User:WilyD/William Case/Martin Ruter

Martin Ruter was a Methodist circuit rider.

Ruter was born April 3, 1785 to religious parents in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Ruter showed an interest in a career as a preacher from a very young age, and in 1799 he joined the Methodist Church and began religious studies. He received a licence to exhort in the summer of 1800, after being examined by Reverend John Broadhead. He travelled with Broadhead for a few months, exhorting while Broadhead preached, to gain a feeling for the role. He was licensed as a preacher in the fall, and rode the Wetherfeld Circuit in Vermont during the fall and winter of 1800. In June 1801, Ruter was accepted on trial for the Methodist itinerary at the New York Conference's annual meeting. He was assigned to ride the Chesterfield Circuit. In 1802 he was assigned to the Landhoff Circuit in New Hampshire. He was admitted as a Deacon in 1803, and assigned to the Adam Circuit. In 1804 he volunteered to ride a circuit in Canada, and was assigned to Montreal. He was ordained an Elder at the 1805 conference and assigned to the Bridgewater Circuit in New Hampshire. In 1806 he rode the Northfield Circuit. In 1807, he rode the Portsmouth and Nottingham Circuit.

In 1808, Ruter was appointed to the Boston Circuit, and was elected a delegate to the first Delegated General Conference. In 1809 and 1810, he served as Presiding Elder of the New Hampshire District. The next year, he was in Portland, Maine, and in 1812 and 1813 he was located in North Yarmouth. He returned to circuit riding in 1814, on the North Yarmouth and Freeport Circuit. In 1815, he was assigned to Salisbury, Massachusetts. In 1816, he was in Baltimore and in 1817 he was in Philadelphia.

Ruter was award a Master of Arts degree from Asbury College in Baltimore in 1818. The same year he was placed in charge of the New Market Wesleyan Academy. The next year he was assigned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but remained at the Academy with the blessing of the Presiding Elder.

At the 1820 annual conference, Ruter was elected to conduct the business of the Wesleyan Book Agency, a position he was re-elected to in 1824. He was granted a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Transylvania University of Kentucky in 1822, without his knowledge. He was elected president of Augusta College in Kentucky. In order to remain active as a preacher, he requested and received a transfer to the Pittsburgh Conference, and preached in Pittsburgh in 1833 and 1834. He then went to Meadville, to preside over Alleghany College. He remained in that position through 1837. He resigned the position to take up a new position as the superintendent of a mission in Texas. After several months in Texas, of setting up schools and churches, and preaching and education, he was struck ill and forced to return to Washington, D.C. to find a physician to address his illness. They were unable to do anything for him, and he died May 16, 1838.