Reuben Harris was a Methodist circuit rider.
Harris was born in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1776. Harris converted to Methodism in 1800. Upon his conversion, he began to study its teachings quite diligently, and was licensed as a local preacher on November 26, 1802.[1] He was accepted on trial for the Methodist itinerary at the 1803 conference and volunteered to ride a circuit in Upper Canada. The 1804 conference returned him to Upper Canada. At the 1805 conference, he was received into full connexion, and ordained a deacon. He was assigned to the Brandon Circuit in Vermont. He rode the Fletcher Circuit in 1806. He was ordained a Elder at the 1807 conference, and assigned to the Middletown Circuit in Connecticut.[2]
Harris continued circuit riding in New York and New England through 1823. That year he was declared supernumerary at the Methodists' annual conference. He returned to active service in 1829, and was again declared supernumerary in 1834. He was superannuated in 1839, and moved to Chardon, Ohio, where he did odd preaching as his health permitted. He died February 15, 1844.[2]
- ^ Carroll, John (1867). Case and his cotemporaries, or, The Canadian itinerants' memorial constituting a biographical history of Methodism in Canada, from its introduction into the Province, till the death of the Rev. Wm. Case in 1855. Vol. I. Toronto: Wesleyan Conference Office. p. 71.
- ^ a b Carroll, Volume I, page 72