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Hunter, Rev. Samuel James, D.D., Pastor of the Centenary Church, Hamilton, Ontario, one of the leading preachers in connection with the Methodist denomination, is a Canadian by birth, having been born in the village of Phillipsburg, province of Quebec, on the 12th April, 1843. He is of Irish parentage, his father and mother having been born and married in Strabane, county Tyrone. The subject of our sketch removed, with the other members of the family, to Upper Canada, and settled in East Gwillimbury, which was then almost a wilderness. He early developed an unconquerable thirst for knowledge, and when a mere lad had reached the limit of the common school teacher’s power to instruct. The few books in scanty libraries here and there amongst the neighbours were read with avidity and studied with care. The first money he ever earned was invested in three works that opened to him the vast world of thought, namely: Dick’s works, Rollin’s Ancient History, and a Latin grammar and reader combined. When seventeen years of age he was led into a religious experience through the ministry of the Methodist church, which he subsequently joined. At the age of eighteen he was received as a probationer for the ministry, and began his labours in the township of Walpole. Four years afterwards he was publicly ordained in London, Ontario. For many years he did the hard work of a Methodist preacher, and at the same time pursued secular study under private masters. His fields of labour have been—one year in Walpole, two in Oakville, two at Thornhill, one at Bowmanville, six in Montreal, twelve in Toronto (six of which were in Elm street, three in Queen street, and three in Sherbourne street Church). He is now completing his second year in Centenary Church, Hamilton, one of the largest and most important congregations in the Dominion. At the convocation of 1886 the Senate of Victoria University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Hunter, though a member of every general conference that has been held, has no taste for debate, and seldom enters the arena. He is regarded as orthodox in his teachings, but never takes things on trust merely. He thinks for himself, and never burkes his opinions, even when they seem to be out of harmony with the generally accepted creeds. He married, in 1871, Miss Ruston, of Montreal, and has a family of two children.