The Rev Joseph Dare

above from the Cecil Whig, 13April 1872
The Rev Joseph Dare was sent to Delmar in 1872 from Cecil County Maryland.  He first conducted camp meetings in the woods at Delmar and then had the first Methodist Episcopal church built in Delmar. The church seated 100 people and sit on land donated by Elijah Freeney at the corner of first and State Street.

above December 1873

Rev Dare would shortly be off to other churches and he would spend the next 15 years moving to churches in Delaware and the Eastern shore of Maryland.

Rev. Dare was the son of Reyneer Dare (1797-1867) and Rachel Royal Corson (1797-1872).  They lived in Southern New Jersey where his ancestor, Capt William Dare, first came over from England in 1696.  Joseph Dare (1831-1887) married Caroline A. Henderson (1829-1867).  He was admitted to the Philadelphia Conference in 1854.  In 1856 he was ordained a deacon and in 1858 an Elder.  He would die while attending a good Templars convention in Newark, Delaware in 1887. Joseph and Caroline would have for children; William Reyneer Dare (1859-1931) and Mary Henderson Dare (1863-1940).