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The following are among the early marriages
recorded in the Parish Register :
February gth, 1815.—Abel Wright and Sally
Landon.
February 26th,.1815.—John White and Sally
Weldon,
February 26th, 1815 — William Bottum and Martha
Hurd.
April
Smith.
March 27th, 1818.—Asael Wright and Eleanor
Carpenter.
April 29th, 1818.—John Henry Bolton and Eliza
Jones,
December ist, 1819.—Lawren Fulford and Sus¬
2nd, 1815.—William Evertts and Trene
anna Purday.
December 14th, 1819.—William Healey and Sarah
Evertts.
February 13th, 1820.—Samuel Parish and Francis
Dack.
August 28th, 1820.— Charles D. Wickwire and
Elizabeth White.
December roth, 1820.—Truman Wiltse and Eleanor
Smythe.
February 4th, 1821.—Luther Houghton and Sabra
Billings.
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.
The first Roman Catholic Priest to visit this sec¬
tion of Upper Canada, after its settlement by the
English, was the Rev. Alex. McDonnell, afterwards
created the first Bishop of Upper Canada. Froma
memorandum furnished by J. P. McDonnell, of
Belleville, we learn that the father of the church in
Upper Canada was born in the year 1760, in Glengarry,
Scotland : educated for the Priesthood at Valladolid
College, in Spain; for at that time no person pro¬
fessing the Roman Catholic faith could be educated
for a Priest in any part of the United Kingdom. He
was ordained a Priest before the year 1790. He re¬
turned to his native land, and officiated in Bade¬
noch, a small district in the north of Scotland ; also
in the city of Glasgow. In 1798 he joined the
Glengarry Fencibles, then on duty in Ireland, under
the command of Lord McDonnell of Glengarry. In
1804, the reverend gentleman came to Canada, and
was consecrated first Bishop of Upper Canada, in
1822. He died in Dumfriesshire in 1840. His body
was laid in St. Mary’s Church, Edinburgh, until
removed to Canada, in 1862. His remains were
Ontario, and carried to St. Raphael’s Church, in
which church he had spent some of his most useful
his numerous co-religionists. His remains were
escorted by thousands—by people of all denomin¬
ations—to St. Andrew’s Church, and thence to Corn¬
wall depot, in order to convey his dust to the head
of the See, at Kingston, where it now lies in the
Cathedral of that ancient city, in which he, as
Bishop, officiated for years, a favorite alike with
both Protestant and Catholic.
About the year 1806, when en route for the West,
he celebrated Mass in Leeds, and on many subse¬
quent occasions came up to Brockville, and held
Mass in the house of Dr. Hubbell, although that
gentleman was not a Roman Catholic. The de¬
ceased Bishop is well remembered by many of our
oldest citizens, and is invariably spoken of in terms
of the highest respect. The history of Bishop Mc¬
Donnell is the early history of the church in this
Province. Not only did he attend faithfully to the
spiritual wants of his parishoners, but his name and
influence are indissolubly linked with the principal
events bearing upon the growth and prosperity of
the country. Driven from his native land to obtain
an education, he was as loyal to the British Crown
as any man that ever trod the heather of Scotland,
or wandered through the wilderness of Canada. On
many occasions he carried his vestments on his back
from Glengarry to Kingston, undergoing privations
and hardships with Christian fortitude and unwaver¬
ing resolution. For many years he occupied the
responsible position of Legislative Councillor, pos¬
sessing great influence, not only with the Colonial,
but also with the Imperial authorities.
Not unmindful of the material interests of the
church, he secured all the land which it at present
possesses. In reply to a charge which was at one
time made against him by malicious enemies, he
said: "In 1804, there were but two Catholic
clergymen in all Upper Canada, one of whom soon
deserted his post. For ten years I had the whole of
the Province in charge. During that period, I had
to travel over the whole country from Lake Superior
to the Lower Province line.”
Through the instrumentality of the Bishop, two
corps were raised for the defence of the British
flag; the first being the Glengarry Fencible Regi¬
ment of Scotland, and the second the Glengarry
Fencibles of this Province.
For several years, a priest was stationed at Pres¬
cott, who held occasional services in Brockville.
Sketches of the various parishes and of His Lord¬
ship Bishop O’Brien, will be found in another
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