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Picture

Wellesley Baptist Church

Begun: c.1850
Closed: 1875

A Free Will Baptist Church which was organized c.1850 was built on the 3rd line in Wellesley Township. In July 1862 the church was organized as a Regular Baptist Church. Some early baptisms were performed before this time by Rev. R. McClelland, the missionary from Stratford. In June 1863, the Wellesley Baptist Church became part of the Grand River North Baptist Association, with Rev. McClelland as pastor to both Stratford and Wellesley. The congregation  continued the association with Stratford for a time but the connection ceased and Wellesley, Millbank and Poole were served by a missionary, Rev. D. Mulhern. Rev. Mulhern's report for 1864 in the 1865
Canadian Baptist Register was that he intended "to preach twice on every alternate Sunday in Wellesley Chapel." Not much later, services were discontinued at Millbank.

Rev. Charles Northrup was an impressive pastor who began his service in 1867 and the year 1871 seems to have been the high point in the church's history when the membership was 58. However, the membership declined and the church decided to close in 1875. Local Baptists were able to attend church in Poole in Perth County after this date. Of interest is the fact that the Wellesley Mission was still listed in the Baptist Year Book for Ontario and Quebec, 1876-1877, with a membership of 46, albeit with no pastor. There appears to have been no mention of the Wellesley congregation in later reports.

 
Records:
Baptism dates: unknown         Location of records: unknown
Marriage dates: *                     Location of records: Waterloo County Marriages
Burial dates: unknown             Location of records: unknown

*Marriage records for the years 1860, 1862, 1865, 1867 are in
Waterloo County Marriages 1858-1869.

References: Baptist Church; McDonald, WHS 1985(73):91-95; 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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