Fonds Acc3062 - Alberton Elmsdale Pastoral Charge fonds : [1867-1974, 1997]

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Alberton Elmsdale Pastoral Charge fonds : [1867-1974, 1997]

General material designation

  • Textual record

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on the provenance of the fonds

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

CA PCA Acc3062

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • Microfilmed 1978, Copied 1998 (Reproduction)
  • 1867-1974, 1997 (Creation)
    Creator
    Alberton Elmsdale Pastoral Charge of the United Church

Physical description area

Physical description

2 reels 35 mm microfilm
.001 m. of textual records

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

Alberton Elmsdale Pastoral Charge of the United Church

Administrative history

The United Church of Canada Alberton Elmsdale pastoral charge had its roots in the Bible Christion, Methodist and Presbyterian congregations of West Prince, Prince Edward Island.

Prior to 1858, the Methodists from West Cape to North Cape had only the occasional services of ministers from the Bedeque circuit. In 1860 a separate mission of West Cape was set up with 13 preaching stations some of which were Lots 7 and 8, Tignish, Kildare and Cascumpec. The pastor was Rev. William C. Brown. By 1868 the circuit was being referred to as the West Cape and Cascumpec circuit and in 1871 it became the Alberton circuit which also included Miminegash who had been supporting the mission since 1861. Methodist Churches had been completed in Cascumpec in 1872, in Alberton in 1878 and in Miminegash in 1881. The latter congregation had already amalgamated with the Bible Christians in the area. For a period of time between 1901 and 1909 Miminegash, West Devon and Woodstock had been affiliated with the O'Leary circuit. At the time of Union in 1925 there were 5 churches in the Alberton circuit at Alberton, West Devon, Cascumpec, Montrose and Miminegash. All congregations became part of the United Church of Canada in 1925.

Prior to 1850 Alberton, West Cape, Montrose and Tignish formed one Presbyterian congregation under the charge of Rev. John C. Sinclair. Before the coming of Rev. Sinclair they had received the occasional ministrations of ministers of the Presbytery such as Rev. William MacGregor, Rev. John Geddie and Rev. John Keir. A small chapel, known as the Dock Church had been erected in Alberton about 1835 to be replaced by a larger ediface in 1857. In 1865, West Point, West Cape, Cambellton and Brae became a separate congregation leaving the Alberton charge with Alberton, Tignish, Montrose, Elmsdale, Bloomfield and O'Leary. The 1870s saw the further splitting of the congregation to form a new congregation of Tignish, Montrose and Elmsdale, and a further splitting off of a self-sustaining congregation of O'Leary and Brae.
By 1900 there were 10 churches in the four charges. When union was proposed in 1925 the only dissenters were a substantial minority of the Presbyterian Church in Alberton who took over the Methodist church building as their place of worship and moved it to a site further east on Church Street. The Old Dock Church was moved to the former site of the Methodist Church to serve as the United Church and was later renamed "Gordon Memorial".

The two congregations, Methodist and Presbyterian came together formally as the United Church in 1926 as the Alberton, Cascumpec and Tignish pastoral charge. In 1969 the Montrose charge comprised of Campbellton, Cascumpec, Elmsdale, Miminegash, and Montrose was amalgamated with Alberton charge to become the Alberton Elmsdale charge. Regular services were held at Alberton, Elmsdale and Miminegash with Sunday School and occasional services held at the other churches in the charge.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds contains records of baptisms, marriages, and burials as well as annual, congregational, official board, and trustee minutes of the Methodist and Presbyterian circuits which eventually made up the Alberton Elmsdale Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada. These have been intellectually arranged into the following five series:

Series 1: Alberton Circuit of the Methodist Church
Series 2: Alberton Charge of the Presbyterian Church
Series 3: Montrose Circuit of the Presbyterian Church
Series 4: Alberton Pastoral Charge of the United Church
Series 5: Cascumpec United Church

Records overlap and some of the post 1925 United Church records (Series 4) are contained within the record books of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches (Series 1 & 2)

Notes area

Arrangement

The physical arrangement of the records for microfilming does not reflect the intellectual arrangement of the description as the microfilming was done prior to the description process

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Location of originals

Originals were returned to the donor

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

NO RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

PERMISSION FOR USE AND REPRODUCTION IS REQUIRED FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND RECORDS OFFICE; QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

General note

Microfilm is located in the microfilm cabinets in the Reading Room

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Level of detail

Language of description

  • English

Script of description

Accession area