Metherall in Vernon River in 1834. The missionary and his family occupied this 
     
     property until he moved to the West Cape Circuit. Next, a chapel was built in 
     
     Wheatley River and opened on August 26, 1838 much to the joy of the preacher, 
     
     Rev. Philip James, who served that community for two more years. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bible Christian ministers who served the Wheatley River Church are as 
     
     follows: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Rev. Philip James 1834 - 40 
     
     Rev. Richard Cotton 1840 - 41 
     
     Rev. Absalom Pickings 1841 - 43 
     
     Rev. John Watson Butcher 1843 - 47 
     
     Rev. Richard Cotton 1847 - 50 
     
     Rev. Jacob Gale 1850 - 53 
     
     Rev. Frances Metherall 1853 - 56 
     
     Rev. Cephas Barker 1856 - 65 
     
     Rev. John Chapple 1865 - 70 
     
     Rev. George Webber 1870 - 74 
     
     Rev. William Medland 1871 
     
     Rev. James Kestle 1872 
     
     Rev. Richard B. Rowe 1873 
     
     Rev. John G. Yelland 1876 - 78 
     
     Rev. George Smith 1879 
     
     Rev. James A. Dafoe 1880 - 81 
     
     Rev. Wiliam E. Reynolds 1882 
     
     Rev. William Bryenton 1883 
     
    
   
   
    
     By 1835, the Bible Christian membership had reached 106, and the mis— 
     
     sionary work had been brought to St. Eleanor’s and Bideford. ‘Bideford was 
     
     then an impOrtant place in the shipbuilding trade, and a number of persons from 
     
     the neighbourhood of Bideford, in North Devon, England, were residing there. 
     
     The England, Grigg, Brooks, and other families became connected with the socie— 
     
     ty. A church was subsequently built, a flourishing congregation and society 
     
     gathered, but the shipping industry declined, and the church suffered largely 
     
     from deaths and removals. Preaching was finally withdrawn from the place in 
     
     1876, and four years later, the church property was disposed of to the 
     
     Methodists. James Grigg removed to Lot 10, Roger Brooks to Lot 8, and Mrs. 
     
     MacDougall. daughter of Mr. England, to Lot 83’“ 
     
    
   
   
    
     14. FIRST VISIT OF THE REV. FRANCIS METHERALL TO 
     
     CASCUMPEC, WEST DEVON, O’LEARY, WEST CAPE AND 
     
     CAPE WOLFE 
     
    
   
   
    
     Rev. Metherall also found his way to Cascumpec and later to Lot 10. He 
     
     then proceeded across the Island, through the O’Leary Road to the Western 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     54 John Harris, The Life of Francis Metherall and the History of the Bible Christian Church in 
     
     Prince Edward Island (Edinburgh and London, Ballantyne, Hanson and Company, 1883), 
     
     pp. 38, 39. 
     
    
   
   
    
     186