13. BRITISH CONFERENCE EXPANDS INTO UPPER CANADA 
     
    
   
   
    
     Most of the early Methodist ministers in Canada came from the United 
     
     States, but the War of 1812 led to the coming of preachers from the English 
     
     Wesleyan Methodist Church. At first, Upper Canada (Ontario) was under the 
     
     General Conference of the United States, and Lower Canada (Quebec) was 
     
     subject to the British Conference. Having become independent in 1828, the 
     
     church in Upper Canada united with the British Conference. 
     
    
   
   
    
     14. THE REV. JOHN HICK AND THE 
     
     FIRST METHODIST CHAPEL IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     From 1810 until 1815, Methodism in Prince Edward Island remained somewhat 
     
     dormant, but after 1815, apparently Prince Edward Island had less difficulty obtain- 
     
     ing Methodist preachers to serve in the Bedeque Methodist Circuit, some of whom 
     
     were still designated as Wesleyan missionaries. 
     
    
   
   
    
     “In August, 1815, the Rev. John Hick arrived on this Island, as the successor of 
     
     Rev. James Bulpit, who had retired from the active work of the Methodist ministry. 
     
     Under the ministrations of Rev. Hick, Methodism made considerable progress. 
     
     Regular preaching places were established by him at Bedeque and Tryon, in connec- 
     
     tion with the Charlottetown Circuit. As societies had already been established at 
     
     Murray Harbor and Cherry Valley, the circuit was now ninety miles long and often 
     
     at the solicitation of the early settlers, it was found necessary for the preacher to go 
     
     beyond these limits, as the gospel was precious in those days. The first Methodist 
     
     chapel built on this Island was erected at Murray Harbour, and opened by the Rev. 
     
     Hick soon after his arrival. In 1816, Rev. Hick preached for the first time in an un— 
     
     finished chapel erected in Charlottetown on the land already mentioned as having 
     
     been granted for that purpose. During the summer of this year, Rev. Hick was 
     
     removed to Montreal, and the Rev. John Bass Strong was appointed in his place. At 
     
     the close of Rev. Hick’s Pastorate the membership of the society was reported to be 
     
     one hundred and twenty-five.”" 
     
    
   
   
    
     15. 1816 - 1820 
     
     THE REV. JOHN BASS STRONG, THE REV. JOHN FISHPOOL 
     
     THE REV. ROBERT ALDAR AND THE REV. GEORGE MILLAR 
     
    
   
   
    
     “The Rev. J.B. Strong arrived in Charlottetown in the autumn of 1816. He 
     
     was a native of Nottinghamshire, England, and in 1813, upon his entering the 
     
     ministry, was sent to Quebec as the first Wesleyan Methodist preacher in the 
     
     Canada of that day. Rev. Strong was a man of more than ordinary ability, and 
     
     during his long ministerial term of fifty-seven years, he filled most of the impor- 
     
     tant circuits in the lower provinces. He died in 1870, in the eightieth year of his 
     
     age. He was the father of Mr. Charles Strong, of Summerside. During Rev. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     9 Henry Smith, “Methodism on Prince Edward Island,” in Past and Present of Prince Edward Island, 
     
    
   
   
    
     ed. by DA. MacKinnon and AB. Warburton (Charlottetown, B.F. Bowen and Company, 1906) p. 
     
     315A. 
     
    
   
   
    
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