Ryerson, John

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Thomas H. B. Symons, “RYERSON, JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ryerson_john_10E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Methodist minister; b. at Charlotteville, Norfolk County, U.C., 12 June 1800, fourth son of Colonel Joseph Ryerson, a loyalist of Dutch and Huguenot ancestry, and of Sophia Mehetabel Stickney; m. Mary Lewis in 1828 by whom he had a son and a daughter; d. 8 Oct. 1878, at Simcoe, Ont.
    • Five of Colonel Ryerson’s six sons entered the Methodist ministry despite his strong disapproval. After serving with his father as a volunteer on special service during the War of 1812, John was converted to Methodism in the evangelical awakening which followed the war in Upper Canada as were his two older brothers George and William Ryerson and, subsequently, his two younger brothers Egerton and Edwy. In 1820 he began preaching as supply and in 1821 he was received on trial on the Ancaster circuit. Two years later, on the Yonge Street circuit, he was ordained deacon and in 1825, on the Perth circuit, elder. In the ensuing years he served as presiding elder, chairman, or superintendent of almost every circuit or district in the province, and in 1843 he was elected president of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada.
    • John was in age and affection the brother nearest to Egerton who, in the years when his career was in the making, never took a step without consulting “this brother who commanded his entire respect and affection.” Egerton, writing in 1843, records that he regarded John as “for many years the most cool and accurate judge of the state of the public mind” of any man he knew in Canada. Described by Egerton as “a life-long Conservative,” John was the principal architect of the strategy advocated by Egerton and, in general, followed by the Methodists, of support for loyal reform, within the constitution, aimed at civil and religious liberty.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7251
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70027215/john-ryerson