Colonial Meetinghouse

Elaine Marie Cooper

Colonial Americans had the perfect name for a place to meet for church: The Meetinghouse. It was a simple name that belied its community importance, for colonials placed high regard for their centrally located places of worship.

At a time in our current day amidst a pandemic, when church-goers long to return to a place to congregate in unison and worship God, it seems an appropriate topic to reflect upon. While quarantines were certainly declared during severe illnesses in early America, a high priority was placed on meeting as a congregation. After all, there were no online services to bring comfort and hear God’s Word, nor communication by phones that so readily keep us connected with eachother. Letters were helpful communication, but less than perfect. The most meaningful fellowship was always together and in person. 

Every community meetinghouse became the site for a community’s social and spiritual lives, drawing crowds from the surrounding village each Sabbath to listen to sermons preached virtually all day long. The buildings also doubled as a place for governmental and political discussions. 

Double church doors with sturdy lock

Before 1820, most of the meetinghouses were unheated, due to concerns about fire erupting. Worshippers often brought portable, metal foot stoves filled with heated coals to help them withstand the below zero temperatures. It was so cold in New England winters that the communion bread was known to freeze occasionally! 

The bell at the meetinghouse became the “town crier” of sorts, ringing for births and deaths, wars and fires. According to Eric Sloane in American Yesterday, “After a death, the bell greeted the morning with ‘three times three for a man, and three times two for a woman.’ Then after a short silence, the bell pealed out the number of years the dead person had lived.” It was a practical solution to communicate prior to telephones and the availability of daily newspapers.

While the style and structure of meetinghouses varied around the colonies, they were found throughout the states, both northern and southern. 

Salisbury Union Meetinghouse

One of the beautifully maintained meetinghouses from the early 1800’s is the Salisbury Union Meetinghouse now located at Storrowton Village museum in West Springfield, Massachusetts. It was moved to its present location in 1929 from its original site in Salisbury, New Hampshire. The designation of “Union” simply refers to the fact that it was a building paid for by multiple Protestant congregations, which combined their resources to share the same building on a rotating basis. 

Prior to 1818, meetinghouses in most of New England (save Rhode Island) were state supported through taxes. This ended in 1818 in Connecticut and 1834 in Massachusetts. Around this time more denominations began to increase in New England, following many years of predominantly Congregationalist groups—thus the birth of the “union” meetinghouses.

Pew door

When I visited the Salisbury Meetinghouse at Storrowton several years ago, it thrilled my historical sensibilities from the moment I entered the locked double doors. The pine-framed structure built in 1834 can hold 175 worshippers in richly-stained cedar pews. The pews were sold to families for around $20 for their lifetime use. The limited seating in each row would require multiple purchases for larger families.

Entering the large hall, I noticed the latched doors on the end of each pew. I asked historian Dennis Picard if the doors were used to confine wandering children. Not just children, he explained, but the mischievous dogs as well that accompanied their families. 

It’s difficult to picture the chaos bringing canines to church must have caused, but there are accounts of parsons chasing pooches out of meetinghouses. 

My favorite gem in the old meetinghouse was the sounding board, a hexagonal wooden structure placed over the pulpit to help resonate the preacher’s words throughout the spacious room. It took some extra help to get the sermon clear to the back of the balcony. The sounding board was one more practical solution, in a day without microphones or electricity.

Old meetinghouses are a reflection of our history’s heritage, rich in Christian beliefs—silent reminders of the foundations of our country.

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that released in 2019: War’s Respite(Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback and is a Finalist for the Selah Awards. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and HomeLife magazine. She also penned the three-book historical series, Deer Run Saga. Her upcoming release, Scarred Vessels,” is about the black soldiers in the American Revolution. Look for it in October 2020. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

Churches in the Old West—and a giveaway

From the Florida home where I grew up, if you drive just one block south, you’ll reach a Baptist church. Three blocks west is an Assembly of God church. Half a mile north is a Pentecostal church, and one mile east is a Christian (Disciples of Christ) church. There are places of worship on nearly every corner in my town, with plenty of denominations represented. By and large, most of those who lead these churches have probably been through some formal training for their positions, whether a church-ordained training program, a 4-year Bible college, or a full-fledged theological seminary. And in many cases, the churches in my area don’t have just one pastor, but two, five, or twenty, depending on the size.

Desolate old church on a foggy morning.

