William Thomas Lemon – Methodist Member, Lay Preacher- Aldershot, Wentworth County

William Thomas Lemon (1833 – 1926) and Mary Budge (1834 – 1907) were married on 22 December 1857.

Before their move to Aldershot, they were listed in the 1881 Census as living in Beverly Tsp., Cty of Wentworth North: Thomas Lemon, b. Ont, Farmer, age 47; Mary, b. Scotland, age 45; and their children Alfred 21, Alan 19, John 17, Charles 17, James 15, William 13, and Jessie 11.

In 1881 he purchased 84 to 86 acres of land in East Flamborough Tsp., Aldershot, which had been the property of Joseph Hancock (since the 1870s) in 1875. The single buggy-tracked lane originally known as Lemons’ Road later became Lemonville Road.

Thomas and Mary’s grown children soon married: Alfred (1859 – 1950) married Louise Schmuckle in 1895 in Los Angeles; , Allan (1861 – 1936 ) married Henrietta “Nettie” Scheer in January 1895; Charles “Charlie” (1863 – 1923) married Martha Hopkins in December 1893; his twin John Fredrick (1863 -1949) married Ida Scheer in January 1894; James “Jimmie” (1965 – 1959) married Annie McNeilly in January 1894; William “Will'”(1867 – 1948) married Mary Jane Hayward in June 1892; Jessie (1870 – 1963) married Fred Gardiner in March 1902.

Alfred moved to California in 1888, apparently looking for a better farming climate after a partial crop failure following severe frost. His younger brother James moved there in 1895.

Note: excerpt from an article in the Hamilton Spectator, June 1926:

“Wm. Thomas Lemon an Episcopal Methodist lay minister, after a few days illness, went home to be with the Lord, at his residence in Aldershot Ontario in his 93rd year. The funeral took place on June 8, 1926, with a large number of relatives and friends present. The service was conducted by Thomas Somerville of Brantford, ON who vividly recalled, in his eulogy, some of the blessed seasons, 50 years ago, when he became acquainted with Thomas Lemon preaching the Gospel to 400-500 on a Sunday afternoon for 6 successive summers in the woods near Lynden, ON., which was a short distance from his farm.

Thomas Lemon erected a fine hall on his Lynden farm, where for many years, meetings were held and souls saved and Christians led on in the truths of God’s Word.

Mr. Thomas Somerville gave this poem at Thomas’ funeral:

Loved and revered by those who knew his gentle, gracious ways
He now has gone to the bright Home to spend eternal days.
For many years he loved the Lord, and basked beneath His smile,
And we shall meet him soon again when passed a little while.”

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R. CALVERT – Methodist Minister

 

Rev. R. Calvert

Charges

1918-1920 South Mountain

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R. F. MERCER – Methodist Minister

Rev. R. F. Mercer

Charges:

1924 Drew Minto Twp (Wellington Cty)

Christian Guardian – Births – Earl Bryce Mercer was born on March 1, 1924 at parsonage Drew Station Ontario. He was the son of Rev. R.F. and Mrs Mercer

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Salford Methodist Church – Dereham Township, Oxford County, Ontario

 

SALFORD, a post village in Oxford County, Ontario, 4 miles from Ingersoll, on the G.T.R. , also a station on the Port Burwell branch of the C.P.R. It contains a store, wagon shop, barrel factory, backsmith shop, and 2 churches (Methodist and Baptist), besides express, telegraph and telephone offices. Pop. 150 …from Lovell’s 1906 Canada Gazetteer

Church History – SALFORD – A village in the township of Dereham, County of Oxford, Ontario. Ingersoll Circuit.

Members:

James Kennedy

Ministers:

1868-1870 Rev. Hugh McLean

1871-1873  Rev. Thomas Crews

1876  Rev. Ephraim Brock Stevenson

1882-1884  Rev. T. Albert Moore

1904-1907  Rev. John H. McArthur

1869-1870 London District
London City, London South, London North, St. Thomas, Ingersoll, Salford, St. Mary’s, Aylmer, Fingal, Tyrconnell, Westminster, Port Stanley, Warwick, Strathroy, Adelaide, Mt. Brydges, Arkona, Exeter, Lucan, Ailsa Craig, Park Hill, Nissouri, Belmont, Dorchester Station

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Mount Forest Methodist Church – Egremont Township, Grey County

Mount Forest Methodist Church 1914

 

MOUNT FOREST. A town in the township of Egremont, County of Grey, Ontario. It was part of Durham Mission.

