Our History
We began in the Mohawk Valley where our ancestors came from near Fort Hunter in upper New York State before it existed.As Kanienke:haka (Flint people- Mohawk) we are the Haudenosaunee ( the long house people- Iroquois) who lost their lands to the settlers of the United States.
On 22 May 1784, around twenty Mohawk families who had been exiled from their ancestral homelands in the Mohawk Valley (in New York State) landed on the shores of the Bay of Quinte to make their new home in Tyendinaga. After five years of upheaval from the time they left the Mohawk Valley in 1779, the first Mohawk settlers of Tyendinaga went to work building a new community. An information plaque near the Cairn provides some history of the first church: "The cairn site is a memorial to the landing in 1784 and to the location of the community's first church, St George's Church. For those following the way of the Church of England, the construction of a church was a challenge and a priority. The Church of England had been an important influence in the lives of the Mohawk people in the Mohawk Valley for decades. The first church was completed in about 1794 and enlarged about 1799. It was both a place of worship and also a community hall for meetings and celebrations. The Heritage Trail is based upon an original pathway to the old church site, one of many used by Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte in the very early years of the community. Later, the pathway came to link the old Church site with the new Church, Christ Church, which was consecrated in 1843. Our community therefore has used this trail for over 200 years." The first full-time Rector of the Parish, the Reverend Saltern Givens (1831-1850), was likely the first to live in the old rectory north-west of the log church, about halfway between the Cairn and the current church.
They held a council, and the Chief made this remarkable speech after having heard all of the ways and means discussed: 'If we attempt to build this church by ourselves it will never be done, let us therefore ask our father, the Governor, to build it for us, and it will be done at once.'
It was not want of funds but want of experience he meant: for the funds were to be derived from the sale of [First Nations] lands. The governor, the late Sir Charles Bagot, was petitioned accordingly, and the church now stands, a most conspicuous ornament on the beautiful Bay of Quinte.
They raised one thousand pounds for this purpose; and proper architects being employed, the contract was entered into for £1 037 and was duly accepted....The first stone was laid by S P Jarvis, Esquire, Chief Superintendent of Indians in Canada, and the Archdeacon of Kingston, the truly venerable George O Stuart, conducted the usual service which was preceded by a procession of [Mohawks], who singing a hymn, led the way from the wharf where the clergy and visitors had arrived from the steamer...they reached the site of their new Temple...I saw this edifice lately: it is Gothic with four lancet windows on each side, and buttressed regularly. Its space is 60 feet by 40 feet with a front tower projecting and the spire, very pointed and covered with glittering tin, rises out of the surrounding woods from a lofty height of 107 feet. It is certainly the most interesting public building in Canada West.
Unfortunately, in 1906, the spire was struck by lightning and the interior of the church was badly damaged by the resultant fire. The greystone font still shows horizontal cracks induced by the exposure to extreme heat. The treasured coat of arms of George III over the west door, which had been in the direct path of destruction, was replaced by new Royal arms, a gift to the Mohawks of Tyendinaga from King George V. The fire and subsequent rebuilding explain the incongruity of the building as it stands today--the roof and ceiling are no longer Howard's.
One of Christ Church's most interesting features escaped the fire. This was the screen designed from the much shallower chancel originally beyond it. Supported on clustered colonettes, the three shallow arches once neatly framed the pulpit (entered through the Gospel arch), the altar (surmounted by the Triptych), and the reading desk (entered by the Epistle arch). The choir originally occupied the central pews of a west gallery, or choir loft, for which borrowed light had been provided.
Over the years since, the church had been a plain sort of building where nothing much was changed, due to limited congregational funds, however, in September 2015, after years of deterioration and decline, the Mohawk Council with Christ Church restoration committee and other benefactors saw the completion of a major interior redecoration of Christ Church befitting a Chapel Royal.
