13784 Dundonald Rd, Dundonald
Eden United Church (1876)
Roll No. 1411-011-030-17500-0000 – Cramahe Township Ontario
Brick Country Church
The land on which the church was built was purchased from Thomas G. Murphy and his wife, Martha S. Murphy, for the total sum of one dollar. Austin Dudley, William Walker, Schuyler Tompkins and Almond Drinkwater, who were appointed trustees of the Methodist episcopal Church, acted as purchasing agents.
The grant is dated June 13, 1874, and was registered on August 11, 1874 at 10 a.m. It was here at this site that the first sod was turned and cornerstone laid for what we know today as Eden United Church. The exact date of this ceremony is not known. According to available records, the church was not completed until 1876 – two years seeming to be a reasonable length of time for construction. The Church, affiliated with the Colborne circuit was dedicated in 1876 as a Methodist Episcopal Church as the plaque on the front of the church testifies.
History or Associative Value
The Eden United church began in an area called “Dudley’s Neighbourhood”. The first sod turning for the sturdy brick “country” church was in 1874, after the purchase of land for $1.00, a very reasonable sum, it was dedicated in 1876 as Methodist Episcopal and became United with most other Methodist churches in 1925.
Additional Historical and Genealogical Information
Lot 22 of Concession 5 was granted by the Crown to Benjamin Hicks (1794-1876) on 10 August 1801. Hicks sold it to Willett Casey (1764-1848) on 6 May 1825.
Willett Casey died in 1848 and the executors of his will sold the Lot to Mary Ingersoll (1813-1885, née Johnson), wife of Henry Ingersoll (1801-1876), on 2 February 1850. Mary Ingersoll sold it to Thomas Good Murphy (1814-1898) on 18 February 1860.
Murphy provided 1/5 acre in the southeastern corner of Lot 22 to the Episcopal Methodist Church on 3 June 1874. The Church that still stands on the site took two years to build and was dedicated on 29 June 1876.
Eden United Church