George Abbs (1822-1904) was a Methodist minister and editor and book agent of the Canada Christian Advocate. He was born in Arlington, England. In 1851 he married Susan Inglehart of Palermo, Ontario. He was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1851 and served in the Toronto, London and Niagara Districts. He was at Nelson in 1863. From 1864 to 1870 be served in The Barton and Hamilton Circuits and was the Editor and Book Agent of the Canada Christian Advocate.
George Kenneth Baker Adams, (d. 1932), was a Methodist minister in Western Canada and Ontario. George Adams migrated from England to Port Carling (Ontario) at age 14. He became a Methodist probationer in 1878 and was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1881. He served churches in Western Canada and Ontario until his retirement in 1927. He also served a term as President of the Manitoba Conference.
John Basil Adams (1913-1999) was a United Church of Canada minister. Born in Mainsville, Ontario, Adams obtained his B.A. from Queen's University, his B.D. from Queen's Theological College and his masters' degree from McGill University. He was ordained by Montreal & Ottawa Conference in 1943. He served the following charges: Aylwin (Que.), 1943-1944; Oxford Mills (Ont.), 1944-1947; South Mountain, (Ont.), 1947-1950; Elgin (Ont.), 1950-1953. He joined the Royal Canadian Chaplain Corps in 1953. After retiring from the military in 1968, he founded and served as the first director of COHR (Counselling and Human Relations Institute). He retired in 1988.
J. Basil Adams died on October 8, 1999.
Arthur Peter Addison (1871-1954) was a Methodist/United Church minister. He was born in Lloydtown, Ont. In 1900 he married Elizabeth Ann Scoley. He was ordained in the Methodist Church in Toronto in 1900 and served in various churches in Ontario. He served at North Parkdale from 1921-1924, and Humbercrest from 1924-1929, when he retired.
George Affleck was born in Lanark, Ontario on March 7, 1912. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Emmanuel College, and St. Andrew's University in Scotland. He was ordained in the United Church in 1939 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Union College (Vancouver) in 1969. George Affleck and his wife, Fronia, served United Church congregations in British Columbia, including Skidegate, Kimberley, Vernon, Crescent Beach (Surrey), Powell River, Port Alberni, and Parksville. From 1972 to 1977, he was Presbytery Officer for the Vancouver Island Presbytery. George Affleck died July 15, 2000 at Nanaimo, B.C.
Rev. James Robert Aikenhead was born in Toronto in 1863, and died at the age of 83, June 16, 1946. Aikenhead entered the ministry at age 21 and his charges in Toronto included Westmoreland Avenue United Church, King Street United Church, Davenport Road United Church. Aikenhead’s wife was Elizabeth Dimsdale who was the first woman evangelist to be appointed by the Toronto Conference of the Methodist Church in 1885. His daughter, Gertrude Aikenhead was superintendent of the Fred Victor home for Girls, and he also had a son, James Aikenhead.
William Edward “Ed” Aldworth (1905-1995) was a United Church minister and missionary. He was born in 1905 to parents Rebecca Northcott and Charles Edward Aldworth in Hay Township, Huron County, in Ontario. As a child he worked on his family’s farm and at seventeen left home for a harvest excursion in Saskatchewan. Upon his return home a year later he decided to become a minister and to also attend university in Saskatoon. He finished high school in Ontario and from 1928-1931 he attended the University of Saskatchewan and then St. Andrews College from 1932-1934. In 1927 he became a ministerial candidate and served as student missionary until his ordination in 1934 by the London Conference. He served as a minister for sixty years at the following charges which included student missionary work and rotary work: Springside, Saskatchewan; Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan; Uffington, Muskoka Presbytery; Lintlaw, Saskatchewan; Canora, Saskatchewan; Staffa, London; St. Marys, London Conference; St. Pauls, Tillsonberg; Harrow, Ontario; Merlin-Fletcher; Epworth Kingsville, Former Main St. United Church Exeter. In 1935 he married Janet (Netta) Pryde. In addition to serving as a minister he also served various roles within the Saskatchewan and London Conferences as well as holding positions within the General Council including Commissioner and Executive on the Board of Christian Education. Notably he was a charter board member of Iona College, University of Windsor, and he published a genealogy of his family entitled Western Sunset.
