History
Christ Church Aylmer is Aylmer's oldest original church building. The church's foundation stone was laid in 1843. Our long history reflects the history of Aylmer itself. This page outlines the history of Aylmer and the church, starting in the 17th century.
History of the Outaouais
The Ottawa Valley (Eastern Ontario and Western Québec, commonly called l’Outaouais) was an important trading route in the history of the development of Canada. Fur traders used the Ottawa River to get into the hinterland to trade for fur goods.
The Ottawa is an enormous river, once known as the Grand River, and called “Kitchissippi” or “Great River” by the Algonquins. It is named for the Ottawa people who lived in the Manitoulin Island area, and who were significant facilitators of the fur trade. "Ottawa" comes from the Algonquin word "Adawe" meaning "to trade" and originates from their role as traders even before contact with Europeans. Variations in this name include: Atawawa, Odawa, Outaouacs, Outaoua, Tawa, Tawaw, and Utawawea. The Ottawa became so important in the fur trade, that before 1670, it was common practice in Québec to call any Algonquin from the Great Lakes an Ottawa.
The present location of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau was itself an important area for First Nations' trading for centuries, being at the confluence of three significant rivers: the Ottawa, the Rideau and the Gatineau.
Americans Arrive The first white settlers to the area arrived in the winter of 1800. Led by Philemon Wright, some three dozen settlers left their homes in Woburn, Massachusetts by sleigh in February 1800 to take up land granted them by the Crown. Stopping in Montréal to complete paperwork and to swear allegiance to the King, they arrived in l’Outaouais in what was Lower Canada (Hull Township) in March 1800. They established Wrightstown (later Hull) and initially were concerned with getting agricultural produce down river to market in Montréal and Québec.
The Anglican Church
One writer indicates that they were Loyal Americans (Loyalists). In fact Philemon himself was a Patriot soldier rising to the rank of Sergeant during the War of Revolution. Also he named his principal farm “Columbia Farm” (la ferme Columbia). Another writer indicates that Wright, who was an Anglican (Episcopalian), was dissatisfied with the disestablishment of the Church of England under the constitution of the new republic. Yet the first Anglican church in the area wasn’t planted until the early 1820s.
Anglicanism Takes Root in Hull and Bytown In 1822, Charles Stewart, a travelling missionary, visited Anglicans in Hull who agreed to build a church. Philemon Wright contributed £100. By 1824, a minister had been appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) to serve the community. In 1830, Stewart who was by then the Rt. Rev. Charles Stewart, second bishop of Québec returned to Hull to consecrate the church.
In 1826, with the arrival of Col. John By and his engineers to build the Rideau Canal, the town which would later become the city of Ottawa began to expand. The minister at St. James also ministered to the mission in Bytown.
By 1842, Christ Church in Ottawa was strong enough to exist on its own and a new priest was appointed to St. James, Hull. The Rev. Canon John J. B. Johnston was also given charge of a growing congregation in Symmes Landing, Lower Canada.
Symmes Landing Charles Symmes arrived in the Canadas from Massachusetts in 1819 to work with his uncle Philomen Wright’s firm. In 1822 following the accidental death of Philomen Wright Jr., Charles Symmes was put in charge of Chaudière Farm. By 1818, this farm which was situated west of Hull in what is now Aylmer was serviced by a road called Britannia Road (later Turnpike Road) which was pushed through the bush by the settlers. Today it is the highway 148 linking Aylmer and Hull, also called le chemin en haut or the Upper Aylmer Road. It extended to what is now the Aylmer Marina on Lac Chaudière (now Lac Deschênes). By 1826, Symmes had taken up some 200 acres of land in what is now downtown Aylmer, and he and the company thrived. In 1828, after a falling out with the firm, Symmes founded the village of Symmes Landing. The terminus of the Turnpike Road was important for the transhipment of people and goods to avoid the rapids at Deschênes and the falls at Chaudière. It was the key access to the upper Ottawa Valley. His business and the settlement thrived, welcoming many immigrants during the 1830s. Also, the town later came to be known as Aylmer after the Governor of that time.
Christ’s Church at Aylmer Anglicans in the growing population of Symmes Landing held services in their homes, eventually moving to the Court House. In 1840, Symmes, an open-handed Presbyterian, gave an acre of land to the nascent Anglican community upon which Christ Church is built.
By 1842, the Rt. Rev. George Jehoshophat Mountain , third Bishop of Québec, established the parish of Christ Church and received permission from the SPG for the appointment of the Rev. Canon John B. G. Johnston to minister to it as well as St. James, Hull.
