. White,
to-day Superintendent of Methodist Missions in this province. Rev.
Dr. Robson was married shortly after his arrival. Of the gallant
little party who faced the hardships of the then comparatively little
known West with such tranquility and courage, all have now passed to
their rest, Dr. Robson, the last survivor, dying less than a year ago
in Vancouver.

The missionaries were received by Mr. John T. Pidwell, father-in-law
of Mr. D. W. Higgins, and entertained in his home until they could
secure permanent quarters. The following Sunday, February 13, service
was held for the first time in the courthouse, and Rev. Dr. Robson
subsequently went on to Nanaimo, where he found Cornelius Bryant, a
young schoolmaster, who enjoyed the distinction of being the first
member of the Methodist Church to set foot in British Columbia. He
afterwards entered the Methodist ministry and died a few years ago.
Rev. Edward White was quartered in New Westminster, where he
established Methodism, and Rev. Mr. Browning, after acting as
evangelist at different coast points, became the pioneer Methodist
missionary in the Cariboo country.

[Illustration: First Methodist Church.]

Laying Corner-Stone.

During the following August the corner-stone of the first Methodist
church in Victoria was laid. The building was situated at the corner
of Broad and Pandora Streets, and was afterwards known as the Pandora
Street Methodist Church. The stone was laid by Governor Douglas, and
the building was dedicated the following May. Its usefulness was
considerably lessened, however, by the building of the Metropolitan
Methodist Church in 1890, which claims the honor of being the mother
church of Methodism in the province, as, though the Pandora Street
edifice was built first, it was not used for church purposes alone.
The first pastor of the Metropolitan Church congregation was Dr.
Evans, who was assisted by Rev. Dr. Robson, Rev. Arthur Browning and
Rev. D. V. Lucas and Rev. Coverdale Watson (whose widow is now living
in Vancouver), who acted as pastor for two separate terms.

Of the pioneers of Methodism, the following families were prominent
and whom I counted among my friends: The Trounces and Donalds we had
known in California; Sheriff McMillan and family, Captain McCulloch,
Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Bone, Mr. and Mrs. Humber, Mr. and Mrs. Norris,
Alderman Kinsman, and Father McKay, as he was affectionately termed
by his intimate friends. All these have g