History

Originally known as Maitland Hills, its name was changed to Mount Forest in 1853. The name change came about because it was discovered that the village was actually on the Saugeen River system not on the Maitland River as had previously been supposed. Mount Forest is on a height of land near the headwaters of the Saugeen River.

The village was surveyed into lots in 1853 by Francis Kerr, PLS. By 1864, the population had grown to 1185 so that it qualified to be incorporated as a village. By 1879 it had become an incorporated town. The 1871 town directory stated that Mount Forest had 10 hotels, eight churches and 18 stores. Later that year the railway was completed and the first train entered Mount Forest pulled by a wood-burning engine.

A local newspaper, the Mount Forest Confederate, was first printed in 1867. For the first year, the newspaper was sent to village residents free of charge, but the second year it began charging 50 cents per year.

The first public school was built in 1856. The first high school was originally in the Old Drill Hall, but was an unsuitable location because it was beside the Market Square where livestock sales were held monthly. The new high school was built in 1878. A third high school was founded in 2004 with the combination of the Mount Forest District High school and the neighboring Town of Arthur.

Dr. A.R. Perry purchased the home of Alex Martin on the corner of Dublin and Princess Streets and established Strathcona Hospital, a 10-bed private hospital. In 1923, a group of citizens headed by G.L. Allen, changed Strathcona Hospital into a public hospital. Wentworth Marshall, a pharmacist, generously bought the hospital from Perry. Marshall’s mother, Louise, was the supervisor at the hospital until she became ill with cancer. It was closed in 1921, but a year later reopened under a new name: Mount Forest General Hospital. In 1928, the deed of the hospital was turned over to the town and the name was changed yet again to Louise Marshall Hospital in honour of Marshall’s mother….from Wikipedia.com

Members:

Ministers:

1855  Rev.  Asahel Hurlburt 

1855 Rev. Alfred Andrews

1856 Rev. William Morton

1856  Rev. T. Gray

1857-1858 Rev. Thomas Culbert

1858-1859  Rev. E. Coleman 

1859 Rev. Philip Rose

1860 Rev. William Norton

1860 Rev. John Scott

1860-1862  Rev. John Hutchinson

1861-1862 Rev. Alexander R. Campbell

1862 Rev. William W. Shepherd

1862-1863   Rev. William Cross 

1863-1864 Rev. Samuel C. Philp, Jr.

1863 Rev. James Laird

1865  Rev. George Bennett 

1865  Rev. William B. Rowe

1865  Rev. James B. Kershaw

1865    Rev. William H. Moss

1865-1867 Rev. Richard Potter

1868-1870 Rev. Stephen Bond

1870-1871  Rev. Nathaniel Burwash

1871-1873 Rev. Thomas Cobb

1872 Rev. William H. Henderson

1874  Rev. Thomas Cosford

1884-1886  Rev. Isaac Brock Aylesworth

1887-1890  Rev. Robert Walker 

1889  Rev. Samuel H. Edwards

1889-1891  Rev. James Charlton 

1897  Rev. William H. Harvey 

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Mooretown Wesleyan Methodist Church – Moore Township, Lambton County

MOORETOWN. A Village in the township of Moore, on the River St. Clair, County of Lambton, Ontario. Distance from Sarnia 10 miles.

It was first established as Sutherland’s Landing.

Mooretown gained in prosperity during the 19th century as a port of call for sail born vessels requiring assistance to pass “The Rapids” where steamboats driven by cord wood stacked on Mooretown’s piers could be towed up river into Lake Huron.

The original Scottish settlers estabilshed a church at Sutherland’s Landing (now between Mooretown and Courtright) which was then moved to Mooretown in the 1860s when the oak logs of the original structure rotted out.

The 1860s structure was struck by lightning in 1918 having been built of local timber with a copper clad steeple known to mariners as a navigation point.

The 1919 replacement structure is now on the Moore Museum’s grounds having been preserved by artist Christine Anne Wingfield-Brandon. The structure retains the steeple bell from the original Sutherland’s Landing Church.

Mooretown served as a regional center for salt mining and oil refining before these industries move to neighboring communities.