In early May 1843, Bishop Mountain embarked from Québec for Montréal. There he departed for a voyage up the Ottawa accompanied by an agent, couriers du bois and Iroquoian paddlers to visit missions in Bytown and Hull-Symmes Landing.
On May 17, 1843, Bishop Mountain crossed the river from Bytown to Symmes Landing where he visited the residence of Canon Johnston. There he inspected the plans for a “stone church” to be built on land donated by Charles Symmes, a Presbyterian. The next day he continued up river to visit another mission at Clarendon returning a couple of days later.
On Sunday, May 21, 1843, Bishop Mountain laid the foundation stone of Christ Church. The construction of the church was finished in 1845. Two years later the village of Symmes Landing was formally renamed as Aylmer.
The Stone Church The church which for many years was known in Aylmer as the "stone church" was quarried from stone from John Egan’s farm. His farm was located where the Glenwood Shopping Centre now stands. Christ Church is the oldest original church in Aylmer as the others were destroyed by fire at various times in their history. The church was adjacent to Egan’s home, which is the former location of the Redemptorist monastery.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization describes some of the church here. Perhaps the most striking feature of the church is that its interior pews and columnar support are all built from local white pine – trees that Philemon Wright and his company harvested and that made the area famous.
John Egan The first Mayor of Aylmer and for a number of years the local representative in the assembly of Lower Canada at Québec, John Egan was very successful in the lumber business. He came to the Canadas as a poor boy from Ireland. He had extensive holdings in the upper Ottawa Valley. The town of Eganville, Ontario is named for him though he never lived there.
In 1840, he built a palatial home, the location of which probably influenced the site of Christ Church. Glebe lands given by Charles Symmes to all of the other denominations fronted on main thoroughfares. Egan could access the church through a footpath in his garden.
The lumber used in the construction of the church and its pews was milled at Egan’s mill on the Quyon River.
After he died of cholera in Québec in 1857, a marble tablet in his memory was placed on the east wall of the church. The pulpit was given in memory of his son Sir Henry Egan, in 1912.
In 1868, the rectory was built, during the incumbency of the Rev. Percy Smith. The entire property was enclosed with an ornate wooden fence which existed for many decades. Until the time of the Rev. Francis Codd, the priest at Christ Church also served St. James, Hull, and lived along Turnpike Road between both churches. The McLean House at 136 Eardley Road is of the same design as the rectory, and was built about the same time and of the same materials from the sawmill in Aylmer, which the McLean brothers operated.
Major Renovations By 1876, faced with a growing congregation, the church was remodelled extensively to add a chancel, a sanctuary, a vestry and a small chapel below the sanctuary. The nave where the congregation worships today is the church as it existed in 1845 when original construction was completed. The new extension starts at the steps leading up towards the altar (the chancel). The remodelling took place under the direction of the Rev. G. G. Robinson, who died in 1882 in a fall from scaffolding. The centre window above the altar in the sanctuary was installed by the congregation and dedicated to his memory when the church reopened in 1883.
Robert Conroy Both Robert Conroy and his wife Mary McConnell were active in the parish throughout its early years. Conroy purchased the Egan homestead and farm following John Egan’s death. Conroy had many businesses in the area. In 1855, he built what is now the British Hotel in Aylmer. A marble tablet on the East wall of the church commemorates the Conroys' commitment to the parish.
In 1905, the tower was renovated to replace the original steeple with the battlement style seen today. It still houses the large bronze bell cast in New England in the 1850s and provided to the church by John Egan at that time.
On the West wall towards the back of the church is a brass plaque commemorating the young men of the parish who gave their lives to defend our freedoms during the Great War (1914-1918).
Parish Hall Very early in the twentieth century it was recognized that the parish needed a hall to support its fellowship and outreach ministries at that time. For years groups within the parish raised funds towards acquiring or building a hall. By the time of the First World War over $500 had been raised, but further funds were needed for ongoing church expenses, so the $500 stayed in the bank for a number of years.
A flour and feed store on Charles Street which rebuilt following the great Aylmer fire of 1921 found it could not recover economically. In 1924, the church wardens of the day convinced the owner to sell to Christ Church, and it become our first hall.
By the end of the Second World War, the parish was outgrowing that hall. Through the energies of many parishioners and led by Joe Majka, a new hall was constructed behind the church, at its present location. On November 27, 1955, with many dignitaries present, the new hall was dedicated, “To the glory of God and as a memorial to those of the parish who paid the supreme sacrifice in two world wars and in loving memory of a devoted steward of this parish, Joseph Majka”.
