Bermuda had been visited by Whitefield, and in the general awakening it could not be expected that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island would be forgotten. It was a period of emigration and revival, and in the great commotion, the present Maritime Provinces of Canada shared in the blessings of the new movement.
During the period of emigration to Nova Scotia, four different parties came from Yorkshire, England, the first arriving in 1772. It was natural to expect, that coming from a district, memorable as the scene of many visits from the Wesleys, a bit of land consecrated with the tears and labors of John Nelson, the stalwart hero, and kept fresh with the hallowed memories of the saintly Hester Ann Rogers, there should be among the emigrants many who were loyal and devoted Methodists. Yorkshire Methodism was of that strenuous type which must give expression to its faith in hearty song, and lively preaching, and these sturdy settlers were an acquisition to the province, which the politicians were sufficiently alert to see, could not fail to supply the elements of stability and growth.
The majority of these people settled in the county of Cumberland, and began life anew, with intense loyalty to the institutions, and high ideals. The province had not fully recovered from the effect of the spirit of disloyalty which culminated in the expulsion of the Acadians, although there followed a period of peace, but despite the efforts of the Government in making roads, and instituting public works, the settlements were sparse, and the Indian was still in the land. There was only one minister in the county, the Rev. John Eagleson, who had been sent out in 1769 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, while in the province there were a few Anglican, Congregational, Presbyterian and one Baptist church, but places for holding religious worship were few and far between, and the first Methodists consequently began prayer meetings in their homes, and through them souls were led to Christ. Whatever religious services were held they attended, and thus kept alive the glowing embers of their faith and zeal.
An incipient rebellion, induced by the Revolutionary war, and maintained by the sympathy of the colonists who had revolted in New England, unsettled the minds of the people, and made it dangerous for them to attend religious worship, and consequently the cause of religion suffered, and many forsook the faith of their fathers. A few still remained true, and amid many discouragements prayed for the dawn of a new day.