In the 19th century Mooretown was a regional seat with a considerable population with hotels and a municipal seat, it exists today as a quiet and distinctive community.…from Wikipedia.com

From 1867 to 1869, Joseph Russell Little was assistant preacher at Mooretown.  He worked with his old friends, Rev. Thomas Culbert and Rev. William Hicks

Ministers:

1857-1858 Rev. John Hodgson

1857 Rev. Oliver Edson Burch

1857-1858 Rev. John L. Hodgson

1859-1860 Rev. James Hughes

1860 Rev. David Ludwig Brethour

1861-1863 Rev. Thomas Culbert

1861-1862 Rev. Ebenezer Teskey 

1863 Rev. Abel Edwards

1864-1865 Rev. Ezra A. Stafford

1864 Rev, Robert H. Waddell

1865 Rev. Eli Wigle

1866-1867 Rev. Thomas Hurlburt

1866 Rev. George W. Rich

1867 Rev. William P. Magwood

1868-1869Rev. William Hicks

1869 Rev. John Grenfell

1870-1872 Rev George Clark

1870 Rev. Alfred Moore Phillips

1872 Rev. William Austin

1873 Rev. John Neelands

1873 Rev. John T. Smith

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Lyn Wesleyan Methodist Church – Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County, Ontario

Lyn Methodist Church – 1885

 

LYN

A village on the B W & S S M R, in Eiizabethtown Township, Leeds County, Ontario 6 miles west of Brockville, the county seat, and 1 mile north of Lyn Station, on the        G T R.  It contains Methodist, Anglican and Presbyterian churches and a public school. Telgraph  G N W. Exp, Can and Dom. Telephone connection. Pop, 500.

N R Gardner, Postmaster

…from 1898-99 Eastern Ontario Gazetteer and Directory

LYN, a flourishing post village in Leeds County, Ontario, on the G.T.R., and Brockville, Westport & North Western Ry., 5 miles from Brockville, on the St. Lawrence. It contains 3 churches (Episcopal, Presbyterian. and Methodist), 2 express and telegraph offices, flour and grist mills, 9 stores, 1 hotel and 1 factory for making lasts for boots and shoes. Pop. 350  …from Lovell’s 1906 Canada Gazetteer

Church History

The Methodists seem to have been the first to build a church. In 1817 the Genessee Methodist Conference met in the Elizabethtown (Brockville) chapel. Sixty ministers from New York State and twenty-two from Canada assembled in the village for five days. This was the first Methodist Conference ever held in Upper Canada.

As time passed there were divisions among the members and also the Canadian church was formally separated from the church in the United States.

Eventually there were two Methodist churches in Lyn — one, a brick church at the top of the hill (beyond Erle Miller’s home) and the other near the stone school house on Main Street. The Episcopal Methodist church blew down in a severe storm and the present one, Wesleyan, still stands. (St. Andrews U.C.) In 1884 these two churches finally decided to amalgamate and the Board of Wall Street Church in Brockville was asked to decide which church to use. They unanimously selected the Wesleyan Church. This church was made of white brick with a 12 foot steeple. The site was a gift of Mr. Coleman and the parsonage land a gift from Mr. Shipman. The bell, cast in the United States, was ferried across the St. Lawrence by the Colemans and friends. It is now in Christ United Church. This was a four point charge at that time; Caintown, Mallorytown, Rockfield and Lyn. There were 300 in the congregation, 80 were from Lyn.

Members:

Ministers:

1858-1859 Rev. John Mills

1858 Rev. William McDonagh

1859 Rev. Samuel Wilson

1860-1862 Rev. John B. Armstrong

1860 Rev. Richard Hayworth

1861 Rev. Benjamin Sherlock

1862 Rev. Peter E. W. Moyer

1863-1864 Rev. William Morton

1863 Rev. George Ferguson

1864 Rev. Henry Irvine

1865-1866 Rev. William Andrews

1865 Rev, Joshua P. Lewis

1867-1868 Rev. William F. English

1869-1870 Rev. James Masson

1869 Rev. James MacFarlane

1870-1871 Rev. Jabez B. Saunders

1871-1873 Rev. Marmaduke L. Pearson

1872 Rev. William Pearson

1873 Rev. John Webster

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Lucknow Wesleyan Methodist Church – Kinloss Township, Bruce County

LUCKNOW, a post town in Bruce County, Ontario, on Nine Mile River, and a station on the G.T.R., 16 miles south-east of Kincardine. Its port is on Lake Huron. It contains 4 churches (Methodist, Presbytenan, Roman Catholic and Episcopal), 12 stores, 3 hotels, woollen, grist, saw and planing mills, 1 furniture factory, 1 private bank and branches of the Bank of Hamilton and Molsons Bank, 1 newspaper (“The Sentimel”) telegraph and express offices. Pop. 1,500  .…from Lovell’s 1906 Canada Gazetteer

History

LUCKNOW – A small village in the township of Kinloss, County of Bruce, Ontario. It was formerly part of the Teeswater, Kincardine, and Wawanosh Missions.

