In the Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in Alberton which are very, very dif- ficult to make out, we read that it was decided on August 30, 1841, that James Wells, who was a pioneer and probably the originator of the Wells family over there, would go to the West Cape. I believe his mission was to sort of negotiate with the people in that part of the country so that they would raise so much money to support a minister who would service both charges. Negotiations were duly carried out in

1841, I suppose.

The interesting thing about these negotiations was that these old Presbyterians expected everything to be cut and dried, everything. They wanted to know how much each section was going to pay and it was decided very exactly, because they were not going to throw any money around when they didn’t have to, and everyone had to pay his share. People of the West Cape would expect one fourth of the Pastor’s service. Some of the agreements that they carried out at that time indicated that the people of West Cape, which would have taken in all of Lot 7 and probably even to West Point would get one fourth of the minister’s time and, of course, pay one fourth of his salary. Alberton, being a much larger area, would be expected to

pay more.

It was agreed that the Rev. Peter G. MacGregor would be officially hired. Cascumpec and the West Shore would pay the sum of eighty pounds, which would be equally paid, that is, Cascumpec would pay forty pounds, and the people of Lot 7 West Cape, would pay the other forty pounds. By the time that the negotiations were over, the people of Lot 7, West Cape were paying for half of the minister’s salary or forty pounds. It was the Rev. Peter G. MacGregor who was Pastor first, but by 1842, he dropped out of the picture. He was replaced by the Rev. John C. Sinclair, Presbyterian minister, who remained as minister in the West Cape, Cascumpec and Campbellton area until 1852, served for nine years. Rev. Peter G. MacGregor was really the first preacher, but we are not sure if he was really official- ly hired as a minister. He ministered in the pioneer settlements but was not officially

employed.

The men who did the negotiating on behalf of Lot 7 were James MacNeill and James Ramsay, but Hugh MacDonald, Thomas Dumville and Samuel MacPherson were from West Point. James Ramsay and James MacNeill, tradition has it, walked through the woods to Alberton to talk to the people about setting up a church in Campbellton. That is the beginning of the Presbyterian congregation there after the negotiations had started the last of 1841.

By 1843, the Rev. John C. Sinclair was hired to minister half to Lot 7, West Point and half to Cascumpec. Now the problem of the church building comes into . effect. Tradition has been passed along that in the first years, the 1840’s people in Lot 7 walked to West Cape, not West Point which would have been unbelievable, to go to church. There was a very old church near a graveyard at the end of the

O’Leary Road. The MacNeills told the story of walking up there to go to church, and that would have been in the 1840’s. The question is, when was the first church building built in Campbellton, and was it the same church building that we have

now?

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