Annie Whitburn Allen, (1878-1973), was a Methodist/United Church missionary to Japan. Miss Annie Allen was born in Montreal on 1878 August 6. Her father, James Allen, was a Methodist minister. Annie Allen received her B.A. from Victoria College, University of Toronto in 1902. She attended the Methodist National Training School in 1904 and 1905. She was appointed to Japan by the Woman's Missionary Society in September 1905. Annie Allen returned to Canada in 1940 and retired in 1946.
James Allen, (1843-1918), was a Methodist minister in Ontario. He was born in Ireland in 1843 and came to Canada when he was three years old. He entered the ministry in 1869. He graduated from Victoria University in 1875, taking his M.A. degree in 1880. Most of his pastorates were in Ontario where he filled both rural and city charges. In 1902 he was made president of the Toronto Conference and Superintendent of Missions, spending four years in helping to establish Methodism in New Ontario, or Nippissing. In 1906 he was elected General Secretary of Home Missions and held the office until his death.
Gordon Henry Allison (1914-1993), was born in Hamilton, Ontario. He was educated at SS #1 Glanford and Caledonia High School and, thereafter, qualified as a teach at Hamilton Normal School. He taught elementary school in Amherstburg while taking extension course degrees from the University of Toronto and McMaster University. He returned to Hamilton in 1953 to teach English at Delta Secondary School. After retiring from Delta, he turned his energies to searching local archives and records. At his church, Barton Stone United, he compiled extensive archives on church members going back to 1811, assembled pictures and biographies on every minister the church ever had, and researched every person buried in the cemetery. He worked as an editor on several historical publications and compiled histories of dozens of the earliest Mountain families and all of the Ryckman's Corners pioneers. For the last seven years of his life Allison read every edition of The Hamilton Spectator from 1846 to 1893, and transcribed every birth notice, marriage announcement, death account and obituary. He died 3 February 1993 in his Ryckman's Corners home at the age of 79. Allison never married and had no survivors.
Estelle Amaron, (1899-1986), was a member of the overseas staff of the YMCA. Miss Amaron was born in 1899 in Montreal in a Presbyterian manse. She attended Macdonald College School for Teachers and in 1926 graduated from McGill School of Physical Education. That same year Estelle Amaron joined the overseas staff of the Canadian Young Women's Christian Association. During her career with the YWCA she spent time in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. Upon her return to Canada in 1960, she remained active in the organization. In December 1976, Estelle Amaron was made a member of the Order of Canada for her work in the YWCA.
Emily Elizabeth Boggis Anderson was a church organist of The Zion Methodist Church, Bracondale.
John Norrie Anderson (1890-1952) was born in the Hebrides and died at Inverness, Scotland on April 29, 1952. Anderson received his education at Edinburgh University where he graduated with honours in History. He later studied at New College, Edinburgh and was ordained into Ministry of the Church of Scotland. Upon immigrating to Canada, he taught staff of Wesley College, Brandon, and afterwards held pastorates at Fort Massey Church, Halifax; St. Andrew’s Kirk, St. John and in 1948 came to Toronto, as Associate Minister in Old St. Andrew’s. Following the amalgamation of Old St. Andrew’s with Westminster-Central, he returned to Scotland and at the time of his death was minister of Laird, Sutherlandshire. While serving as a missionary in India in 1924, he married Elizabeth Finlay, a Canadian Medical Missionary, who predeceased him. Afterward, John married Isobel Constance Anderson.
