535-03 Page 8 bNathan Bangs,
Left WT V extern
By Charles S. Busk i/!� i7Y
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
On 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 Themes to Sandwich. At the
latter place he had been a sym
pathetic chaplain at the execution)
of a horsethief.
Saddle -a
Ontario Ci
settlers "despondent and Perish-
ing." At one place he met Lord
Selkirk's Scotch colonists fleeing
from the pestilent region of Bal-
doon onS Lake St. Clair. "No less
than twenty-one of their number
had 'died within a few days," he
says. "Notwithstanding their af-
fliction, they were drunk and up-
roarious." He gave them a tract
on temperance and a sermon and
Parted from them with their hearty
blessings. To others gambling in a
tavern farther up the river, his
sudden approach down the road]
brought ilt • lar Th b ' t
Chastises Americans
g gu a. in. a ors er-
3
From -Sandwich, Bangs crossed
ous gamesters jumped up with ter -
the river to Detroit and found
or and escaped by windows and
there that the people were "'tine)-
back doors before the grave
. pally French Papists; the. teat a
preacher could admonish them.
mixture of English, Irish, and
Ashe went along the trail by
the Thames
Americans; all all wicked apparent-
River and deeper in-'
-gave
ly as they could well be." In fact,
to the wilderness he up any
be discovered that the minister of
hope of remaining in the western
the place was 'in a backslidden
region during the winter. The rains.
state," and that young rowdies
of late autumn were making it
dangerous to
toback forth
had planted charges. of gunpowder.
cross. and
li
In the meeting house candles to
over the river. The roads
becoming
explode during worship, and that
were naecohl.
on his second appointment to
appointment
re were always dispersed "in
Preach,
ach, "alas! only a few children
settlements, ten, twenty, and even
made their appearance!" All these
forty miles apart with intervening
circumstances convinced him of
`
forests." He would be unable to
the iniquity of the American set-
tlement. The third proof of it cited
travel the circuit in winter. Ae-
above was tire sign of such terrible
cordiinngly, in the middle of Novem-
depravity that Bangs shook the
her determined to set out for
dust of Detroit from his feet, men-
Niagara before he was trapped by
tally adding a favorite
deep snows in the west.
y againa.st
the "as a testimony against
The journey home began well
them" and left them. Almost
enough but some of the later
' Immediately the inevitable jned
stages of it were close to agony.
plant came upon the abandoned
It was pleasant to spend another
place which he notes his journal
day with the Moravian Brethren
r
thus: "In about four weeks. the
in the Indian Mission at Fairfield;
whole town was destroyed by fire."
the few hours of his visits at Mor-
Even on the Canadian aide of
ai
aviantown were the pleasant In-
dian summer of h ' nr sojourn in the
the Detroitt River he found ' s void
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,
over 40 miles without a house to
cans, English, Scots and Irish had he
Delaware Town. He rested that
settled. By the preacher's verdict
night in a tavern and found an -
it was ' a morally destitute re-
other traveler bound in the same
gion;" for instance, children had
d'irectiod. Early in the morning
grown to young men and women
they saddled their horses and en -
without hearing. a preacher until
tiered the woods. During the night
Nathan Bangs visited the neighbor-
a snow storm had covered the
hood. During the next three months
roadwith snow but it merely
he rode the circuit among pioneer
made the mud a little deeper, often
communities which are the founds-
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
"Imke Fever"
but flooded high and that to cross
In settlements among .the stag-
them now it was necessary to dis-'
ant swamps bordering the
encumber their horses of all bar.
Mames"River, Nathan Bangs found
ness and baggage to allow them to
scores of people suffering from
swimover and then to raft them -
"fever and ague, or Lake Fever as
selves and burdens across on fal-
It was called." He says: "The fever
len logs. No wonder. he could ex -
began to rage in September, and
claim: "The mute was sombre in
during its progress, in almost every
its winter desolation!"
family, less or more were sick; anti
Night In The Woods
In some instances every member I l
Before they were out of this
of the family was prostrated ate'
stretch of woods, notorious for its
i the same time." When he visited a
depth and gloom, night came down,
-family '.during .this -season 'an �� I
when they reached the edge of an -
greetings were over, they usually ',other
stream. It was impossible to
presented him with a whiskey bot.
continue after dark, So they had to
tle and an invitation to drink the
resign themselves to sleeping in
liquid to ward off the disease. But ;,the woods. Fortunately, for such
Bangs ,consistently preferred tea to
an emergenpy the travelers had
the settlers' beverage and trium-',
carried with them some food for
phantly pointed to his ability to ride I
themselves and their horses, flint
the circuit as proof of the milder! vand steel, and an Indian toma-
remedy's effectiveness, .hawk. They made a small wiewam
After one more visit to Detroit Iof tree branches, then, Banks in
he began a journey which ended at I this narrative says: --.
