Thomas Demorest was a circuit rider in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Demorest was born 7th March, 1798, in the Canadas. He converted to Methodism around 1813. He was appointed a class leader in 1817 by William Case. Soon after, he was licensed as a preacher, and spent time assisting Isaac Puffer, who was riding the Augusta circuit.[1]
He was received on trial as a circuit rider in 1819.[2] He was assigned to the St. Lawrence circuit in 1819, where he joined Timothy Goodwin.[3] The pair oversaw a membership increase of seventeen.[1] In 1820, he was assigned to the Yonge Street circuit, where he rode alongside James G. Peale and David Youmans. In a year where there was significant decrease in Episcopal church membership due to competition with the Methodist Church of Great Britain, Yonge Street saw an increase of forty three members.[4] In 1821, he was assigned to the Thames circuit, where he rode alongside Ezra Adams.[5] The pair oversaw an increase in church membership of sixty-seven people.[6] In 1822, he was assigned to the Lyon's Creek circuit.[7] In 1823, he was assigned to the "New Settlements", an area to the west of St. Catharine's, where he rode alongside Rowley Heyland.[8]
Notes
editReferences
edit- Carroll, John (1869). Case and his cotemporaries, or, The Canadian itinerants' memorial constituting a biographical history of Methodism in Canada, from its introduction into the Province, till the death of the Rev. Wm. Case in 1855. Vol. II. Toronto: Wesleyan Conference Office.