© Roy Simon

| Dreamstime.com

In the Old West, such saturation of churches and preachers was hardly the case. In the days of the various western gold rushes, many men flooded into the western territories with a lust for riches. Some tent churches cropped up in the various mining communities, but by my research, the preachers in those areas had difficulty drawing men from their claims long enough to attend a Sunday service once a month.

After the Civil War ended, disillusioned soldiers from both sides, many who’d lost everything, also went west. Those early days after the war, when the population was mostly men (with some “women of ill repute” thrown in), were fraught with wildness and a lack of civility. Villages and towns cropped up, but they were largely populated by people whose focus was on carving out a life--mere survival. The niceties of polite society—like Sunday church services—often became distant memories rather than regular occurrences. 

However, as time went on, women began to join the western culture. With them came the more refined aspects of society—schools and churches. While a few western towns had a church with a regular preacher (probably the larger ones), many had no such luxuries. In towns where a church hadn’t become a regular fixture, they might be fortunate to have a circuit-riding preacher visit two to four times a year and hold a prayer meeting. The occasional visit of the preacher was a planned event, with word circulating through the town and outlying areas. Folks would plan weddings and baptisms to coincide with the itinerant preacher’s arrival, and his coming often meant a large community event with a potluck meal and much celebration. Because those communities didn’t have a dedicated church building, they might meet in a schoolhouse or in an open meadow or empty town lot. Sometimes the meetings were held at someone’s home. Or, at times, the service would be held in a…saloon. Yes, a saloon, because it was one of the larger buildings in town with the ability to host a large number of people at once—and it typically wouldn’t be in use on a Sunday morning.

The preachers in the West were an interesting lot. They came from many

Peter Cartwright

denominations—but the largest sponsoring body was, by far, the Methodist church. They saw the need of the Gospel early on and sent preachers into the western territories in droves. By and large, these ministers of truth fell between the ages of 18 and 30. Often, they were poor, and most were unmarried. Unlike today, many had no formal training. They simply preached what they knew. I’ve heard it said that the circuit-riding preachers had a single sermon they delivered at every stop, no matter how many times they’d visited the area. Of course, these factoids didn't represent all western preachers. Some worked into their old age, despite the hardships of life on the circuit. Peter Cartwright is one such preacher. I invite you to watch a short video on his fascinating life here.

Interestingly, while these men of God preached a message of peace, many lived by (or with?) the sword—er, gun. Many western preachers came with a Bible in one hand and a pistol in the other. Some would remove their gun belts during services. Others would leave their weapons on their hips in case of danger. And lest we think that all western preachers were angels, they weren’t. I’ve read stories of plenty of “preachers” who used their position to bilk parishioners of money, who worked as bounty hunters or hired guns in addition to their preaching, or one who even murdered his wife in order to be with his secret love. Yet most were honest and god-fearing men who truly did feel called to preach God’s word to the lost in the Western Territories, no matter how humble or broken their own beginnings were.

It’s your turn: The hero of Taming Petra, one of four novellas from the Cameo Courtships collection, is a western preacher. For a chance to win a copy of this wonderful collection plus a fun cameo necklace, please leave a comment (including your email address) telling me what, if any, of the details about western churches or preachers surprises you and why.

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

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Cameo Courtships

A Family Heirloom Inspires Romance
In 1851, a special cameo is gifted by Queen Victoria to Letitia Newton, who though considered an old maid, meets the perfect gentleman minutes after donning. Told by the Queen the cameo is to be shared, Letitia gifts the "Victoria Cameo" to a woman in her family, hoping adventure and romance will follow each of its subsequent wearers.

Susan Sibbald Upper Canada Pioneer

My trip to the old York County area of Ontario this past summer impressed on me the truth that it took all classes of society to develop our country in its early years, whether they made it into the history books or not. Of course, it's exciting to find the story of an ancestor mentioned in a book like I showed in my last post, Plug Hat - Bowler or Top Hat?, but finding an ancestor who wrote their memoirs is special. 

Book cover shows Mein sisters
(L to R) Betsey and Susan  

Note that we're talking ancestors in a very broad sense here because the subject of this post is Susan Sibbald who is the great-great-grandmother of the wife of my husband's first cousin 1x removed.  

