12Yonge Street Camp Meetings

The Methodists were the first Christians to reach many new settlements in Upper Canada. Itinerant missionaries travelled circuits of small communities and preached to anyone who would listen. Services were conducted in people’s homes, though larger outdoor camp meetings were also held. As their numbers increased, settler Methodists organized: the first meeting of Methodists in York was held in 1818. By 1820, York had 43 members, the Yonge Street Circuit, which stretched from York to Lake Simcoe, had 211.¹

Anglicans were a small but powerful minority because they belonged to the official church and received funds and lands from the Clergy Reserves, a widely resented privilege. North of York, in the absence of assigned preachers, a few Anglicans held services in private homes led by lay readers, missionaries, or members of the military.

John Cummer—son of Jacob Cummer and Elizabeth (Fisher) Cummer and cousin of Elizabeth (Fisher) Stong—began to hold large Methodist camp meetings at the Cummer Mill east of Yonge Street and did so for many years. The area became known as Scripture Town and later Angel Valley. Peter Jones described a camp meeting in June 1826: “Started with a number of Indians to attend a camp meeting on Yonge Street, where we arrived the next day about noon. During the meeting (which lasted three days), a number of both whites and Indians professed to experience a change of heart, at the close, several Indians received the solemn ordinance of baptism.”²

In July, Jones returned to Yonge Street with John Sunday and Moses, two Christian converts from the Bay of Quinte. They met with the Anishinaabek of Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron and attended a missionary meeting near Newmarket featuring the Reverend Egerton Ryerson. Ryerson preached to a large crowd of people in the open air. About thirty Indigenous people were present. After Ryerson’s speech, Jones explained the key Christian doctrines and spoke a few words to white settlers “who were listening with profound attention.” John Sunday also spoke.

The next day Jones and Sunday visited Anishinaabek camps in the vicinity.

Chief Snake rose up and said—“Brothers: We feel very thankful to you for your visit to us, to shew us how wretched and miserable we are in our present condition and to tell us what the Great Spirit would have us do to make us wise, good, and happy; for my part I am ready and willing to become a Christian. I hope that all my young men will become good and wise, and serve the Great Spirit.” He then enquired when they should have a school. Another old man rose and spoke to the same purpose.³

A letter written by Egerton Ryerson relayed the content of Jones’ sermons:

P. Jones introduced himself by saying, compassion for his brethren had induced him to visit them; and proceeded to discourse to them of the knowledge of God, the fallen state of man, and the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ . . .

He then enlarged on the wickedness and destructive consequences of intemperance; and asked them, “where are our fathers and grandfathers? where are all those nations of which our fathers told us, and who once filled all these woods? and why are we now wasted to a few? I will tell you, brothers: It is because of the Schootawaubooh (firewater) that made them drunk, and leads to other great wickedness. On this account the Great Spirit is angry with us. Intemperance brings sickness and death, and thus we waste away. “Now, brothers, unless we put away the firewater, and other wickedness, we shall soon die off, and there will be none of us left.” He then stated what the good book required of them, in the several duties in life; and also what the Great Spirit had done for their brethren at the river Credit, and other places . . . The Governor is pleased at this change, and is now building us houses to live in. Our brethren at the Credit are now sending their children to school “that they may become wise, and know how to read the good book, which the Great Spirit has given us.”⁴

For Jones and other Methodists, the main solution to the problem of alcohol was Indigenous peoples becoming Christians. Other solutions were secondary.