Walter Gilray Anderson (1907-2002) was a medical doctor and missionary to India with The United Church of Canada. He was born in Ratlam, India to missionaries Rev. Frederick J. and Mabel Anderson. His early education took place in India. He graduated from The University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928, and a degree in medicine in 1934. While a student, he spent his summers on home mission fields in northern Saskatchewan. In 1937 he was stationed in India as a medical missionary. Following one year of language study, he began as a Staff Doctor at Ratlam Hospital in 1938. From 1941-1946 he served in the Indian Army Medical Service. He was captured and taken prisoner of war in Singapore on February 15, 1942 and was held for 3.5 years in various camps along the Quai River Valley in Burma [Myanmar]. After a furlough in Canada, Anderson returned to Ratlam hospital in 1948. From 1955-1960, he served as Medical Superintendent at Banswara, and from 1960-1976 was at Ratlam Hospital. At the time of his retirement in 1976, Anderson was the last Canadian medical missionary serving in an Indian hospital.
Charles Sinclair Applegath (b. 1881 ) was a Methodist/United Church minister in Ontario. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1909 and served in the Hamilton and Toronto Conferences at: Ryerson Church, Hamilton , 1909-1910; Paisley Memorial Church, Guelph, 1910-1911; Lincoln Ave., Galt, 1911-1914; Islington, Toronto, 1914-1916; Timothy Eaton Church, Toronto, 1916-1917; Chapleau, Ont., 1917-1918, Port Hope, Ont., 1919-1921; and Emerald Street Church, Hamilton, 1922-1925. He was instrumental in creating Hamilton's first United Church, and creating the Canadian Chautauqua Institute on Lake Rosseau, Ontario from 1921-1929.
Adella J. Archibald (1869-1960) was a Presbyterian missionary to Trinidad. Born in Truro, Nova Scotia, she was appointed to Trinidad as a teacher by the Foreign Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church in 1889. In 1894, she was appointed a missionary. She retired in 1935.
Egerton Franklin Armstrong was born in Goderich, Ontario on December 6, 1874 and died July 25, 1965. After graduating highschool in Goderich, Armstrong attended Victoria University in Toronto, where he graduated in Arts in 1898 and in Theology in 1901. After leaving College he spent his probation serving the Tuckersmith circuit in the Goderich district and Wellington Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, in the Windsor district of the Methodist Church. He was ordained in 1901. After ordination, he was stationed in the Methodist Church at Tupperville (June 1901), Ethel (1905), Charing Cross (1907), Victoria Avenue Chatham (1910), Essex (1914), Wingham (1917), Wallaceburg (1921). After Union he served the charges of Listowel (1925), Bowmanville (1931) and Blenheim (1936). He retired from Blenheim in 1939 and resided in London, Ontario. There, he supplied at Pilgrim United Church London from 1940-1950, and took charge of the church from 1952. He was chairman of the Essex and Wingham Districts in the Methodist Church and of the Perth Presbytery in the United Church.
Robert Cornell Armstrong, (1876-1929), was a Methodist missionary to Japan. He was born in Carleton County, Ontario in 1876. He received his B.A. in 1903 and his M.A. in 1911 from Victoria University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1914. He served as a missionary to Japan from 1903 to 1910. Between 1912 and 1915 he was Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions at Kwansei Gakuin University, and Dean from 1915 to 1919. In 1919 Robert Cornell Armstrong was appointed missionary of Central Tabernacle, Tokyo. As well, he lectured at Aoyama Gakuin Seminary, spoke at Conference and Bible events, and served as Secretary for the National Christian Council of Japan. He wrote articles and four books on Japanese religion and philosophy. He died in Tokyo.
Alice Dorey (1883-1979) was a teacher, a writer, a poet, and the wife of United Church Moderator Very Rev. George Dorey. Alice Ann Dent was born in Cowansville, Quebec. She taught at a school for the deaf in Montreal and wrote poems which were published in Canada, the United States, England, Australia, and some which were translated into Hungarian and Italian. She also wrote book reviews and occasional articles for The United Church Observer.
Jesse H. Arnup, (1881-1965) was a minister and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Norfolk County, Ontario in 1881. He graduated from Victoria College in 1909 and received his D.D. from Wesley College, Winnipeg, in 1924. From 1910 to 1912 he was Secretary of the Layman's Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church, Assistant Secretary of Overseas Missions from 1913 to 1925, and Secretary of United Church of Canada Foreign Missions from 1925 to 1952. He served as Moderator from 1944 to 1946.