The Memoirs of Susan Sibbald, 1783-1812 is the memories of Susan Mein Sibbald's life as the fifth daughter of Thomas Mein, a physician in the Royal Navy, whose childhood was divided between life on the Cornish coast of the Channel Isands, and summers at her father’s estate, Eildon Hall, near Melrose in Scotland. In 1807 after receiving her education at Belvedere House, a very fashionable Bath boarding school, she married Lt Col William Sibbald. Between her father and her husband, her memoirs reflect a woman's view of the social life and customs of upper class military circles. 

Susan and her husband had two daughters and nine sons, two of whom had been sent to Upper Canada in the early 1830's to learn farming techniques. In 1835 with his health ailing, William stayed behind while 53 year old Susan and son Archibald, sailed to Canada to check on their sons, William and Charles, who apparently were living above a tavern on the western shore of Lake Simcoe. While touring the lake, Susan fell in love with the beauty of William Kingdom Rains' land near Jackson's Point. Rains wanted to sell and start a community on a nearby island, so they struck a deal whereby Susan bought 600 acres which included several cottages. 

Susan moved into the largest cottage, renamed it Eildon Hall after the Scottish estate she'd spent her summers at as a child, and gave her sons the task of turning the raw wilderness into a comfortable British estate. 

Eildon Hall, Sibbald Point, Georgina, Ontario, Canada

According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Susan returned to Scotland in March 1836 to the realization that her husband had passed away in her absence. She only stayed long enough to settle her affairs before returning with her three youngest sons to the new Eildon Hall in Upper Canada.

As a forward thinker and woman of action, one of Susan's first actions in her new land was to join with other area land owners and petition the government for a school, church and burial ground. The school became a reality in 1837. 

According to the Town of Georgina website, Susan donated 66 acres along the Lake Simcoe shore for a church and cemetery. Others donated money, materials, and five more acres. In 1938, they began work on a wooden log church, holding services in Eildon Hall while the work progressed. Susan suggested the church be named St. George because she admired him as a warrior. The name stuck. Aug 1839 saw the dedication of the first St George's church, a fine log building with stained glass windows. 

Elizabeth Gwillim Simcoe

Although no images of the church remain, at least one of the stained glass windows has survived as a personal memoir in itself. For its creation, Susan turned to an old school friend, Elizabeth Gwillim Simcoe, whose husband, John Graves Simcoe, had been the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Elizabeth had taken the opportunity of touring with her husband to sketch and paint a series of scenes depicting everything from the beginnings of York (now Toronto) to the daily life of living in the wilderness. 

When Susan Sibbald asked Elizabeth Simcoe to design a window, Elizabeth sent the request to her daughters back in England who were also accomplished artists. The daughters designed and hand-painted a window, then bundled up the panes and shipped them to Susan in Upper Canada. According to the church website, in 1845 the window was installed in St Georges Church. 

After Susan's death in 1866, her sons wanted to honor her life by building a church that would withstand centuries. Using logs, they moved the original church closer to the Lake Simcoe shore to continue the services while they worked on the new stone one. The stones were shipped on a scow from a quarry near Barrie to Jackson's Point which was the nearest wharf. From there, the stones were transported by wagon along the lakeshore road to the building site. 

Speaking of Susan's son, Capt Thomas Sibbald, R.N., the Town of Georgina website states that each day "at precisely eight bells", the Captain "issued rum rations to toast the Queen's health, then work began. Thomas carefully monitored the stone cutting and laying, to ensure no iron deposits or imperfections escaped his eye; one did and can be seen on the west wall "displaying a rusty stain".

Upon completion, the Simcoe stained glass window was removed from the old church and set above the communion table of the stone church, which is where I photographed it this past June.

St. George's Anglican Church interior

The church was opened in 1877, but it was years before the interior was complete. Local butternut was used for the pulpit and prayer desk, while the communion table and hymn board were crafted from oak. 

St. George's Church brochure, which reflects the church website, mentions the cast-iron artwork at the end of the pews as "an art form of the period in which the church was built."

Cast-iron pew ends at St. George's Anglican Church, Georgina.

St. George's Church caught my eye when I first saw it in a 1910 postcard... 

...and I have to admit that I was awed by its beauty last June when I drove around a corner and saw this sight...

If you've wondered about the shortened tower, it was a result of repair due to deterioration of the top part. 

Susan Sibbald and her family are buried in the southeast corner of the church yard, close to the lane that leads to Eildon Hall, among the cedar hedges that Thomas Sibbald loved so well and planted around the perimeters.

