38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 comprised St. Patrick’s Parish. Lot 55 was part of St. Georges Parish. Contrary to the primarily Catholic presence during the French occupation of St. Peters, the early British settlers would bring not only different cultures with them, but different religious beliefs as

well.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH

Many people in the St. Peters area are familiar with the Baptist church that was located in the village of St. Peters. Before this church, however. there was a Baptist Church located in Cable Head West. Meacham‘s 1880 Atlas clearly shows where this church was located. Barbara Pratt recalled that Hayden, MacLaren, and Anderson families were the ones that were members of the first Baptist church. (2) Oral history relays that after it closed, Billy MacLaren, a resident of Cable Head West, took the church to his property, where it was used as a barn.

There are a few names connected with the early Baptist church in St. Peters. The Reverend Ernest Horatio Morrow was born in St. Peters in 1848. He worked with the American Baptist Missionary Society in Tavoy, Burma, and died in 1905. (3]

Annie Marion MacLean, daughter of Reverend John Anderson and Christina (Macdonald) was born in St. Peters Bay. The sixth women to graduate from Acadia College in 1893, and went on to obtain further education at the University of Chicago in 1896. In 1900, MacLean graduated with a PHD in Sociology. She is the first woman from Canada to receive a Ph.D. in Sociology. (4) (See Appendix Two)

The Baptist Church located within the village of St. Peters was independent of the Prince Edward Island Baptist Association, which had been organized at North River in July of 1868. (5) Construction of the church began in the spring of 1896; it was officially opened that summer. Barbara Pratt estimated that services where held in this church up until 1935, at which time the Parish disbanded and members of the congregation proceeded to either Dundas or East Point to attend their weekly services. (6)

There were only a few families" that made up the congregation, one of which was the Pratt family in St. Peters. A young child when the church closed down, Roddie Pratt recalled that “it had a handmade pulpit, locally made and stained, that anybody would be proud of.” (7) The ground level rectangular design, and gable roof resulted in an exterior typical to the late 18th century Island style, which also reflected the simple and inspirational view of the world that Baptist Faith maintained. (8)

‘ Barbara Pratt recalls that the Hayden, Fraser, MacLaren, Robertson, Walker, and Coffin families attended services at the Baptist Church in St. Peters.

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