Cramahe Baptist Church – 1014 Mount Pleasant Rd.
(late 1880s)
Roll No. 141l-011-040-10600-0000 – Cramahe Township Ontario
Pioneer Church
At one time, there were five churches in Castleton. Religion had always played an important role in the life of village. Today, only one church, the United, remains in operation as a church.
For a time in the late 19th century, the Canadian Christian Magazine was published in Castleton by Reverend Thomas Garbutt. About 1906, the Hornerite or Holiness Movement fitted up a church in a frame building that had been a machine shop directly North of the Town Hall at 1780 Percy Street in Castleton. This building was used by a number of denominations over the years but has been a storage shed in the 40 years leading up to 2000.
The former Castleton Pentecostal Church was located in a building that is now used for residential purposes, but was still a church in the year 2000 – at 2208 Spring Street.
The Castleton Baptist church was located at 1014 Mount Pleasant Road and is a private residence today.
History or Associative Value
The Castleton Baptist church was probably built in the mid to late 1880s. As of time of writing, it is a private residence missing the drive shed attached to the original building
Additional Historical and Genealogical Information
1014 Mount Pleasant Road, Castleton, Ontario Cramahe Township,
Concession 8, Lot 26 Cramahe Baptist Church
The original Crown land grant for Concession 8, Lot 26 was among the earliest in Cramahe Township, occurring on 14 December 1798 when land went to Archange Grant (1780-1829). In that year each of the members of the Executive Council of Upper Canada (the governing body under Lieutenant Governor Simcoe) received for their services land grants of 6000 acres for themselves and 1200 acres for each of their children. One of these Executive Councillors was Admiral Alexander Grant (1734-1813) of the Royal Navy, and Archange was one of his 11 daughters.
Archange married Thomas Dickson (1776-1825) of Queenston, near Niagara Falls, and ownership of Lot 26 went to their daughter Mary Theresa Dickson (1814-1866) when she died in 1829.
By 1836 Mary Theresa Dickson (1814-1866) had moved to Britain. She married John Stewart Lyon (1808-1862) in London that year and the property in Cramahe Township was placed in trust for herself and her new husband on 18 November 1836. One of the trustees was her uncle Walter Dickson (1776-1855). Walter Dickson is listed in the Land Office record for this transaction as a “Writer to the Signet”. This is a Scottish term for a solicitor, the “signet” being originally the private seal of the Scottish Kings. The second trustee was Richard Mackenzie (1780-1850), Deputy Keeper of the Signet. The Keeper of the Signet was the senior office in the Society of Writers of Her Majesty’s Signet, an association of Scottish solicitors. This office was ceremonial, the administrative functions of the Society being under the charge of the Deputy Keeper. The third trustee was Thomas Bushby (1793-1865), a Commander in the Royal Navy. The fourth was named Isaac Bayley (?-?). The final trustee was George Lyon (1805-1879), John Lyon’s brother.
Dickson, Bushby, Bayley, and Lyon sold the property to Ozem Strong (1784-1857) on 7 July 1841. Strong was a prominent early resident of the Colborne area and in fact was married to Clarissa Keeler (1790-1851), daughter of Joseph Keeler (1763-1839), the man responsible for the first European settlement in the area.
Ozem Strong sold the 67.5 acres of Lot 26 lying north of the Colborne-Percy Road (now Mount Pleasant Road) to George A. Pomeroy (1799-1882) on 12 July 1841. Like Ozem Strong, Pomeroy was a farmer.
On 14 November 1863 Pomeroy sold 37 perches (just shy of 1⁄4 acre) on the north side of the road to the trustees of the Baptist Church, one of whom was his brother-in-law Harvey Almond Phinn (1798-1881).
This 1⁄4 acre is the site of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, but the church was already present when the property was purchased by the Church. The record of the purchase describes the property boundaries with reference to the “chapel, now erected”. It is unclear how long the church had already been there by 1863, though the phraseology makes it sound like it wasn’t very long.
The Baptist Church no longer functions as such, but is now part of a private residence.
Castleton Baptist Church
(private residence)
1014 Mt Pleasant Rd, Castleton,
ON K0K 1M0, Canada