Across from the Sibbald Family Plot and in full view of the old stone church is the area reserved for Sibbald descendants and special family friends. And this is the part of the cemetery where I found the memorial of my husband's cousin, Clifford Thompson, his wife, Hope Sibbald Seale, and their son, Danny. 

When I look around the grounds of St. George's church and cemetery, I can understand how Susan Sibbald felt when she first saw this land along the southern shore of Lake Simcoe. With her vision and fortitude, it has emerged as a peaceful, beautiful place that has withstood the years with grace. 

St. George's Church is open to the public. Visitors are invited to stop and explore the building and grounds. The church brochure ends with this comforting thought...

Today St. George's and its picturesque grounds continue to serve as a spiritual, historical and cultural centre for the community. Visitors are welcome to all services. Visitors are also invited to sit in silence, to pray and to use the prayer desk book to request prayers. 

Susan Sibbald's descendants protected her vision until 1951 when they sold part of the estate to the County of York to be opened as a park. In 1956, the County handed it over to the Province and the next year, Sibbald Point Provincial Park opened to the public. With its long sandy beaches, shaded campsites, grassy picnic areas, playground, and a forested hiking trail, along with numerous modern upgrades to its facilities, this legacy of Susan Sibbald has been a treasure for thousands of families to enjoy. 

Situated in the Park near the Point, Eildon Hall retains the furnishings as they were in Susan's time and is open to the public as the Sibbald Memorial Museum. An Ontario Historical plaque commemorates Eildon Hall as an important part of Ontario's heritage. 

I hope you enjoyed this look back at a strong woman who helped shape Upper Canada. Is there someone you know who deserves similar recognition?

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies with her husband and the youngest of their four children where she writes stories set in the American and Canadian mid-west. Her stories reflect the history of the west, as well as York County in the east.  She is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita at http://www.anitamaedraper.com

David Willson and the Sharon Silver Band

David Willson (1780-1866)

What would you do if you were filled with music and wanted to sing out loud - especially in worship - but such expression was frowned upon? In early 1800 Upper Canada, David Willson (1780-1866), a former American of Irish Presbyterian descent, joined the Yonge Street Society of Friends but soon realized that he couldn't contain his passion for music as a form of worship. His music not only went against his membership in the austere Society of Friends, it was also looked down upon by the Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist clergy of the time.

My post on Aug 5th, 2015 explained the history of David Willson, the Children of Peace, and the Sharon Temple, and today I'm going to share with you the effect of their music on early 19th century Upper Canada.

David's break from the Quakers came in 1811 when he uttered his profound personal belief that Jesus “was not God . . . but a man endued with divine power” (Annual Quaker Conference, 2012) When called forward to explain himself, David withdrew from the Meeting with 30 of his friends following behind. This was the beginning of the Children of Peace. (See my HHH post, Hope in Upper Canada: The Sharon Temple for more on their history.)

Until their first log Meeting house was constructed in 1819, the Children of Peace met in David Willson's own house where he would sing his ministry. Believing that singing was a spontaneous expression of God's word, he never sang the same sermon/message twice. His thousands of hymns were recorded in the "Book of Sacred Record" and hidden in a secret compartment of the Ark, where they were finally found in 1990. 

David Willson hid his music and writings in a secret compartment in the Sharon Temple Ark

In the Meetings, Willson read out a line of the hymn, waited for it to be repeated by the choir, and then it was repeated back by the congregation. Called "lining out", this form of singing was popular from the 16th to the 19th century where literacy rates were low and printed books were expensive. As an expression of worship, this a cappella singing was slow and allowed for personal improvisation which fit in well with the Children of Peace. 

In 1819, singing classes began for interested members and a year later, one of them by the name of Patrick Hughes, formed a band.

In 1820, the Children of Peace commissioned Richard Coates, a painter-musician from York (Toronto) to build the first of three musical instruments for the new community of Hope. The first of this kind built in Ontario, it is a 2-barrel organ with 133 pipes and two barrels with ten sacred tunes each. Today, this is the oldest organ of its kind in Canada.

Richard Coates went on to build two more organs for the temple, and along the way painted the two banners which hang in the temple. When Patrick Hughes stepped down, Richard Coates stepped forward to succeed him. 

