ABSTRACT
In the biography of John Ewbank one reads that his 99-year farm lease expired, and because he was a non-conformist (as most English immigrants were) the landlord refused to renew it. So Ewbank sailed to New York in 1805, found work as a farm labourer, worked his way up, and in two years could send for his family. John Ewbank was a leader among the English settlers who followed him into the neighborhood where he was the first Englishman to settle. He was class leader of the Tanner's creek class of the Methodist church from its organization until his death in the year 1832. Following the same principles which had made his ancestors exiles from France for conscience' sake, and had led to the persecution which drove him in his old age from England, he took /an active part in the fight for freedom of the laity in the Methodist church.
