Rev. James McAllister^[1]

1827 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	James McAllister
  Prefix	Rev.
  Born	1 Jan 1827	, Ireland   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Immigration	1832	, Canada   [2]
  Occupation	1856	New Connexion Methodist Church, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	minister
  Occupation	1901	North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	Clergyman
  Eby ID Number	00023-1736.1
  Died	Yes, date unknown
  Person ID	I74145	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family	Martha M. Clemens,   b. 31 Aug 1836, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	1. George McAllister   2. James McAllister   3. McAllister,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Nettie McAllister,   b. 10 Oct 1872, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   5. Margaret E. McAllister,   b. 2 Apr 1877, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F4460	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Wesleyan Methodist and Methodist New Connexion St. Paul's United Church The earliest Methodist services were said to have begun in 1861 when the Rev. E.W. Frazee arrived in Preston. He organized a congregation which met at first in the upper room of a woolen mill on Eagle Street and then in the frame Lutheran church on King Street; members of the New Connexion Methodists began to meet in the Town Hall at about the same time. Rev. Charles Freshman, the German Wesleyan Methodist missionary, began preaching to English- and German-speaking congregations on May 3, 1862. In his autobiography Rev. Dr. Freshman is quoted: "I preached at St. George in the morning, Paris in the afternoon and at Preston in the evening. Our other regular appointments were Strasburg, Roseville, Conestoga [sic], New Dundee, Doon and occasionally in Princeton" (Freshman 1868: 214). A stone church was built at the corner of Duke and Argyle Streets in 1864 on property which had been donated by Jacob Hespeler; the church was opened on September 25, 1864. Dedicatory services were held in English by Mr. Rice and Mr. Carrol and in German by Rev. Freshman. Four acres of land between King and Queen (now Queenston Road) Streets were purchased from Jacob Hespeler on July 15, 1868 by the trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist and New Connexion churches. A newer, larger church was built on this property and completed on October 18, 1868. Although union of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada and the Methodist New Connexion Church did not occur until 1874 it is quite possible that the two congregations in Preston had already formed their own union with the building of the church in 1868. For some years it was a community church where other denominations also worshipped. In 1871 the church was enlarged; the tower and spire were added at the same time. A Sunday School was built in 1875-1879 during the ministry of Rev. James McAllister. In 1877 the congregation was given permission to sell the old New Connexion Church and to apply the proceeds towards improvements on the new church. The Circuit was divided in 1883 when Preston, Zion and Doon were separated from Hespeler. In 1887 Preston was by itself, but at the Annual Conference in 1897 of the Methodist Church, Guelph Conference, Galt District, Preston was divided into a circuit consisting of Preston and Doon. The church became self-supporting at that time. Preston later was with Hespeler until 1909 when each became an independent charge. The congregation of Preston Methodist Church became Preston United Church in 1925 and later, in 1933, St. Paul's United Church. The cornerstone for a new Sunday School was laid in 1921; the addition was completed in 1922. Further additions were constructed in 1955 and 1967. Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide To Churches Established Before 1900 By Rosemary Ambrose ______________________ New Connexion Methodist Church Begun: 1840 Closed: 1875 Early services were held in an upper room of a building erected in 1840 by Isaac Sours (or Sauer) on the east side of Water Street South, just south of the future location of South Water Street Baptist Church. Although not an ordained minister, Mr. Sours preached to this Methodist New Connexion group. Some years later he built a small stone chapel on the north side of Dickson Street, just west of Ainslie Street, which he gave to the congregation. Mr. Sours died on August 16, 1852 in his 50th year and was buried in Mount View Cemetery in Galt. The congregation continued on without a leader until Rev. James McAllister became minister in 1856. Of interest: Mr. Sours' name has been spelled Sours, Sowers, Sauer, and Sauers The cemetery stone is recorded as Sours and his widow was referred to as Mrs. Sours. Churchmen in Waterloo Township referred to him as Rev. Sauer. The New Connexion Church on the north side of Dickson Street between Ainslie and North Water Streets is shown on Pollock's 1867 Map of Galt. The Minutes of the 46th Annual Conference of the Methodist New Connexion Church of Canada in May, 1874 recorded that the Galt Mission, with David Smyth of Galt as preacher, had 1 Chapel, 1 parsonage, a Sunday School, and a congregation of 160. In 1874 the New Connexion and Wesleyan Methodists joined to form the Methodist Church in Canada. The Galt Methodist New Connexion Church is reported to have been sold c.1880. Records: Baptism dates: unknown Location of records: unknown Marriage dates unknown* Location of records: unknown Burial dates: unknown Location of records: unknown *See Waterloo County Marriages 1858-1869 for Marriages 1860, 1862-1867. Refer also to Huber (1986) for possible early marriages. References: Cant 1915: 58; Hamilton 1941: 35; Methodist New Connexion Church; Semple 1985:i(chart); R. Taylor 1986; Wesley United Church 1954; Young 1880: 185,242. 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]

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] Book - Vol I A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., 414. [S180] Census - ON, Waterloo, North Dumfries - 1901, Dumfries (North) B-2 Page 3.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1 Jan 1827 - , Ireland Immigration - 1832 - , Canada Occupation - Clergyman - 1901 - North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth