For those of you who are interested in history, St. Stephens Anglican Church on 12th Ave. in Lachine is one of the most important churches in the early history of Canada. The article was written Edgar Andrew Collard from the Gazette published on Saturday June 6, 1981, illustrated by John Collins.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In an old churchyard Not many old churchyards survive in Canada. Long ago most burials began to be made in large cemeteries detached from any church. Saint Stephens is in the old tradition of Gods Acre - the burial land close to the church itself. In this tradition, anyone going up the path to the church door walks between rows of burial stones. Something about this close relationship of church and graves creates a consecrated peace, a feeling for the come and go of human life, a sense of the living and the dead as being not alien and divided, but united in a sacred companionship. Saint Stephens churchyard is one of the most historic in Canada because it is more than parochial. Lachine, in early days, was a starting-point on one of the worlds great routes of travel. Travel on the Saint Lawrence was interrupted by the Lachine Rapids. All immigrants coming upstream and headed west beyond Montreal had to trans-ship. From Montreal they went overland nine miles to Lachine. From Lachine, they set out again by bateau or steamboat for the west. Hazards for immigrants lay all along the route of travel. Saint Stephens churchyard was the unintended destination of many who had set out for farther places. Tough Fur Trader…… In Saint Stephens churchyard, at the northeast corner, is the grave of an old NorWester, William MacIntosh. He was known as notoriously tough and able. He had to be, to survive the vigours of the West and the struggle against the Hudsons Bay rivals. In 1819 he and other Norwesters were seized on the Saskatchewan River by Hudsons Bay Company men and imprisoned. MacIntosh, being sick with dysentery, was not guarded as closely as the others. Sick though he was, he eluded observation and dashed into the woods. They searched for him in every bush. Nothing was found except a note he had left behind. It Stated he had decided to commit suicide by drowning - having tied a stone about my neck to keep me at the bottom. Actually, he was on his way to the post of the North West Company at Fort William. After the North West Company failed in 1821 it was absorbed by the Hudsons Bay Company. This tough and experienced trader then became a highly-valued Hudsons Bay Officer. He was given the rank of Chief Factor.....MacIntosh retired from the fur trade in 1837. He settled in Lachine. It was a natural place for an old fur trader.....the Hudsons Bat Company had at Lachine its North American headquarters. The building sttod only a few feet away from Saint Stephens, where the Chapel of Sainte Annes Convent is today. MacIntosh died in 1842. His grave near a wall of the church, was pehaps the most impressive in the churchyard. It seems to have been one of the few (if not the only one) to be surrounded with an iron railing. Saint Stephens churchayrd was not closed for burial until 1915. Since that time only cremated remains have been interred there, [on the approval of the Church Corporation]> When Saint Stephens Church was built in 1831, it was intended to be a conspicous object for miles up Lake St-Louis. Today it cannot be seen from the lake, or even from the waterfront road. The building of Ste-Anne Convent, especially its high east wing, now hides Saint Stephens from view on that side. The visitor will find Saint Stephens by leaving the waterfront and going up Twelfth Avenue, the first street east of the Convent. He will come upon this old church and churchyard with dramatic suddenness.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 15:27:26 +0000
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