FREEMAN, Rev. Daniel

The first recognized Methodist minister (1790) was the Rev. Daniel Freeman, who, though not ordained by the Methodist Episcopal Church until he had been some years in the Long Point district, nevertheless conducted regular service, and most of the young people of the community joined his church. This was called the "Woodhouse Methodist Church," on the identical site of which the third Woodhouse Methodist Church now stands.

All honor to these early ministers of the dissenting bodies, for though they were unlearned, and sometimes uncouth in speech, their lives proved their sincerity. They bore cheerfully every privation, and preached in every place where they could get a hearing. Nor can anyone charge them with doing this, to be supported by the other members of the community, for even "after many years" the regular stipend for a married man was only $200, and half that sum for a single man. Nor was this always paid in cash, but the greater part of it made up in the produce of the land, or in the coarse linen or woollen garments which were the product of the house looms.

There were no Roman Catholics in the neighborhood until after 1825.

Such was the state of religious instruction in the Long Point Settlement in the early days.

Charges: Received on trial in 1808 Methodist Episcopal. In 1790 he came from New Jersey and arrived in Woodhouse Methodist Church Long Point (Niagara),1810-1813 ordained in Ancaster (Wentworth Co.), 1811 located