Rev. Elmer E. Ashley was a United Church minister serving in the twentieth century. Elmer Ashley was born in 1909 or 1910. He was ordained in the Maritime Conference of the United Church of Canada. He served various charges in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Ontario. He retired in 1977 to Fenwick, Ontario. Rev. Ashley died in 2004.
Benjamin Fish Austin, (1850-1933), was a Methodist minister and Principal of Alma College who was expelled from the church on charges of heresy. He was born in Brighton, Ontario in 1850. He received his B.A. from Albert College and his D.D. degree from Victoria College in 1872. He was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. Rev. Austin was Principal of Alma College from 1881 to 1897, when he resigned. He was expelled from the Church in 1899 on charges of heresy. He was a publisher and writer on spiritualism. He was pastor of Plymouth Spiritual Church, Rochester, New York, from 1906 to 1913 and in Los Angeles from 1913.
Mary Louise Reid was born in Consort, Alberta on September 20, 1920. She married George Hannah (d. 1968) and Winston Eric Austin (1978). Both Mary and Eric’s families attended Shaughnessy Heights United Church in Vancouver. Mary Austin died on March 5, 2011.
Eric Winston Austin was born in Northwich, England on August 27, 1906. His family came to Canada in 1910. After graduating from medical school in 1932, he was employed for a short time at Large Memorial Hospital in Bella Bella with Dr. George Darby, and then on board the Thomas Crosby III (1932-1938) with Rev. Robert C. Scott. Dr. Austin subsequently became a physician at Wrinch Memorial Hospital in Hazelton (1938-1942). From 1942 until the end of the Second World War, he served the Royal Army Medical Corps. At war's end, he became a surgeon for the Vancouver Military Hospital, then for Vancouver General Hospital, and in later years had a private practice. Dr. Austin married his second wife, Mary Louise Hannah (nee Reid), in 1978. The couple were members of Shaughnessy Heights United Church in Vancouver. Eric Austin died on August 8, 1994.
Oliver R. Avison (1860-1956) was a missionary to Korea. He was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to Canada in 1866. He graduated from Toronto School of Medicine in 1887 and in 1893, Dr. Avison went to Korea under the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A. He and his wife, Jennie Barnes, stayed in Korea for forty years, until 1934, when they were expelled by the invading Japanese.
Douglas Bacon was born in Peterborough, Ontario and grew up in the in United Church. After studying Medicine for one year at the University of Toronto, he decided that his skills would be better served as an ordained minister. He received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology from McGill and was ordained by Bay of Quinte Conference in 1969.
Douglas served in pastoral ministry Bruce Mines, Ontario; St. Margaret's, Kingston; West Point Grey, Vancouver; and Colebrook, Surrey. He held positions as Secretary of Kent Presbytery, London Conference (1974-1976); Chair of Education and Students Committee, Bay of Quinte Conference; member and Chair of the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the United Church, and co-editor of A Sunday Liturgy (1978-1984); Chair of Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery (1987-1989); and member and Chair of the national Candidature Committee of the United Church (1990-1996). He retired in 2010.
Andrew Baird Browning, (1855-1940) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister and educator. He was born near Motherwell, Ontario in 1855. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Knox College and in Europe. After a pastorate in Edmonton, he was made professor at Manitoba College in 1871. He taught for over fifty years at this Presbyterian/United Church college.
Edward Norcliffe Baker (1852-1929) was a Methodist/United Church minister and educator. He was born in Oakville, Ont. He was twice married, first to R. Meek in 1881, and then to Sarah Jane Axford in 1904. He was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1875 and served in the Toronto, Huron and Colborne Districts, serving at Sault Ste. Marie from 1911-1913. From 1913-1927 he was Principal of Albert College.
