Bennett, William

Bennett, William a Wesleyan minister in Nova Scotia, was born in England in 1770. He was sent out in 1800 as a missionary to Nova Scotia, there being at that time in the whole of British North America only three Wesleyan Methodist preachers besides himself. He travelled for twenty years and preached almost incessantly. "Among the sparse settlements of Cumberland County, in the forests of Hants, the valley of Annapolis, along the rocky southern shore, in the province of New Brunswick and in the rising towns, he watched over the flocks gathered by Black and the brothers Mann, and formed many new societies." He became a supernumerary in 1820; resided at Newport, N. S., until 1839; removed to Halifax in that year, was chaplain of the penitentiary, and died in that city, Nov. 6, 1858. Mr. Bennett was trustworthy and faithful to the interests of the Church. See Huestis, Memorials of Wesleyan Preachers in Eastern British America (Halifax, 1872), p. 19.