In William Lyon Mackenzie's book, Sketches of Canada and the United States, London 1833, he wrote that the Sharon Temple's musicians gallery was "...at least thirty feet above the congregation. And when the large full-toned and soft-set organ, built by Mr. Coates, of York, shall be set up in this room, together with the players on the flutes, violins, bass-viols, bassoons, clarionets, and flageolets, used by the society in their worship, the effect will remind a visiter of 'the music of the spheres,' about which bards of old have sung..."

The Musicians Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Sharon Temple. Note the door to enter/exit down the Jacob's Ladder

According to Isaac Fidler's Observations on Professions, Literature, Manners and Emigration, in the United States and Canada, Made during a Residence there in 1832, New York 1833, young women dressed in white and known as the 'chorus of virgins', would "...assemble previous to entering the temple, and march thither for public worship, two abreast, with as much regularity as a file of soldiers". Other accounts reported that the singers would climb the steep 'Jacob's ladder' to the musicians' gallery, where their voices would float down to the congregation amid the hymns and worship of the organ and other instruments.

I took a brief video of the Jacob's Ladder mentioned in the above paragraph when I visited the Sharon Temple in June. It shows the small doorway at the top, which corresponds to the doorway in the above photo of the gallery. Here's another look from the side:

Sharon Temple interior showing steep Jacob's Ladder

The Sharon Temple Museum contains several buildings. I found the following two artifacts very interesting,particularly this angle-topped table where members of the choir and band would place their music during practice.

Sharon Temple Band Music Table which held the music sheets while practicing.

Sign found with Sharon Band artifacts in the Sharon Temple Museum

Enthusiastic young people rode for miles to attend practice sessions and rehearsals and by 1846, another singing teacher, Daniel Cory of Boston, was hired for two years of instruction. The band was in high demand, helped by accolades such as the aforementioned William Lyon Mackenzie saying, "The band of the township of East Gwillimbury is one of the most splendid and complete we have ever listened to..."

Sharon Temple Keyboard Organ built by Richard Coates, 1848

In 1848, Richard Coates built the last of his Sharon Temple organs, but unlike the first two barrel organs, this one was a keyboard organ with manual bellows on the side (hidden behind a piano when I visited the Sharon Temple, perhaps to stop curious tourists from trying it out). Impressive at fourteen feet, the keyboard organ has three semi-circular towers of gilded pipes. However, the pipes are merely decoration while the 200 wooden flue pipes hide inside. 

Sharon Temple Keyboard Organ Decorative Pipes

Have you ever heard the sound of an authentic pump organ? My research uncovered that very thing on Jamie Thompson's blogpost, Gem Within a Gem. Jamie is a flutist and was at the Sharon Temple when he noticed two staffers, one of which was the organist, and he asked them to accompany him.  So what you hear is Jamie playing the flute, one staffer playing the organ, and the other staffer pumping the organ. What a treasure! Check his blogpost for an image of this event.

In the 1860's, the Children of Peace bought a silver set of instruments from Boston, worth $1500, and from then on was known as The Sharon Silver Band. Also known as the Temperance Band in the local Newmarket Era, the band played most secular music as it performed at many venues around York County and in Toronto. 

Instruments and music of the Sharon Silver Band, Sharon Temple National Historic Site & Museum

According to Ethel Warren Trewhella's History of the Town of Newmarket, "...the magnificent silver band organized in 1820, and which in 1876, at Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, won the first prize as the best amateur band in North America." That's quite the honor. 

David Willson's death in 1866 had hit his followers hard. With his son lacking the charisma to be an effective leader, and enthusiasm waning among his followers, the once thriving membership was dissolving. The choir sang their final song at the September 1883 Feast of Harvest.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, "In August 1886 the Children of Peace held their last meeting, ending one of the most colourful chapters in Canada's early music history. The music in Sharon proves that musical excellence can be found outside wealthy and sophisticated urban centres, given inspired leadership and a prominent place in the social fabric."

Now that the Sharon Temple has been restored as a National Historic Site & Museum, the Sharon Temple Society is hosting many events throughout the year as a means of keeping it open so that the history of this fascinating part of Upper Canada life is not forgotten, including the upcoming Festival of Stories, and the much-anticipated annual Illumination Service.

