History Timeline

Preliminary Timeline

  • 1750 St. Paul’s records show that the first church services in Dartmouth were conducted by Mr.Tutty. In the fall of 1750, officiating in the open air. This continued until May 1751 when Indian raids forced him to stop. In 1751, he reported having administered Holy Communion to those palisading Dartmouth. This appeared to have continued until “the territory of Dartmouth, Preston and Cole Harbour was set apart in 1792 as a separate parish” (14).
  • 1780-1781 Dr. Breynton, St. Paul’s reports a drop in inhabitants suggesting many have moved to the fishing villages or agriculture districts of the province. Do records from St. Paul’s suggest any movement to Cole Harbour?
  • 1788-1791 rev. J.W. Weeks resided in Halifax and assisted at St. Paul’s. According to the latter’s history, he held occasional services in the territory that would become the Parish of St. John’s (14).
  • Sept. 1792 Rev. J.W. Weeks commenced work in “Parish of Preston” (11).
  • Nov.3, 1792 Preston, Lawrencetown and Dartmouth officially erected as one parish.
  • Summer 1793 Bishop Inglis formally inducts Rev. Weeks as rector of new parish.
  • Feb.21, 1794 S.P.G. in London formally approves Bishop Inglis’s decision.
  • May 1, 1794 Rev. Weeks wrote to S.P.G. reporting “the mission consists of four towns, Dartmouth is the principal which consists of fifty families; Preston has 15, Cole Harbour 12 and Lawrencetown 15” (11).
  • St. John’s history states that he wrote reporting that he served these areas, thus implying active involvement. Christ Church’s history appears to quote from actual letter as above. Meaning is quite different.
  • “Despite the fact that nominally the parish was supposed to include Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrencetown, the latter community was not visited by Rev. Weeks until July 1794, ‘thro an almost impassable road and preached there to 70 or 80 persons’. Weeks thought the crowd would have been larger but bad weather kept many at home. While there he baptized 12 children, which was the first time that sacrament had ever been performed in Lawrencetown. He promised that congregation that he would try to minister to them as soon as possible, but the poor roads made it extremely difficult for him to reach them and utterly discouraged the people of Lawrencetown from going to St. John’s.” (7).
  • “That winter…Inglis now realized that the parish of St. John’s was a total failure… people too poor to contribute to its upkeep…the church was built in such a poor location that the people of Lawrencetown could not use it and the situation was not much better for the people of Cole Harbour. The people of Dartmouth found it more convenient to attend services conducted by St. Paul’s clergy then to go to St. John’s , thus leaving the church only useful for the people of Preston. But even for them… almost inaccessible in winter. Bishop Inglis thought it would be best then for the Weeks family if he were to close the mission.” (17)
  • Dec. 1795 Rev. Weeks moved to Guysborough Parish.
  • 1795 or 1796 Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray inducted in Parish of St. John. (11)
  • 1796 Rev. Gray wrote to the S.P.G. that he had 95 families in the parish: “forty-eight Church of England, twenty-five Roman Catholic, twelve Presbyterian, five Quaker and four Sandemanian.” (7) “most of them being outside the Preston area.” (7)
  • “main job was to be the missionary to the Maroons, for which he received one hundred pounds a year. The role of missionary to the Parish of St. John’s was only given to him because he was in the area…he received only thirty pounds a year for this position. (7)
  • Rev. Gray’s first report to the S.P.G. stated that, like his predecessor, he was having trouble reaching Lawrencetown and Cole Harbour, and , in fact, had not visited them yet. (7)
  • 1798-1799 “…there were seven regular communicants at St. John on the Hill…Gray informed the Society that it was still extremely difficult for him to reach Lawrencetown and in the Winter of 1799 he was unable to perform services in Dartmouth due to there being No place available for such a purpose.” (7)
  • August 1800 The Maroons sailed for Sierra Leone, therefore Rev. Gray lost his salary as their Missionary. His 30 pounds from the S.P.G. would not be enough for him to live on.
  • Late 1801 Bishop Inglis closes the mission and sends Rev. Gray to Windsor. “Indeed, there was no sense, at this point, in keeping the parish going, even if there had been a better financial situation. St. John on the Hill was called a parish church, yet it could only effectively be used by the people of Preston. The people of Lawrencetown could essentially not reach it without great difficulty and the parishioners in Cole Harbour were in a similar plight.” (7)
  • 1801-1817 Parish of St. John’s remained closed. Anglicans would have to travel to Dartmouth where St. Paul’s clergy performed services about once a month.
  • Sept.24, 1817 The first baptism refistered in the records of Christ Church, Dartmouth was John Joseph Bissett of Cole Harbour. “…this service was performed before the church building was completed and therefore must have taken place in the home.” (11)
  • 1818 Christ Church completed.
