Dr. Stewart, of
Kingston, urged me to enter the Church, and as I had never yet
communicated, that excellent person, whom I loved as a father, admitted
me to the altar a little before I went to Quebec to take holy orders, in
1803. Before I had determined to enter the Church of England, I was
induced by the advice of another friend (the late Mr. Cartwright) ... to
make some inquiries respecting the Presbyterian Church of Montreal, then
vacant. (Dr. Strachan's Speech in the Legislative Council, March 6th,
1828, pages 25, 26.)

[77] The stipends of Methodist ministers in those days were very small.
Rev. Dr. John Carroll tells me that the "quarterage" payable to an
unmarried Methodist minister in America, at first, was only $60 per
annum; then it was increased to $80, at which rate it remained until
1816, when the General Conference fixed it at $100, at which it remained
until 1854. The rule for a married minister was double that for a single
man, and $16 for each child. Besides quarterage, there was an allowance
for travelling and table expenses. Two hundred dollars was the sum for
salary, besides travelling and aid expenses, allowed to a minister up to
1854, and even then this sum was rarely ever paid in full.--H.

[78] Rev. H. Wilkinson in a note to Dr. Ryerson, in 1837, thus describes
the kind of places to which some ministers had to be sent, and their
duties and qualifications when there. He said: I require a man for a
mission which lies about 200 miles from Bytown, up the Grand River
(Ottawa), and which will be difficult of access in the winter. A
suitable person could make his way northwards with some of the rude
lumbermen, who now and then go up in companies. The brother would need
to be strong in mind and body, and fervent in spirit. He would need to
go on foot, and paddle a canoe, or row a boat, as the case might be, and
thus reach his appointments in the best way he can.

[79] While in the vicinity of St. Andrews I contracted several important
friendships, amongst others, with Thomas Duncan, afterwards Professor of
Mathematics, and also with Dr. Chalmers, since then so deservedly
renowned. We were all three very nearly of the same age, and our
friendship only terminated with death, being kept alive by a constant
correspondence during more than sixty years. (Bishop Strachan's Charge
to his Clergy, June, 1860; page 10.)

[80] Speaking of the passage of a Clergy Reserve Bill in 1840, to which
the Bishop of Toron