St. John's
St. John's Anglican Church circa 1860.
A portion of the steeple was removed in 1929 due to lightning damage.
The Reverend Adam Elliott was appointed by the Church of England in 1832 to be a missionary to the Six Nations Indians and early settlers of Upper Canada. He relates in his journal dated January, 1833, "I performed Divine Service on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1832 and preached to a numerous and attentive congregation; in the evening the congregation was still more numerous and the singing was excellent."
He said also that sufficient sums had been subscribed to start building a church, but in his journal of December, 1833, services were being performed in the school on King Street West, which seems to be where all denominations worshipped.
Mr. Elliott wrote that he arrived at the appointed time only to find a Methodist minister addressing the congregation, "when it was intimated to him that the service of our church was to be performed, he kindly abridged his ministrations. After our service was ended...a Presbyterian minister preached immediately afterwards."
In June 1834, he again preached in the school, but in August 1835 when he came to Darlington he found two new churches had been erected, one in Bowmanville and the other on Mr. Wilmot's property. The first was a white frame building with a flat roof built at the present St. John's site on land donated by Mr. Bowman. This small church was demolished in 1855 to make room for the present building.
In 1835, the Lord Bishop of Montreal ordained a young man named Thomas S. Kennedy who had been studying with Dr. Bethune at St. Peter's Cobourg. he was appointed the first incumbent of the little white church in Bowmanville From his records, we learn of the many Baptisms, Marriages and Burials he performed. Of note was the Burial Service for Richard Lovekin, J.P. on July 17, 1839 aged 70 years.
The plot of land on the south side of the church was consecrated as a Burial Ground and although the tombstones were removed to Bowmanville Cemetery about 1926, the remains of the deceased were not disturbed, according to one of the men who worked on the project. The stones were all placed together on the north side of the entrance road, just inside the McGill Memorial Gates. In 1834, a note was affixed to the church door stating that no one could use the Burying Grounds for interment without obtaining permission of the clergyman, in order that a charge could be levied. The cost of a plot was $3. This is the first time the word dollar appears in the old record books.
From the time of Mr. Elliott until the present, St. John's has had 17 incumbents. (Christopher Greaves, who was named Incumbent in 2004, is our 18th.) The man serving the longest time was the Reverend Dr. A. Macnab who spent nearly 40 years caring for the needs of his people, from 1852 to 1891. His son assisted him, but he was lost at sea at the age of 25. There is a beautiful stained glass window in the south wall dedicated to his memory, also his parents installed a set of Harrington Tubular Chimes in the Belfry, which have been electrified and are still played.
Dr. Macnab wrote a brief history of the Church of England in Bowmanville, telling of the improvements being made to the building. He ended with these words: "The whole will add much to the beauty of its situation on the commanding eminence overlooking, for many miles, an undulating country and the expanse of the blue waters of Lake Ontario."
In the early records of the church, no ladies' names appeared as having anything to do officially with the activities, but in 1844, they held a sale of work and presented the Rector and Wardens with 57 pounds. They were thanked profusely for their assistance because the Treasurer said he did not have sufficient funds to pay for the coal.
The present church was built in 1856 with financial assistance from Dr. Low who mortgaged his home. (The present Beech Centre in Bowmanville.) He loaned the Wardens $9,000 and this sum appears to have been the cost of the building. The Rectory and the Parish Hall were both built in 1912.
During a severe storm on Easter Monday in 1929, the steeple was struck by lightning and had to be removed for safety's sake. At one time, there was a balcony on the west wall, where it is reported that First Nations people from Scugog Island sat to hear the service.
From these beginning years until the present time, St. John's has been an active force in the area. The Outreach Committee continues to have concern for others. Their projects range from collecting trash along the town streets (91 bags were picked up) to sending cartons of used skates to Pikangikum in our far north and large bales of sewing materials to the ladies in the Diocese of Morogoro, Tanzania, Africa.
Hopefully, this giving to others will continue to be the rule of St. John's.
--- Contributed by Min Deeley
The above article was published in The Canadian Statesman in 1988.