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People and organizations
Abbs, George, 1822-1904
Person · 1822-1904

George Abbs (1822-1904) was a Methodist minister and editor and book agent of the Canada Christian Advocate. He was born in Arlington, England. In 1851 he married Susan Inglehart of Palermo, Ontario. He was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1851 and served in the Toronto, London and Niagara Districts. He was at Nelson in 1863. From 1864 to 1870 be served in The Barton and Hamilton Circuits and was the Editor and Book Agent of the Canada Christian Advocate.

Person · d. 1932

George Kenneth Baker Adams, (d. 1932), was a Methodist minister in Western Canada and Ontario. George Adams migrated from England to Port Carling (Ontario) at age 14. He became a Methodist probationer in 1878 and was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1881. He served churches in Western Canada and Ontario until his retirement in 1927. He also served a term as President of the Manitoba Conference.

Adams, J. Basil (1913-1999)
Person · 1913-1999

John Basil Adams (1913-1999) was a United Church of Canada minister. Born in Mainsville, Ontario, Adams obtained his B.A. from Queen's University, his B.D. from Queen's Theological College and his masters' degree from McGill University. He was ordained by Montreal & Ottawa Conference in 1943. He served the following charges: Aylwin (Que.), 1943-1944; Oxford Mills (Ont.), 1944-1947; South Mountain, (Ont.), 1947-1950; Elgin (Ont.), 1950-1953. He joined the Royal Canadian Chaplain Corps in 1953. After retiring from the military in 1968, he founded and served as the first director of COHR (Counselling and Human Relations Institute). He retired in 1988.

J. Basil Adams died on October 8, 1999.

Person · 1871-1954

Arthur Peter Addison (1871-1954) was a Methodist/United Church minister. He was born in Lloydtown, Ont. In 1900 he married Elizabeth Ann Scoley. He was ordained in the Methodist Church in Toronto in 1900 and served in various churches in Ontario. He served at North Parkdale from 1921-1924, and Humbercrest from 1924-1929, when he retired.

Person · 1863-1946

Rev. James Robert Aikenhead was born in Toronto in 1863, and died at the age of 83, June 16, 1946. Aikenhead entered the ministry at age 21 and his charges in Toronto included Westmoreland Avenue United Church, King Street United Church, Davenport Road United Church. Aikenhead’s wife was Elizabeth Dimsdale who was the first woman evangelist to be appointed by the Toronto Conference of the Methodist Church in 1885. His daughter, Gertrude Aikenhead was superintendent of the Fred Victor home for Girls, and he also had a son, James Aikenhead.

Person · 1878-1973

Annie Whitburn Allen, (1878-1973), was a Methodist/United Church missionary to Japan. Miss Annie Allen was born in Montreal on 1878 August 6. Her father, James Allen, was a Methodist minister. Annie Allen received her B.A. from Victoria College, University of Toronto in 1902. She attended the Methodist National Training School in 1904 and 1905. She was appointed to Japan by the Woman's Missionary Society in September 1905. Annie Allen returned to Canada in 1940 and retired in 1946.

Allen, James, 1843-1918
Person · 1843-1918

James Allen, (1843-1918), was a Methodist minister in Ontario. He was born in Ireland in 1843 and came to Canada when he was three years old. He entered the ministry in 1869. He graduated from Victoria University in 1875, taking his M.A. degree in 1880. Most of his pastorates were in Ontario where he filled both rural and city charges. In 1902 he was made president of the Toronto Conference and Superintendent of Missions, spending four years in helping to establish Methodism in New Ontario, or Nippissing. In 1906 he was elected General Secretary of Home Missions and held the office until his death.

Person · 1914-1993

Gordon Henry Allison (1914-1993), was born in Hamilton, Ontario. He was educated at SS #1 Glanford and Caledonia High School and, thereafter, qualified as a teach at Hamilton Normal School. He taught elementary school in Amherstburg while taking extension course degrees from the University of Toronto and McMaster University. He returned to Hamilton in 1953 to teach English at Delta Secondary School. After retiring from Delta, he turned his energies to searching local archives and records. At his church, Barton Stone United, he compiled extensive archives on church members going back to 1811, assembled pictures and biographies on every minister the church ever had, and researched every person buried in the cemetery. He worked as an editor on several historical publications and compiled histories of dozens of the earliest Mountain families and all of the Ryckman's Corners pioneers. For the last seven years of his life Allison read every edition of The Hamilton Spectator from 1846 to 1893, and transcribed every birth notice, marriage announcement, death account and obituary. He died 3 February 1993 in his Ryckman's Corners home at the age of 79. Allison never married and had no survivors.

