John G. Laird was a native of Ireland who had arrived in Canada during the preceding year (1847). He was born in Fermanagh, Ireland in 1823, so that at the time of his reception on trial he was about twenty-fice years of age. He was siable and comely enough,

He was trained for the work of a National School teacher in the Normal School, Dublin, and followed the occupation of teaching in his native land.

He was converted, and connected himself with Wesleyan Methodism, in his fourteenth year. He had filled the offices of leader, and local preacher for several years when he emigrated.

...from the minutes of the 1847 Wesleyan Methodist Conference in Toronto C.W.