Following these and other Methodist meetings, the Mississaugas of the Credit were summoned to a Council at York. Indian agent James Givins delivered a message: the lieutenant-governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, and Bishop Strachan were strongly opposed to the Mississaugas attending Methodist camp meetings. The Methodists were of American origin and perceived to be of dubious loyalty to the Crown. They were suspected of advocating democracy and republicanism. According to Jones, Givins stated

that if we persisted in going to any more of them, he [the governor] would cast us off, and have nothing more to do with us—that we could now take our choice, either to desist from attending Camp meetings, and retain the good will and aid of the Governor, or persist in going and lose his friendship and assistance. This was, indeed, a great trial to us, and I was for a few moments quite confounded and astonished, having been taught to believe that man was a free agent, and had a right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience; and also that the King’s laws granted all his subjects liberty to worship God as they felt it their duty . . . After a long consultation between ourselves, the Chiefs thought it advisable for the sake of what the Governor had done and was doing for us, not to oppose his will in this matter, particularly as we were just commencing a settlement, and endeavouring to improve in civilization.⁵

This was a moment of considerable disillusionment for the Mississaugas. It was clear to them that “Christians were against Christians, that worshippers of the Great Spirit were opposed to other worshippers, and that white men with the Great Book hated others who followed the Great Book.”⁶

The Mississaugas acceded to the Governor’s demand, and the government built twenty log cabins at the Credit, each with half an acre of land, which “fenced would be sufficient garden for a family.” The men contributed 100 pounds (some earned by selling salmon), the women made baskets and brooms, and the children brought shillings to fund the school and meeting house. Soon, forty children were attending the school, taught by Peter Jones’ brother John Jones.⁷

The government ban on attending camp meetings was soon ignored. George Playter related:

In June [1827], about 60 [Lake Simcoe Anishinaabek] collected together, from their northern roamings, 30 miles distant, to a camp meeting on Yonge Street, 12 miles distant from York [the Cummer site]. They even came a week before hand, and were kindly supplied with provisions by benevolent persons in the neighborhood, and with a suitable place at the campground. On the first day, in the afternoon, the horn was blown for the people to assemble for preaching . . . Their old bald-headed chief led the way, followed by the men, and then the women and children . . . Great interest was felt by preachers and congregation for these poor people of the forest. But other Indians were present; and though the head men of the Credit mission agreed to the demand of the Governor [to not attend camp meetings], yet every Indian man, woman and child was at this camp meeting. Whether the promise was retracted, or not exacted by the Governor, I cannot learn.⁸

Peter Jones described another large camp meeting held at the Cummer Mill the following year.

When we arrived we found between two and three hundred Indians collected from Lake Simcoe and Schoogog Lake. Most of those from Lake Simcoe have just come in from the back lakes to join with their converted brethren in the service of Almighty God . . . The Camp ground enclosed about two acres, which was surrounded with board tents . . . The Indians occupied one large tent, which was 240 feet long and 15 feet broad. It was covered over head with boards, and the sides were made tight with bushes, to make it secure from any encroachments . . . In this long house, the Indians arranged themselves in families, as is their custom in their wigwams.⁹

According to Playter, “The meeting began on Tuesday, and ended on Friday after; when about 30 whites and the same number of Indians, professed conversion. The heathen natives belonged mostly to John Asance’s tribe, or the Matchadash Indians, from Penetanguishene. They lived on the river Severn, which connects lake Simcoe with the Georgian Bay . . . These were the most northerly Indians who had yet embraced the Gospel.”¹⁰

Peter Jones visited the Cummers several times and stayed at their home. On August 8, 1828, he recorded: “Started for Lake Simcoe; called on Col. Givins, who informed me that he would give the payments and presents to the Lake Simcoe Indians on Wednesday, the 13th inst. Stopped for the night at Brother J. Cumer’s, Yonge Street, where I met with Brother J. Beatty, who was much engaged in behalf of the Indians, by forming Missionary Societies.”¹¹ On July 4, 1832, “Left Toronto for Lake Simcoe in the afternoon, and rode to Brother Davis’ for the night. In the evening at prayer meeting in Cumer’s Chapel.”¹²

Presents and Preaching at Holland Landing

In August 1826, Peter Jones, accompanied by five other Mississauga converts from the Credit, preached to about half of the six hundred Indigenous people from Lakes Huron and Simcoe who had gathered at Holland Landing to receive their annual presents.¹³ He did so again in 1827.

