WILLIAMS, RICHARD (1789-1856)

WILLIAMS, RICHARD, Methodist minister, Miramichi circuit, 1834-37; b. England, 1789; married; d. Bridgetown, N.S., 1 Aug 1856.

Richard Williams grew up in a Church of England home and was converted to Methodism in his youth. He was a probationer for the ministry at Hungerford and Poole in England between 1813 and 1815, after which he was sent to Montreal. Ordained in 1815, he spent ten years in Lower Canada, acting for a time as chairman of the Methodist district. He transferred to Saint John, N.B., in 1825, and was chairman the next year of the New Brunswick district.

During his three-year term at Chatham, Williams was assisted by a succession of able probationers. The first of these was Peter Sleep, who succeeded in becoming ordained but died while still in his thirties. In 1836 his assistant was Humphrey Pickard, who would later be the first president of the Wesleyan Academy at Sackville. In 1837 William Bannister was attached to the circuit. He became a martyr of Methodism some years later when he died of cholera while engaged in missionary work in the West Indies.

After he left the Miramichi in 1837 Williams spent five years in New Brunswick, two in Cornwall, England, and five in Newfoundland. His entire ministry was characterized by a strong sense of purpose and a capacity to lead. He retired in 1849 in failing health and moved to Bridgetown, N.S., in 1852. He was survived in 1856 by his wife, whose name is not known.