Commemoration

Born in Pennsylvania, Stuart was ordained in 1770 and sent to Fort Hunter, N.Y. as a missionary to the Mohawks.  An ardent Loyalist, he came to Canada in 1781 where he was appointed chaplain to the 2nd Battalion King’s Royal Regiment of New York.  In 1785, having settled at Cataraqui (Kingston) he became the first resident Anglican clergyman in what is now Ontario.  Stuart ministered to the white and Indian settlers of this area and visited as far west as Niagara and the Grand River.  He was the first chaplain of the legislative council of Upper Canada and was responsible for the building of Kingston’s earliest church, St. George’s, in 1792.