Churches

Baptist Church

A petition from members of the Advocate Baptist Church was sent to the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia on January 24, 1894. (Note 1) Petitioners stated that they had been organized as a church and had continued religious services since 1840. About 40 years previous, one of the members of the church gave the church a lot of land to erect a house of worship on but gave no deed and has since departed this life. (Note: William Wellington Spicer was the owner of the property at the time so I assume he was the one who donated the property to the church.)

A small church was built on the property around 1854 but it was now old and out of repair so a new church of worship was erected in 1893. Petitioners wanted to sell the old building and have it removed from the property. Thus, they wanted an Act to be passed to incorporate their trustees to deal with the property of the old church on behalf of the congregation. The trustees appointed by petitioners were A.W. Atkinson, E.C. Reid, George H. Knowlton, Alfred Knowlton, Robert Dewis and Clemens McLellan.

The petition was signed by Pastor E.K. Canning, A.W. Atkinson, Elizabeth Atkinson, Daniel Barkhouse, Mary O. Bigelow, Emily Dewis, Naomi Dewis, Alfred Knowlton, Mrs. Alfred Knowlton, George H. Knowlton, Lena Knowlton, Sarah E. Knowlton, Archibald McLellan, Eunice A. McLellan, Loretta McLellan, Mrs. E.C. Moore, Edward C. Moore, John Moore, James A. Morris, Benjamin Porter, R.A. Porter, Dorcas Reid, Edmund C. Reid, M. Effie Reid, Ellie Reid, Maggie Reid, Mary Spicer and Mary O. York. The petition was approved.

The Free Will Baptist trustees purchased land from Henry Elliott in 1891 (Note 2) and built a new church on it in 1892. This church had been used by the United Baptist since 1907 was recently sold to David Bentley. The church originally had a tall steeple on it but at some point it was removed. The trustees of the Free Will Baptist Church in 1891 were W.C. Blenkhorn, Stephen R. Canning, Fred H.P. Dewis, Stephen Knowlton and John W. Turple. The first and only minister of this church was Rev. Douglas T. Porter. He served from 1892-1907.

In 1916 the United Baptist trustees sold the land formerly occupied by the Baptist Church at the foot of Arnold Field’s lane to S.R. Canning (Note 3). The trustees were A.W. Atkinson, W.E. Blenkhorn, F.H. Dewis, R.L. Dewis, Alfred Knowlton, D.T. Porter and J.W. Turple. I was told that the church building was moved to the lot that Purdy Davis later purchased and is used as a barn on that lot, with the steeple removed.

In 1950 the United Baptist bought a house from Hallie Copp, located west of the Wilson Morris house, to be used as a parsonage. The parsonage and church were sold in 2017.

United Church

The first Methodist society (Wesleyan Methodist) was organized in Advocate Harbour in 1839 by Rev. William Wilson, pastor of the Parrsboro-Maccan circuit. Foe several years the society met in homes of their members. In 1851 John and Mary Blenkhorn sold a piece of land to the trustees of the Wesleyan Chapel (Note 4). Previous to the sale, the Methodist had made modifications to the old Rose Cottage School (Chapter 4) which was located on the property and used it for their chapel. Adjacent to this lot on the west side was a section of land used for a Wesleyan cemetery. The cemetery was used from 1840-90. I could find no deed for the cemetery so assume it was given to the Wesleyan Society by John Blenkhorn. The Wesleyan trustees for this transaction were John Blenkhorn, Robert Knowlton Sr., Stephen Knowlton, Randolph Morris, William Morris, Robert Spicer Jr., John Suthergreen, James Ward and Joshua Ward.

In 1856 Justus Bigelow sold a piece of land on the west side of the Wesleyan graveyard to the Wesleyan Society (Note 5). A new chapel was to be build on the land. The trustees for this transaction were John Blenkhorn, Timothy Kelley, Randolph Morris, William Morris, John Suthergreen, Charles Ward and James Ward. In 1869 the Wesleyan Methodist sold the old chapel lot of 1851 to William Moore6. William Moore sold the land to Caleb Morris in 1897 and Caleb sold it to Lorne Morris in 1903.

The Provincial Wesleyan paper, on March 23, 1874, stated that in Advocate Harbour there had been considerable prosperity in religious matters and a new church was being erected. (They had bought the lot in 185 (Note 6) and so I assume they had church meetings in some sort of a building on site until 1874.) In 1896 the church was raised and a vestry built under it. Modifications were also made to the upper storey of the church. The first service in the new church was held on January 24, 1897.

In 1878 land was purchased from John R. Morris and a parsonage was built on it (Note 7). The parsonage was sold in 2003. Services at the church are now conducted by student ministers.

In 1925 came the amalgamation of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches in the formation of what we call The United Church of Canada.