BELL, EDWARD C. (1845-1915)

BELL, EDWARD C., Methodist minister, Boiestown circuit, 1892-95; b. London, England, 1 Jun 1845; m. 1877, Marianne Taylor, a member of his home church in Norfolk, England; d. Charlottetown, 31 May 1915.

Edward C. Bell lost his parents at an early age and was raised in a foster home in Diss, Norfolk, England. Converted to Methodism at seventeen, he qualified as a local preacher and worked for several years in that capacity before coming to Canada in 1873 to enter the regular ministry. The first three months of his probation were spent in Chatham as a supply minister. Ordained in 1877, he served in a number of rural churches in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island before being assigned to the circuit at Boiestown in 1892. While based there he was responsible for ministering to all Methodist adherents living between Doaktown and the Nashwaak. He was evangelically-oriented and a devoted temperance worker.

Bell's pastorate was marked by the dedication of new churches at Doaktown, on 12 November 1893, and Boiestown, on 27 May 1894. Later he gave his approval to a plan to sell a small Methodist church which had been standing at Bloomfield Ridge since 1882 but was not being used.

In 1895 Bell was transferred to the Nashwaak. He subsequently served in a number of other New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island circuits before retiring in Charlottetown in 1911. He died there four years later, survived by his wife, Marianne Taylor.