The 1828 present distribution was described by George Playter: “August 13th [1828] . . . The Christian Indians numbered 390, heathens 65, and those connected with the French people 60; total 515. Four or five days, the Indians had been together, Peter Jones conducting meetings, and assisting the schools.”¹⁴ According to Peter Jones,

It took the Commissary all day to divide the goods, which consist of blankets, cloths, calicoes, shirting, hats, guns, rifles, powder, shot, balls, tin and brass kettles, pots, axes, silk handkerchiefs, ribbons, thread, brooches, &c. The amount of their payments is £1,200 per annum, besides the King’s presents, which perhaps are nearly as much more; these, with frugality and economy, might be enough to clothe them all the year. In the evening I assembled the Indians and discoursed to them on the depravity of our nature, and the atonement made by Jesus Christ. They were very attentive.

Thursday 14th.—Colonel Givins commenced giving out the goods this morning. The mode of distribution was as follows: The men were seated in rows on the ground by themselves, the women and children in the same order—the Commissary then commenced giving one sort of goods to each individual until the whole of the various articles were disposed of.¹⁵

The Decision to Convert

The decision of Anishinaabe leaders to convert was usually carefully considered, given their influence over and responsibility to their followers. When they did convert, they played a strong role in converting members of their Nation. “The principal chief was consulted on the subject of Christianity; as also the next senior chief. The former said the Indians could do as they thought best; as for himself, he had not made up his mind on the subject. He would think about it till next spring. The other said he would be glad to be instructed; he would come to the Credit soon, and perhaps leave some of h[is] boys at the school.”¹⁶

In 1827, while visiting Holland Landing, Peter Jones recorded: “The exhorters [lay speakers] . . . said that the number now obedient to the faith was more than one hundred; and that above forty professed a change of heart; also that the opposition of the traders was subsiding, and that only a few wicked French [likely fur traders] were still threatening to beat the Indians. They also informed us that Yellowhead, the great Chief, was much engaged in the good work, and had lately encouraged his people to be firm and faithful in serving the Great Spirit.” However, he noted the next day that “a number of French Canadians were present, who were quite uneasy and threatened to beat Yellowhead.”¹⁷

On another occasion, he recorded the conversion process of a medicine man: “During this day some of the Christian Indians came to inform me that a certain pagan powwow had intimated his intention of consulting his munedoos or spirits that evening, in order to ascertain from them whether it was right for the Indians to forsake the religion of their fathers to take hold of the white man’s.”¹⁸ The following day, Jones noted the presence of the “conjuror” among the three hundred who came to hear him preach: “all paid good attention.”

Jones also recorded the consultative process of another Chief:

During this day John Asance, the Chief, brought a message to me from the head man of the Pagan Indians, accompanied with a string of wampum, stating that the reason he did not accept of the Christian religion, was, in consequence of a number of his people not being present at that place he could not consult with them and give a decided answer, but that next spring he would be able to let us know what he would do, and thought that he should meet our wishes and become a christian.¹⁹

Converted Chiefs played a key role in further conversions. Musquakie hosted a Methodist meeting on Chief’s Island in Lake Couchiching in 1828 attended by three hundred. At Holland Landing, class leader Thomas Shilling (son of Chief Negenaunaquot / Big Shilling) recited the Ten Commandments in Anishinaabemowin and the congregation repeated his words. Chief William Snake influenced his people to attend the Methodist school built for them at Holland Landing. The Methodists’ insistence on monogamy was strengthened when Chief Assance gave up two of his three wives (though he continued to provide for them).²⁰

I know Chief Snake used to go meet with Egerton Ryerson. He was a good friend of Chief Snake. They used to go and meet in Toronto . . . And he actually asked Egerton Ryerson to bring Methodism to our people. We’d lost everything and we needed help.

—Kory Snache, Chippewas of Rama²¹

Christian converts were given or took on “Christian” names, and some came to prefer them over their Indigenous names. They also acquired surnames, often their father’s name, such as “Chechalk.” If a missionary society paid for a young person’s education, its members often reserved the right to name the young person. For example, the Young Ladies Society of a Methodist chapel in New York City chose the name “John Summerfield,” after an Irish evangelist, for a Mississauga convert. Many converted Anishinaabek received the names of Methodist leaders, for example, Enimokosy became John Wesley. Chief Joseph Sawyer was named after the missionary who baptized him.²² Because the Indigenous names and Clans of some Christian converts were not recorded and were no longer used, many were lost to later generations.

