Microfilm is located in the microfilm cabinets in the Reading Room
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.
Published
Title based on the provenance of the fonds
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)
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
Records were loaned to the Public Archives and Records Office by an unknown source for microfilming in July 1978. Records of the Cascumpec United Church were loaned for photocopying by Arthur Hudson on 13 August 1998
Originals were returned to the donor
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PERMISSION FOR USE AND REPRODUCTION IS REQUIRED FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND RECORDS OFFICE; QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER
"SERIES DESCRIPTIONS, VOLUME LISTINGS BY SERIES, AND A REEL LISTING ARE AVAILABLE":http://www.archives.pe.ca/finding_aids/3062item.pdf
The series consists of a subseries containing baptismal, marriage and burial records for the Methodist circuit which comprised most of Prince County west of Bedeque including the comunities of Tignish, Alberton, Cascumpec, Margate, Kildare, Miminegash, West Devon, and Elmsdale. These records also contain records from 1906-1909 for the O'Leary circuit which also included Portage, Western Road, West River and Woodstock. A second series contains the Quarterly Official Board minutes of the Alberton circuit from 1817-1926 which includes a list of ministers from 1861-1941.
VOLUME AND REEL LISTINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FONDS LEVEL
The series contains a register of baptisms, marriages and deaths from the Presbyterian congregations of the Alberton charge including the communities of Alberton, West Cape, Montrose and Tignish. These include some records after Union which more properly fit into the records of the Alberton Pastoral Charge of the United Church (Series4). A second subseries contains two volumes of minutes of annual, congregational and trustee minutes from 1908-1925.
VOLUME AND REEL LISTINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FONDS LEVEL
This series contains a subseries which consists of two registers of baptisms, marriages and deaths for the Montrose Presbyterian charge which included Campbellton, Cascumpec, Elmsdale, Miminegash and Montrose. A second subseries contains three volumes of Session minutes from 1882-1967 and a volume of annual minutes and financial statements from 1949 -1966. Records after 1925 are records of the Montrose Pastoral Charge of the United Church.
VOLUME AND REEL LISTINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FONDS LEVEL
The series contains a register of baptisms, marriages and burials dating primarily from 1936-1954. A few marriages date from 1920-1922, presumably from the prior Presbyterian charge. A second subseries contains four volumes of minutes: Official Board (1926-1948), Annual and congregational plus Board (1949-1965), Trustees (1940-1956) and Session minutes (1926-1974). The Session minutes from 1970 on are actually records of the Alberton Elmsdale pastoral charge.
VOLUME AND REEL LISTINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FONDS LEVEL
The series contains the minutes of annual and special meetings of the congregation from 1955 to 1968 as well as miscellaneous and financial papers relating to the Church and Charge.
VOLUME AND REEL LISTING ARE AVAILABLE