The History of the Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton
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OHN KHiii 13X CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY University Library BX9002.C2r>w».>^» SS'".^''M98 '^'®'?i!iy,„.9,f,.,ffiS„.f?,r^sbyterian Church In Ca 3 1924 029 475 617 olin S^ Cornell University ^ J Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924029475617 REV. JOHN MURRAY, Feb. 10th, 1921. THE HISTORY OF The Presbyterian Church IN CAPE BRETON BY REV. JOHN MURRAY 1921 PRINTED BY NEWS PUBLISHING CO. LTD. TRURO, N. S. CONTENTS. PART I The Pioneer Presbyterian Ministers of Cape Breton. Rev. James McGregor D. D. Alexander Dick Norman McLeod William Millar Hugh Dunbar Hugh Ross Donald McDonald John McLennan Donald Allan Eraser Aeneas McLean Dugald McKichan Alexander Farquharson John Stewart James Fraser Peter McLean John Gunn Matthew Wilson Murdoch Stewart Hugh McLeod, D. D. PART II The congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton and their Ministers. St. Ann's -. ;... r.... ...... ...«....: and its Ministry " Mabou ' ; Port Hastings ',' Middle River '. " West Bay " Boulardarie " Whycocomagh " Strathlorne " Sydney Mines " Mira " Grand River " Baddeck " Cape North " Gabarous " " Leitche's Creek " St. Paul's, G. Bay CONTENTS—Continued Port Morien and its Ministry Lake Ainslie Falmouth St Loch Lomond St. Andrew's, Sydney St. Matthew's, Nr. Sydney North Shore, etc Baddeck Forks Bridgeport St. Peters Little Narrows Margaree Marion Bridge St. James, Sydney Louisburg Reserve Mines Knox, G. Bay St. Luke's No. 6 St. Matthews, Inverness Warden G. Bay Florence New Waterford Orangedale Malagawatch Framboise Broughton Neil's Harbor. .^.'r1»-ir{ Mission Fields Pleasant Bay West Bay Points Port Hood PART III Related and Supplementary Chapter. The Centenary of Presbyterianism in Cape Breton. The growth of the Presbyterian Church inC.B. during the past century Presbyterianism in C. Breton in 1827. The Presbyteries of C. Breton. Conditions under which our Presbyterian Ancestors lived in the early part of last century. The Communion Services of our Ancestors. Our Celtic Ancestors their Origin, History, Language Literature and Religion. The Men and Women that have gone to our Foreign Mission Fields from Cape Breton. INTRODUCTION. It has been said that no one ever reads the preface to a book, neverthe- less the writer of this one is disposed to write something equivalent to a preface, if for no other reason, in order to let the reader know how he came to attempt the role of authorship. He never dreamed of such a thing until the Presbytery of Sydney appointed an Historical Committee and made him the Chairman of said Committee. The duties of this Committee were not well defined in the terms of its appointment, but it was supposed to discover and record the history of Presbyterianism on the island of Cape Breton from the time of its introduc- tion up to the present time. The Presbytery of Inverness appointed a similar committee for a similar purpose and about the same time viz:—at the end of the year 1917. It so happened that the writer was the only member of either Com- mittee that was not actively employed in pastoral work, and on that account at liberty to engage in historical research and to give his whole time to the preparation of a history of Presbyterianism on this Island. In these circumstances and with the concurrence of both Committees, he undertook the work of recovering and recording the history of the Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton. It may be justly said, that he had certain advantages for this task over any of his brethren, on either Committee, on account of a longer ministerial acquaintance with Cape Breton Island, than any of them could claim. Though not a native of Cape Breton, he had served the Presbyterian Church on this Island for a period of about fifty years with some inter- ruptions. He crossed the Strait of Canso, on his way to Cape North, as a student Catechist of the church, on the 1st day of May 1870. That was fifty years ago last May and fifty years after the Rev. Norman McLeod came to Cape Breton in May 1820. It was in the very middle of our century of Presbyterianism! In addition, the writer spent nearly one half of the intervening years on this island, either as Catechist, pastor or re- tired minister. And besides it has been his privilege to know five of the pioneer minis- ters of Cape Breton, more or less intimately viz—John Stewart, Peter Mc- Lean, James Fraser, Murdoch Stewart, Matthew Wilson and Hugh Mc- Leod, D. D. He was also acquainted with a number of our early ministers, e. g., William G. Forbes, James Ross, Kenneth