Fifty-Two Years in Florida

Who were those men who carried the Bible and preached the Gospel in the 1800's? Who were those who armed themselves, not with musket, but with a copy of the "Good Book"? From 1845 to 1899, we know of one: The Reverend John C. Ley, a pioneer Methodist circuit rider, treaded the unclaimed lands of Florida and Georgia to find ways to spread the faith. His claim to fortune was not paid in coin but by the count of souls, and his story is one of great sacrifices to a way of life, his life, as a traveling preacher in Florida. Reverend Ley raised awareness within the confines of poverty, within the shacks built on poles known as cracker houses. He was one of those men of God who slept on the earth at night and visited with strangers eager for his message during the day. He was the one who crossed a rushing creek, not knowing the dangers lying ahead of him, so he might give life blessings to others. The Florida Conference of the Methodist Church, at its session of January 1885, requested Reverend Ley to write a series of articles for the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, with the objective of preserving names and events of Church history. Rev. Ley completed his task with the publication of this volume in 1899. In the first part of this work, the author provides us with a brief glimpse of territorial history from the time of discovery to approximately 1814, at the close of the War of 1812. In part two, he summarizes historical events of early missionary work in Florida based on the diaries and journals of early circuit riders and ministers, as well as from published sources, including the Florida Christian Advocate. Throughout the work, Rev. Ley includes all of the Florida Methodist Conference meetings, from 1845 to 1895, including the dates of the gatherings, and the names of participants and those individuals admitted or transferred into the Conference. In January 1895, Rev. Ley was the only member of the first session still active in the Florida Conference and preached the sermon for the fifty-first session in Jacksonville. Paperback, (1899), repr. 2012, 5.5" x 8.5," 156 pp.