User:WilyD/William Case/Caleb Swayze

Caleb Swayze was a Methodist Circuit Rider.

Swayze was born in New Jersey, c. 1783. He was raised as a Methodist, but left the church in his youth. In 1811, he reconverted to Methodism by the prostelytising of Henry Ryan. He quickly became a preacher, working as an assistant to John Rhodes in Upper Canadaa during the War of 1812. On 5 June, 1813, he stayed at the house of Christopher Burkholder, within earshot of the Battle of Stoney Creek, and the pair travelled to the battlefield the next morning to see the leftover carnage. In 1817, he was accepted on trial as a circuit rider, and assigned to the Westminister Circuit. In 1817, he was assigned to the Westminster circuit, alongside David Youmans. That year, membership in the Methodist church along the Westminster circuit increased from 166 to 324. In 1818, he was removed from the ranks of the circuit riders after an unfavourable evaluation of his preaching abilities, and became a local preacher again. He remained a local preacher until after the merger of the American Methodist church and British Wesleyan church in Upper Canada, and in 1835 he was assigned to the Long Point circuit as a rider. He continued riding until 1838, after which he retired.