My aunt married into Rama. She married a Snake. Ryerson Snake. And guess where the name came from? . . . They named a college after him, and now they’ve taken the name away.

—Albert Big Canoe, Chippewas of Georgina Island²³

As Jones noted, some fur traders opposed conversions because they feared Indigenous people would stop drinking, become farmers, and no longer collect furs, putting the traders out of business. The Methodists relished tales of Indigenous converts resisting traders. In May 1827, Peter Jones recorded that he was

cast down in spirit, but being informed of the steadfastness of the Indians about Schoogog Lake, was encouraged still to trust in God, and cast all my care on him . . . Two white men went out to traffic with them for furs, taking with them two barrels of whiskey, hoping when they got the Indians into the bush they would be induced to drink, when they would be able to get their furs from them; but in this they were sadly disappointed, for after making one or two of them drunk, the Christian Indians went to them in a body and demanded the liquor, telling them they would not trade with them any more unless they gave it up; so the white men, sooner than lose their trade, gave up the whiskey to the Indians, who immediately took the barrels to the middle of the lake, cut a hole through the ice, tied weights to them and sunk them to the bottom.²⁴

Jones recounted how his mother, Tuhbenahneequay, had resisted alcohol traders who were forcing alcohol on a group of women near York:

A similar circumstance occurred to my mother when returning from Toronto in a canoe, in company with other Indian women. She informed me they were overtaken by a boat-load of white men, who came alongside, and then pulled out a bottle of whisky, asking them to drink. The women told them that they did not drink; but the men were urgent, saying, “Surely a little will do you no harm.” The former still refusing, and the latter persisting, my mother held out her hand, saying, “Hand me the bottle.” This being done, the white men thought they had prevailed. But, instead of that, my mother poured out the liquid fire on the opposite side of the canoe into the lake, and then returned the bottle empty to their tempters. The white men laughed and applauded, saying they had done perfectly right.²⁵

Methodist John Carroll reported that other fur traders welcomed the changes they saw:

The work of God in the conversion of the Indian tribes of our wilderness meets with no interruptions, neither from the traders, of which we had fears, nor any other description of opposers. We have avoided, as far as possible, all collisions, and in no instance do we interfere in the fur trade. Such is the power of grace, and such the changes on the manners of the Indians, that all seem convinced of its excellency and importance, and not a few of those who it was thought would lose in the trade by the Indians discountenancing the use of spirits, have thought the business more profitable, and on that account and for motives more worthy, have been friendly to the work, and in not a few instances have rendered material service. This is especially so with the traders on Lake Simcoe.²⁶

Education and Training

Because Methodists believed in direct engagement with scripture as a core principle, literacy and education were key concerns. At the first meeting of the Canada Auxiliary Missionary Society in 1825, Thomas Davis and Peter Jones addressed the meeting and stressed the importance of establishing Indigenous schools, the need for Indigenous ministers, and the Mississaugas’ desire for education.²⁷ Jones was convinced of the value of Western-style education, which his father Augustus Jones had ensured he received.

Methodist schooling became a key site for advancing the civilizational agenda. The Mississaugas at the Credit River Mission Village were enthusiastic supporters of day school education: “Not surprising in a Christian village, one of the main objectives . . . was to create a literate population that could read and understand the Bible. A second objective . . . was the use of the day school as a first step in training teachers and missionaries to convert other First Nations people to Methodism.”²⁸

The curriculum was focused on reading, writing, Bible study, and hymn singing. Instruction was in both English and Anishinaabemowin and utilized teaching methods appropriate for Indigenous students.