Niagara in the beginning of win- ! r
"My companion attempted to
ter. In the American town he found i i
strike fire for vs, but his hands
all the taverns crowded with so
were So stiffened with the cold
many ague -stricken people that '
that he failed. I Succeeded with
he could obtain no public lodging.
the flint, steel, and. a piece of
Quickly he returned to Canada
`punk,' and we kindled a cousin +
and rode up -country by the wind- i y�lame, heaping on brush and logs.
_. _
g Preacher,
account of his good looks
"I knew," said Asbury, shaking)
his gray locks, "I knew that the
tell it in 1804
young maidens would be all after
him; but as he has conducted the
matter very well let his character'I
t, me e the snow, and soon dried pass."
the surface of the ground some
i. distance around. We
-- Theearliest. saddle -bag preacher
tied our
horses to trees, gave them Some
of any denomination to come Into
oats, ate some food ourselves, went
the region of Western Ontario was
Tito the creek and drank, and then
Nathan Bangs, the grandfather of
,
having prayed; lay down to sleep
the famous American humorist-
. in our booth, the stars shining
author, John Kendrick Bangs. He
brightly above us and the winds'
was an itinerant preacher; sent "be-
moaning through the solemn
yond the Canada line" by the New
woods. After three hours I awoke,
York Conference of .the Methodist
and found my fellow -travelers up j
Episcopal. Church in 1801. On the
— _- -- l
12th .of August, three years later,
and Shivering over the fire, which
speaking to - an audience of pi -
had nearly burned out, °Come,'
oneers assembled in the loghouse
said I, 'let us get .some more fuel
of Lemuel Sherman,: at Thames -
and rouse It up again.,a W did so,.
ville he filledout this introduction
1 and Soon were comfortable. We
further. He .said:
then sat down by it and spent the
The Introduction
1 remainder of the night in conver-
"When a stranger appears In
qsation.'It was a wild, picturesque
these new countries, the people are
Iscene, and the hours passed agree-
usually curious to know his name,
ably as well as profitably. At the
whence he comes, wither he, is
I break of day we mounted our
-bound and what his errand; I will
'horses andwent onward. We ar-
try to satisfy you in/brief:
I rived at the first house about three
"My name is Nathan _Bangs. I
o'clock in the afternoon, hungry,
was born In Connecticut, May 2;
thirsty and exhausted.. I had no
1778.... I commenceditinerating
soon warmed myself by the fire
as a preacher in the month of Sep -
than I fell asleep." After Supper I
tmber, 1801. On the 18th of June,
prayer with the family and went
the present year, I left New York
to bed truly thankful .. , I slept
for the purpose of visiting you, of
sweetly that night, and the next
whom T-had heard about two years
morning went on my way to Ox-
ago, and after a long tedious jour-.
ford. The snow had. fallen in the
nay I am here; I am bound for
night, and the next morning the
the Heavenly City, and my errand
snow was so deep that the travel-
among you is to persuade as many
ing was difficult; but my horse,
as I can to go with me."
who Seemed as glad as myself to
This was said at a pause Inhis-
get safely through the woods and
second journey into the western
swamps, trotted on with a brave
peninsula which had taken 54 days
heart, so that I arrived in Oxfor
by bush trails from Niagara.
before night, and took 'swee
Pilgrim Stock
counsel' with my old friends an
:Nathaa. Bangs was a. Conneeti-
spiritual children. I remained
.cut Yankee of Puritan, even of
there a few days to rest and
Pilgrim stock, who had migrated.
preach, and then passed. on 25
.with some of his family to a Dutch
miles further to Burford, where
settlement in the Niagara pemn.
I was received as one risen from
sula.- Here he taught school,. sur=
the dead, for the man who had;
veyed and joined the Meth-
accom ante me through
p. d the wild-:
g
.land
odist Church after his conversion
ernes' had gone on before me and 1.,
In 1800.
magnified bur suffering so, much
He was soon licensedasan ex-
'that my friends had almost given
horter and three months later as
me up for lost. Not being able to
a preacher and started at once
persuade any local preacher to
upon a circuit. With money he had
move ' on to the Thames, the
earned as. a surveyor ands teach -
people there were left without any
er he bought a new outfit of
preacher till the next year when
clothes, a horse and a saddle,
they were visited by William
Chase
along with the indispensable leath-
. . . and that region has,
er saddle -bags of the circuit rider.
been a regular eireut ever since." 4
If
In his diary he wrote, "I sold
last Time in Area
In these words Nathan Bangs
my surveyor's instruments to a
describes the last days he spent)
friend to whom I had taught the
in the Thames and Long Point
art, mounted myhorse and rode.
wilderness. ,
forth to 'sound the alarm' in the
For three more years after 1804
wilderress;taking nofurther
he rode Canadian circuits in Bay
thought. 'what I,should eat, o
of Quinte and Quebec districts.
drink, or. wherewithal I should b
During the remainder of his long
clothed."'
life he lived and preached In the
"Has He a Horse?"
States, generally in the big cities.
A horse and the leather furni.
