Parallel with Ste. Anne street, and terminated by Dauphin street, a tortuous, rugged little lane, now known as St. Andrew's street, leads past St Andrew's schoolhouse, to the chief entrance of the Presbyterian house of worship; a church opened at the beginning of the century, repaired and rendered quite handsome a few years ago, but much damaged by fire on the 30th April, 1881. In connection with the erection of this structure, a document was recently exhumed from the archives of the Literary and Historical Society, which throws much light on an important section of the former population of the city. It is a memorial to His Majesty George III., signed at Quebec on the 5th October, 1802, by the Rev. Dr Sparks' congregation and by himself. The first incumbent of St. Andrew's Church— commenced in 1809, and opened for worship on the 30th November, 1810—was the Reverend Doctor Alexander Sparks, who had landed at Quebec in 1780, became tutor in the family of Colonel Henry Caldwell at Belmont, St. Foye road, and who died suddenly in Quebec, on the 7th March, 1819. Dr. Sparks had succeeded to the Rev. George Henry, a military chaplain at the time of the conquest; the first Presbyterian minister, we are told, who officiated in the Province, and who died on the 6th July, 1795, aged 86 years.
One hundred and forty-eight signatures are affixed to this dusty document of 1802.
A carefully prepared petition—it seems—to the King, asking for a site in Quebec whereon to build a church—and suggesting that the lot occupied by the Jesuits' Church, and where until 1878, stood the Upper Town, market shambles, be granted to the petitioners, they being without a church, and having to trust to the good will of the government for the use, on Sundays, of a room in the Jesuits Barracks, as a place of worship. [42]
Signatures to Memorial addressed to George III., asking for land in
Quebec to build a Presbyterian Church:—
Alex. Sparks, Minister, A. Ferguson,
Jas. Thompson, Jr., Robert Eglison,
Fred. Grant, Robt. Cairns,
Jno. Greenshields, William A. Thompson,
Chas. G. Stewart, Wm. McWhirter,
James Sinclair, John McDonald,
John Urquhart, John Auld,
William Morrin, Bridget Young,
Jno. Eifland, Jno. Shaw,
John Barlie, Charles Hunter,
Geo. McGregor, Geo. Black,
Wm. Holmes, W. G. Hall,
James Ward, J. Gray,
Jno. Purss, F. Leslie,
Ann Watt, Robt. Wood,
J. Brydon, Lewis Harper,
Jno. Frazer, Mary Boyle,
James Somerville, A. Anderson,
J. A. Thompson, John Anderson,
Wm. Hall, Robt. Ross,
Wm. Thompson, Sr., Wm. Fraser,
D. Monroe, Wm. Hay,
J. Blackwood, Wm. McKay,
M. Lymburner, Robt. Harrower,
Francis Hunter, James Tulloch,
W. Rouburgh, Samuel Brown,
John McCord, Isaac Johnstone,
J. G. Hanna, Peter Leitch,
J. McNider, Henry Baldwin,
Adam Lymburner, Daniel Forbes,
Jno. Lynd, William Jaffray,
Peter Stuart, J. Hendry,
William Grant, John Thompson,
J. A. Todd, George Smith,
John Mure, Wm. Reed,
John Patterson, Alexander Harper,
John Crawford, Robert Marshall,
John Hewison, William White,
David Douglas, Thomas White,
George Wilde, John Taylor,
Fred. Petry, Adam Reid,
James Ross, James Irvine,
David Stewart, John Munro,
John Yule, Alexander Munn,
Angus McIntyre, Alexander Rea,
John Mackie, James Elmslie,
John Purss. Johnston, Charles Smith,
Wm. Thompson, Jr., Ebenezer Baird,
Con. Adamson, Lawrence Kidd,
Geo. Morrison, James McCallum,
Jno. Goudie, John Burn,
G. Sinclair, Joanna George,
Walter Carruthers, Maya Darling,
Wm. Petrie, William Lindsay,
John Ross, Janet Smith,
Wm. McKenzie, William Smith,
Thos. Saul, Henrietta Sewell,
J. Ross, Jr., Jane Sewell,
Ann Rose, C. W. Grant,
James Mitchell, Robert Ritchie,
Geo. King, George Pyke,
Alex. Thompson, Joseph Stilson,
James Orkney, Henry Hunt,
J. Neilson, George Thompson,
Daniel Fraser,
Quebec, 5th October, 1802.
