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Black Settlement in Oro Township
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Oro Township in Simcoe County was established in 1819 by the Executive Council of Upper Canada to help secure the province's northern frontier against a possible American invasion. The community was the first government-sponsored Black settlement in Upper Canada (Ontario). Land along the Penetanguishene Road was divided into 200-acre lots, which were offered to Black veterans of the War of 1812. By 1831, nine families had taken up residence along Wilberforce Street. They were later joined by Black settlers from Ohio and the Wilberforce Settlement in Biddulph Township, who were offered land grants by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The settlers were only marginally successful in farming the land – which was remote, of poor quality, swampy and difficult to clear. The settlement eventually declined as farmers were discouraged by the harsh climate. Descendants of these settlers continue to live in the area, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church erected near Edgar in 1849 remains a testament to this early Black community in Upper Canada.
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Clergy reserves
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The clergy reserves were lands in Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) that were specifically set aside by the Constitution Act of 1791 to support the Anglican Church. Though the land was intended to support the Church of England (Anglican), the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) was granted a claim in 1824 to a portion of the clergy reserves as an “established” Church in Canada. Income from the lands gave the Anglican and Presbyterian churches economic resources unavailable to other Protestant denominations, whose members petitioned for the redistribution of the lands amongst all Protestant groups in Upper Canada. In 1840, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada divided the profits of the clergy reserves, with half designated for the Church of England and Church of Scotland, and the remaining half to all other Protestant denominations. In 1854, the Upper and Lower Canada coalition government of Sir Allan MacNab (1798-1862) and Augustin Morin (1803-65) passed legislation that secularized the clergy reserves as Crown Lands, redirecting their profits to regional municipality funds.
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Continuing Presbyterians
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In the wake of the establishment of the United Church of Canada (made up of Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists), approximately 30 per cent of Presbyterians chose not to join the United Church. They operated under the name of “Continuing Presbyterians” until 1939 when the Supreme Court of Canada gave them the right to retain the name Presbyterian. For this reason, many new Presbyterian congregations were created in 1925 in towns and cities across Ontario.
View associated sites [ 21 record(s) found]
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Establishment of Brethren in Christ Church
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A distinctive religious denomination similar in doctrine and practice to Mennonite assemblies, the Brethren in Christ Church emerged in Pennsylvania during the 1770s. It was established in Upper Canada in 1788 when Johannes Wenger (John Winger) – who later became bishop – and Jacob Sider formed a congregation here in Pelham. The denomination advocated adult conversion and baptism, and rejected secular pleasures, fashionable dress and political and military involvement. A small, tightly knit religious group because of these strongly-held views, the Brethren in Christ Church grew slowly, drawing its members, popularly known as Tunkers, primarily from German-speaking rural communities. By the end of the 19th century, however, it was firmly established in Welland, York, Waterloo and Simcoe counties.
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Evangelical United Brethren
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Formed in 1946, the Evangelical United Brethren in Canada had its roots in German-speaking settlements of 19th-century Pennsylvania. In 1800, Pastor William Otterbein (1726-1813) of the German Reformed Church in Baltimore, along with Mennonite preacher Martin Boehm (1725-1812) from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, formed the United Brethren in Christ. In 1807, Methodist preacher Jacob Albright (1759-1808) of Pottstown, Pennsylvania formed the Evangelical Church. In the early 19th century, many German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania emigrated to Waterloo County, Upper Canada (Ontario). Because of a lack of spiritual leaders in the community, a missionary tour from the Evangelical Church was organized in 1836 throughout the Niagara peninsula. In August 1839, Bishop Joseph Seybert (1791-1860) and five other preachers met near Hillside Park in Waterloo and formed the first Evangelical Church congregation in Upper Canada. In 1946, the Evangelical Church joined with the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren. In 1968, with the decline of German-language religious services, the Evangelical United Brethren Church of Canada joined with the United Church of Canada.
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First Amish Settlement in Ontario
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In 1822, Christian Nafziger – an Amish Mennonite from Munich, Germany – came to Upper Canada to find land on which to settle some 70 German families. With the assistance of a group of Mennonites headed by Jacob Erb, who had settled nearby, a petition was made to the government for land in present-day Wilmot Township. Surveyed two years later by John Goessman, this German Block was peopled primarily by Amish from Europe. In 1824-25, Bishop John Stoltzfus of Pennsylvania organized the first congregation and ordained as ministers John Brenneman and Joseph Goldschmidt. Services were held in the homes of members until 1884 when a simple frame meeting house, which served until 1946, was erected.
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First Jewish Congregation in Canada West
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Regular Jewish religious services were not held in Canada West (now Ontario) until 1856 when 17 Jewish families from England and continental Europe formed a congregation known as the Toronto Hebrew Congregation – Holy Blossom. They held services in a building on the southeast corner of Yonge and Richmond streets until the construction of their first synagogue in 1876 at 25 Richmond Street East. Since its official inception in 1856, Holy Blossom Congregation has been in continuous existence to the present day.
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First Mennonite Settlement
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During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a large number of German-speaking Mennonites emigrated from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada (Ontario). Pennsylvania had become crowded with settlers, whereas the Mennonites were offered cheap land and promised exemption from military service by the colonial British government in Canada. In 1786, a small group from Bucks County, Pennsylvania settled on land west of Twenty Mile Creek in the Niagara Peninsula. In 1799, Jacob Moyer (1767-1833), Abraham Moyer and Amos Albright (1759-1833) arrived from Pennsylvania and purchased land in the vicinity of Vineland and Jordan. Within two years, the Mennonite community along the “Twenty” had grown to approximately 30 families. On the advice of their former ministers in Bucks County, the community elected Valentine Kratz the congregation's first minister in 1801. This was the first Mennonite congregation organized in Ontario. Several Mennonite communities in other parts of Ontario were founded by members of this first settlement.
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First Unitarian Congregation in Canada West
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Following the establishment of the Unitarian Church of Montreal in 1842, the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto was formed in 1845. Though a number of ministers for the congregation came from the United States, the Unitarian movement spread to Canada from England. The pastor of the new Toronto Unitarian Congregation was Scottish Baptist missionary Rev. William Adam (1796-1881). For several years, the congregation met in an unused Wesleyan chapel on George Street, later moving to a purpose-built church on Jarvis Street. As early as 1846, the Unitarian Congregation of Toronto adopted a constitution that, among other articles, proclaimed equality between male and female members of the congregation. A number of prominent Torontonians were members of the Unitarian Congregation, including women’s rights activist Dr. Emily Stowe (1831-1903), politician Sir Francis Hincks (1807-85) and artist Arthur Lismer (1885-1969). In 1949, the congregation moved from Jarvis Street to its present location on St. Clair Avenue West.
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Formation of Canadian Literary Institute
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The Canadian Literary Institute was incorporated in 1857 and opened in 1860 in Woodstock, Ontario. Sponsored by prominent Baptists, the school was largely the result of its first principal, Rev. R.A. Fyfe. It was a co-educational facility, providing training in both theology and the arts. At one time, it was expected to attain full university status. In 1881, its theology faculty was moved to the Toronto Baptist College and, in 1883, it changed its name to Woodstock College.
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