This post shows how music was perceived in the first half of 19th century Ontario, Canada. Care to share how music started in your area?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their 4 kids. Anita Mae's short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 1 Tales of Faith and Family, Guideposts Books, October 2013, and a 2nd short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 4 Heartwarming Tales of Christmas Present, Guideposts Books, October 2014.   Anita Mae has recently sold a novella to WhiteFire Publishing to be released January 2016. She is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita at  http://www.anitamaedraper.com/

Hope in Upper Canada: The Sharon Temple

During my recent research trip to York County, I hadn't planned on visiting the Sharon Temple Museum because I was short of time and had too many other scheduled places to visit. But on one of my trips through Sharon, I decided on a whim to stop and explore. After all, my husband is related to the Doan family who built the temple, albeit a fourth cousin. 

Courtesy of Wikipedia

In the first decade of the 19th century, thousands of British loyalists and land-hungry farmers and entrepreneurs entered Upper Canada (now Ontario). Many made their way to York County, and in particular to the area north of the city of York (now Toronto), and began clearing the thick forests crossed by Indian trails. 

One of the earliest settlers was David Willson, born 7 Jun 1778 in Dutchess County, NY. David's wife, Phebe Titus, a birthright member of the Society of Friends, was disowned by the Friends for “going out from plainness and keeping company with one not of our society." In 1800 when David's brother emigrated to Upper Canada, David followed with his family. By 1801, David had acquired a Crown grant and settled on land that would be part of East Gwillimbury once the township was incorporated 1850 (red on the map).

David Willson, Courtesy of Wikipedia

In 1804, David Willson and his family joined the Yonge Street Society of Friends and by 1811, David had begun preaching. However, David's ministry was rejected by an elder of the Yonge Street Meeting. The following year, David started having meetings in his own home. His followers, including many former Friends, were known as the Children of Peace.

Now before you start wondering what radical ideas David was preaching, you have to understand that David loved music and he believed it should be an integral part of worship. The austere Friends believed one should worship in silence until the message was given. Others agreed with David and soon the Willson house was too small to accompany all the followers and the first meeting house, made of logs, was built.

David Willson wanted to rebuild Solomon's temple of the Old Testament as the New Jerusalem detailed Revelations 21. It would hold an altar similar to the Ark of the Covenant, and incorporate the New Testament. He hired another former American, Ebenezer Doan and together the two carpenters designed a grand temple on the grounds of David Willson's farm.

The Sharon Temple, 1860 glass negative. Courtesy of  Ontario Archives © Queen's Printer for Ontario

Started in 1825 and completed in 1831, the temple was an architectural wonder that - like another grand temple - took seven years to complete. The Ontario Heritage Trust describes it thusly:

Square in plan and painted white with green trim, the Temple of Peace is a unique frame construction building comprising three tiers that rise from a 60-by-60-foot base to a 12-by-12-foot lantern. Each tier has tall multi-paned windows on all four sides with a small pinnacle at each corner of the roof. Every element of the Temple was intended to symbolize some aspect of the sect's religious beliefs – the three tiers represent the Trinity; a door in each of the four sides allowed people to enter on an equal footing from all directions; equal numbers of windows on each side allowed the light of the gospel to shine on the assembly with equal strength; four pillars supporting the lantern were inscribed with the words denoting the cardinal virtues of faith, hope, love and charity; and 12 pinnacle lanterns and 12 interior pillars represent the apostles. A central space housing the altar is approached from four aisles, each commencing and radiating from a doorway. The continuous arcade of 12 turned columns supports the second tier. In the centre of the Temple is the tabernacle – an artifact of remarkable design, proportion and wood joinery.

 Sharon Temple Interior, stereoview. Courtesy of  Ontario Archives © Queen's Printer for Ontario

Because the stereoview doesn't show the inscribed words on the pillars as mentioned in the above quote, I'm showing you one of the photographs which I took of the Sharon Temple in June. Look about two feet above the base of the pillars and you'll see the plaques where David Willson ensured the New Testament was represented.

Sharon Temple interior, June 2015, decorated for an upcoming wedding.

The four pillars at the corners of the Ark show, Faith, Hope, Love, and Charity. The twelve posts surrounding them each contain the name of one of the twelve Apostles.

Interior of the Sharon Temple showing the plaques on the pillars, June 2015

The Children of Peace believed in a cooperative society. They named their village, Hope, and built the first homeless shelter in Canada called the House of Affliction, where those in need could be helped until they regained financial independence. This was the purpose of the temple - to raise money to feed and clothe the poor as mandated by God. Once a month, the temple was opened for such a purpose and during the meeting, members would walk toward one of the four tables surrounding the Ark and place money to be used in the House of Affliction. Hope was so important that it is inscribed on the golden ball suspended at the highest point of the church, which was the highest point of the Village of Hope (now Sharon).