A.M. Nicholson (UCCA)
Person · 1900-1991

Alexander Malcolm “Sandy” Nicholson (1900-1991) was a United Church minister, politician and farmer. He was born in Lucknow, Ontario to parents Alexander Nicholson and Isabelle MacDonald. In 1920 he left his hometown to farm in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan and then in 1921 enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan St. Andrew’s College to study theology. There he joined the Student Christian Movement (SCM) and by 1924 was on the National Committee representing the University. In 1927 he graduated with a degrees in Art and Theology. After networking with a minister from St. Stephens, Edinburgh at a SCM event in Europe, Nicholson decided to do post-graduate work in Edinburgh, Scotland. He and his new wife Marian Leila Massey moved to Edinburgh. In the mornings he would study at the University of Edinburgh, and in the afternoons he served as Assistant Minister to St. Stephens. After studying for a year and half his was called home because his father was ill. Upon their return he was convinced by Dr. John L. Nichol, Superintendent of Missions for Northern Saskatchewan, to serve a five year term in the Hudson Bay Junction. There he became the first United Church Minister. During this time he also became very interested in politics and became an organizer for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1935. Aside from his church career Nicholson had very successful political career. He was elected as a federal Member of Parliament in northern Saskatchewan in 1940 and served four terms until 1957. Between 1960 and 1967 he served at the Minister of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation for the Saskatchewan Legislature. His theological background gave his politics a Christian perspective aiming to improve the general lot of people and committing to peace. Nicholson remained active in the church for the remainder of his political career and after retirement. Upon retirement, he also became very interested in oral history and produced many interviews now housed in the provincial archives of Saskatchewan and Ontario. As part of the Division of Communication’s Oral History Project, Nicholson conducted oral history interviews of United Church ministers for the United Church Archives. Nicholson and his wife, Marian, had three children, Ruth, Mary Anna, and Alexander.

Amaron, Estelle, 1899-1986
Person · 1899-1986

Estelle Amaron, (1899-1986), was a member of the overseas staff of the YMCA. Miss Amaron was born in 1899 in Montreal in a Presbyterian manse. She attended Macdonald College School for Teachers and in 1926 graduated from McGill School of Physical Education. That same year Estelle Amaron joined the overseas staff of the Canadian Young Women's Christian Association. During her career with the YWCA she spent time in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. Upon her return to Canada in 1960, she remained active in the organization. In December 1976, Estelle Amaron was made a member of the Order of Canada for her work in the YWCA.

Person · 1890-1952

John Norrie Anderson (1890-1952) was born in the Hebrides and died at Inverness, Scotland on April 29, 1952. Anderson received his education at Edinburgh University where he graduated with honours in History. He later studied at New College, Edinburgh and was ordained into Ministry of the Church of Scotland. Upon immigrating to Canada, he taught staff of Wesley College, Brandon, and afterwards held pastorates at Fort Massey Church, Halifax; St. Andrew’s Kirk, St. John and in 1948 came to Toronto, as Associate Minister in Old St. Andrew’s. Following the amalgamation of Old St. Andrew’s with Westminster-Central, he returned to Scotland and at the time of his death was minister of Laird, Sutherlandshire. While serving as a missionary in India in 1924, he married Elizabeth Finlay, a Canadian Medical Missionary, who predeceased him. Afterward, John married Isobel Constance Anderson.

Person · b. 1891

Charles Sinclair Applegath (b. 1891 ) was a Methodist/United Church minister in Ontario. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1909 and served in the Hamilton and Toronto Conferences at: Ryerson Church, Hamilton , 1909-1910; Paisley Memorial Church, Guelph, 1910-1911; Lincoln Ave., Galt, 1911-1914; Islington, Toronto, 1914-1916; Timothy Eaton Church, Toronto, 1916-1917; Chapleau, Ont., 1917-1918, Port Hope, Ont., 1919-1921; and Emerald Street Church, Hamilton, 1922-1925.

