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Picture

Linwood Methodist Church

Begun: c.1854
Closed: c.1920

It is said that this congregation was on Hall's Circuit originally and may have been known as Rev. Hall's Church. Rev. Isaac Ryder of the Peel and Wellesley Mission, who was the missionary at the time of the First Annual Conference of the Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1854, was the first pastor. The Peel and Wellesley Mission was divided in 1865 and the Wellesley Mission became known as the Hawkesville Mission. In 1866 Hawkesville was supplied by Rev. William Reid and two superannuated pastors, Revs. John Towler and Isaac Ryder. Rev. Ryder, who made his home in Linwood, died in 1875.

The last recorded membership of the congregation as Primitive Methodist was in 1882; in 1884 the Primitive Methodists joined with the other Methodist groups to form one organization, the Methodist Church of Canada. Linwood was moved from the Listowel District to the Galt District of the Guelph Conference in 1886; the membership of the congregation at the time was 96. Linwood was considered a separate mission in the Galt District until 1890 when it was amalgamated with Hawkesville into the Wellesley Mission. The 1898 Annual Meeting recorded the creation of the Linwood Mission which was to include Linwood, Hawkesville and Bethlehem.

Records:
Baptism dates: unknown             Location of records: unknown*
Marriage dates: unknown            Location of records: unknown*
Burial dates: unknown                 Location of records: unknown*

*The church records are reported to have been lost in a fire at the Hawkesville store. However, there are some records for the Linwood Methodist Church at the United Church Archives: Baptisms 1918, Marriages 1917, and Burials 1916-1917. 

See also
Waterloo County Marriages 1858-1869 for marriages, 1868.
 
References: Maple Leaf 1983:91; Methodist Church; 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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