Due to its high position in the village, the temple could be seen for miles when all the window candles and the 12 corner lanterns were fully lit. The number of corner lanterns were chosen to symbolize the 12 apostles going out into the world to spread the gospel of salvation. In effect, the illuminated temple has always been a physical reminder of hope.

Sharon Temple illuminated, Courtesy of © Adam Mayers, Toronto Star

In 1824 with wheat being the biggest commodity of the time, the members organized the Farmer's Storehouse which became Canada's first marketing co-operative. A large warehouse along the shoreline of Toronto's harbour, it was used to market wheat in Montreal, and then pay the members in cash or finished goods at reduced prices.

The members were generous and by 1832 there were concerns about excess money in the Charity Fund just sitting there, unused, and not gaining interest. The result was a credit union where members could borrow as needed, while the interest depended on their ability to repay.

The Village of Hope prospered. Schools had been started early and included a ladies boarding school where the curriculum included Domestic Science. By 1834  a new meeting house was required. Three times the size of the original log one, the second meeting house was surrounded by a colonnade of pillars, it matching David Willson's study, which was built in 1829. When the second meeting house was completed in 1842, the original log one became a Music Hall and was used for entertainment as well as band practice.

2nd Children of Peace Meeting house and David Willson's study, 1860. Courtesy of the Toronto Public Library

In 1819, before the temple had been started, David Willson hired York (Toronto) musician, Richard Coates, to build a barrel organ for the meeting house. The first one in Ontario, it is now the oldest barrel organ in Canada. Coates built a second barrel organ for the Children of Peace and then a keyboard organ. All three organs are still in the Sharon Temple.

Music had always been a big part of the Children of Peace community. In the line drawing of the interior of the second meeting house (below), you can see a woman playing an organ in the back corner. 

Interior of Meeting House of the Children of Peace, Pen and black ink line drawing, ca 1909?. Courtesy of the Toronto Public Library

There was also a barrel organ in Willson's study which he used to create his music. (David Willson's music and the Children of Peace band will be covered in depth in another post.)

Interior of the Study of the Children of Peace, Pen and black ink line drawing, ca 1909?. Courtesy of the Toronto Public Library

When David Willson died in 1866, his aging son took over as leader, but he lacked the charisma of his father. In 1889, the last Children of Peace service was held and the group dissolved. Now known as the village of Sharon, the temple grounds were rented out and for a time even used to shelter cattle.

Sharon Temple grounds used for agricultural purposes sometime between 1889 and 1917. Courtesy of Ontario Archives © Queen's Printer for Ontario

This 1912 article from the Newmarket Era is very stark in its announcement that the "sacred and time-honored buildings" will be demolished and the materials used to make farm buildings. I can't help but wonder if the article's writer is more concerned with the loss of revenue from tourists visiting Sharon than for the loss of the unique buildings themselves. 

In 1915, the 2nd Meeting House which had been built in 1842, was torn down.

However, recognizing the importance of the Temple as an historic and architectural treasure, the Toronto-based York Pioneer and Historical Society started raising funds. By 1917, they purchased the Sharon Temple for the purpose of restoration and by 1918 the building was opened as a museum. This is one of Canada's earliest examples of historic preservation. 

Shortly afterwards, the York Pioneers moved David Willson’s study to the site. The site has a collection of restored buildings and displays pioneer artifacts and historic items related to the sect, including the original house and buildings from the farm of the temple's master builder, Ebenezer Doan. 

The Sharon Temple and David Willson's Study (left side), June 2015.

Since 1990, the Sharon Temple has been a National Historic Site and Museum. It is also a National Peace Site. 

What did I think of the place? I was awed by the grandeur and simplicity. History echoed in the temple even though I was alone with only a breeze from the open doors moving through the building. And trite as it sounds, I've never felt so much peace as I did sitting on a bench along one wall and just listening to the past. 

What about you? Do you know of a place that was saved from demolition in the nick of time, and has become a museum or national historic site?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their 4 kids. Anita Mae's short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 1 Tales of Faith and Family, Guideposts Books, October 2013, and a 2nd short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 4 Heartwarming Tales of Christmas Present, Guideposts Books, October 2014.   Anita Mae has recently sold a novella to WhiteFire Publishing to be released January 2016. She is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita at   http://www.anitamaedraper.com/