(named after the creek flowing thorough the town of Port Hope, Northumberland Co)

            See Guillett - The Valley of the Trent for an account of a circuit rider on this circuit.

             The circuit covered 12 townships, from Bowmanville to Carrying Place and north to Mud Lake (now Chemong Lake). The circuit was 400 miles long, done on horseback, included 33 appointments (preaching places) only two of which were churches, and was covered every 28 days.

            Records of this circuit are with the records of Bridge St United Church, Belleville. Microfilm LCM-67 at UCA contains baptisms from 1807 and marriages from 1808. Some of these may be Peterborough records. Locations are usually not given.

            The book Early Methodist Records (no date, no author) apparently published by the Bay of Quinte Branch of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada, contains the following: Smith Creek Marriage Register 1831-32, Smiths Creek Circuit 1805-1844. A copy is at OGSK and at UCA. This material is also at FHL: 971.3 K2e

            The information below is from Cornish.

            1805                                        Thomas Madden

            1806                                        Luther Bishop

            1807                                        Robert Perry

            1808                                        Elias Perry

            1809                                        Cephas Hulbert

            1810                                        John Reynolds

            1811                                        Joseph Gatchell

            1812                                        Thomas Whitehead

            1813-1814                              no record

            1815                                        Isaac B Smith

            1816                                        Nathaniel Reeder

            1817                                        Broken into Hallowell Circuit (Prince Edward District) and Duffins Creek Circuit around Pickering Ont, which is listed below.

            1817-1818                              James Jackson

            1819                                        Duffins Creek Circuit renamed Smiths Creek Circuit

            1819                                        Elijah Boardman

            1820                                        Philander Smith

            1821                                        Thomas Madden, Solomon Waldron

            1822                                        Samuel Belton

            1823                                        Samuel Belton, John S Attwood

            1824                                        David Breakenridge, Anson Green

            1824 Sep 28                            Anson Green preached in a house just north of Peterborough (At the Edge of the Shield)

            1825                                        name changed to Cobourg Circuit, which is listed below

            1825                                        David Breakenridge, John Black

            1826                                        Wm Slater, John Black

            1827                                        Wm Slater, Egerton Ryerson

            1828                                        James Norris, Ephriam Evans

            1829                                        David Wright, John Carroll

            1830                                        David Wright, Daniel McMullen

            1831                                        Rowley Heyland, Edmund Shepherd

            1832                                        Richard Jones, John C Davidson

            1833                                        to Wesleyan Methodist