Lucknow boasts a strong Scottish heritage that reaches back to the late 1800s where the Lucknow Caledonian Games boomed for about 20 years. Lucknow’s welcome sign honours Donald Dinnie a folk hero of Lucknow. This champion wrestler and heavyweight athlete of the world competed in the Games in Lucknow in 1882. Although he had no ties with the community he remains part of the lore.

The village was named after Lucknow, India where, in 1857, a battle Indian Rebellion of 1857 took place between the native rebels and the British army. Lucknow takes the name of “Sepoy” which refers to the Indian foot soldiers who fought on the British side in the Relief of Lucknow. There are two theories about the origin of the name of Campbell Street-one is that the main street was named after Sir Colin Campbell, leader of the relief forces. The other is that the street is named after Malcolm Campbell, the community’s first merchant. Several Lucknow streets bear the names of some of the British generals involved in the Relief of Lucknow: Campbell, Ross, Outram,Havelock, Willoughby, Rose and Canning.

Eli Stauffer first settled the unnamed land that was to become Lucknow in 1856 where he constructed a dam and built a sawmill. In 1858, Ralph Miller purchased a parcel of Stauffer’s land and built “Balaclava House”, a log tavern. James Somerville purchased the Stauffer mill and land rights in 1858 and had village lots surveyed, earning Somerville the title of the “Father of Lucknow”. With the “Gravel Road” open into Kinloss in 1866, the village continued to grow and had a population of 430 in 1868…from Wikipedia.com

Lucknow GTR Station – 1909

A Brief History

The village of Lucknow came into existence on September 21st, 1858.

In 1862 the new Wesleyan Mission – Lucknow was formed. The Quarterly Board Minutes of 1867 list the points on the mission as Lucknow, Hope, Harris, Durham Line, Millers and Mathers.

Meetings in the village of Lucknow were first held in a school house on Havelock Street (the old Lucknow Public School) until January 8th, 1968.

In 1870 a church and parsonage were finished and people were becoming more versed and established in doctrines and principles of Methodism. This building was later moved. Over a period of years it was used as a blacksmith shop, a livery business, a garage, a fire hall and a feed store, before being demolished in 1977.

By 1875 the Wesleyan Church was too small. A twenty-four foot addition was made, with a gallery at the end and two class rooms. A chandelier was added, and the building was painted and varnished with re-opening services held on November 21st, 1875. The cost of the improvements was over $650.00. Lucknow became a single charge with 104 members in 1878.

An 1883 issue of the Lucknow Sentinel mentions that Union Services of the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations were held periodically – with record attendances. On Sunday, December 6th, 1885 a new church building on the corner of Havelock and Campbell streets was opened and dedicated.

In February 1886, the church adopted the envelope system for raising the ministers salary and also collected pew rents which, it seemed, were not easy to collect. Anyone considering membership was on trial for a period of time and a member could be expelled for a misdemeanor. It was recommended that the pastor be granted a free pew.

In 1909 a pipe organ was installed at the agreed upon price of $1,300.00.

In 1913 a bell was purchased from McShane Bell Company, Baltimore. The cost was $329.00 and it was guaranteed for fifteen years. It was rung before the services, during a funeral procession of any member and sometimes as a fire bell. A church shed, where the present day bowling alley is located, was kept in good condition for the horses and buggies. The acetylene gas lighting system was replaced in 1920 by electric lighting.

In the early 1900’s the sacrament was referred to as the Love Feast. In 1909, there were heated discussions concerning the important celebration and pew communion was introduced. Church union was first discussed as early as 1912. In 1924, a resolution was passed and sent to the Federal and Provincial Governments of approval of the union. The Lucknow Methodist Church and the Lucknow Presbyterian Church became Lucknow United Church on June 10th, 1925.

A new shed was built in 1928 and the organ was rebuilt and electrified in 1950. Various upgrades were completed over the 1950’s to the church and the parsonage. In February 1959, the Trustees were authorized to purchase the property to the immediate north of the church for the purposes of building something to relieve the overcrowding at Sunday School. Purchase price: $7,200.00. The official opening of the new manse and Christian Education wing was on April 20th, 1969.

Notes for this summary are taken from “What Do Those Stones Mean to You?” A History of Lucknow United Church 1862-1985 – including the 2 quotes noted above. Copies of this very informative book are still available at the Church.

