u-v w MISSION OF ST. BRIDGET TOWKSBIF ELEVEN The earliest settlers in thie mission were exclusively Frbtestant with the exception of a family of English Catholics named Gain. Not long after the settlement of these persons on Township Eleven, they were joined hy John Callaghan from Wexford , Ireland and Patrick Murphy , from the same place. At a somewhat later date, arrived, en John Large , an Ifish protestant with'instructions from the proprietor. An Irish officer in the English Army Colonel Sir . E. H. Walsh , to settle the property. Mr. Large established himself near the ferry, now called W'alshtown Ferry and commenced to farm. Sending to Ireland rose coloured accounts of his new house, and expatiating on the advant¬ ages held out to those who would follow his example and emigrate. The. result of Mr. Large 's correspondence was that on the 1 April 1823 a ship with a. number of emigrants on hoard left Ireland for Prince Edward Island . After a dreary passage of seven weeks, she arrived at her destination and a nnmher of passengers who landed from her proceeded to Township Eleven and took ip farms. In the year 183*+ the Hon. James Varturton arrived from Ireland as agent for Sir . E.F. Walsh and ^ave leases to the Settlers on that gentleman's estate. These leases were issued on the usual terms, nine hundred and ninety nine years at a shilling per ac:e, per annum. Mr. Warhurton did much to improve the township and is held in high esteem "by the dwellers therein. The church cf St. Bridget was commenced in 1868, previous to that period, the Catholic settlers heard mass at Cascumpec . The church did not progress very rapidly, hut en Christmas eve 1870 it was so far advanced as to allow cf mid¬ night mass being offered in it upon a temporary altar. It measures sixty feet in length hy thirty in v*ldth, a.nd twenty two feet, LeiJ '» cf wall. The exterior was finished hy Mr. Jeremiah Dalton , the interior, including the altar, which is a handsome one and richly gilt, v.-? o.-,,>,"! <-;-,' hy the architect Mr. John MeLellan .