Whereas in the settler schools, students were taught by the simple method of memorization and recitation, Mississauga students were taught using learning materials such as the abacus, picture cards, maps and globes that helped the students obtain direct experience of the information they were to learn. Also different from the settler schools was the number of subject areas covered during classes. While basic arithmetic and reading were taught in the settler schools, the Mississaugas were taught not only mathematics and literacy, but also geography, astronomy, geometry, English grammar, and science. Settler schools were rare in Upper Canada and, when they did exist, were often staffed with extremely unqualified teachers. The Mississaugas, on the other hand, had schools erected in their villages soon after their conversion to Christianity that were staffed by competent teachers—many of them of First Nations origins. The children of the Mississaugas of the Credit during the existence of the Mission village were far more literate tha[n] the settlers surrounding their village at the Credit.²⁹

The Mississaugas’ successful education was soon demonstrated to the colonial elite and offered as evidence that Indigenous peoples could, indeed, be “civilized.” In 1828, for example, young Credit Mission school children were brought to York, where they sang and demonstrated their skills in reading and writing to the Methodists and at Government House.³⁰ Young Mississauga scholars “performed civilization” on many occasions, including in New York and elsewhere in the United States.

Since religious education was considered fundamental, Peter Jones, his brother John Jones, and other Methodists with knowledge of the Mississauga language were soon engaged in translating the Gospels, hymns, and other religious materials into Anishinaabemowin.

In 1827, the Episcopal Methodist Missionary Society reported that

several benevolent persons set up a Sabbath school near New Market, to which the Indians, both children and adults, resorted in large numbers. Some members of the New Market Missionary Society having erected a temporary place for meetings and schools, the preachers of the circuit and the native exhorters from the Credit frequently discoursed to about 100 of the Simcoe Indians, who heard with great attention . . .

By the middle of the present month (September) the Indians here will remove to their hunting grounds, when Mr. W. Law, who has been their teacher for 12 weeks past, will remove his school to an island in Lake Simcoe. Here, 20 miles from any white settlement, he will reside with the aged people and teach the children till the return of the hunters, which will be in the month of May next.³¹

By 1829, there were Methodist day schools at Six Nations, the Credit River, the Narrows and Matchedash in the Lake Simcoe area, and Grape Island and Rice Lake to the east.³²

Building Relationships and Spreading the Message

Although the Credit Mission was a small community of about two hundred people, twenty-four members became missionaries, schoolteachers, or interpreters, spreading Methodism throughout Upper Canada and beyond. Peter Jones, Credit River converts, and the Mississaugas and Chippewas they converted created new patterns of mobility and communication between Indigenous communities.³³ Mohawk and Mississauga Methodists travelled together on missionary tours and attended meetings and services at Tyendinaga and other Mohawk communities on the north shore of Lake Ontario in addition to those at Grand River. Methodism and the new more sedentary, agricultural lifestyle spread to the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe, east to the Mississaugas at Scugog and in the Peterborough area, and west beyond Grand River to the Oneidas, Munsees, Delawares, and Anishinaabek as far west as the St. Clair River.

Relationships also developed between Indigenous Methodists and settler Methodists who supported their aims, including Methodists in the United States and Britain. Converted Mississaugas travelled considerable distances on fundraising tours in the United States. Sometimes, they brought along young scholars to demonstrate their proficiency in hymn singing and Scripture reading. Jones and a few other high-profile Mississauga Methodists conducted missionary fundraising tours in Britain. On many of their journeys, Indigenous Methodists were hosted by settler Methodist families, forming ties of affection and respect. These warm ties often endured over long periods, at least until schisms and competition between the Episcopal and British Wesleyan Methodists in the 1830s and 1840s complicated relationships.

We had people coming to our mission village to go to temperance meetings, of all things. You have Peter Jones going out around in the neighbouring communities preaching. And he’s welcome!