Thanks to his own autobiography, we know something of the architect John George Howard, who built churches all over the province of Ontario. He arrived at York (later Toronto) in 1832 from London and began to look for patrons. After an audience with the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne, Howard was offered the position of drawing master at Upper Canada College.
When they were built, the churches of St John, York Mills; Christ Church, Tyendinaga; and Christ Church, Holland Landing, varied not at all in form and but little in detail. All three were originally square-ended hall-churches with four windows to a side. Christ Church, Tyendinaga, was differently-buttressed, having diagonal instead of angled corner buttresses. The bell tower was built in three stages, with bracketed set-offs, and was crowned with stepped crenellations which have since been rebuilt. Christ Church, Tyendinaga, has been called Howard's "major church building" and was commended in 1846 by Sir Richard Bonnycastle of the Toronto Society of Artists in his book Canada and the Canadians: A church has recently been erected by them [Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte] on the Bay of Quinte, in the Township of Tyendinaga [now Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory]....It is of stone, with a handsome tin covered spire, and replaces the original wooden edifice they had erected on their first landing, the first altar of their pilgrimage which was in complete decay.
There is evidence that John G. Howard was the architect for All Saints', Tyendinaga, 1858. It is noted that the best example of Howard's altar designs remains the memorial altar in All Saints', Tyendinaga. It was designed in 1851 with a breadth and simplicity suitable alike to the scale of the church and the quality of the wood; and it has the dignity inherent in the intention of a parish commemorating a beloved rector. (Note: the photo shows today, the altar is removed from the "east" wall. )
The church was largely unchanged for its first 130 years until 1988, when a large parish hall, called the Queen Anne Parish Centre, was built on for the purposes of parish & community events. The new parish centre contained amenities the church was lacking: a kitchen, washrooms, office, classrooms, and a large gathering space. Inside the church, near the front door is a beautiful stained glass light with Mohawk clan symbols and an inscription, donated by the Ladies Guild. In 2010, the shingle roof on the church and hall was replaced with a steel roof which should last into the mid-21st century. In 2020 automation of the double set of doors was added to make the QAPC more accessible to the disabled.
The List of Rectors *Denotes interim Priest-in-Charge
........Before 1947 is still in progress....
The Revd Reginal Neve Savary (Jun 1947-Jul 1952)
The Revd Algernon C Fenwick (Oct 1952-May 1953)
The Revd Walter F Smith (Jun 1953-Jun 1958)
The Revd Alfred Falconer Dowdell (Jul 1958-Mar 1959)
The Revd Edwin Wrightson (Sep 1959-Oct 1961)
The Revd John Vincent Temple (Oct 1961-May 1967)
The Revd Frederick Fuller Downing (Sep 1967-Mar 1969)
The Revd John Fletcher (Apr 1969-Oct 1969)*
The Revd Cyril J Betts (Nov 1969-Jun 1976)
The Revd James Arnold Dunlop (Sep 1976-Dec 1977)*
The Revd John Fletcher (Jan 1978-Aug 1978)*
The Revd George Elson (Sep 1978-Jul 1983)
The Revd John Flindall (Aug 1983)*
The Revd Kenneth Blaber (Sep 1983-Feb 1987)
The Revd Sidney Horne (Mar 1987-Aug 1994)
The Revd Ken Baker (Sep 1994-Jul 1998)
The Revd Brian Webber (Aug 1998-Apr 1999)*
The Revd Cheryl Watson (May 1999-May 2004)
The Revd Canon Alexander I Wakeling (May 2004-Sep 2004)*
The Revd Canon Tony Capon (Sep 2004-Dec 2004)*
The Revd John Flindall (Jan 2005-Jun 2005)*
The Revd Andrew Wilson (Jun 2005-Aug 2005)*
The Revd Brian Webber (Sep 2005-Nov 2005)*
The Revd Canon Cyril J Betts (Dec 2005-Jun 2006)*
The Ven Bradley D Smith (Jun 2006-Nov 2015)
The Revs. Rod & Lisa BrantFrancis (Oct.2016-