Elijah Bentley (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1799–1814) was a Baptist minister and office holder from
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...
who pursued a variety of vocations including farming. He became important to Canadian history because of his trial for sedition during the War of 1812.
Elijah's father had brought an extended family to Upper Canada from the United States in search of homesteads and a new life. Elijah obtained at least one land grant in the
Markham Markham may refer to:
It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873.
Biology
* Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia
* ...
area. He, and other non loyalist Americans came under the scrutiny of Lieutenant Governor
Francis Gore during a bi-election for
Robert Thorpe
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
in 1807. Gore considered the settlers like the Bentleys to have "brought the very worst principles of their own constitution with them."
References
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* ''The Baptists in Upper and Lower Canada before 1820'' - Stuart Ivison and Fred Rosser, (Toronto, 1956).
Canadian people of the War of 1812
19th-century Canadian Baptist ministers
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