—Darin Wybenga, Mississaugas of the Credit³⁴

The 1827 annual report of the Episcopal Methodists noted the extraordinary success of the Mississauga Methodists and advocated further education: “Like the first Christians, the converted Indians tell to their brethren the news of their salvation wherever they come, and feeling, as they do, the fulness of love which is in Christ Jesus for the heathen, they speak with a confidence and zeal which cannot fail to produce convictions.”³⁵

In 1828, the Missionary Society reported that there were ten Indian missions in Upper Canada with 800 members in the society and 1,200 baptisms in five years. Twelve schools were serving about 300 scholars. Peter Jones was formally appointed missionary to the Indian tribes. Indigenous converts made up a significant proportion of Methodists in the region near York. The Missionary Society recorded 576 members along Yonge Street and Whitby, 176 at York, and 400 on the Toronto circuit, as well as 345 Indigenous members at Newmarket and Lake Simcoe and 132 at the Credit Mission.³⁶

By no means did all Mississaugas, Anishinaabek, or Haudenosaunee convert to Christianity. Some categorically rejected the lifestyle changes that Peter Jones and other Indigenous Christians advocated. Many rejected Jones’ call to become “a new race of people.”³⁷ They rejected the goal of “civilization” and did not wish to become like white settlers.

For Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek, Christian conversions resulted in sometimes bitter divisions within their communities, particularly since colonial leaders preferred to deal with Christianized Indigenous leaders. They elevated those who favoured civilization and Christianity to positions of power, regardless of their legitimacy as leaders in traditional governance structures, and discounted and marginalized those deemed “pagan.”

The last family that fought the conversion were the Nanigishkungs, the Benson family. They were the pagan Indians, they were called. They wouldn’t ever transition over until really, really late.

—Kory Snache, Chippewas of Rama³⁸

My great-grandfather was a Wesleyan Methodist. That’s when the . . . there was no culture here, then. It was all religion. Culture had disappeared.

—Albert Big Canoe, Chippewas of Rama³⁹

Given the much larger population of Haudenosaunee living at Grand River, there was strength in numbers; many saw no need to jettison traditional ways. Nonetheless, the minority who did convert became a powerful faction within the community. They were regarded by settlers (and themselves) as “progressives” and played leadership roles in negotiations with colonial officials.

Anishinaabek on Lake Ontario’s north shore were far fewer in number than the Haudenosaunee. Swamped by the influx of settlers, they found it increasingly difficult to live a traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle close to York. Those who resisted conversion and civilization tended to move away from settlers and the largely Christian mission villages such as the Credit Mission.

Archival records offer only occasional glimpses of this resistance. At a General Council of the Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee Confederacy held at the Credit River in 1840, “The council disapproved of the conduct of Kandoching and his people, in not attending this assembly after having been notified, and also of their saying that they supposed they were sent for in order to be talked to about the worthless Christianity.”⁴⁰

Inculcating British Gender Roles and Lifeways

Indigenous women who converted to Methodism were expected to learn and conform to European gender roles as wives, mothers, and keepers of Western-style households in single-family log houses with Western-style furniture such as beds, tables, chairs, and cupboards. For people used to a highly mobile lifestyle, this marked a major shift.

Non-Indigenous women played a key role training Indigenous women in Euro-Canadian domestic duties and general comportment. Settler women and women in Britain donated various items such as work bags containing pincushions, needle cases, needles, scissors, thread, bodkins, thimbles, and articles of clothing. Settler women taught Indigenous women in gender-segregated schools.

Mississauga women also drew on their traditional skills to raise funds for missionary work. Peter Jones’ journal for 1830 records the efforts of the Dorcas Society at the Credit Mission, run by Miss Barnes, the female teacher: “The Dorcas Society has made about forty pairs of mocasins and a few pairs of gloves; and has sold twenty-one pairs of mocasins and two pairs of gloves for $40; the remainder of the mocasins sister Barnes took with her in order to sell for the Society.”⁴¹

Indigenous girls and women adapted to these changes but also retained traditional skills and knowledge, such as paddling, medicine, and the manufacture of clothing or household items. In 1837, at a present distribution at Manitoulin Island, Peter Jones recorded that “there was a great canoe race of women of the different nations present.”⁴²

The resocialization of Indigenous women was also furthered through intermarriage. For example, Peter Jones’ British wife, Eliza Field, played a major role in mentoring girls and women at the Credit Mission.