I always knew that the Presbyterian Church had its roots in Scotland, but I didn’t realise it also has a Mennonite connection. Therefore it is not surprising that there are so many historic churches in this region, the heart of Scottish and Mennonite settlement in southern Ontario. Many of them were founded by early settlers and are still at the heart of their local communities, focusing on fellowship and community outreach as they have for nearly 200 years.
There are currently 32 congregations in the Waterloo-Wellington presbytery, both urban and rural, stretching from Mount Forest to the north, Cambridge to the south, Guelph to the east and Baden to the west. Last summer I explored some of them, meeting friendly knowledgeable people and visiting historic churches I had no idea existed. Wandering around the local countryside on an enjoyable fact filled journey, I discovered a way of life that helped make Waterloo Wellington one of the most interesting, and historic areas of Ontario.
Cambridge was at the forefront of Presbyterianism in Ontario and there are several long established churches around the town. Both St. Andrew’s in Hespeler, and Knox in Preston have a long history and active congregations. But the oldest and most attractive dominate Queen’s Square in the old town of Galt. Knox Presbyterian was founded in 1844, with the well-known Scottish Presbyterian Rev. John Bayne, founder of the Free Presbyterian Church of Canada. He was also involved in the founding of Queen’s University and Knox College. Across the square Central dates from 1880, but its roots date back to 1857 and a small church on Melville Street.
Both churches with their tall spires and stone facades add grace and dignity to Queen’s Square but why, I wondered, are two churches so close together?
It seems that different philosophies emerged at the end of the 19th century and breakaway congregations with more liberal ideas joined with the Union Church in 1880. Central Presbyterian was one of the churches born of this merger. The two Galt churches have co-existed side by side ever since. With a dwindling congregation, Knox mostly serves lifelong members like Bob Rennie who has belonged to the church for over 70 years, while Central continues local outreach, supporting the Food Bank and the Bridges shelter. Its excellent acoustics and lovely stained glass memorial windows make it a popular venue for Cambridge Symphony concerts several times a year.
Southeast of Cambridge on the edge of the presbytery lie two little rural churches that have survived and flourished despite the migration of rural families to towns. At Crieff, in the tiny community of Crieff, in West Puslinch, my visit coincided with its 175th anniversary, celebrated with a concert by the New Trademarks, contemporary gospel singers who perform at many local churches. They are one of the innovative and popular programs of modern music and song, which reflect the more relaxed style of the church as it strives to meet the changing times while keeping to its original values, and contributes to the fabric and friendliness, that I found wherever I went.
Well-preserved Kirkwall, surrounded by farmland with cattle and horses grazing nearby in the tiny farming community of Kirkwall, is located in the northwest corner of scenic Flamborough, high above Hamilton and Lake Ontario. Just a few kilometres outside the presbytery boundary, it is officially in the Hamilton presbytery, but many parishioners ally themselves with Cambridge and such is its history that it is worth inclusion.
Named after Kirkwall, Scotland, the church was founded by Scottish immigrants and two or three Irish families in 1833 in a log kirk, which is now marked by a memorial. The present church was built in 1848, with about 200 parishioners.
Bert Gilmour, a lifelong Presbyterian, grew up on a farm in nearby Valens and was a choirboy at Kirkwall. Of Scottish background, his was the third generation actively involved with the church since their arrival as settlers in the late 1800s and they are listed among the founding families in the history published for the 150th anniversary of Kirkwall in 1983. The family has a long history of service. Bert’s father won four medals including a Distinguished Flying Cross, as a fighter Pilot in the Second World War and young Bert was a long time president and charter member of Preston Lions Club. Now 80 years of age, he and his wife Marg are still actively involved in the pastoral and social activities of Knox Preston church.
Jeanette Jamieson, another long time Kirkwall parishioner, has farmed close by for over 50 years. She says the church has not modernised their service and keeps to the traditional form and original tenets of fellowship and outreach but the congregation has broadened from its original Scottish roots. There are children’s’ programs including Bible class and the community supports fundraisers for missions in developing countries. While the congregation is getting smaller, there are still about 100 dedicated members who keep Kirkwall church vibrant and active.
Probably one of the prettiest churches is Doon, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003. Set on a wooded hillside overlooking the Grand River in the historic little village of Doon, one of the oldest settlements in the area, now part of south Kitchener, the church has a truly Canadian heritage. In 1853, land was donated by an early settler, for the church and nearby cemetery—with only one condition; it was to come under ownership of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, not the Church of Scotland. From 1855 to 1892 it was in the charge of St. Andrew’s, Hespeler, and then Knox, Preston until 1977.
