Egerton Ryerson

The Loyalists of America and Their Times - Volume I (Dodo Press) Egerton Ryerson

Adolphus Egerton Ryerson (1803-1882) was a minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Becoming an itinerant minister - or circuit rider - in the Niagara area, his life in a politically disadvanted religion formed his tolerant views. As early as 1825 Ryerson emerged as Episcopal Methodism's most articulate defender in the public sphere by publishing articles and later books that argued against the views of Methodism's chief rival John Strachan and other members of the powerful Family Compact. He was also elected to serve as the founding editor of Canadian Methodism's weekly denominational newspaper, the Christian Guardian. He was castigated by the reformist press at that time for apparently abandoning the cause of reform and becoming, at least as far as they were concerned, a Tory. He also fought for many secularization reforms, to keep power and influence away from any one church, particularly the Church of England. He wrote The Loyalists of America and Their Times (1880) and The Story of My Life (1883).