student for the summer months. That student's name was J.R. Coffin who later became the first ordained minister of the Bloomfield , O'Leary , and Brae congregation. In the minutes of the fourteenth Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the Maritime Provinces held in New Glasgow , Nova Scotia , there appears this notation: "The stations of Bloomfield, O 'Leary and Brae organized into a congregation April 18th, 1887." A little later, under the pastorate of Rev. Ewen MacDonald , West Point was added to the charge (1907-1909). About the same time a manse was built in O'Leary on what is now the Co-op parking lot. This remained in use until a new manse was built on in 1962 - 1963. Rev. David Hamilton was the first minister to reside in it. Then in the Presbyterian Witness of April 30, 1887, it was report¬ ed: "The new congregation of Bloomfield, O 'Leary, and Brae intend calling J.R. Coffin ,who as a catechist, laboured among them with much acceptance last summer and who completes his theological course at Presbyterian College, Halifax, this spring." It is interesting to note that this call was signed by 140 communicants and 116 adherents. Thus, in 1887, O'Leary became an official congregation of the Presbyterian Church, with its first ordained minister, Rev. J.R. Coffin . However, there is evidence that many of the O'Leary Presbyterians worshipped in the Brae Church long before this. In the minutes of the session of the Presbyterian Church of West Cape, Campbellton , and Brae on August 14, 1882, there appears a revision of the communion roll. Among those from O'Leary Station on that roll were Mr. and Mrs. John MacKinnon , Mrs. James MacPherson , Neil MacPherson , Angus MacPherson , Wellington Mugridge, Mr. and Mrs. John Thompson ,. Mrs. McAulay , Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rayner , and Mrs. A. Gillis . Regarding the building of the first church in O'Leary , Mrs. A. J. Matheson has greatly contributed much information through her brief history of O'Leary . When the homes got too small for the congregation, a ware¬ house was fitted with rough seats. Then, sometime between 1881 and 1885, a start was made to build a church in O'Leary . At this time, too, the Baptist people were planning to build a church and even went so far as to procure the lumber. The Baptists, however, decided to build in Knutsford instead of O'Leary . Their lot and lumber were purchased from them by the Presbyterians, and the building of the Presbyterian Church got underway. That lot is where the United Church now stands. 74