Person · 1869-1960

Adella J. Archibald (1869-1960) was a Presbyterian missionary to Trinidad. Born in Truro, Nova Scotia, she was appointed to Trinidad as a teacher by the Foreign Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church in 1889. In 1894, she was appointed a missionary. She retired in 1935.

Person · 1874-1965

Egerton Franklin Armstrong was born in Goderich, Ontario on December 6, 1874 and died July 25, 1965. After graduating highschool in Goderich, Armstrong attended Victoria University in Toronto, where he graduated in Arts in 1898 and in Theology in 1901. After leaving College he spent his probation serving the Tuckersmith circuit in the Goderich district and Wellington Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, in the Windsor district of the Methodist Church. He was ordained in 1901. After ordination, he was stationed in the Methodist Church at Tupperville (June 1901), Ethel (1905), Charing Cross (1907), Victoria Avenue Chatham (1910), Essex (1914), Wingham (1917), Wallaceburg (1921). After Union he served the charges of Listowel (1925), Bowmanville (1931) and Blenheim (1936). He retired from Blenheim in 1939 and resided in London, Ontario. There, he supplied at Pilgrim United Church London from 1940-1950, and took charge of the church from 1952. He was chairman of the Essex and Wingham Districts in the Methodist Church and of the Perth Presbytery in the United Church.

Person · 1876-1929

Robert Cornell Armstrong, (1876-1929), was a Methodist missionary to Japan. He was born in Carleton County, Ontario in 1876. He received his B.A. in 1903 and his M.A. in 1911 from Victoria University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1914. He served as a missionary to Japan from 1903 to 1910. Between 1912 and 1915 he was Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions at Kwansei Gakuin University, and Dean from 1915 to 1919. In 1919 Robert Cornell Armstrong was appointed missionary of Central Tabernacle, Tokyo. As well, he lectured at Aoyama Gakuin Seminary, spoke at Conference and Bible events, and served as Secretary for the National Christian Council of Japan. He wrote articles and four books on Japanese religion and philosophy. He died in Tokyo.

Arnup, Harold L., 1912-
Person · 1912-

Alice Dorey (1883-1979) was a teacher, a writer, a poet, and the wife of United Church Moderator Very Rev. George Dorey. Alice Ann Dent was born in Cowansville, Quebec. She taught at a school for the deaf in Montreal and wrote poems which were published in Canada, the United States, England, Australia, and some which were translated into Hungarian and Italian. She also wrote book reviews and occasional articles for The United Church Observer.

Person · 1880-1965

Jesse H. Arnup, (1881-1965) was a minister and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Norfolk County, Ontario in 1881. He graduated from Victoria College in 1909 and received his D.D. from Wesley College, Winnipeg, in 1924. From 1910 to 1912 he was Secretary of the Layman's Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church, Assistant Secretary of Overseas Missions from 1913 to 1925, and Secretary of United Church of Canada Foreign Missions from 1925 to 1952. He served as Moderator from 1944 to 1946.

Ashley, Elmer E., d. 2004
Person · d. 2004

Rev. Elmer E. Ashley was a United Church minister serving in the twentieth century. Elmer Ashley was born in 1909 or 1910. He was ordained in the Maritime Conference of the United Church of Canada. He served various charges in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Ontario. He retired in 1977 to Fenwick, Ontario. Rev. Ashley died in 2004.

Person · 1850-1933

Benjamin Fish Austin, (1850-1933), was a Methodist minister and Principal of Alma College who was expelled from the church on charges of heresy. He was born in Brighton, Ontario in 1850. He received his B.A. from Albert College and his D.D. degree from Victoria College in 1872. He was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. Rev. Austin was Principal of Alma College from 1881 to 1897, when he resigned. He was expelled from the Church in 1899 on charges of heresy. He was a publisher and writer on spiritualism. He was pastor of Plymouth Spiritual Church, Rochester, New York, from 1906 to 1913 and in Los Angeles from 1913.