bringing some much-needed religious services to the people who were living in the 
     
     wilderness areas of the “west”, Western Prince County, that is, and particularly the 
     
     West Cape area: Rev. John Marshall, 1826 - 1827; Rev. William Smith, 1827 - 1828; 
     
     Rev. John Snowball, 1828 - 1831; and Rev. William Webb, 1831 - 1833. These 
     
     ministers were becoming concerned for the religious welfare of the people in the 
     
     settlements along the shore from West Point to North Cape. 
     
    
   
   
    
     As the older settlements of Bedeque and Tryon became crowded under the 
     
     pressure of large families, the population slowly spread into inland districts. Even 
     
     the new districts around Bedeque and Tryon could not seem to hold the growing 
     
     population, and soon there was a westward surge to the townships of Prince 
     
     County, and particularly Western Prince County, still largely unsettled. The 
     
     Bedeque Methodist Circuit in 1833 extended as far as West Cape where the Rev. 
     
     William Webb baptised six children of the Pollard family in that settlement. 
     
    
   
   
    
     At the first meeting of the newly created Prince Edward Island District, which 
     
    
   
   
    
     was held in Bedeque commencing on June 7, 1859, it was recommended that a 
     
    
   
   
    
     missionary be sent to the area between West Cape and North Cape. Apparently, this 
     
     was really a vote to continue with the appointment of a missionary to the West Cape 
     
    
   
   
    
     Circuit since the Rev. Robert Wilson had been in charge of that circuit in 1858. 
     
    
   
   
    
     An old Circuit report of April, 1858 has reference to “Brother Barrett forming 
     
     us into a church” in 1857 with twenty members. The number soon increased to 
     
     forty members. The writer of this report, the Rev. Robert Wilson, reported that, 
     
    
   
   
    
     “They suffer from lack of a place to meet and hope to erect a chapel”. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The virgin forests of west Prince County were gradually being moved back 
     
     from the shore as desirable farmland was being created by the settlers who were 
     
     part of the overflow population from the Bedeque Circuit. Contrary to the situation 
     
     of scarce land, unavailable except at inflated prices in Bedeque and Tryon, good 
     
     farmland for purchasers or for squatters in western Prince County could be obtain— 
     
     ed quite easily. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Prior to 1858, the Bedeque Circuit had provided occasional worship services 
     
     and when convenient, the Sacrament of Baptism in West Cape and the surrounding 
     
     district. Although the knowledge of the close relationship which existed then 
     
     among the people of Bedeque, Tryon and West Cape has disappeared, names such 
     
     as Rix, Strang, Crossman, Wright, Dawson, Clark, Muttart and Gamble were quite 
     
     familiar to the visiting preachers from Bedeque circuit riding in the West Cape area. 
     
     Not until 1860 was West Cape, with thirteen preaching places but no chapels, made 
     
     a separate circuit. 
     
    
   
   
    
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