Owen Chapter 104

SKETCH CIV

OLD WOODHOUSE CHURCH, THE CRADLE OF NORFOLK METHODISM

It was only about seventy-one years after the name “Methodists” was first given to the Wesley brothers and their fellow college students, and only sixty-one years after the first Methodist Society was organized in London, England, that this old Woodhouse Methodist church first assumed a definite form. This was about the beginning of the present century, and only about nine years after the founder of Methodism died. As a system or organized Christian effort for the evangelization of the struggling masses, Methodism has been a marked success from its inception. The name was given to the young college students by a student of Christ Church, in allusion to the exact and methodical manner in which they performed the various engagements which a sense of Christian duty induced them to undertake, such as meeting together for the purpose of studying Scripture, visiting the poor and the prisoners in Oxford jail, at regular intervals. During the life of its founder, Methodism spread over the United Kingdom, the continent of Europe, the States of America and the West India Islands; and when John Wesley died, in 1791, there were 80,000 members of Methodist Societies. The first Methodist preachers in America were Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, who came from England to New York about thirty-two years before the Woodhouse Methodist church was organized.

Methodism possesses a most wonderful vitality. It will take root, grow and multiply where nothing else will. It is adapted to every clime and to all nationalities. It is the great harbinger of advancing civilization; and it not only pioneers its way into the primeval forest at the first click of the settler’s axe, but it also remains behind and adjusts itself to the highest and best cultured social developments. There is a social side to Methodism which makes it very popular with the masses; but the secret of its great influence over the people lies, no doubt, in the intense earnestness of its appeals to the emotional side of human nature.

The old circuit-riders of London District were heroes in their Master’s cause. They were men of iron nerve. The heat of summer, the snows and icy blasts of winter, and the beasts of the forest, had no terrors for them. They pioneered their way through stretches of entangled forest and malarial swamps, with all their earthly belongings tucked away in their saddle-bags, with a singleness of purpose that proves their sincerity and stamps their names with reverential respect. When a brother in Christ was found in some remote settlement, his log cabin was made a temporary temple of worship. Every little clearing was visited for miles around, and the settlers induced to assemble at the Christian brother’s cabin to hear the Word preached, and from these primitive gatherings was developed the nucleus of a future Methodist Society.

Unfortunately, all the old papers and early minutes of the Woodhouse Methodist Society have either been destroyed or carried away by some person or persons unknown. We are left in the dark, therefore, as to the early history of this old church; and must accept, instead, the traditionary fragments gathered from the oldest living members.

Before the present century was born, a log school-house had been erected on the sand knoll a little west of the present residence of William Matthews, on Lot 2, in the Gore of Woodhouse. This was one of the first school-houses erected in Norfolk, and it would be interesting to know who the first teacher was, and what the names of his pupils. In this school-house the early missionaries held their meetings, and a Sunday School was also held here. These meetings and this Sunday School were not denominational. At this early period of our history, no religious movement was distinctly denominational. Settlement was sparse, and no religious services or any kind of organized movement was possible, except by united effort. Philip Forse was the original owner of the lot whereon stands the church edifice. Both he and his wife were Methodists, and yet it is very doubtful if, when he donated the land, in the beginning of the present century, for a church site and burying-ground, he anticipated the time when it would be owned and controlled exclusively by the Methodists. The land was donated to meet a matured want on the part of the settlers at large, for a public burying-ground, and it was donated for this purpose; and on the moss-covered old tombstones that crowd each other in this sacred old city of the dead, may be read the names of old pioneers of every kind. And when the first little church was erected in the first year of the new century—as is supposed—settlers of all religious beliefs, as well as those of no faith, contributed a helping hand in its erection. The first religious services were conducted principally by the Methodists—as, indeed, had been the case when services were previously held in the log school-house—and a Methodist Society was at once organized.

The first local preacher in charge of this pioneer Methodist Society was Elder Daniel Freeman; and the first body buried in the grounds was Elder Freeman’s little daughter, Mary Swazie. It is said that Andrew Smith, Col. Isaac Gilbert, Thomas Marr and Samuel Decew were pioneer trustees, and that Samuel Decew was the first Recording-Steward. Among the original members were the following: James Matthews and wife, Philip Forse and wife, Mrs. John Bowlby, Mrs. Joseph Lemon, Frederick Sovereign and wife, Mrs. Charles Hanners, Daniel Hazen and wife, Daniel Freeman and wife, Philip Austin and wife, Jacob Buchner, and George Salmon and wife. The latter was not related to Colonel Salmon.

