 Harold Adams Innis was born in 1894 on a small livestock and dairy farm near the community of Otterville in southwestern Ontario 's Oxford County . As a boy he loved the rhythms and routines of farm life and he never forgot his rural origins . His mother , Mary Adams Innis , had named him ' Herald ' , hoping he would become a minister in the strict evangelical Baptist faith that she and her husband William shared . At the time , the Baptist Church was an important part of life in rural areas . It gave isolated families a sense of community and embodied the values of individualism and independence . Its far @-@ flung congregations were not ruled by a centralized , bureaucratic authority . Innis became an agnostic in later life , but never lost his interest in religion . According to his friend and biographer Donald Creighton , Innis 's character was moulded by the Church : 
 Harold Adams Innis was born in 1894 on a small livestock and dairy farm near the community of Otterville in southwestern Ontario <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>Oxford County . As a boy he loved the rhythms and routines of farm life and he never forgot his rural origins . His mother , Mary Adams Innis , <a href='been_done' title='2'><mark>had</mark></a> named him ' Herald ' , hoping he would become a minister in the strict evangelical Baptist faith <a href='null_relcl' title='3'><mark>that</mark></a>she and her husband William shared . At the time , the Baptist Church was an important part of life in rural areas . It gave isolated families a sense of community and embodied the values of individualism and independence . Its far @-@ flung congregations <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>were</mark></a> not ruled by a centralized , bureaucratic authority . Innis became an agnostic in later life , but <a href='None' title='5'><mark>never</mark></a> lost his interest in religion . According to his friend and biographer Donald Creighton , Innis <a href='null_genetive' title='6'><mark>'s</mark></a>character was moulded by the Church : 
Harold Adams Innis was born in 1894 on a small livestock and dairy farm near da community of Otterville in southwestern Ontario  Oxford County . As a boi he loved tdarhythms and routines of farm life and he never forgot his rural origins . His mother , Mary Adams Innis , done named em ' Herald ' , hoping he would become a minister in the strict evangelical Baptist faith she and her husband William shared . At the time , thdaaptist Church was an important part of life in rural areas . It gave isolated families a sense of community and embodied the values of individualism and independence . Its far @-@ flung congregations was not ruled by a centralized , bureaucratic authority . Innis became an agnostic in later life , but don't never lost his interest in religion . According to his friend and biographer Donald Creighton , Innis  character was moulded by the Church :