“The next for age is the chapel in the fourth concession of Ernesttown. It was not erected here at first, but on the front of the township, lot No. 27, and close to the Bay of Quinté. After some years, (some of the principal Methodists moving to the fourth concession), the frame was taken down, drawn to the present site, and put up again. It stands on the public road, leading from Napanee to Kingston, and near the village of Odessa. A roughcast school-house, now stands on the old site, east of Bath. Some challenge the antiquity of the Ernesttown, with the Adolphustown chapel; but both were commenced at about the same time, by William Losee; the latter was first erected. As the traveler passes, he may look on this old and useful meeting-house, still used for public worship, and see a specimen of the architecture of the pious people settled in the woods of Ernesttown seventy years ago.
“About nine miles from Odessa toward Kingston is the village of Waterloo, and on the top of a sand-hill, formerly covered with lofty pines, is a well proportioned and good looking Wesleyan stone church. It is on the site of an ancient frame meeting-house, decayed, and gone, which bore an antiquity nearly as great as the other two chapels. The meeting-house in the Township of Kingston was an unfinished building, a mere outside, with rough planks for seats.
“Two miles from the Town of Picton, and in the first concession of the Township of Hollowell, is still to be seen one of the oldest Methodist chapels in Upper Canada. The ground and the lumber were the gift of Steven Conger. The first work was done in June, 1809. An account book, now existing, shows the receipts and payments for the building. Some paid subscriptions in money, some in wheat, some in teaming and work; and one person paid one pound “by way of a turn.” The first trustees were named Conger, Valleau, Vanblaricum, Dougal, German, Benson, Wilson, and Vandusen. They are all dead, but children of some of them are still living in the vicinity. The building is square, with pavilion roof, of heavy frame timber, yet sound, having a school-house on one side, and a mill on the other. Here is a burying ground attached, in which lie many of the subscribers to, and first worshippers in, the chapel. It is still used as a place of worship, and for a Sabbath school. These four chapels were all in the old Bay of Quinté circuit.
“In the fifth township east of Kingston is another relic of the times of old, called the Elizabethtown chapel. It is now within the boundaries of the village of Lyn, about eight miles from Brockville, and near the river St. Lawrence. A chapel particularly remarkable for the assembling of the Genesse conference in 1817, and the great revival of religion which there commenced.”
The first English Church erected west of Adolphustown, was at Belleville. It was commenced in 1819, and finished the next year. The Rev. Mr. Campbell was the first clergyman, and came to the place some little time before the building was completed. An anecdote has been related to us by one who saw the occurrence, which will serve to illustrate the character of those days. Mr. Campbell one day entered the church, when near its completion, and walked up a ladder and entered the pulpit; immediately one of the workmen, named Smith, removed the ladder, leaving the Rev. gentleman a prisoner; nor would they release him until he had sent a messenger to his home for a certain beverage. This church when erected was an ornament to the place, and is well remembered by many, having been taken down in 1858, the present handsome structure being completed. Mr. Campbell continued in charge until his death in 1835. During this time he caused to be erected a church at the front of Sidney, midway between Belleville and the Trent, and he held services there every second Sabbath, in the afternoon, for a time; but the congregation was never large. Methodism seemed to take more hold of the feelings of the people. Mr. Campbell’s successor was the Rev. John Cochrane, who was pastor for three years, when the present incumbent, the Rev. John Grier, who had been at the Carrying Place for some years, took charge.
The first Presbyterian clergyman of Belleville, was Mr. Ketcham, under him the first church was built.
The first Methodist church to be built in the western part of the Bay country was at Belleville. It was probably about the beginning of this century that the itinerant Methodist began to visit the head of the Bay Quinté. They were accustomed to preach in private houses, and barns, here and there along the front, and up the Moira River, and at Napanee.
Healy and Puffer were accustomed to preach at Col. Bell’s, Thurlow.
Belleville was laid out into lots in 1816; Mr. Ross applied to government for one, as the society was disqualified from holding landed property until 1828. The land was accordingly granted to him, and recorded, January 7, 1819. A frame building was immediately commenced 50 by 30 feet. Before it was inclosed, service was held within the frame. The building was never completed. The pulpit was of rough boards, and the seats were of similar material, placed upon blocks. In 1831, a second chapel was commenced, and the old one removed.