PART VII

THE MIMINEGASH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 1885 - 1916

The little band of twelve families who had previously been Bible Christians seemed undaunted by the obstacles to establishing a Presbyterian Church in Miminegash. They had no minister or enough money to support a resident Presbyterian clergyman. While their main encouragement came from other Presbyterians in Alberton, Montrose, and Campbellton, the new congregation was already an aging one without many young people to supply the vigor and continuity which every church needs. Deaths have been regularly noted in these pages to emphasize this problem as a leading, contributing factor in the eventual demise of this congregation.

Despite these thoughts of the future, on May 5, 1885, Miminegash was reported organized into a preaching point and supplied with ministers from the West Point, Campbellton Charge. In the P.E.I. Presbyterian Minutes for November 30, 1885, Mr. MacRae, Catechist for Bloomfield and Miminegash, was reported to request payment of $5.00 for his services in Miminegash.

1. WEST POINT, CAMPBELLTON, MIMINEGASH CHARGE AND THE FIRST MINISTERS

Although the Miminegash Presbyterians had appealed to the Rev. Arthur Frederick Carr and the people of the Alberton Presbyterian Church for aid in their dispute with the Miminegash Methodists, the Miminegash Church was associated with the Campbellton and West Point Charge immediately because of travel considerations and also due to the fact that the Rev. Arthur Frederick Carr’s duties and responsibilities, which sometimes extended from West Point to North Cape, had become too large for him to supply adequate pastoral care.

After an uneventful year in 1886, the P.E.I. Presbytery Minutes for April 13, 1887 reported that West Point, Miminegash, and Campbellton would make up the new West Point Charge. The first Presbyterian minister to preach in the Miminegash Church was the Rev. A.B. MacLeod who served the West Point Charge from October 31, 1882 until October 19, 1885. Rev. MacLeod was followed by the Rev. George Fisher from 1885 to 1889 and the Rev. Ewen Gillies from September 17, 1889 to January 29, 1891. It was difficult for the Presbyterians to find ministers who would come to this charge and live under the conditions and salary that the congregation offered. For these reasons, there were periods of time when no Presbyterian minister was appointed in this charge.

On November 11, 1889, the date and time for Communion in West Point and Campbellton were arranged, and it was stipulated that Communion would be held in Miminegash whenever the people requested it.

It was also decided that an elder should be appointed in Miminegash as soon

as possible. When a meeting was held in Miminegash for the purpose of selecting an elder, there were only three members in full Communion of whom only one

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