The small congregation had dwindled to about 30 people and the church was in danger of closing, but with some dedicated parishioners, a young enthusiastic pastor and new development in the area, its fortunes revived, and the lovely church was saved. Now a very active church, with a diverse congregation, current Pastor Darrell Clarke says all denominations and ethnic groups are among the worshippers, and the church offers a blended service to include them all. A recent service was dedicated to the local First Nations with drumming and traditional singing and veterans are commemorated on Remembrance Day. But its history is not forgotten. The church adjoins the home, now an arts centre, of well-known local artist Homer Watson. He was a Victorian landscape painter whose paintings hang in Windsor castle. He and his wife were active members of the church, and are buried in the cemetery, along with members of the Schneider family, early Mennonite settlers.
A church with a little known worldwide claim to fame is St Andrew’s, in the historic city of Guelph. The oldest congregation in Guelph (founded in 1828), it is located close to the birthplace of Lt. Col. John McCrae, author of “In Flanders Fields.” The poem, penned in 1915 on the battlefields of France after the death of a comrade during the First World War, was first published on December 8 in Punch, a British magazine of some note.
The McCraes were longtime Presbyterians and members of St. Andrew’s, Guelph. The family pew at the front of the sanctuary is marked by a plaque, and there is a stained glass window dedicated to McCrae. From a prominent military family, his father raised an artillery battalion in Guelph in 1915, which is still in existence.
The poem, which gained worldwide renown, celebrated its centennial this year. It was the inspiration for the iconic poppy, adopted in 1920 as the emblem of an annual Day of Remembrance, commemorating November 11, 1918, the day the armistice was declared. King George V, the British monarch of the time, approved the proposal and it has been a worldwide symbol ever since. More recently it was the focus for a wonderful commemorative installation of ceramic poppies, by artist Paul Cummins, which surrounded the moat of the Tower of London in fall 2014, and received thousands of visitors, including the Queen.
The 100th anniversary of the poem has been remembered this year both in Guelph and internationally with commemorative events. It is an inspiring story—this soldier poet and celebrated doctor, who sparked an international symbol of Remembrance, received his early spiritual training in a grey stone church in the relatively unknown city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, a far-flung corner of the vast empire he was trying to save.
About 15 kilometres north on Highway 6, St. Andrew’s in Fergus gazes benignly down on the town from a leafy hilltop. Founded in 1854 and said to be the oldest church between Hamilton and Owen Sound, it remains a lively centre of the community with a vibrant music program that includes local fiddlers and guitarists, a men’s choir, and overseas the church supports a mission in Nicaragua and four schools in Haiti.
But this church too has a little known worldwide connection. Were it not for George Clephane, an erstwhile remittance man from Scotland and the inspiration for the revivalist hymn, “There Were Ninety And Nine,” we would not be singing Hymn 347 in the Presbyterian hymnal more than a century later.
Young George, the black sheep son of Andrew Clephane (sheriff of Fife and Kinross in Scotland and a kinsman of Sir Walter Scott), had been shipped out to Fergus in 1843, ostensibly to take up farming. It was hoped a stint in the colonies would cure him of his heavy drinking. But he had no interest in farming; his only passions were riding around on a fine horse and the demon drink—unfortunately fuelled by a distillery in Fergus where whisky was cheap and plentiful.
George was on the road to ruin and one wet and windy day in 1851 he fell from his horse and died. He was buried at St. Andrew’s.
This would have been the end of the story but for George’s family back home in Scotland. His heartbroken younger sister, Elizabeth Clephane, who wrote poetry for a hobby, penned a poem in his memory. Upon her own early death in 1869 her poems were published in a Scottish paper where they were read by the well known American Evangelists, Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey, who happened to be touring Scotland. They set the verses to music and took them back to Pentecostal songbooks in America. The rest is history. Thus George Clephane, “the lost sheep,” had an influence in death that he never had in life. Many visitors still come to the peaceful churchyard to look for the grave, but the original headstone has now been moved inside the church to preserve it.
This not the only headstone of note. Set in the wall next to that of George Clephane, is another intriguing piece of history. “Here lies Robert McGillivray, died February 30, 1854” it states. The mystery of the non-existent date has never been solved. Did the stonemason use the old calendar or perhaps he too, visited the distillery once too often? We shall never know.
Profiled here are just a few of the lovely and interesting churches that dot the landscape of the Waterloo-Wellington presbytery. I urge you to take an exploration of your own. It will be a fascinating journey.
