REV. H.B. SWABEY 1853 - 1869

Rev. H.B. Swabey, a highly respected rector of the Parish of Port Hill, ministered in the area for sixteen years. At the time of his arrival, the stone rectory on the parsonage farm was "inadequately furnished and considered to be uninhabitable". It was through Rev. H.B. Swabey’s generous donation of the total of his local subscriptions in 1855 that the rectory was rendered habitable.

During his ministry in the Parish, Rev. H.B. Swabey conducted regular services in Port Hill, Lot 11, and New Bideford. In addition, forty to fifty people attended services which he held every two weeks in Port Hill School. In 1869 he concluded his ministry in the Parish upon his appointment to Chaplaincy in France.

Rev. H.B. Swabey and his wife, Eliza Katherine, had five children: Laura Katherine born May 15 , 1858; Emily Caroline born December 29, 1859; Louisa Penelope born July 13, 1866; Maurice born July 4, 1868; Henry Charles Wilberforce (birthdate unavailable).

REV. EDWARD H. BALL 1869 - 1874

REV. ROBERT T. DOBIE 1875 — 1881

Rev. Robert T. Dobie was born at Highgate, London, England in 1837. Following completion of his education there, he went to St. John’s, Newfoundland where he was employed as vice principal of Queen’s College and as bishop’s chaplain. He then worked for seven years as a missionary on the Labrador coast before returning to St. John’s to resume his pastorate.

In 1873, Rev. Dobie travelled to Prince Edward Island where, two years later, he became rector of Port Hill Parish for the next six years. From here he resigned and moved to Nova Scotia where he served in several different parishes. When he returned to Prince Edward Island, he intended to retire from active ministry but soon found himself working in the Springfield and

Crapaud area which was without the services of a rector at the time.