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Picture

Hawkesville Methodist Church

Begun: c.1850
Closed: 1922

When the First Canadian Primitive Methodist Conference was held in Brampton from April 27-May 1, 1854, the Peel and Wellesley Mission was ministered to by Revs. Isaac Ryder, T. Fox and John Towler (Hopper 1904:158). Other early ministers were William Bee (1855-1856), C. Gilmore (1857-1858), and W. Lomas (1858-1859) - each working with John Towler who was associated with Peel and Wellesley, and then Hawkesville, from 1854-1876.

The Peel and Wellesley Mission became a Circuit in 1863, but in 1865 that Circuit was divided as the result of a resolution passed at the 12th Annual Conference of the Church. It was resolved "that Peel and Wellesley be divided, and that the furniture of the said station shall be the property of the Peel Circuit, Hawksville [sic] becoming a Mission." From that time Peel and Hawkesville remained separate missions within the Guelph District.

In 1884 the Methodist Church of Canada was formed from a union of all Methodist churches. It is interesting to note that the Minutes of the First Session of the Guelph Annual conference of the Methodist Church in June 1884 make reference to the "late Primitive Methodist Church" in Peel and Hawkesville. Hawkesville later (1886) was a separate Mission in the Galt District, Guelph Conference of the Methodist Church until 1890 when it was amalgamated with Linwood into the Wellesley Mission. The 1897 Annual Meeting of the Galt District placed Linwood, Hawkesville and Bethlehem [sic] into a newly created Linwood Mission.

A brick church was built in 1864. The church closed in 1922 and the building was dismantled; some of the congregation then joined St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

 
Records:
Baptism dates: unknown                         Location of records: unknown
Marriage dates: 1861-1862;1864-1868* Location of records: unknown
Burial dates: unknown                            Location of records: unknown

The records are reported to have been lost in a fire at the Hawkesville store.

*See
Waterloo County Marriages 1858-1869 for marriage information 1861-1862 and 1864-1868.

References: Dunham 1941; Hopper 1904; Maple Leaf 1983:96; Methodist Church; Ogram, WHS 1986(74):117,120; Primitive Methodist Church; R. Taylor 1986.

Information excerpted from: Waterloo County Churches, A Research Guide to Churches established before 1900, by Rosemary Willard Ambrose © Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. It is reproduced by permission.

For a complete list of resources mentioned above, please click
here.

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