History
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For the 75th anniversary in 1962, a booklet was printed containing congratulatory messages from a number of former pastors of St. Mark's.
For the 100th anniversary in 1987, a booklet was printed containing the history of the congregation.
This is a list of the original 88 members of St. Mark's congregation in 1887.
To view the original deeds for the church property, click the pictures below. Each includes a typed transcript plus a photocopy of the original handwritten deed.
This was the deed for the transfer of land to the original Union Church in 1864. The Union church was shared by the Presbyterians and Lutherans. It was a small piece of property approximately 36½' frontage by 50'-54' deep.
This was the deed for the sale of the Union Church property by the Presbyterians to the Lutherans in 1901.
This was the deed for the purchase in 1901 of additional land on which the current building is located as the new building was larger than the original building. The Union Church was moved across the road to a piece of land by the river until it was sold and moved (see below). This point of land long ago eroded away.
There was an additional deed from sometime in the 1950's for some additional land for the parking lot beside the church - I don't have a copy of that one.
Here is the service bulletin for the 101st anniversary in 1988. (Provided by Ross Crouse.)
In 2002 a service was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the current building. Here is the service bulletin from that 100th anniversary.
Here is the service bulletin for the last service.
This is a picture of how the building looked in it's early days.
(Picture provided by Barry Parks via Jim Lindner.)
Thanks to Pat Mombourquette for providing information about the printing on the church sign board in the above picture. (My graphic is not to scale!)
I did not know that there once were weekday services. That apparently ended before my time. If anyone wonders why the different service times, it was because there were three churches in the parish so the rotating schedule gave everyone opportunity to have morning and evening services. In later years (I don't remember when it changed) as people had more activities on Sunday, the afternoon service was dropped in favour of two morning services - 9:30 AM in one church and 11:00 AM in another ... just enough time for the minister to get to the next church after the first service!
As noted in the above History, the Lutherans in Middle LaHave joined with the Presbyterians to build a Union Church in 1864 which served until the Lutherans built the present building in 1901. The Union Church was later sold to the Lutheran Synod of Nova Scotia, moved to Oakhill near Bridgewater and used for an orphanage called Bethany Orphanage.
Moving the building that distance would have been quite an endeavour. This was done in the cold of winter as it first had to be moved off the land onto the ice in the river. Then teams of oxen would have pulled it over the ice to Bridgewater, a distance of approximately ten miles. That sounds like the easy part - pulling over slippery ice probably on some sort of sled. Then it had to be pulled from the river to Oakhill which is 1½-2 miles inland, much of which is uphill. (Winters would have been colder then, we don't have that kind of ice in the river anymore.)
I have no pictures of how it used to look. This building is now used as a Bed and Breakfast. to go to Bethany Bed and Breakfast (opens in a new window.) Click on the picture.
In 2007, members of The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Dartmouth compiled the history of many Lutheran churches published in a book titled The Evangelical Lutheran Churches of the Maritimes. Here is a copy of the article about St. Mark's.
A brief history of the Eastern Synod ELCIC of which St. Mark's was a member congregation
The Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is one of five synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, consisting of more than 200 member congregations and 78,000 baptized members. The territory of the Eastern Synod runs from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In July 1861 the Canada Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Canada was organized by the former Canadian Conference of the Pittsburgh Synod. In 1867 the Canada Synod helped organize the General Council.
In 1908 the Central Canada Synod organized as a result of English activity of the General Council. In 1918 both synods became part of the United Lutheran Church in America. In 1925 the Canada Synod and the Central Canada Synod merged, retaining the name Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Canada. In 1962 the Canada Synod reorganized as the Eastern Canada Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, comprised of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and most of Ontario.
In 1985 the Eastern Canada Synod withdrew from the Lutheran Church in America to join with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. In 1986 the new church began to function officially, retaining its membership in the Lutheran Council in Canada.
(Text from Wilfred Laurier University Library web site)
Click the picture if you would like to read a history of the community of Middle LaHave that was published in the local newspaper in 1948.
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