A Gem

Joseph Horatio Chant

Joseph Horatio Chant was born on August 19, 1837 at Stoke Underham, Somersetshire, England. His parents moved to Canada in 1840, and settled in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Chant attended schools in the area and upon graduation taught for two years in Cathcart, Burford township. In 1864 he attended Victoria College and entered the ministry, being ordained in 1868. That same year he married Mary McKim and the next year their first of eight children were born. Chant, as a minister for the United Church, never remained in one place long, though he, his wife and daughter Hattie eventually did settle down in Newburg Village when he was Superannuated in 1896. His wife died in 1914 and he moved again, this time to North Bay where he lived with his daughter from 1916 until 1925. In 1915 Chant published a collection of poems, Gleams of Sunshine. This collection of unpretentious poetry is indebted to his spirituality in which he praises God, country and nature, extolling simple virtues, but in a practical and not didactic or heavy handed manner Joseph Horatio Chant died in North Bay, Ontario on June 8, 1928, two months short of his 91st birthday. more…

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