St. Paul's Church

At St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery and memorial Garden. There is no chruch on the site.

Commemoration

In 1828 Richard Duncan Fraser, the son of an early Loyalist settler, Captain Thomas Fraser, donated land here for the building of a church to serve the anglicans in this area. Their minister, the Reverend J. G. Weagandt, the missionary stationed in Williamsburg, was the former Lutheran who had become embroiled in a bitter local controversy when, in 1812, he persuaded his congregations in Williamsburg and Osnabruck to adopt the Anglican faith. Under his guidance, a stone church was erected here by 1833. Despite the efforts of other early pastors, the Rev. J. G. B. Lindsay and the Rev. E. Boswell, the congregation remained small. In 1872 a new St. Paul’s Church was built in nearby Cardinal and, except for this tower, the old structure was taken down.

Background

Religion and churches played a larger role in the life of communities in the 19th century than they do today. Local churches were the centre of the community and often the only gathering place. Controversies in these community centres would affect everyone in town.