McKenzie, Abraham Mcintosh and James McLean. He can claim to have known Cape Breton when hundreds of the men and women, who came here from Scotland in the third and fourth decade of last century were still alive and active in the work of our church. Notwithstanding his long acquaintance with the island, he found the 5 task he had undertaken no easy one. No one had ever attempted to write a history of our Church iri Cape Breton. Apart from a lecture by the late Rev. Donald McMillan on some of the early ministers of our church here, there was nothing available with which to make a beginning. In order to get the necessary information he had to ransack every possible source of knowledge. He visited nearly every congregation on the island and inter- rogated every aged person that he could find; he read every Presbytery Minute in existence; he waded through' old files of the Presbyterian Wit- ness, Synod Minutes and Church Records; he went to Toronto in order to read several volumes of letters that passed between the Pioneers and the Societies that sent them out from Scotland; he conducted an extensive correspondence with parties in New Zealand and Western New York as well as with former ministers of Cape Breton at home and abroad. In short, he sought information wherever it could be found in order, if possible, to put his readers in possession of everything of importance in con- nection with our history as a church on this island. All this took time, per- severance and labor. But it has been a labor of love, interest and pleasure. It will be noticed that the matter contained in this volume is grouped under three heads or "parts." This arrangement suggested itself as one well-fitted to classify the subjects treated. Part I, "The Pioneer Presbyterian Ministers of Cape Breton" con- tains an account of all the Presbyterian ministers, who helped in any meas- ure, to lay the foundations of the Presbyterian Church on this island be- tween the year 1798 and the year 1850. There were nineteen of these pioneers and th'ey were all of Scottish birth but one, and all of Scottish education but two. Of these pioneers, two came to Cape Breton bfetween 1798 and 1820, viz James McGregor, D. D. and Alexander Dick, Seventeen of them came here between 1820 and 1850. In chronolog- ical order these were, Norman McLeod, William Millar, Hugh Dunbar, Hugh Ross, Donald McDonald, John McLennan, Donald Allan Fraser, Aeneas McLean, Dugald McKichan, Alexander Farquharson, John Stewart, James Fraser, Peter McLean, John Gunn, Matthew Wilson, and Hugh McLeod, D. D. There was no organized presbyterianism on this island p evious to the year 1820, although there were a few presbyterians as early as 1780 and those few had been considerably augmentated by immigration, more es- pecially between 1802 and 1820. Organized Presbyterianism in Cape Breton dates from May the 20th, 1820 when the Rev. Norman McLeod with a number of his followers sailed into St. Ann's Harbor. The Centen- ary of this event was fittingly celebrated at South Gut, St. Ann's, under the auspices of the Presbytery of Sydney and the Presbytery of Inverness, on the 8th of July last. During the pioneer period of our history we were almost entirely de- pendent on Scotland for our ministers. By the end of that period, we had a Seminary and Theological College of our own established in Halifax. The Free Church College was opened in St. John's Church, in that city, on 6 the 1st day of November 1848. The Kev. William G. Forbes of Port Hastings was one of the first graduates of that institution. He completed his theological studies in the spring of 1851. Since that time our Cape Breton plulpits have been, largely, if not chiefly, supplied by ministers who were born on our own island and educated in our own Canadian institu- tions of learning. Among the earliest of these home-born ministers were Abraham Mcintosh, Kenneth McKenzie, Donald McDougall, Alexander Farquharson and Hector McQuarrie. Later Cape Breton born ministers have been so many and so well known that they need not be mentioned in this connection. In Part I, we have endeavoured to furnish the reader with a memoir of the nineteen pioneers to whom, as a church we are so deeply indebted. The majority of them rendered inestimable service to our Church and their memory ought to be affectionately cherished by us, who reap in joy where they sowed in tears. We regret that our account of some of these good men is necessarily so brief. This, however, is due to the small amount of information that has come down to us regarding them. There are two of them, whose presence on this island was unknown to the writer before he began his historical investigations viz.