Methodist Church Records and Registers : 1784-1831

Call Number: HIL-MICL FC LCR .N4U5M3M4R4
Category: Church
Creator: United Church of Canada. Maritime Conference Archives.
Description: 1 microfilm textual records () ; 35 mm
Background: 
            Methodism is a branch of the protestant religion and was originally a movement within the Church of England in Britain led by John Wesley (1703-91).  William Black (1760-1834) was the first evangelical methodist preacher in the Maritimes who began preaching in settlements along the Petitcodiac River in New Brunswick in 1781.  With the help of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, more missionaries would be sent to the area to assist Black's work.  This relationship with the Americans lasted until 1799, after which Black's work fell under the supervision of the British Wesleyans.  

The Nova Scotia District of the Methodist Church included New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island until 1826. At that time, the district was divided into two sections: one containing most of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; and another for New Brunswick and the Annapolis Valley.
Contents: 
            The collection contains Methodist Church records for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (Island of St. John's) and includes District Minutes and specific church registers and records, 1784-1831.  These records give insight into the policies and operation of the organisation and local communities.  Topics covered include:  religion - state of, finances, ministers, vital statistics (birth, marriage, death), women, missions and missionaries, blacks, Church of Scotland, evangelicalism, societies, Sunday school and children.

Detailed Contents

  • New Brunswick. Methodist Church. District Minutes, 1826-1831

    • 1st District Meeting in Halifax on 5 May 1826; George Jackson and R. William as chairmen

    • Published in the form of Question and Answer

    • New Brunswick District included the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia

    • Content includes:  preachers present, absent (includes notes why), and dead; candidates for missionaries; names of preachers, where they presently minister, and where they will minister in the future; demarcation lines between the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Districts; number of persons in associated societies, includes whites and free coloured persons [blacks]; mission properties in chapels and dwelling houses now and to be built; finances; Sunday School; towns and villages not visited and reasons why; useful measures to preach to children, this includes what is done catechizing children in each station; preachers wishing to return home and their reasons why; and Reports of the religious state of circuits in the New Brunswick District, which are letters, and are found at the beginning of the annual meetings for the years 1826-1830, (1831 is available solely for the Saint John Circuit).
    

    • Nova Scotia. Halifax. Pictou, and Truro. Church of Scotland [Presbyterian]. District Minutes and Presbytery Minutes, 1823-1831

      • Held at Halifax and Truro:  18 September 1823 (Halifax) and 1825 (Truro); meeting of clergymen in connection with the Established Church of Scotland; present:  Rectors for East River, West River, Pictou, St. Andrews, Halifax, and Prince Edward Island; resolution forwarded to the Scotch Presbytery of Halifax

      • Held at Pictou:  1 December 1825 to 24 November 1831; includes the meeting of the District of Pictou
      

    • Prince Town. St. John Island [Prince Edward Island]. Methodist Church Records, 1807-1836

      • Prince Town Female Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and Other Religious Purposes, 1825-1827:  Committee for the 1st two years - Patroness Mrs. C. Stewart, Treasurer Mrs. Keir, Secretary Mrs. Mary Stewart; Ordinary Committee - Mrs. Pidgeon, Miss Mary Ramsay, Mrs. George B. Earisto?, Miss Penelope McNult; Reports, including subscription lists and names of members

      • Prince Town Congregation - Minutes 9 November 1807 to 1836:  after page 239 the document includes a plan of pasture lots, numbers 316 and 429, in Prince Town to John Keir, pastor of the Presbyterian congregation.
      

    • Sackville, New Brunswick. Methodist Church Records, 1798-1813

      • Steward's account book, 1800-1813

      • Baptism record book, 1798-1812
      

    • St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Methodist Church Records, 30 June 1816-1820

      • Public notice

      • Account book 1816-1820, with a surname index at the start of the book
      

    • Halifax, Nova Scotia. Methodist Church Records, 1784-1829

      • Register of marriages, christenings, and burials in the Methodist Church, Halifax, 1784; William Black's marriage is at the start of the register (1784), as well as records relating to the Black family (pages 29, 41), and lists of marriages of coloured persons [blacks] (page 67); includes an 1818 list of marriages and baptisms of coloured persons

      • Register of Marriages for the Wesleyan Missionaries on the Halifax Stations, 1824-1829
Originals: The original records are held by the United Church of Canada, Maritime Conferences Archives, Sackville, New Brunswick.
Archival Ref. No.:
Finding Aids: 
            
Table of contents available as an electronic finding aid.
Electronic Finding Aid Record: Contents_Methodist-Church-Maritime-Conference_Registers-Records.pdf
Notes:

There are many inaccuracies in the typed descriptions that precede each section of records throughout the reel.

Microfilmed by the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia.
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