In 1966 the parish and the other parishes in the Deanery of Clarendon transferred from the Diocese of Québec to the Diocese of Ottawa.
Burying Ground Christ Church, Aylmer has joint responsibility with other Protestant denominations for Bellevue Cemetery, a cemetary located 6-7 kilometres east of the church on the Upper Aylmer Road (the old Turnpike Road). The Bellevue cemetery doesn’t have its own website, but this webpage is an excellent resource if one is interested in researching the cemetery’s current residents.
Rectors of Christ Church Aylmer, since 1842 Rev. Canon B. G. Johnson 1842-1864
Rev. Francis Codd 1864
Rev. Percival Smith 1865-1876
Rev. G. G. Robinson 1876-1882
Rev. T. E. Cunningham 1883-1891
Rev. Samuel Moore 1891
Rev. H. L. A. Almon 1891-1893
Rev. E. P. Judge 1893-1895
Rural Dean R. F. Taylor 1895-1913
Rev. George Forshaw 1913-1924
Rev. Fred A. Allen 1924-1935
Rev. Wilfred Taylor 1935-1943
Rev. Canon C. Earle 1944-1950
Major the Rev. E. Dossett 1950-1954
Rev. Canon James G. Bovington 1954-1967
Rev. Peter Davison 1967-1973
Rev. Bruce T. A. Crockett 1973-1979
Rev. W. Rae Fletcher 1979-1983
Rev the Venerable Fred W. Allen 1983–1988
Rev the Venerable James Beall 1988–1994
Rev William Simons 1994–1998
Rev the Venerable Gerald Peddle 1999–2001
Rev the Venerable Peter Crosby 2002–2005
Rev. Carol Vatcher 2006-2009
Sources for historical information:
Aylmer Québec: Its Heritage, by Diane Aldred. Christ Church Aylmer Quebec 1843-1968.
Various parishioners.
Anglicanism in the Ottawa Valley, by Frank A. Peake (editor).
George Jehosphaphat Mountain (Leaders of the Canadian Church), by L. Norman Tucker.
Bruce Wright’s website on the Wright Family.
Scott Naylor’s website on the Grave Markers at Bellevue Cemetery.
Lee Sultzman’s website on the Ottawa tribe.
History of the Outaouais
The Ottawa Valley (Eastern Ontario and Western Québec, commonly called l’Outaouais) was an important trading route in the history of the development of Canada. Fur traders used the Ottawa River to get into the hinterland to trade for fur goods.
The Ottawa is an enormous river, once known as the Grand River, and called “Kitchissippi” or “Great River” by the Algonquins. It is named for the Ottawa people who lived in the Manitoulin Island area, and who were significant facilitators of the fur trade. "Ottawa" comes from the Algonquin word "Adawe" meaning "to trade" and originates from their role as traders even before contact with Europeans. Variations in this name include: Atawawa, Odawa, Outaouacs, Outaoua, Tawa, Tawaw, and Utawawea. The Ottawa became so important in the fur trade, that before 1670, it was common practice in Québec to call any Algonquin from the Great Lakes an Ottawa.
The present location of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau was itself an important area for First Nations' trading for centuries, being at the confluence of three significant rivers: the Ottawa, the Rideau and the Gatineau.
Americans Arrive The first white settlers to the area arrived in the winter of 1800. Led by Philemon Wright, some three dozen settlers left their homes in Woburn, Massachusetts by sleigh in February 1800 to take up land granted them by the Crown. Stopping in Montréal to complete paperwork and to swear allegiance to the King, they arrived in l’Outaouais in what was Lower Canada (Hull Township) in March 1800. They established Wrightstown (later Hull) and initially were concerned with getting agricultural produce down river to market in Montréal and Québec.
The Anglican Church
One writer indicates that they were Loyal Americans (Loyalists). In fact Philemon himself was a Patriot soldier rising to the rank of Sergeant during the War of Revolution. Also he named his principal farm “Columbia Farm” (la ferme Columbia). Another writer indicates that Wright, who was an Anglican (Episcopalian), was dissatisfied with the disestablishment of the Church of England under the constitution of the new republic. Yet the first Anglican church in the area wasn’t planted until the early 1820s.