Some of these signatures are suggestive. The most notable is probably that of old Adam Lymburner, the cleverest of the three Lymburners, all merchants at Quebec in 1775. [43] Adam, according to the historian Garneau, was more distinguished for his forensic abilities and knowledge of constitutional law, than for his robust allegiance to the Hanoverian succession at Quebec, when Colonel Benedict Arnold and his New Englanders so rudely knocked at our gates for admission in 1775.
According to Garneau and other historians, in the autumn of that memorable year, when the fate of British Canada hung as if by a thread, Adam Lymburner, more prudent than loyal, retired from the sorely beset fortress to Charlesbourg, possibly to Château Bigot, a shooting box then known as the "Hermitage," to meditate on the mutability of human affairs. Later on, however, in the exciting times of 1791, Adam Lymburner was deputed by the colony to England to suggest amendment's to the project of the constitution to be promulgated by the home authorities. His able speech may be met with in the pages of the Canadian Review, published at Montreal in 1826. This St Peter street magnate attained four score and ten years, and died at Russell Square, London, on the 10th January, 1836.
Another signature recalls days of strife and alarm: that of sturdy old Hugh McQuarters, the brave artillery sergeant who, at Près-de-Ville on that momentous 31st December, 1775, applied the match to the cannon which consigned to a snowy shroud Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery, his two aides, McPherson and Cheeseman, and his brave, but doomed followers, some eleven in all; the rest having sought safety in flight. By this record, it appears Sergeant McQuarters had also a son, in 1802, one of Dr Sparks' congregation. Old Hugh McQuarters lived in Champlain street, and closed his career there in 1812.
Another autograph, that of James Thompson, one of Wolfe's comrades—"a big giant," as our old friend, the late Judge Henry Black, who knew him well, used to style him, awakens many memories of the past. Sergeant James Thompson, of Fraser's Highlanders, at Louisbourg in 1758, and at Quebec in 1759, came from Tain, Scotland, to Canada, as a volunteer to accompany a friend-Capt. David Baillie, of the 78th. His athletic frame, courage, integrity and intelligence, during the seventy-two years of his Canadian career, brought him employment, honour, trust and attention from every Governor of the colony from 1759 to 1830, the period of his death, he was then aged 98 years. At the battle of the Plains of Abraham, James Thompson, as hospital sergeant, was intrusted with the landing, at Point Levi, of the wounded, who were crossed over in boats; he tells us of his carrying some of the wounded from the crossing at Levi, up the hill, all the way to the church at St. Joseph, converted into an hospital, and distant three miles from the present ferry, a "big giant" alone could have been equal to such a task. In 1775, Sergeant Thompson, as overseer of Government works, was charged with erecting the palisades, fascines and other primitive contrivances to keep out Brother Jonathan, who had not yet learned the use of Parrot or Gatling guns and torpedoes. Later on, we find the sturdy Highlander an object of curiosity to strangers visiting Quebec —full of siege anecdotes and reminiscences—a welcome guest at the Château in the days of the Earl of Dalhousie. In 1827, as senior Mason, he was called on by His Excellency to give the three mystic taps with the mallet, when the corner stone of the Wolfe and Montcalm monument was laid, in the presence of Captain Young of the 79th Highlanders, and a great concourse of citizens. About New Year's day, 1776, Mr. Thompson became possessed of Gen. Montgomery's sword; it has since passed to his grandson, James Thompson Harrower. Mr. James Thompson left several sons, some of whose signatures are affixed to the document before us. John Gawler was Judge for the District of Gaspé from 1828 to 1865; George received a commission in the Royal Artillery; a third was Deputy Commissary General James Thompson, who died in this city in 1869.
Old James Thompson expired in 1830, at the family mansion, St. Ursule street, now occupied by his grandson, Mr. James Thompson Harrower.