Rev. William Case, described as “a handsome man with a powerful voice,” was appointed in 1808 to serve a territory that stretched around the western end of Lake Ontario by the New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to Canada. On his circuit which stretched from Trafalgar Township in the east, through Nelson, Ancaster, Beverly, East and West Flamborough to Barton Township in the west, Rev. Case regularly rode as much as 100 miles per week, preaching seven or eight sermons. For this he was paid a salary of £80, an amount that covered the cost of clothes, books, horse and fodder and all living expenses.
The headquarters of Case’s circuit was in Ancaster, with the chapel at Peter Bowman’s residence serving as its central place of worship. This had grown out of a class meeting organized by Bowman and his pioneer neighbours in 1796. And because as Methodists they were denied ownership of property for religious purposes, early services were held in homes until 1823, when the Legislature finally conceded that they had the right to hold property.
The British Crown, in keeping with the decision of maintaining Upper Canada as a replica of the mother country, had decreed that one-seventh of the land area in the new colony was to be reserved for the “support and maintenance of a Protestant clergy.” This was officially interpreted to mean only the Church of England should receive such special benefits – these lands, known as Clergy Reserves.
In East Flamborough Township, the issue was further complicated by mistakes made by the Land Board. When assigning lots, they completely failed to set aside sufficient lands to meet the requirements of Clergy Reserves. To compensate for their mistake, blocks of land, one-third of the total lots in the northern part of the township, were set aside for Clergy Reserves. Ironically, other than a very occasional visit from the Anglican Minister in Ancaster, there were insufficient members of the Church of England in the entire township to require an Anglican place of worship until the 1860s.
Although it eventually became a political issue, when the need for financial support was greatest, to build a church or pay stipends, no monies could be derived from the ownership of land that lacked clearance, reserved or otherwise.
Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 10 March 2016.