Anglicanism Takes Root in Hull and Bytown In 1822, Charles Stewart, a travelling missionary, visited Anglicans in Hull who agreed to build a church. Philemon Wright contributed £100. By 1824, a minister had been appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) to serve the community. In 1830, Stewart who was by then the Rt. Rev. Charles Stewart, second bishop of Québec returned to Hull to consecrate the church.
In 1826, with the arrival of Col. John By and his engineers to build the Rideau Canal, the town which would later become the city of Ottawa began to expand. The minister at St. James also ministered to the mission in Bytown.
By 1842, Christ Church in Ottawa was strong enough to exist on its own and a new priest was appointed to St. James, Hull. The Rev. Canon John J. B. Johnston was also given charge of a growing congregation in Symmes Landing, Lower Canada.
Symmes Landing Charles Symmes arrived in the Canadas from Massachusetts in 1819 to work with his uncle Philomen Wright’s firm. In 1822 following the accidental death of Philomen Wright Jr., Charles Symmes was put in charge of Chaudière Farm. By 1818, this farm which was situated west of Hull in what is now Aylmer was serviced by a road called Britannia Road (later Turnpike Road) which was pushed through the bush by the settlers. Today it is the highway 148 linking Aylmer and Hull, also called le chemin en haut or the Upper Aylmer Road. It extended to what is now the Aylmer Marina on Lac Chaudière (now Lac Deschênes). By 1826, Symmes had taken up some 200 acres of land in what is now downtown Aylmer, and he and the company thrived. In 1828, after a falling out with the firm, Symmes founded the village of Symmes Landing. The terminus of the Turnpike Road was important for the transhipment of people and goods to avoid the rapids at Deschênes and the falls at Chaudière. It was the key access to the upper Ottawa Valley. His business and the settlement thrived, welcoming many immigrants during the 1830s. Also, the town later came to be known as Aylmer after the Governor of that time.
Christ’s Church at Aylmer Anglicans in the growing population of Symmes Landing held services in their homes, eventually moving to the Court House. In 1840, Symmes, an open-handed Presbyterian, gave an acre of land to the nascent Anglican community upon which Christ Church is built.
By 1842, the Rt. Rev. George Jehoshophat Mountain , third Bishop of Québec, established the parish of Christ Church and received permission from the SPG for the appointment of the Rev. Canon John B. G. Johnston to minister to it as well as St. James, Hull.
In early May 1843, Bishop Mountain embarked from Québec for Montréal. There he departed for a voyage up the Ottawa accompanied by an agent, couriers du bois and Iroquoian paddlers to visit missions in Bytown and Hull-Symmes Landing.
On May 17, 1843, Bishop Mountain crossed the river from Bytown to Symmes Landing where he visited the residence of Canon Johnston. There he inspected the plans for a “stone church” to be built on land donated by Charles Symmes, a Presbyterian. The next day he continued up river to visit another mission at Clarendon returning a couple of days later.
On Sunday, May 21, 1843, Bishop Mountain laid the foundation stone of Christ Church. The construction of the church was finished in 1845. Two years later the village of Symmes Landing was formally renamed as Aylmer.
The Stone Church The church which for many years was known in Aylmer as the "stone church" was quarried from stone from John Egan’s farm. His farm was located where the Glenwood Shopping Centre now stands. Christ Church is the oldest original church in Aylmer as the others were destroyed by fire at various times in their history. The church was adjacent to Egan’s home, which is the former location of the Redemptorist monastery.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization describes some of the church here. Perhaps the most striking feature of the church is that its interior pews and columnar support are all built from local white pine – trees that Philemon Wright and his company harvested and that made the area famous.
John Egan The first Mayor of Aylmer and for a number of years the local representative in the assembly of Lower Canada at Québec, John Egan was very successful in the lumber business. He came to the Canadas as a poor boy from Ireland. He had extensive holdings in the upper Ottawa Valley. The town of Eganville, Ontario is named for him though he never lived there.
In 1840, he built a palatial home, the location of which probably influenced the site of Christ Church. Glebe lands given by Charles Symmes to all of the other denominations fronted on main thoroughfares. Egan could access the church through a footpath in his garden.
The lumber used in the construction of the church and its pews was milled at Egan’s mill on the Quyon River.
After he died of cholera in Québec in 1857, a marble tablet in his memory was placed on the east wall of the church. The pulpit was given in memory of his son Sir Henry Egan, in 1912.
In 1868, the rectory was built, during the incumbency of the Rev. Percy Smith. The entire property was enclosed with an ornate wooden fence which existed for many decades. Until the time of the Rev. Francis Codd, the priest at Christ Church also served St. James, Hull, and lived along Turnpike Road between both churches. The McLean House at 136 Eardley Road is of the same design as the rectory, and was built about the same time and of the same materials from the sawmill in Aylmer, which the McLean brothers operated.
