellow -travelers up j
and shivering over the fire, which
had near) urn y burned out. 'Come,'
said I, 'let us get some more fuel
and rouse it up again.• We did so,
i and soon were Comfortable. We
!then sat down by it and spent the
! remainder of the night in conver-
sation. -It was a wild, picturesque
scene, and the hours passed agree-
ably as well as profitably. At the- i
break. of day we mounted our I
horses and went onward. We at- t
rived at the first house about three
o'clock in the afternoon, hungry, t
thirsty and. exhausted. I had no 7
soon warmed myself by the fire e
than Ifell asleep.° After supper I I
prayer with the family and went
to bed truly thankful . • , I slept,
sweetly that night, and the next
morning went on my way to Ox-
ford. The snow had, fallen in the j
night, and the next morning the j
snow was sle deep that the travel-
ing was difficult; but my horse,
who seemed as glad as myself to
get safely through the woods and
swamps, trotted on with a brave
heart, so that I arrived in Oxfor
before night, and took 'swee
counsel' with my old friends an
spiritual children. I remained.
there a few days to test snit
preach, and then passed. on 251,
miles further to Burford, where
I was received as one risen from
the dead, for the man who had
accompanied me through the wild-
erness had gone on before me and'11
magnified 'our suffering so., much
that my friends had almost given
me up for lost. Not being able to
persuade any local preacher to
move on to the Thames, the
people there were left without any
preacher till thenextyear when
they were visited by William'
Chase . - and that region has
been a regular circut ever since."
Last Time In Area
In these words Nathan Bangs
describes the last days he spent, ,
in the Thames and Long Point
wilderness.
For three more years after 1804
the rode Canadian circuits in Bay'
of Quinte and Quebec districts. ,
During the remainder of his long
life he lived and preached In the
States, generally in the big cities.
At one election to decide the lead-
ership of the Methodist Episcopal
church of the U.S.A. he narrowly
escaped' the Bishop's chair. But,
in the history of his church his
work in the western Country of
Canada entitles him to be cata-
logued in the cluster of such
Methodist leaders as M'Kendree, i;
Lee, Cartwright, Dow,. Finley and i
Garrettson, that group of frontier
preachers led by Asbury who
poured tremendous energy into.
labor for the new denomination in
America. Before Nathan Bangs
left Canada, however, he took one
souvenir that reminded him of the
'seven years spent in this country.
On the 26th of April, 1806, he
married "Mary Bolton of the Town
_ a._
of Edwardsburg, Upper Canada."
On a visit to the States shiartlyi
afterwards he met his leader, As
bury, who humorously rallied him.
upon his -arly marriage, very rare
among the ch rit rider.; but the
is
The earliest saddle -bag preacher)
oI any denomination to come into
the region of Western Ontario. was
Nathan Bangs, the grandfather of
the famous American humorist -
author, John Kendrick Bangs. He
was an itinerant preacher; sent "be-
yond the Canada line" by the New
York Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal. Church in 1801. On the
12th .of August, three years later,
audience of i-
apeaking to am a p.
assembled in the to house
cheers g
of Lemuel Sherman,. at Thames-
ville; he filled out this introduction
further: He said:
The Introduction
"When a stranger appears in
these new countries, the people are
curious to know his name,
"It extended,," he says, "frn:u
!the head of Lake Ontario over inc
Orand River, and comprehended
all that part of the country, known
as Long Point, which juts into
Lake Erie. On the banks of the
Grand River the Mohawk Indians
were settled. They were in a most
degraded state, as the missionary
Preached to them only on the Sab-
bath, and then spent his time in
drinking ardent spirits, playing
cards and horse racing. Our'.
preachers tried to preach to them
e few times but without any sue -
"The settlements in this country
were new, the roads bad, and the,
fare very hard.... In some places'
a strong tido of prejudice seI,t p 7
against us and was extremely dif-
ficult to resist. Often while tra-
versing those lowly plains and
solitary woods did I call to mind
the pleasant hours I had spent'
among my brethren, with, whom,
I first united in Christian Fellow
Work on Horseback
NYv
CQt(Gti/_
hRGN
"Most Wicked" `Part of America
Described by Cleric in '1810 Letter
By Lillian C. Gray
Canada, in speaking of the s
ment on the north shore 50
below Detroit, called this
"perhaps the most wicked
dissipated of any .part of s
In a letter addressed to Bishop
shbury, and dated at Chatham,
.Y., May 16, 1810, Mr. Case re-
ewed his mission work in the
etroit country during the year
"According to your appoint-
ment, I set out from Ancaster to
Detroit, the 22nd of June, but not
without many fears, and a heavy
burden of souls; for I greatly
feared I had neither gifts nor
graces for so important a charge,
so that I waded through deep
waters, as well as mire, the most
of my journey, till I came to the
English settlement on the River
Thames, more than .two hundred
miles from Niagara, and near
one hundred yet from Detroit,
and proceeded to preach in differ-
ent places as I passed along."