At one election to decide the lead-
tore that went upon its back were
ership of the Methodist Episcopal
necessary to the itinerating min -
church of the U.S.A. he narrowly
inter, and the congregations of
escaped the Bishop's chair. But,
the circuit were expected to Pro -
in the history of his church his
vide their preacher with those
work in the western country of
necessities, that - is if r they were
Canada entitles tam to be cata.
prosperous .enough to do so and
logued in the cluster of such
if the itinerantwas,"a full me
Methodist leaders as M'KendreeJ�ad
her of Conference." As Bangs was
Lee, Cartwright, Dow,.ley and
merely on probation yet, he had to
Garrettson, that groupfrontier
present himself ready mounted.
preachers led by Ary who
When he was being examined by
pouted tremendous egy into
such. inquiries asthese: "Can he
labor for the new denoation in
preach acceptably?" and "Does he
America. Before NatBangs
keep our ,rifles?" there was this
:eft Canada, however, ook one
other question seldom .before this
souvenir that reminded of the
time set down in a minister's
seven years spent in tcountry.
catechism, namely, "Has IOn
the 26th of Apri806, he
horse?"married
"Mary Bolton own
,fie had been accepted andwas
of Edwardsburg, 'Uppeanada."
appointed to the NiagaraircuitOn
a visit to the Stashortly
+which from 1795 had been one
afterwards he met his er, As-
that required only two weeks to
bury, who humorously ied him
complete the round. Now, in1801,upon
his early marriagery ram1
the circuit was three times as
among the circuit ridebut the
large and required daily preaching
--
in small settlenrenta
"It extended;" he says, "from
'the headof Lake Ontario over the
Grand 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 triedtopreach to them
a few times but without any Sue
cess.
"The. settlements In this country,
were new, the roads bad; and the
fare very hard.... In some places,' ,vy�
a strong tide of prejudice set in •V ^C
against us and was extremely dif Q X �n �.J
ficult to resist. Often while ..a CLGar�G+y(,c(.t/_
versing those lowly plains and IV
solitary woods did I call to mind
the pleasant hours I had spent htCGV
.among my brethren, with whom
I first united in Christian Fellow-i
ship under better auspices."
Revival Front
In those days this area was the
Canadian West, The Niagara and
the Sandwich districts with thei
Long Point country wedged be
tween was a sector of the battle-!
front of the Great Revival, that'
marvelous shaking of dry bones:
along the whole American fron-
tier which marked the beginning
of the 19th century,. In this era.
the circuiteers like Natham Bangs.
received an inspiration and a train-
ing which shade them mighty men.
of religion in Canada . and thel
States. As one said, "The Northern):
preachers brought the Canada fire'
with them wherever they went""
Baptista and Methodists, Shakers
and Quakers, all sent men into the
West to work for the . -salvation of
souls.
The Methodist Itinerants were
the most fervent of missionaries.
Bangs was a typical circuit rider.
He was young, just 23 years old
when he to began preach,
g p e ch, by ex-
perience inured to pioneer hard-
ships and the dangers of hiscall-
ing. His jubilant .conversion had.
issued in the desire to sacrifice
everything, including himself, to
the cause. Byforest paths and
along corduroy roads he rode on
his grey- horse through the cri-
cuit 15 miles or more a day, clad
in simple black, with long hair
under a broad -brimmed hat; a
blanket rolled on.. the Saddle be.
hind .him and his - saddle -bags
heavy with his Bible and Hymn
Book and a. fewothernecessities
before him.
3 "Tempters"
Generally alone, Bangs jogged
from one settlement to another,
the care of souls heavy on his
mind and three tempters to en-
counter, "the devils the musketoes,.
and my horse." In the morning.
when he set out with the tailsof
has coat pulled up away from the:
sweating flanks of his horse, he
was fresh with ardor, now sing-
ling and now rehearsing to the
trees a sermon modified- from his
textbook, Baxter's "Call.- When-
ever he came to a house on the
way he tried to give "a word of
exhortation therein." At every door
be said: "I have to talk with you
about religion, and pray with you.
IY you are willing to receive me
for this purpose, I.' will Stop; if.
not, I will gc oa."
The. color of Bangs' recorded
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 was the
Rev. Joseph Little, affectionately
known as Uncle Joe,. whose horse,
N=LJO5,' Bout.
ONG AgC— 15M
WORN AWAY I
v
w g,
s novel, "Giant"
" and "Run for th
three hours and
picture uses. To:
ng cast and give,
,h one might sa}
novel
of
Texan
fight Rock
i-trod-
against the
to the
somewhto.
f- idle
oriat
amast g
movie
film fight.
' from
events were
Pon to.
the picture t
creative .pow
h the
Carroll Bad
i the.
"Giant" role
rriage
proached "B
e get
recently play
f the.
Baker is in(
wboy,
tal ent to was
these
wood scene.
'epent
as the , ycun
Miss Taylor a
his
completely cc
to as
Here's a gh
rea" a
movie guide i
on W
"Attack!"
he
guarded Mom,
out
double bill at
n he
former, starri.
rhort
and. Eddie -A