Major Renovations By 1876, faced with a growing congregation, the church was remodelled extensively to add a chancel, a sanctuary, a vestry and a small chapel below the sanctuary. The nave where the congregation worships today is the church as it existed in 1845 when original construction was completed. The new extension starts at the steps leading up towards the altar (the chancel). The remodelling took place under the direction of the Rev. G. G. Robinson, who died in 1882 in a fall from scaffolding. The centre window above the altar in the sanctuary was installed by the congregation and dedicated to his memory when the church reopened in 1883.
Robert Conroy Both Robert Conroy and his wife Mary McConnell were active in the parish throughout its early years. Conroy purchased the Egan homestead and farm following John Egan’s death. Conroy had many businesses in the area. In 1855, he built what is now the British Hotel in Aylmer. A marble tablet on the East wall of the church commemorates the Conroys' commitment to the parish.
In 1905, the tower was renovated to replace the original steeple with the battlement style seen today. It still houses the large bronze bell cast in New England in the 1850s and provided to the church by John Egan at that time.
On the West wall towards the back of the church is a brass plaque commemorating the young men of the parish who gave their lives to defend our freedoms during the Great War (1914-1918).
Parish Hall Very early in the twentieth century it was recognized that the parish needed a hall to support its fellowship and outreach ministries at that time. For years groups within the parish raised funds towards acquiring or building a hall. By the time of the First World War over $500 had been raised, but further funds were needed for ongoing church expenses, so the $500 stayed in the bank for a number of years.
A flour and feed store on Charles Street which rebuilt following the great Aylmer fire of 1921 found it could not recover economically. In 1924, the church wardens of the day convinced the owner to sell to Christ Church, and it become our first hall.
By the end of the Second World War, the parish was outgrowing that hall. Through the energies of many parishioners and led by Joe Majka, a new hall was constructed behind the church, at its present location. On November 27, 1955, with many dignitaries present, the new hall was dedicated, “To the glory of God and as a memorial to those of the parish who paid the supreme sacrifice in two world wars and in loving memory of a devoted steward of this parish, Joseph Majka”.
In 1966 the parish and the other parishes in the Deanery of Clarendon transferred from the Diocese of Québec to the Diocese of Ottawa.
Burying Ground Christ Church, Aylmer has joint responsibility with other Protestant denominations for Bellevue Cemetery, a cemetary located 6-7 kilometres east of the church on the Upper Aylmer Road (the old Turnpike Road). The Bellevue cemetery doesn’t have its own website, but this webpage is an excellent resource if one is interested in researching the cemetery’s current residents.
Rectors of Christ Church Aylmer, since 1842 Rev. Canon B. G. Johnson 1842-1864
Rev. Francis Codd 1864
Rev. Percival Smith 1865-1876
Rev. G. G. Robinson 1876-1882
Rev. T. E. Cunningham 1883-1891
Rev. Samuel Moore 1891
Rev. H. L. A. Almon 1891-1893
Rev. E. P. Judge 1893-1895
Rural Dean R. F. Taylor 1895-1913
Rev. George Forshaw 1913-1924
Rev. Fred A. Allen 1924-1935
Rev. Wilfred Taylor 1935-1943
Rev. Canon C. Earle 1944-1950
Major the Rev. E. Dossett 1950-1954
Rev. Canon James G. Bovington 1954-1967
Rev. Peter Davison 1967-1973
Rev. Bruce T. A. Crockett 1973-1979
Rev. W. Rae Fletcher 1979-1983
Rev the Venerable Fred W. Allen 1983–1988
Rev the Venerable James Beall 1988–1994
Rev William Simons 1994–1998
Rev the Venerable Gerald Peddle 1999–2001
Rev the Venerable Peter Crosby 2002–2005
Rev. Carol Vatcher 2006-2009
Sources for historical information:
Aylmer Québec: Its Heritage, by Diane Aldred. Christ Church Aylmer Quebec 1843-1968.
Various parishioners.
Anglicanism in the Ottawa Valley, by Frank A. Peake (editor).
George Jehosphaphat Mountain (Leaders of the Canadian Church), by L. Norman Tucker.
Bruce Wright’s website on the Wright Family.
Scott Naylor’s website on the Grave Markers at Bellevue Cemetery.
Lee Sultzman’s website on the Ottawa tribe.