followed by a former pastor, the Rev. Stephen Bamford, who remained two years. The Rev. Robert Cooney, who had been a priest of the Roman Catholic Church until he was thirty years old, was stationed at Murray Harbour in 1831, where he remained for two years, and the Rev. John Snowball, who went to Bedeque and Tryon at this time remained there for the full ministerial term of three years. In 1833, the Rev. William Dowson was appointed to the Charlot- tetown Circuit but, at the close of the first year, he resigned his pastorate and

removed to England.

As the Methodist Society grew in Charlottetown, the Chapel premises on Richmond Street became too small to accommodate the congregations, and it was decided to purchase a piece of land eighty feet wide by one hundred and sixty- eight feet long, on the corner of Prince and Richmond Streets, for the purpose of erecting a new building. The deed was dated 16th November, 1833, and the land was conveyed to Isaac Smith, Robert Longworth, William Tanton, John Bovyer, Christopher Cross, Henry Smith, John Treneman, Thomas Dawson and Charles

Welsh as trustees of the society.

In 1824, the Rev. J.P. Hetherington, a former member of the Irish Wesleyan Conference, entered upon the pastorate of the Charlottetown Circuit. Under his administration the trustees built the chapel on the corner of Prince and Richmond Streets. The building was an oblong wooden structure, forty-two feet wide by fifty-five feet long, with flat ceiling, high-backed pews, and a gallery around three sides. The building would seat about six hundred persons.””

19. USE OF PEWS SOLD TO HIGHEST BIDDERS

“On the 7th of July, 1834, the trustees met and agreed upon the following plan for the disposal of the pews in the new chapel: ‘Resolved that the preference of the pews shall be given to the highest subscriber, according to the promise made previous to the building of the chapel, that the pews shall be rated accor- ding to their proportionate value, and that as many as may have subscribed ten pounds and upwards shall have the first choice. Those who have subscribed seven pounds ten shillings and upwards below ten pounds shall have the second choice, five pound subscribers and upwards below seven pounds ten shillings the third choice, and so on to the lowest. If any difficulty arise from several persons desir- ing the same pew, every such case shall be decided by casting lots.’ One pew was reserved for the preacher’s family, and the large pew, near the pulpit and opposite the preacher’s pew, was reserved for the accommodation of ‘respectable

strangers.’ ”

The chapel was opened for divine service on Sunday, the 9th of July, 1835. The Rev. J.P. Hetherington, the resident minister, preached in the morning. The

chapel was crowded to the doors, upwards of seven hundred persons being present. The text was Luke 11:2, ‘I-Iallowed be Thy Name.’ The Rev. William

l3 lbid. p. 317A.

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