User:WilyD/William Case/William Case

William Case
William Case (August 27, 1780 - October 19, 1855) was a Methodist missionary and teacher.

Young preacher
Born in Swansea, Massachusetts to farmers of modest means, Case's boyhood is not well recorded. His family lived somewhere in the Swansea area, and, as baptists, probably attended the Hornbine Baptist Church in his youth. His family moved to central New York at some point during his childhood. Case converted to Methodism in February 1803. He was active in the church, as an exhorter, then local preacher, and was recommended for membership in the New York Conference in 1805 and taken on trial for the ministry. Case volunteered to be circuit rider for the Bay of Quinte circuit. He rode the circuit with Nathan Bangs. In 1805, there was little Methodist presence in the Circuit. No Methodist society existed in Kingston, and they were forced to preach in the market. Case proved a popular preacher here, especially with young people. His good looks, wit and friendly manner endeared him to residents. Both he and Bangs were talented singers, a talent which they put to great use in the preaching. Whenever they rode into a town, they would gather a crowd by walking through the streets singing hymns, before preaching and exhorting. During Case's time in the Bay of Quinte, the first camp meeting in Canada was held there, near Adolphustown. Other preachers present at the meeting were Nathan Bangs, Henry Ryan, Daniel Pickett, Sylvanus Keeler and Thomas Madden. More than 2500 people attended the camp meeting. That year, owing in large part to the successful camp meeting, 187 people in Upper Canada converted to Methodism, with 146 in the Bay of Quinte Circuit, increasing the total number of Methodists in Canada to approximately 2375.

In 1806 he was transferred to the Oswegatchie circuit, where he laboured under Gershom Pearse. At the 1807 conference in Coeyman's Patent, New York, Case was received into full connexion, and ordained a deacon. After two years in the wilderness of Upper Canada, Case requested an easier assignment, hoping to be assigned to a city. He was instead assigned to Ulster County, New York, to his dismay. Ulster was a large circuit that would require large amounts of tavelling through very rural or unpopulated areas. His experience there was positive, however, as he was mentored by Elias Vanderlip, and he would later recall the appointment positively. At the 1808 conference he was voluntarily assigned case back to Upper Canada, and rode the circuit of Ancaster. The circuit was newly created that year from the Niagara Circuit, and centred on Bowman's Chapel, south-west of Hamilton. The area was colloquially known as Methodist Mountain. By the year's end, some three hundred individuals were members of the Methodist church in the Ancaster Circuit.

Rising star
Case was assigned the Mission of Detroit in 1809, the first Methodist preacher ever assigned there. He travelled from Ancaster, preaching in the young towns of London and Malden before reaching New Settlement on the Upper Canada side of the border. There he found a society with little religious instruction or adherence, and what he did find was not to his tastes. The occasional Roman Catholic or Anglican preacher was not a teetotaller or stern adherent like Case, but engaged in horse-racing, dancing, gambling and excessive drinking with the residents, to Case's chagrin. No Methodist preachers had travelled the area since Nathan Bangs in 1804. Case's reception was hostile; local magistrates fined people who hosted his sermons in their houses, and Case was threatened with violence. Case was not dismayed by this opposition, but found his strength in it, and his passion for preaching was inflamed with every difficulty he faced. Amongst the people of Detroit, Case also found some who welcomed him. As he preached, Case attracted growing crowds and increasing numbers of converts. Although he had planed to travel extensively in the close-by parts of Upper Canada, he found all his time occupied in New Settlement. Although Case had planned to Detroit immeadiately, his arrival there was delayed until the end of September, having set out in June, by the revival he sparked in New Settlement. In Detroit, his reception was better, and the governor made available the council house for Case to preach in. Case drew good crowds in Detroit, but the number of converts was small, and no Methodist society was formed there. On the Canadian side of the border he was more successful. In his year there, 78 people converted to Methodism, and Methodist societies were founded in London, Malden, Colchester and Gosfield. While Bangs' time in the area had converted a few to the Methodist church, they quickly fell out of practice after he left. The same reversion did not occur after Case departed the circuit for a new assignment in 1810. The Methodists Societies established then persisted, and grew, after Case moved on.

Case's success in Detroit had caught the eye of Bishop Asbury. After five years of riding circuits, Case was promoted to Presiding Elder of the Cayuga district, in Upstate New York. In 1810, under Case's leadership, membership in the Methodist Society there increased by 589 individuals. He stayed on for a second year, then spent two years as Presiding Elder of the Oneida district. During his tenure there, the Oneida district had ten Circuits, with seventeen preachers under his supervision. He spent 1814 as the Presiding Elder of the Chenango district. Chenango had 8 circuits and 15 preachers. Due to his closeness to the battlefronts, Case often ministered to the injured after battles. He was present at the scene of the Battle of Sackett's Harbor a few hours after it took place, finding himself concerned with the dying men, and what might become of their families, but not attached to any idea of nationalism, later writing "I know not that I felt any partiality for Americans more than Englishmen: all of one creation - alike subjects of redeeming blood, all accountable to the King of kings, and deserving of the same condemnation." In 1810, a letter from Case to Bishop Francis Asbury was published in the Methodist Magazine. At this point, Case abandoned his journal, and began writing regular reports on the progress of Methodists in Upper Canada and the north-west United States.

Presiding elder


After the conclusion of the War, the 1815 conference assigned Case to Canada once again. Having risen in the Methodist ranks, he was named the Presiding Elder for Upper Canada. At that time, the Upper Canada district extended from Detroit to Kingston. Over the course of the war, half of the Methodists in Upper Canada had left there church, and Case faced a heavy workload. Case represented the Genesee District at the 1816 Delegated Annual Conference, which met on May 1st in Baltimore. That year, he switched jobs with Henry Ryan, Presiding Elder of Lower Canada. He kept that position after the 1817 conference. In 1817, the Genesee Conference began publishing the American Methodist Magazine, and Case prepared several articles for the magazine. In 1818, Case served on a committee to draft a constitution empowering the conference to receive legacies.

By 1820, Case had risen to the position of Secretary of the Genesee conference, and was responsible for organising the annual conference of 1820, which occurred in Niagara in July.

In 1821, he term as presiding elder of the Lower Canada district ended, and he was made the presiding elder of the Upper Canada district once again. Case began taking an strong interest in Upper Canada's Indians, serving on a Committee on Indian Affairs starting in 1821, and became especially active after the conversion of bilingual Peter Jones in 1823 allowed effective preaching to the Ojibwe. In 1825, a second Ojibwe convert joined the missionaries' ranks under Case, John Sunday.

Teacher and mentor
Case was made superintendent of Indian schools and missions in Upper Canada in 1828.

In 1837, he was made head of the Wesleyan industrial school for Indians in Alnwic, Ontario. He stayed in that position until 1851.

Case died in October in 1855, due to complications from injuries he sustained when he was thrown from a horse. His body was buried in the Cemetary of the Alderville Indian Reserve.