Salt, Allen, 1818-1911

The Reverend Allen Salt (1818-1911) was a Methodist missionary to the Indians of western Ontario. He was born near Alderville, Northumberland County, Upper Canada, the son of a white father and an Ojibway mother. He was adopted and educated by the Reverend William Case (1780-1855), Superintendent of the Episcopal Methodist Indian Missions and Schools in Upper Canada. After graduation from the Toronto Normal School in 1848, Salt worked for several years as a teacher at the Alderville Industrial School, before entering the Methodist Ministry. He was received on trial by the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in 1853, and worked first at the St. Clair Mission, an Indian Reserve in Sarnia Township, Lambton County. After his ordination as a deacon in 1854, he served at the Lac-La-Pluie Mission in the Rainy River District, until 1857, in which year he was received into full connexion. In 1858 and 1859 he was at the Garden River Mission, an Indian settlement to the north of Lake Huron, in the District of Algoma. From 1860 to 1867 he worked at the Christian Island Mission in Georgian Bay, near Penetanguishene, then he returned to St. Clair, 1868-71, before going to Muncey, an Indian Reserve on the Thames River in Caradoc Township, Middlesex County, 1872-1874. After the establishment in 1874 of the Methodist Church of Canada, Salt ministered in the Toronto Conference at Christian and Beausoleil Islands, 1875-1882, and then at the Parry Island Mission in the Parry Sound District until he was superannuated in 1901. He died at Parry Island, 29 January 1911, and was buried there beside his second wife, who had died two years earlier.