  • 1820 “According to Rev. Ingles report to the S.P.G. in 1820, the majority of people who were attending Christ Church were not residents of Dartmouth but were coming from a distance of 2-7 miles away.” (7) Christ Church history mentions Preston about 7 miles from town.
  • 1821 Rev. Ingles attends Eastern passage on alternate Sunday afternoons with Cole Harbour, the latter at which congregations often number over 100. (SPG-PANS)
  • 1822 John Inglis reports Rev. Ingles “has not been conducting services in Preston for some time. The reason for this according to Ingles himself is primarily that the Anglicans in Preston could attend worship services at Cole Harbour or Dartmouth with relative ease.
  • “At about the same time, calls were being heard from the Anglicans in Preston to build a new church on the Lawrencetown Road which would service the people of Preston, Cole Harbour and Lawrencetown.” (7)
  • “The congregation at Cole Harbour was now having Evensong said every 3 out of 4 Sundays by Rev. Ingles, but despite this, a number of them were also going to Preston to hear the morning service.” (7)
  • “Rev. Ingles reports to S.P.G. he has extended his pastoral visits to Cole Harbour in the summer months. The Sunday School at Cole Harbour is kept by Mr. Glen.
  • 1823 Rev. Ingles takes an evening service at Cole Harbour “12 miles away”, held in the Schoolhouse which is sometimes crowded out. The settler’s poverty is an obstacle to them enlarging it.
  • 1826 Christ Church consecrated. Rev. Benwell preaching at all five of the stations within his parish.
  • 1827 The Census shows 39 families in Cole Harbour. (12)
  • 1828 Second St. John church consecrated “specifically built to service the congregations from Cole Harbour and Lawrencetown as well.” (7)
  • 1835 Evidence of worship exists in Christ Church records when George Morash, James Bissett Jr. and W. Lawlor of Cole Harbour were named to help raise by subscription the Cole Harbour portion of fifty pounds required for the support and maintenance of the minister of the parish. This was due to the S.P.G. reducing the amount paid by them towards rectors stipends in the “better established missions” (11)
  • 1836 Rev. Parker reports St. John’s congregation extremely small, but other stations healthy, most congregations between 20 & 50 people.
  • June 3, 1855 “Rev. Shreve made a 38 mile journey to visit all the stations in his parish. On that day, 25 had worshipped at St. John’s, 23 at Eastern Passage, 24 at Porter’s Lake and 34 at Lawrencetown.” (7)
  • “In the reports of Dr. Shreve we read that on Trinity Sunday, 1855, he celebrated Communion in St. John, Preston with 4 present and this was the first time that this service had been administered in the new(3rd) church. Later he gives a list of 25 communicants at Preston…Dr. Shreve also enumerates at this time, 23 communicants at Eastern Passage, 24 at Porter’s Lake and 34 at Three Fathom Harbour and Lawrencetown.” (11)
  • 1865 Original parish of St. John, Preston divided into St. John and Seaforth (Three Fathom Harbour, Porter’s Lake and Lawrencetown.)
  • 1866 Parish of St. John officially changed to Christ Church Parish.
  • July 13, 1870 Parish of Eastern Passage began. “The church in this parish was St. Peter’s Church and it’s first rector was Rev. Charles Burns. A parsonage and church at Cole harbour was made possible by money received from the Diocesan Church Society.” (7)
  • 1871 St. Andrew’s ready for use by late in the year, probably Nov. (3)
  • Nov.24, 1872 St. Andrew’s consecrated with Bishop Binney officiating.
  • 1950 St. Andrew’s incorporated into parish of Westphal which included St. Andrew’s. Port Wallis, St. John’s, Westphal, and St. Luke’s.
  • April 1, 1957 St. Andrew’s incorporated into Parish of Holy Spirit.
  • March 1, 1982 St. Andrew’s becomes the Parish of St. Andrew, Cole Harbour.
  • Nov. 30, 1984 St. Andrew’s Parish installs its first rector, Rev. W. G. Lynch.
  • 1990-1996 St. Andrew’s Parish installs its second rector, Rev. M. Langille.
  • 1996-1997 Rev’d Peter MacDonald was Priest in Charge.
  • 1998-2005 Canon David Reid was Priest in Charge.
  • Dec.6, 2002 Walter Beazley was ordained Deacon.
  • Sept.15, 2003 Walter Beazley was ordained Priest, and is now Assistant Priest at the Church of St. Andrew.
  • Jan.16, 2005 Louise MacHardy was ordained Deacon, and remained Deacon at the Church of St. Andrew until June of 2008.
  • Sept. 2005-present Rev’d Katherine Bourbonniere is the third rector.
  • Nov. 2006-Oct. 2007 Rev’d Kirby Walsh was Priest in Charge during maternity leave for Rev’d Katherine.
  • Nov.21, 2007 Construction began for the addition of a Kitchen and Storage Room.
  • April 26, 2009 Ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the Kitchen.