Edward Baker (1870-1952) was a Methodist/United Church minister in Ontario. He was born in Birmingham, England and came to Canada at age sixteen. He graduated from Victoria College and was ordained into the Methodist Church in 1903. He served charges at Sundridge, Huttonville, Little Current, Markham, Cochrane, Newtonbrook, Meaford and Dundalk. He retired in 1936, whereupon he was made Minister Emeritus at Meaford.
The Rev. Charles Dod Baldwin, D.D., was a Methodist Church minister. He was born on July 31, 1855 in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland to Robert and Mary Baldwin. He attended school at Lismore College in County Waterford before moving to Dublin. There, while working for a hardware company, he preached and taught Sunday school at the Charleston Road Methodist Church and was involved with the Y.M.C.A.
He moved to Canada in August 1882 and enrolled in the Wesleyan Theological College, Montreal, where he won prizes in theology and the natural sciences. He was ordained in 1887. His time in the ministry was split between the Montreal and Ontario Conferences: Dunham (1882, 1895-1896), Levis and Bourg Louis (1883), Island Brook (1884), Montreal (1885-1886), Hendersonville (1887-1888), Lawrenceville (1889-1891), Cookshire (1893-1894), Lacolle (1897-1899), North Augusta (1901-1902), Mallorytown (1902-1095), Metcalfe (1905-1907), Westmeath (1907-1909), Ashton (1909-1911), St. Paul, Montreal (1911-1913), Westport (1913-1916), Addison (1916-1918), Aultsville (1918-1921), and Sharbot Lake (1921-1922). He retired from the ministry to Kingston in 1922, where he became connected to Sydenham Street United Church. Baldwin was also involved in the governance of the Montreal Conference. He held numerous positions, including: journal secretary (1892-1903, 1919-1921), assistant secretary (1905), secretary (1906, 1920-1921), General Conference statistician (1913-1918), and was elected President of the Montreal Conference in 1922.
Baldwin was known to be proficient in pen and ink illuminations. He married Catherine Elizabeth Teskey in 1889; she predeceased him in February 1947. Baldwin died on January 29, 1949 at the age of 94.
Rev. George Nash Ball (1917-2008) was an ordained minister of The United Church of Canada. He was born near Jordan, Ontario. He attended primary school in Grimsby and Vineland Station, and high school in Beamsville before attending McMaster University; receiving a B.A. in 1940. He then earned a diploma at Emmanuel College (University of Toronto) in 1943; an M.A. from Yale University in 1946 and a Bachelor of Divinity from Emmanuel College in 1959. He was received as a candidate for ministry in 1940 at Vineland United Church in Niagara Presbytery and was ordained in 1943 at Ryerson United Church, Hamilton. He married his partner Gertrude in 1943, and served at Manitowaning (Sudbury Presbytery) from 1943-1945. He did Overseas Mission work in Chengdu, West China from 1945-1949. He then returned to Canada where he remained for his career, serving at Hagersville (Haldimand-Norfolk Presbytery, 1949-1950); Niagara on the Lake (Niagara Presbytery, 1950-1958); Tara-Arkwright (Bruce Presbytery, 1958-1963); Ripley (Bruce Presbytery, 1963-1973); and Milverton (Huron-Perth Presbytery, 1973-1980). Ball died in 2008.
Lynden Harold Winter Barclay (1912-1953) was a minister in the United Church of Canada. He attended high school at Glebe Collegiate in Ottawa. After graduation he attended McGill University, receiving a B.A. in 1932. He then earned an M.A. in Education at Queen’s University in 1934. He graduated from Emmanuel College in 1941 and was soon ordained into the United Church. He took some further post-graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in 1942. He was a minister at Radville, Saskatchewan 1942-1944; Kenogami, Quebec 1944-1948 and Woodroffe in Ottawa from 1949-1951. He took a study leave in 1942 and was studying for his doctorate of theology at Emmanuel when he was killed in a car accident in 1953. His parents were Dr. and Mrs. G.O. Barclay who served at Bell Street in Ottawa for over 40 years.
