Alonzo Bliss

1803 - 1834  (30 years)

• Name	Alonzo Bliss
  Born	29 Nov 1803	of, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1827	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	chair maker
  Epidemic	1834	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Cholera
  Injury	story, epidemic, story, furniture
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-111661
  Died	1834	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Cause: Cholera
  Person ID	I111661	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Thomas Bliss,   b. CA 1767, of, Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, USA ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Priscilla Howe,   b. CA 1770, of, Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, USA ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F24055	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Lydia,   b. CA 1807,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	1827
  Children	1. Wiliam Thomas Bliss,   b. CA 1828,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	26 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F39496	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Bliss,Alonzo-BlissFamilyGenealogyPg286.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Alonzo Bliss, to whom reference has already been made. On returning home, Bliss said to his wife, " If cholera is catching, I will take it." This prediction, alas, proved too true. The next morning he was dead. Reminiscenses of the Early History Galt ________________________ The principal (early Presbyterian church meetings) places used were: the old Red store, in which Mr. Stewart held the first communion of his congregation; the store house of the Dumfries mills; the old rough-cast house at the head of Main Street; and the chair factory carried on by one Alonzo Bliss. The latter building stood on the site of Scott's planing mill, and it may be mentioned in passing, to the credit of the handicraft of Bliss and, as possibly not altogether without relevancy to practical religion that some of the chairs made by him are still in possession of Mr. Thomas Rich, and are as strong as ever, after fifty years wear and tear. Ebenezer: A History of the Central Presbyterian Church, Galt, Ontario, with brief sketches of some of its members who have passed on the the other side, The Rev. James A. R. Dickson ________________ THE want of suitable churches and schools was much felt, for many years. At the present time, the minister and teacher follow closely upon the heels of settlement. Sixty years ago the case was different. It was fifteen years after Galt was founded before the services of a regularly-placed clergyman were obtained. The name of the first minister of Galt was the Rev. William Stewart, and he was sent out by the Church of Scotland as a mis-sionary. He was lame, and delicate in health, but, to use the language of a contemporary, he possessed "a fine mind and deep piety." It was in the fall of 1831 or spring of 1832 when he arrived. An incident which occurred shortly after Mr. Stewart's arrival in Galt well illustrates his pious character, as well as the loose notions regarding the observance of the Sabbath which had crept in among a few in the absence of religious services. Finding workmen busily engaged in loading the Arks at the wharf one Sunday morning, Mr. Stewart sent down a short note, courteously expressing the hope that they would desist from labour on the Lord's day. The reply sent back was: "Tell Mr. Stewart if he'll mind his business, we'll mind ours!" And the loading of the Arks went on. Churches were then unknown luxuries, and Mr. Stewart, as well as the missionaries who had previously visited the locality, found difficulty in securing suitable places in which to gather the people together for divine service. The principal places used were the old Red store, in which Mr. Stewart held the first communion of his congregation; the storehouse of the Dumfries' Mills; the old rough-cast school-house at the head of Main Street; and the chair factory carried on by one Alonzo Bliss. The latter building stood on the present site of Scott's Planing mill, and it may be mentioned, enpassant, to the credit of the handicraft of Bliss - and as possibly not altogether without relevancy to practical religion-that some of the chairs made by him are still in possession of Mr. Thomas Rich, and are as strong as ever after fifty years' wear and tear ! Mr. Stewart soon succeeded in building up a strong congrega-tion, saw St. Andrew's Church begun and finished, but at the expiry of several years' faithful service, performed often whilst suffering under much physical weakness, he accepted a call to Demarara, in the West Indies. He was attracted to these Islands by their genial climate, but his constitution was too much shattered for recovery, and he shortly afterwards died. Although Mr. Stewart was the first regular minister in the village, it must not be supposed that the people were entirely destitute of ministerial instruction previously. Thanks to the United Presbyterian Church of North America, missionaries were sent to the settlement as early as 1822, and divine service was conducted by these de-voted men for at least a portion of almost every year. Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario, by James Young, 1880 Toronto: Hunter, Rose ______________________ The spring of 1834 found Galt an active village of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, with a gradually developing country around it, and improving prospects. Besides Messrs. Dickson and Shade, the following are remembered among the citizens of that day: - Messrs. William Stewart, minister; James Strang, minister; Thomas Rich, builder; Thos. G. Chapman, builder; Andrew Malcom, cabinet-maker; Joseph Purvis, blacksmith; John Legge, shoemaker; Alonzo Bliss, chairmaker: Paul G. Huffman, chair maker; James Welch, farmer; Samuel Hogg, clerk; John Hall (afterwards of Ayr); Thomas Turley, (with Shade; William Shepherd, carpenter; Henry McCrum, clerk; William Kay, waggon maker; John Cheeseman, carpenter; H. G. Barlow, innkeeper; Jarvis Barraclough, miller; Robert Cranston, farmer; James K. Andrews, merchant ; James Fargus, merchant; James Smith, saddler; Archibald Hunter, blacksmith; John Veitch, plasterer ; James Harris, brewer; Augustus Harris, brewer; David Shiel, farmer; John Warnock, miller; James C. Longan, tailor; Andrew Goodell, teamster; John Garrison, fiddler; Robert Turnbull, tailor; Joseph Simmonds, wool carder; Matthew Palmer, workman; William Wyllie Wilkinson, pail maker; John Davison, butcher* and Andrew Scott, machinist. Besides these gentlemen there had been recently added to the population three others, who afterwards became closely associated with its history : these were, Dr. Robert Miller, Walter H. Benn, and Alex. Burnett. Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario, by James Young, 1880 Toronto: Hunter, Rose ____________________ Mr. Alonzo Bliss, whom I mentioned in my former letter as the first chair-maker in this section, my informant wishes me to state that he was a man who was held in high esteem among the people on account of his piety ; that he and the late and respected John Merriam organized the first Sabbath School in Sheffield ; that he afterwards moved to Galt, and thinks that he was the first chair-maker who started in Galt. In 1834, the year of the great cholera epidemic, word came into town that four men had taken that dread disease up on the stone road, just east of the town, and were lying there, dead. That the greatest excitement existed in the town need not be told, and that Bliss, along with the late Mr. S oures, went up and buried them, and when these men returned from their loathsome mission, that they went down the street, singing a hymn. Bliss took the cholera that night and died. "The pioneers of Beverly: a series of sketches" by John A. Cornell" 1889

  
  

• Sources

  [S799] Book - Reminiscenses of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries in the Province of Ontario, 104.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 29 Nov 1803 - of, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - chair maker - 1827 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Epidemic - Cholera - 1834 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - Cause: Cholera - 1834 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth