Rev. Manly Benson, Pastor of Brant Avenue Methodist Church, Brantford, was born in 1842, in Prince Edward County, Ontario. He comes from the old U. E. Loyalist stock, the early founders of Canadian nationality.

To this may be attributed the sturdy mental and moral, as well as physical fibre by which he is characterized. At the early age of ten years Mr. Benson was converted to God at a special service held by the late Joseph Reynolds. He grew up under the fostering influence of the Sabbath school, the class meeting, the public and social means of grace. His parents removed to the Town of Newburg, Ont., where young Manly Benson received a good education at the Academy, and prepared for the work of a teacher. He taught for a few years, at the same time continuing his studies with the Principal of the Academy.

The piety and cultivated taste of the young teacher commended him to the notice of the Methodist Church of the place, and after some training as a local preacher, he was recommended for the Christian ministry. He was received on trial in 1863, travelled for four years as junior preacher on the Romney, Chatham, Windsor and Sarnia Circuits, and was ordained at the Hamilton Conference of 1867.

He was married July 9, 1867, to Julia McCrea, third daughter of the Hon. Walter McCrea, now Judge of Algoma County, Ontario.

He then travelled, as Superintendent, the Ridgetown, Newberry and Cooksville Circuits, and was afterwards invited to the Centenary Church, Hamilton, where he spent three years, and has gone, by invitation, for three years each to Stratford and St., Thomas. Mr. Benson then came to Brantford, June 4, 1881, where he is at present located in charge of the brant Avenue Church.

On every circuit and station on which he laboured. the temporalities as well as the spiritualities of the church have greatly prospered. In 1871, in company with Rev. Dr. Punshon, he crossed the continent, visiting many points of interest in the United States and British Columbia. At a later period he made an extended tour through France, Italy, Switzerland, South-Eastern Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland. Not content with enjoying the scenes and associations of foreign lands without sharing the enjoyment with others, he has communicated pleasure and profit to delighted audiences in the principal cities and towns of western Canada by his eloquent lectures on many of the places of interest visited by him.

He is also an earnest worker in temperance reform, the Sunday school cause and every good object. Since he left school in his boyhood he has " paddled his own canoe." and is thus, in an emphatic sense, a self-made man. His married life has been blessed with eight children, of whom six are now living- two sons and four daughters.

Men of Canada 1891.

Rev. Benson is now at Toronto's Queen Street Church. Here he has the largest membership, and, probably the largest congregation of any Methodist Church in Canada.

Mr. Benson has been the director of services at Grimsby Park, the largest Christian Assembly in Canada, for eleven years. Under his able management this Park has been an extraordinary success, and is becoming more popular year by year.

Mr. Benson has largely enjoyed the advantage of travel, having visited England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, having crossed the continent twice - first, in 1871, with the late illustrious Rev. Dr. Punshon, and again in 1891. On this latter trip he filled lecture engagements, and preached at Long Beach, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, in California.

He is an able lecturer, having delighted large audiences in the principal towns and cities of Canada and the United States by his eloquent orations on "The Wonders of the Yosemite," "Across the Continent," "British Columbia," "Memories of Rome," and other interesting topics.

Mr. Benson is an earnest worker in the temperance cause, and every good object, an eloquent and practical preacher, and a kind and sympathizing pastor. He was married July 9, 1867. to Julia, daughter of Hon. Walter McCrea, Chatham.

Charges: He was received on trial in 1863, 1863 Romney, 1864 Chatham, 1865 Sandwich/Windsor, 1866 Sarnia, ordained in 1867 in Hamilton, 1867 Ridgetown, 1868-1870 Wardsville/Newbury, 1870 Cooksville, 1871 Mosa (Middlesex Co.), 1873-1874 Centenary Church Hamilton, 1876 Central Church Stratford, 1878 First Church St. Thomas, 1883 Brant Ave. Brantford, 1887-1892 Toronto (Central Church, Berkley Street, and Queen Street)