Enoch Barker (d.1921) was a Congregationalist minister in Ontario and Nova Scotia. He served the following charges: Speedside, Newmarket, Pictou, Fergus, Milton (Nova Scotia), Cornwallis, and Toronto.
Rev. George Wesley Barker (1872-1953) was a Methodist and then a United Church minister in Ontario in the first half of the twentieth century.
Herbert Whitehead Barker (1867-1951) was a banker who was active in the Congregational Union and then the United Church. He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia. His father, Rev. Enoch Barker, was a Congregationalist minister. Herbert Whitehead Barker settled in Toronto in the 1880s, working in banking. He was Treasurer of the Congregational Union from 1920 to 1925 as well as Treasurer of the Inter-Church Forward Movement. From 1925 to 1940, Mr. Barker served as Deputy Treasurer of the United Church.
Rev. Joseph Barnes (1863-1943) was a Methodist and then United Church minister in Ontario at the end of the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Lincolnshire, England, he came to Canada at the age of sixteen and settled in Belleville. He was educated at Victoria University and was ordained in 1896. Rev. Barnes served at Kinmount, Mountain Grove, North Port, Ameliasburg, Courtice, Tamworth, Odessa, Atherley, Wooler, Scugog Island, Milford and Greenwood. He was first married to Charlotte E. Lousley, and upon her death, he married Emma Quinn. Rev. Joseph Barnes died in 1943.
George Barnley (1816-1904) was a Methodist missionary to Hudson Bay. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1839. Between 1840 and 1848, he served as a missionary to Hudson Bay. He subsequently returned to England and worked there for another forty years.
Rev. Edward Barrass (1821-1898) was born in Durham, England. He worked in mines as a child, and was called to ministry of the Primitive Methodist Church in 1841. In 1853 he emigrated to Canada where he worked throughout the country until he was superannuated in 1891. He was an avid author, and published many volumes on church history and general life. He contributed to such publications as the Christian Guardian, and Canadian Methodist Magazine and was also very involved in the Temperance Movement.
Samuel T. Bartlett was a United Church minister, formerly Methodist. He was born in the island of Jersey on March 11, 1863 and moved to Canada at the age of nine years. At 17, he entered Methodist ministry and served pastorates in Ontario until he was appointed Associate Secretary of Sunday School and Epworth League Board in 1906, becoming General Secretary in 1909. In 1921 he started work with the Department of Art Photography at the Methodist Book and Publishing House. Rev. Bartlett was superannuated in 1925 and died on December 17, 1937.
Rev. Dr. Hedwig Dorothea Henriette Bartling was born in Germany. As a young child, she emigrated with her family from Germany to Canada, settling in Saskatchewan, just a year before the First World War. In 1933, she was engaged by the Woman's Missionary Society (W.M.S.) of The United Church of Canada to work among the Ukrainian people in northern Alberta. In 1942, she went to Lethbridge to work among the Japanese Canadians who were interned. After the war, Bartling worked first at the Chinese Christian Community Centre in Victoria, B.C. (1950-1951), followed by several years at Steveston United Church in Richmond, helping build the integrated Caucasian-Japanese congregation (1952-1956). Following three years at Queens Avenue United Church in New Westminster (1960-1962), and studies at Union College, she was ordained. Hedwig Bartling died in 1993.
Cornelius John L. Bates (1877-1964), was a missionary and educator in Japan. He was born at L'Orignal, Ontario in 1877. He was educated at Queen's University, McGill University and at the Wesleyan Theological College in Montreal. After a brief pastorate at Blind River, Ontario, Rev. Bates went to Japan as a missionary in 1902 and did evangelistic work. In 1910 he was appointed Professor at Kwansei Gakuin University. In 1920 he was made President, and presided over its great expansion. In 1941, Rev. Bates returned to Canada, supplying at Knox- Metropolitan United Church in Regina and assisting at Royal York United Church in Toronto. He retired in 1946. In 1959, he visited Japan and had an audience with Emperor Hirohito. He died in 1964.