306

PAPERS RELATING TO THE SIX NATIONS.

When I left home, I had an Intention of taking the Liberty of waiting upon you, & presentingmyself as a fit Object of your further Recommendation. With this View, I went to Sir John, a fewDays before my Departure, that I might, if not improper, learn where you was to be found ; alsoupon my Return I communicated my Designs to Colonel Johnson, who promised from himself tosecond my Application. Whose Letter, I trust, on this Head you will have received by this Time.

You may recollect, Sir, that I applied to you on the same occasion last Winter, when I wasapprehensive my Constitution con’d not undergo the Servitude of a Mission & School together. MySuspicions have been verified much to the Prejudice of my health, Exercise & a Change of Airare the only Expedients prescribed for the Recovery of it, which I now intend enjoying, in such aManner, as my Circumstances will afford. But shou’d I ever recover, & return to the same Duties,a Relapse probably ending in a Consumption wou’d be the fatal Consequence.

The Venerable Society’s Bounty, & an uncertain Subscription, which is daily lessening by theRemoval of some of the Congregation to the Country, is a very insufficient Support for a Family atSchenectady , & more so as House-rent must be deducted from that Pittance.

These Circumstances when combined together, will clearly evince the Hardships I labor under,& render, I hope, my conduct justifiable in the Eyes of the Society, & of the People. And moreparticularly so, as I shall engage not to relinquish the Mission ’till it is properly supplied, andnot even then without your Approbation.

This Gentleman who now officiates in my Room, is personally known to Colonel Johnson, & Ibelieve wou’d, if agreeable to you & the People, accept the Mission. He is a Relation of M r .Ellices. A Person of good Abilities, & a fair Character.

Now shou’d you choose to favor me with recommendatory Letters to the Southward to such ofyour Acquaintances as you thought proper on tiffs Occasion, I wou’d, depending on theirStrength, proceed to Maryland & Virginia, & endeavor to obtain one of the vacant Parishes in eitherof those Provinces.

I send this inclos’d in M r . Wallaces packet, who tells me he purposes leaving this on a Visit toyou next Thursday, & before then expects being honored with your Letters. At the same Time,I intend accompanying him & his Lady, & thereby have an opportunity of recovering my Health, &

moved, however, to Schenectady , as above stated, to which place he was appointed in 1773 at the request of the Wardens andVestry. In 1775, divine service was suspended in his church, on account of the troubles and he, himself, became the objectof much harsh treatment. He was taken prisoner twice, and at length deemed it prudent, in the fall of 1777, to apply forliberty to remove to Canada which he obtained. lie thereupon proceeded to Montreal where he was appointed Chaplain to hisMajesty.’s Royal regiment of New York, When he left, his congregation at Schenectady numbered only 59, exclusive ofslaves. Of those 12 were communicants. In 1780, the number was reduced to 27 white adults. lie continued in Montreal until October 1781 when he repaired to England. lie returned to Canada 12 June 1784, having been appointed Missionaryat Sorel. Here, for the first four weeks, he performed divine 'service in the R. Catholic church, and afterwards in thebarracks where he resided. A place of worship was, however, afterwards erected, and Mr. D. continued missionary at thisplace until 1793. “ It is with concern (says the Society ) that it has received information that they are deprived of the usefulservices of this worthy Missionary, Mr. John Doty, by his removal into his native country, to take charge of St. Annes’church at Brooklyn on Long Island in the Province of New York , (Abstract of 1794 b .) His connection with this churchmust however been brief, for his name occurs, again in 1790, on the Society ’s list as Missionary at Sorel, whither he musthave returned the previous year. He finally resigned this mission in 1803, when his connections with the Society forpropagating the Gospel ceased altogether. Ed.

ft Mr. Fish, author of the History of St. Anne's Ch: Brooklyn undertakes to say that “ the name of Doty docs not appear in the record ofclergy in the State of N. York at all.” The Society’s abstracts we presume are good authority for the contrary. Wood and Thompsonmention his name among the clergy of St. Anne’s.