Henry Caner
Henry Caner [1]
a missionary of the Church of England, was born in 1700, probably at New Haven, Conn., where his father was the architect of the first college edifice erected there, in 1717-18. The son graduated at Yale College in 1724, and began to read prayers in the following year at Fairfield. Having gone .to England in 1727 for ordination, he was appointed missionary to Fairfield by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Occasionally he served at Norwalk. He became rector of King's Chapel, Boston, April 11,1747. During his ministry King's Chapel was rebuilt, in 1749. Mr. Caner was appointed to preach the sermon on the death of George II. The officers of the British army and navy, previous to the war, were accustomed to worship at King's Chapel. In March, 1776, the British troops evacuated Boston, and Dr. Caner went with them, taking the Church records. He went to Halifax, and shortly after saifed fort London. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel offered him the choice of any vacant mission, and, in consequence, he was appointed to Bristol, R.I. Here he labored from early in 1777 until the close of the war. He spent his last years in England, and died in Long Ashton about the close of 1792. Among his published works were several important sermons, showing his fine intellectual culture. His manner of address was popular, and he was regarded as one of the most eminent Episcopal clergymen of his day. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, v, 61.
