Rev. George Irving

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-65662
• Occupation: 1861, Stanley Street Presbyterian Church, Ayr, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; minister

Notes:

IRVING (Galt) - Death of Rev. C. Irving: The reverend gentleman had been suffering from that most hopeless of diseases, consumption, and laid aside from active duty for upwards of a year. He had been the pastor of the Stanley Street Church in Ayr village for about three years and a half, and was highly esteemed as an able preacher and a faithful and painstaking pastor. His early death is much regretted by a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and is a severe loss, not only to the congregation of which he was pastor, but to the Church at large. He leaves a widow to whom he was married but a few days previous to his being seized with the illness which terminated so fatally. She has the sympathy of the whole community in her melancholy bereavement.

Hamilton Spectator 6 Feb 1865

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Stanley Street Presbyterian Church

Begun: 1834 Closed: 1914

Early Ayr Presbyterians, most of whom had belonged to the United Secession Church in Scotland, travelled to Galt or to St. George for worship services. The Ayr congregation was organized by Rev. George Murray on July 27, 1834; formal organization was on October 19, 1834, the date of the first Presbyterian church service in Ayr. On October 31st of the same year work began on the construction of a meeting house which was located one mile east of Ayr on the Ayr-Wrigley Road. A newer church was built on the south side of Stanley Street in Ayr in 1843 and was opened for worship on October 15th of that year. According to A. Taylor (1970:256) the "galleries were finished in 1850 and the basement was made in 1869."

Rev. Alexander Ritchie who arrived in June 1842 was the first full-time minister. He was still listed as minister to the West Dumfries congregation at Ayr in 1859. Other early ministers were George Irving (1861-1864), Stephen Balmer (1867-1868), and Walter Inglis (c.1875-1885).

With successive mergers and unions of Presbyterian groups, Stanley Street became United Presbyterian (Flamboro Presbytery) in 1857, Canada Presbyterian (Paris Presbytery) in 1861 and Presbyterian Church in Canada (Paris Presbytery) in 1875. The congregation joined with Knox Presbyterian on May 31, 1914 with the name of Knox United Presbyterian Church. The building was demolished in 1915.


Ambrose, Rosemary. Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide to Churches Established Before 1900. Kitchener, Ontario, Canada: Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. [used the kind permission of Rosemary Ambrose 2011]

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At his residence, in Ayr on Saturday the 21st inst., at 1 o'clock, a.m., of consumption, the Rev. George Irving, Minister of the Stanley Street Presbyterian Church, in the 31st year of his age.

Galt Reporter Jan 27 1865 pg 3