FROM THE SCRAPBOOK
March, 1994
By Dr. Bill Randall
Settlers of “The River” (Prince William) & Daniel Parent
This Month I’d like to draw your attention to some of the history of the early settlers out at “The River.” Of course I mean the St. John River and generally the pioneers of Prince William.
Many of those early settlers were Loyalists and it is sad to find some of the stories of their hardships. There is a story in the book “The Nackawic Bend, 200 Years of History”, compiled by Patricia M. Lawson, Gail Farnsworth and M. Anne Hartley, which describes in detail the difficulty of one Daniel Parent. It was written by Solomon Parent who was one of the Charter Members of the Baptist Church at Prince William.
{Spelling has not been corrected}
“Daniel Parent, the father of James Parent, Solomon Parent and John Parent was born in 1739 on long island in york government and was drafted to fite the french in the old french war when about 20 years of age at the commencement of the American war he refused to join the rebels for which reason they aliways owed him a gruge and Soon they began to Steel his goods and Chattle at a certain time the British came up in that part the rebels came for him to go and fite the British and he refused for which reason the Rebels took him and tried him by their Court Marshal and the oldest Son James Saw his Father’s back raw from his Shoulders to hips when the rebbels whiped him at any other time a party of rebels came to his house he not being at home they persued after him and found him at his Father’s after beating him and threatening him with a cocked pistol at his breast brought him by his own house in the Sight of all his fammily and run him Six miles with horses across the fields making him let down the fences and whiping him with the Butt ends of their hors whips and Sent him home the third day after and the two eldest of us James and Solomon saw the back of their Father and a number of places cut Six inches long and as broad as a man’s finger and before this the rebbels had taken all his movable goods and chattle and then he came to the british our Mother had to go to a rbble General to get a pass and the ixpress words of the pass was Daniel Parent is to pass with three days provision with two damaged old horses and a damaged old waggon without any ———– to it and came to this Country in 1783.
And Father to late in puting in his claim never got any land only Some land on long Island and Solomon Parent has Eleven Children, Eight Sons, three does Militia duty. The old gentleman was proprietor of about 250 (acres). West Chester County Province of New York.”
Long Island was situated in the Saint John River with the lower end the Parish of Dumfries on one side and the Parish of Queensbury on other. The Grant Reference Plan Map at the Provincial Archives was 38 small lots on the island.
Solomon Parent was converted under the preaching of Evangelist Henry Alline, preaching at Lower Queensbury, N.B. in the late 1700’s. It is said that it was a group of Alline’s converts who organized the first Baptist Church in Canada in 1800, Edward Manning and Stephen Young.
A year later at Prince William, at Solomon Parent’s home, the Prince William Church was formed. That field in early days included Kingsclear, Burden, Prince William, Dumfries and Queensbury. One can imagine the travel by horse and buggy for the Minister! In winter, he could cross the St. John River on the ice, and Phillip Moore tells me he can remember his father getting out early on Sunday morning to choose a secure passage across the ice for the Minister. In summer, river-crossing would be either the Parent or the McNally Ferry.
It’s interesting to note that in 1831 eight members of the Prince William Church requested the privilege of forming a new church to be known as the African Baptist Church. They were colored people.
It is said that prior to 1831 n**** people were only allowed to sit in the balcony of the Baptist churches.
In the Prince William area there were supporters of other denominations; Quakers, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists and of course Anglicans. Tension was felt among these various denominational supporters because in 1797 the Church of England (Anglican) was the established Church, meaning that government financial support was given to them, primarily through the benefits of land grants and the Church of England had preferential rights to perform marriages. Later, these rights were extended to the Catholics, the Quakers and the Presbyterians but the Baptists and Methodists were ignored.
Missionaries from less prominent denominations frequently visited the area but were sometimes treated with hostility. Once there was a mob attack with stone throwing, window breaking and bodily assault.
Two Methodist Churches have aroused by curiosity, one in Lake George now owned by the United Church of Canada and used as a Young People’s Hall, and another one at Longs Creek, prior to the flooding of the Mactaquac Head Pond. The Longs Creek Church is remembered by Mrs. Roy Tapley who is 90 years of age, and she believes the last service held in that Church was a funeral for Jim Howard. The Howards lived way up at the head of Longs Creek near where Arnold Feeney settled, and though Smithfield was a predominantly Irish Catholic community there were a number of Methodist families. The Longs Creek Methodist Church was relocated in 1912 to accommodate the railroad. It was eventually bought by Jacob Lawrence and converted into a garage, and Perley Crain remembers the Government snowplows being stored there. When the river flooded, the building was destroyed and identifiable graves were relocated at Kingsclear.
I would appreciate information that would help me to identify the early history of that Lake George Church.
Following is a list of names of early Methodists.
Among the families who would have supported the Methodist Church are the following family heads
John and Mary Elizabeth Heanest; George and Louisa Fraser – though George was a free Presbyterian; Anthony P and Mary Ann Carr; John Crewdson; John Gulliher; John Vance; James and Margaret Porter; George Albert and Catharine Porter; George and Mary Rusteen; Benjamin Adam Waugh; Robert and Ellen Landers; Isaac and Jane Francis; Henry Bliss; J.H. and Hannah Ogden; Thomas and Elizabeth Colwell; Thomas B and Bethiah Shelta Dunphy, and their family of seven; (Actually Thomas B. Dunphy when asked to identify his religion, declared “any of the four.”) George and Mary Ballantine; Mrs. John Agnew and three children; Mrs. Duell Myshrall and her five children; Jacob and Rosella Barker; John and Eliza Long; William Moffitt and twelve children (His wife Jane was Presbyterian); James and Susanna Sower; John and Mary Peters; Benjamin Kilburn; Mary McCarty and her four children – her husband John was Church of England.
Even though I may have missed many family names it is still obvious there were many people to support the Methodist Churches — which churches?
Source: Rev. Bill Randall’s “From The Scrapbook Vol. One.”