Received Kindly
Mr. Case said that many people
received him very kindly, and
after snendine a week on the
of any part. of America.. T
have no preaching save
Roman Catholics, and some of
Church of England, whose prk
I- understand, have frequer
after service, joined their coal
gations at dancing and pla7
cards, which renders them r
popular, especially in the hil
"Their amusements are horse -
racing, dancing, gambling, which,
together with destructive practice
of excessive drinking, have pre-
vented the prosperity of this
country. The holy Sabbath has no
preference over any other day,
except that they make a choice
of it as a day of wicked amuse-
ments, visiting in parties, often
dancing, hunting, fishing, etc."
Among Strangers
The Methodist preacher - had
come alone into this area, to a
people all of whom were strang-
ers to him. He soon learned there
were those who would not hesi-
tate to take his life if they
thought they could do it without
being caught.
Some of the magistrates for-
bade the people to allow meetings
to be held in their houses, on pain
of a heavy fine. One rough fellow
river, he proceeded on tnrougn •••-•• •- ------- _.
the Fr6rch settlements, to Malden, a_!O-11P, declaring he would hang
where he again preached to a the preacher if he did not preach
large and listening congregation. to suit the belligerent visitor. All
From there he went on to what these trials Mr. Case tried to
was called the New Settlement," accept with Christian fortitude.
fifty miles below Detroit, on the ,Here and there, the preacher
th h d ear the head o rean n f found a friend who received him
nor a o,
Lake Erie." f
l "This settlement Is composed I
' principally of people .from the s
1 States, who during the last Rev- r
1 olutionary and Indian wars, were 1
t employed with or taken by the
1 Indians; and some of them are
strangely cut and scarred with t
tomahawks and knives."
I Mr. Case was not exactly tol- s
t erant toward the representatives (
of the other faiths in that area t
the wrote: "This country, perhaps, 1
Cis the most wicked and dissipated
,jde had been accepted and was
appointed to the Niagara circuit
which from 1795 had been one
that required only two weeks to
complete the round. Now, in 1801,
the circuit was three times as
large and required daily psach, i,^,
"for the consolation
•eacher received a Isa ary of
sgether with $20 ex es:
ii-ilr s, he eft $10 for an -
minister and gave some as-
ce to the General Confer-
ence.
One of Mr. Case's converts In
this area was Joseph Willie, a
man probably of 6ernian origin.
For nearly 50 years, he carried
the gospel message: to others,
traveling the wilderness day and
night as he carried out his of-
fices of the church. Another lay
preacher was Joseph Malott, a
pioneer of French descent, who
contributed equally, as much to
the Methodist work in this dis-
The plan of the the Methodist
must on the Canadian shore
as to pursue an irregular route
240 miles, with twelve regular
1pointmentaa, which might be
overed in two weeks. Mr. Case
sought another minister would
i necessary on the Detroit side.
For his services for the year,
talk never permits one to imagine' _
him uttering the disarming re-
marks of another circuit -rider who
used to visit the next generation
of this area. His name wasthe li
Rev. Joseph Little, affectionately! n„
l I, known as Uncle Joe, whoa. hors,,,!
In "Long Woods"
The hardships suffered by,
.base early preachers is well it-
ustrated by as account given b7
r fellow preacher of the exper
ence of the Rev. Nathan Banz
n the "Long Woods" betweei
1loraviantown and Delaware.
"Mounting their horses early h
:he morning they entered the
woods, There was snow tw(
inches deep on the ground; th,
streams were high and still open
the mud often up to the knees of
their horses; they frequently had,'
to strip them of saddle and
bridle and drive them over the
creeks, and then pass over them-
selves on logs.
'We constructed,' he says, 'a
small wigwam of branches of
trees and shrubs. My companion
attempted to strike fire for us,
but his hands were so stiffened
with cold that he -failed. I suc-
ceeded with flint, steel, and a'
piece of 'punk' and we kindled of
rousing flame, heaping on brushr,.
and logs.
"After three hours I found my('
companion up and shivering over
the fire, which had nearly burni
out. 'Come,' said I, 'let us get)
more fuel and rouse it up again.
We did so, and soon were com-
fortable. We then sat down by 1t,
and spent the remainder of this
night in conversation,