Members:

Ministers:

1862 Rev. David Ryan

1863-1864 Rev. Elias Wetmore Frazee

1865-1967 Rev. William Tucker

1867  Rev. William Walker 

1868-1869 Rev. Nelson Brown

1870-1872 Rev. Henry Kellam

1873 Rev. William Tucker

1873 Rev. John S. Fisher

1876-1877 Rev. Thomas Robert Clarke

1881  Rev. Richard Coe Henders

1886  Rev. Francis E. Nugent

1888  Rev. Josiah Greene 

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JAMES ALLEN – Methodist Minister

Rev. James Allen

Charges:

1869 Lucan (Middlesex Cty)

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Lucan Wesleyan Methodist Church – Biddulph Township, Middlesex County

LUCAN. a flourishing post village in Middlesex County, Ontario, on the Sauble River, and a station on the G.T.R.. 16 miles from London. It contains 4 churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian), 1 broker’s office. express and telegraph offices, 2 foundries, 2 flouring mills, flax mill, about 15 stores, 3 hotels, 1 printing office, 2 chartered banks (The Merchants and The Standard), 1 high school, and has an extensive export trade in grain. A weekly newspaper is published here (“The Sun”). Pop. 1.200  .…from Lovell’s 1906 Canada Gazetteer

History

Despite being more than 500 km (310 mi) to the North, in 1829, the area became a refuge for a group of free slaves from Cincinnati, Ohio who were under threat of being enslaved again, as a result of the Black Codes in Ohio. This group of roughly 200 disenfranchised Blacks were granted refuge and land by the Canada Company and duly set up a colony named Wilberforce. This was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, slave refuge colony in Upper Canada and existed before emancipation. The flight of Blacks northward into Canada beginning around this time was part of the Underground Railroad.

Most of the Blacks came from city life and did not adapt well to the harsh farming environment. Large lots of land were cleared (logged) and efforts were made to sustain the colony, but much of it dwindled through the 1840s and many of the original colonists moved on to larger, growing urban centres such as Detroit, Cleveland or Toronto to obtain wage-based employment. A small number remained on to work the land through subsequent generations.

The area was then further logged and settled by whites, many from Ireland, some of whom purchased farmsteads from the departing Blacks or new lots sold to them cheaply by the Canada Company. Nowadays less than 40 descendants of the ancestorial Blacks remain.

After this time, about 1850, the majority of the township’s landholders were Irish Catholics, a large number originating from then-meagre farming lands in County Tipperary, Ireland.

An important railway route belonging to the Grand Trunk Railway opened in 1856, passing through the village. The village and surrounding township prospered as a result of quicker access to larger marketplaces, such as Toronto farther to the east, and new immigrants settling the area.

Lucan GTR Station – 1910

Biddulph Township is also known for being the site of the brutal February 4, 1880 massacre of five of the Black Donnellys, an immigrant Irish family caught up in a long-standing local feud. This story has been written about many times and is etched into the criminal history of rural Ontario and is also known throughout the rest of Canada and the United States…from Wikipedia.com

Lucan was founded in anticipation of the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway to Sarnia, projected in 1854 and built 1855-59. The first settlers had been members of the Negro Wilberforce Colony in 1830-35. One of this group, Peter Butler Sr., had by 1855 acquired the western part of the site of Lucan. The eastern part was acquired jointly by the Hon. Donald and John MacDonald, and the first village lots were sold in 1855. A steam grist mill, stores and hotels were built. Lucan Post Office was opened on June 1, 1857, and, with the completion of the railway, the settlement prospered. The Lucan Foundry, a large plant specializing in agricultural machinery, was founded in 1861. A county by-law passed in 1871 provided for the incorporation of Lucan as a village.

In 1829 a group of fugitive Negro slaves in Cincinnati decided to seek a more secure refuge in Canada. In 1830, with the help of Quakers in Oberlin, Ohio, they purchased 325 ha of land in this vicinity from the Canada Company. A settlement was established, the first in Biddulph Township, and groups from New England and New York State joined those from Ohio. By 1833 there were thirty-two families, two schools and a sawmill in this settlement, which was named after the great British abolitionist William Wilberforce. One of the earliest Negro colonies in Upper Canada, its population dwindled rapidly in the 1840’s although some families remained for more than a generation.…from Ontario’s Historical Plaques

Church History

LUCAN. A Village in the township of Biddulph, County of Middlesex, Ontario. Exeter Circuit.

Members:

 

Ministers:

1866 Rev. George Kennedy

1867-1868 Rev. William Lund

1869-1871 Rev. George Sexsmith

1869 Rev. James Allen

1870 Rev. John Smiley

1872-1873 Rev. James E. Dyer

1876  Rev. Andrew Edwards

1877  Rev. Benjamin Sherlock

1884-1886  Rev. Robert Davey

1889-1891  Rev. Richard Coe Henders 

1893-1894  Rev. Edwin Anning Chown

1899-1901  Rev. Hugh J. Fair

 

 

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