On May 10, 1851, Horden received a letter from them, informing him that the Bishop of Rupert's Land, had made a request for a schoolmaster at Moose Factory, territory of the Hudson's Bay Company, and that he had been appointed to fill the position.
He contacted his fiancée of one year, Elizabeth Baker Oke (1826–1908), a teacher who trained at The Home and Colonial School Society (Gray’s Inn Road, London), and someone who also had missionary aspirations, and they quickly married (May 28, 1851).
In London, Horden met with Reverend George Barnley, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary at Moose Factory until 1847, who introduced him to some basic Cree language and its symbolic writing.
The young couple lived at the residence of Chief Factor Robert Miles, affording them some time to acclimate to the daily routines at Moose Factory before moving into the repaired Methodist parsonage just ahead of winter.
It was Miles who had persistently urged for a replacement for Barnley at the mission, having lost his two front teeth, he remarked "…it is a labor for me now to read the service.
After one year, Bishop David Anderson of Rupert's Land visited the mission, and decided to ordain Horden as a priest (August 24, 1852) to better serve this location rather than replace him.
[5] Funding was obtained through the Coral Missionary Society, largely through the efforts of Beatrice Batty and other editors of its magazine, to create a foster care program for orphans.
[4] Horden prepared a prayer book, a hymnal, and translations of the Gospels in the Cree language, and sent them to England with an order for a thousand copies.
For the next several years, he and his students printed and bound books which were distributed throughout the region, substantially increasing the awareness of and interest in Christianity in the area.
Over several years, John Horden worked with E. A. Watkins at Fort George to produce religious material in syllabics for Inuit.
The settlement was mainly inhabited by the Cree, connected to the mainland by an ice road in the winter, and home to an international community of Hudson's Bay Company employees at the post.
On their return to Moose Factory, they realized they had just escaped an outbreak of whooping cough that claimed 32 lives, including that of "Little Susan", a native orphan who the Hordens had raised from infancy.
1856), who married William Kelk Broughton (District Manager and Chief Trader at Albany, Rupert's House and Moose Factory, awarded Gold medal and two bars),[9] Beatrice Campbell Horden (b.
After delaying their plans of a furlough for an entire year due to a ship-wreck, in 1865 Horden and his family sailed back to England through icebergs and freezing storms, and Thomas Vincent was placed in charge of the mission.
[12] When Horden returned to Hudson's Bay in 1882, Elizabeth now 56 years of age, remained behind to attend to her family in England and was active in raising contributions for the Moosonee Association until her death in 1908.
[4] When Horden went on furlough for the last time in May 1888, his daughter "Chrissie" and her children accompanied him for one day, and his young grandson, William Kelk Broughton, Jr. (aged 11 years) continued further until the remaining traveling party turned back to Moose Factory.
[2] Horden served as bishop for a huge territory, and made pastoral visits to as many parts of the diocese as possible, including York Factory via Winnipeg, despite his having a serious problem with rheumatism.
[14] Three 1893 design sketches for the memorial by sculptor Herbert Read, depicting an island scene of the bishop and natives, are held at the Devon Heritage Centre.