It is said that Daniel Hazen and his wife came to the meetings on foot; that Mrs. Hazen came quite regularly, and that Mrs. Hazen accompanied him at least four times each year—when the quarterly meetings were held; and that they walked through the forest all the way from their home in Walsingham. It was seventeen miles, as the crow flies, from their pioneer cabin to the little meeting-house; but if the footsteps of this pioneer father and mother could be traced to-day, in the winding and deviations that a new and sparsely-settled country made necessary, the distance would be much greater. They carried a luncheon with them, and long before the sun kissed the new-born day they were well on their way. Is it any wonder that Methodism grew and flourished?

In 1818 the little pioneer society had outgrown its church edifice, and a larger building became necessary. David Marr superintended the construction of the new building, while all put their shoulders to the wheel, and in due time it was completed and paid for. Among the additional names appearing on the Recording Steward’s book at this time were: Colonel Isaac Gilbert and wife, Colonel E. M. Gilbert and wife, John Gilbert and wife, Colonel Joseph Ryerson and wife, Robert Monroe and wife, Ephraim Tisdale and wife, Shelar Buchner, Jacob Buchner, jun., and wife, and Reynard Potts and wife.

In about 1860 the Society resolved to build a brick edifice of still larger proportions. The contract was let to George Scott and Holmes Matthews—the former superintending the mason work and the latter the wood work. The old building was sold to the contractors and taken down by them, and the material made use of in the building of the sheds and for other purposes. The lumber used cost $2 per thousand. The building was furnished with a tall spire, from the top of which the workmen could plainly see people moving about on the streets of Simcoe. Subsequently the spire was blown down during a severe storm, and the present belfry was constructed.

Before the lot from which the church grounds were taken passed out of Colonel Salmon’s hands, an enlargement of the cemetery grounds became necessary. The Colonel was offered $200 per acre for additional territory, but he stubbornly refused to sell; and after his estate passed into other hands, the society purchased ten acres at $60 per acre. Every available spot in the old grounds had been utilized; yes, more than utilized, for it frequently happened that the digging of a new grave was but the opening of some unmarked and forgotten old grave. What a reminder is this of the utter insignificance of human life and the oblivion of death!

The longest series of revival meetings ever held by this old Society occurred in about the year 1828, under the leadership of Elder Prindle. It continued for fourteen consecutive weeks, and was, in a true sense, a regular old-fashioned protracted meeting. Elder Prindle was a veritable mountain of flesh. It required two chairs to hold him when seated, and he could not climb into or out of a wagon, except by means of a ladder, which he always carried with him. He was a Freemason, and it was during the Morgan excitement the long protracted meeting was held. Morgan’s mysterious disappearance had occurred only about two years previous to this, and all sorts of wild rumors had been in circulation as to what became of him. An anti-Masonic feeling existed among many members of the Society, and the love these bore for Prindle was not strengthened by the fact of his being a Mason. They said his corpulency was caused by his having swallowed Morgan—a story which many a youngster at that time fully believed. Although circulated as a rough joke on the corpulent preacher, it was about as reasonable as nine-tenths of the stories that were set afloat as veritable facts. Certainly, the alleged fact of having found Morgan’s boots inside of a large sturgeon caught in the Niagara River was fully as reasonable as the Prindle joke would be if told as an actual fact.

The annual tea-meetings held in the old Woodhouse church have long enjoyed a reputation for their large attendance, their bounteous spread, and their pleasurable entertainments. The first one was held shortly after the present church building was completed, and the sum of $160, net, is said to have been realized. This was a marked success, and has never been excelled by any subsequent effort.

Norfolk Methodism has enjoyed a century’s growth, and here, as elsewhere, its growth has been phenomenal. From the published statistics of 1897 we learn that the larger number of Norfolk circuits are included in the Simcoe District, which forms the seventh in the Hamilton Conference. The remaining circuits are included in the Norwich District. The circuit which includes the old mother church, and which ought to bear her name, is known as the Port Dover circuit. The number of Norfolk circuits, including Kelvin, is thirteen, embracing a total membership of 3,378 souls, besides eighty-nine catechumens. Of course this entire membership is not included in Norfolk’s population, but it must also be remembered that many Norfolk Methodists are numbered in outside circuits, so that the number given is probably fairly representative of the strength of Methodism in Norfolk. The membership of the Epworth League and other auxiliary societies are classified in districts, and the totals of Norfolk, therefore, cannot be gleaned. Rev. C. T. Bennett, B.A., is the present chairman, and Rev. W. E. Prescott, B.A., the present secretary of Simcoe District. The former is the present pastor of the old pioneer mother church.