User:WilyD/William Case/Silas Hopkins

Silas Hopkins was a Methodist circuit rider.

Hopkins was born in Upper Canada, the son of a Methodist exhorter. He entered the church as a circuit rider, accepted on trial in 1811, and sent to the Detroit Circuit. His skill as a preacher was uneven, and in Detroit he was mentored by Ninian Holmes.[1] In 1812 he was assigned to the Augusta Circuit in Upper Canada, where he worked along John Rhodes and Edward Cooper.[2]

During the War of 1812, records of assignments were poorly kept, and the details of Hopkins activities are not well known. Hopkins was active on the [[Bay of Quinte] Circuit at some point during the war. There the local residents were unimpressed with his preaching, and he soon returned to his father's house in Burford. There he still worked as a local preacher.[3]

  1. ^ Carroll, John (1867). Case and his cotemporaries, or, The Canadian itinerants' memorial constituting a biographical history of Methodism in Canada, from its introduction into the Province, till the death of the Rev. Wm. Case in 1855. Vol. I. Toronto: Wesleyan Conference Office. p. 255.
  2. ^ Carroll, volume I, page 259
  3. ^ Carroll, volume I, page 262