Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Location:
3097 15th Sideroad (east of Guelph Line, Campbellville), Milton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada.
Concession 4, lot 16, Nassagaweya Township.
GPS:
Latitude: 43.52794°N
Longitude: –80.03406°W
History:
From The Early History of Nassagaweya by J. Norrish printed Sept. 16, 1889:
Their first church, a frame building, was erected as near as can be known at present, in the year 1839. The old records are missing, but a society was organized some years before that at Hutcheon’s school house. I heard the late John McAlpine say many years ago that it was there that he and John Bell and John McKinnon were appointed the first elders of the Presbyterian Church in Nassagaweya by the Rev. D. McMillan and would think that took place about 1836.
They had no minister stationed here but were occasionally supplied by ministers from adjoining stations, among whom were the following: Meldrum, Wardrobe, Barrie, Ferguson and Rintoul, and also students from College.
The earliest record at hand is as follows: At Nassagaweya, the seventeenth day of May 1839, on which day the session of the Presbyterian Church met, after sermons in English and Gaelic by the Rev. Peter Ferguson and Rev. William Rintoul was constituted with prayer. Preparatory to the dispensation of the Lord’s Supper, the following persons were examined and admitted to church membership – Mary, wife of John King; Margaret, wife of Samuell Taylor; and Ann, wife of Archibald Campbell.
The Rev. A.J. McAuley was inducted into the pastoral charge of the church on the fifteenth of March 1854, the Rev. S. Young of Guelph, and the Rev. Alex McLean of Wellington Square, officiating. The only ruling elders at this time were John McAlpine and John Bell. The membership at this time was forty-five. In 1856, Richard Moffat and Archibald McPhail were appointed elders. Mr. McAulay died in April,1864 and was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rev. James Little on Oct. 31, 1866. During Mr. Little’s pastorate the eldership was increased by the addition of Messrs. James Agnew, David Henderson, and Jeremiah Smith. The congregation at Campbellville was organized; this last event took place on the eighteenth day of March 1869. Fifty-eight members left the Nassagaweya congregation and went to Campbellville.
Mr. Little left in April 1875, and the Rev. H.H. McPherson took his place in November of the same year. He remained until the year 1881, then he left, and the Rev. John Neil, B.A., was inducted into the pastorate in 1882. Mr. Neil left in 1884. In the month of June 1885, the present pastor, Rev. Q. Blair took charge of the church and congregation. The growth of the congregation may be seen from the communion roll, which, in 1854 contained 45 names and in the present year contains 204. In 1861, the present stone church was built on the site of the old frame one.
Compiled by Alex S. Cooke.
Norrish also states about Haltonville: This place is and always has been called Sodom. I suppose some person called it that at first for mischief, the residents call it the bigger name, but it doesn’t stick worth a straw. The rival community of Moffat was called Gomorrah.
There are no known cemetery records.
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