GROVESEND a post hamlet in Elgin County. Ontario, near Lake Erie and 9 miles from Aylmer on the GTR. It contains a Methodist church. ..from Lovell’s 1906 Canada Gazetteer
Location: Lot 23, Concession 2 (Nova Scotia Line)
Date of Formation: 1816
Date of Closing: 1928
Circuits: Aylmer Circuit (1840’s – 1878), Malahide Circuit (1878 – 1928)
History:
In 1816 settlers arrived at the Lake Erie shore in Malahide from Long Point, including the families of Lyons, Saxton, Griffin, Wrong and Backhouse. A church was started in 1818 by Gilbert Wrong and Nathan Lyons, meeting in Wrong’s house and the schoolhouse. Some accounts say a frame edifice was built. A deed dated Dec. 26, 1826 exists between Lewis Bowlby and the Church. Another deed dated Dec. 27, 1862 for part of lot 23, concession 2 exists between the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and John Markle (owner of the former Bowlby land). The Christian Guardian, a Methodist newspaper, records in an 1861 issue that the “Wesleyan Methodist church recently erected at Grovesend was dedicated on the 17th of November”. Sometime between 1887 and 1889 a new church building was erected on the same site. The church was used until 1928, and in 1931 the property and building was sold, moved to an adjoining lot, and remodelled into a dwelling.
Further History: A four-page history of Grovesend Church is contained in an unpublished manuscript by Ida Haggan, titled Pioneer Families of Nova Scotia Street, found on Elgin County Library Microfilm Number 121
Members:
Ministers:
1877 Rev. William Bothwell – was also the Postmaster and lived on 70 acres Con 2 Lot 26 Malahide Township., Elgin Countty Ontario
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