The History of Caledonia Presbyterian Church

Caledonia

Town of Haldimand - 1846

In the early 1800s Caledonia was a frontier settlement, with a population about three hundred people. The adjoining townships had already been extensively settled, following the surrender by the Six Nations of the Grand River Valley, in 1832. A plank road from Hamilton to Port Dover had been completed in 1844, and a regular stage and mail service was established. Steamboats and great flat-bottomed scows passed up and down the Grand River, bringing merchandise of all kinds, then returning loaded with grain and lumber.

Presbyterian families from Scotland and Northern Ireland had settled in the district and were visited periodically by some of the early missionaries. United by a bond of common faith, a public meeting of citizens was held on July 3, 1845, under Alexander Gale when they began to plan a congregation, and to think about engaging a permanent minister.

At about the same time, a similar meeting was held at the neighbouring Allan Tract (Carluke). On April 23, 1846, they joined with Caledonia in calling Dr. Andrew Ferrier as minister of the united congregations of Caledonia and the Allan Tract. In September, 1847, a separate congregation was constituted at another Scotch Block, Oneida (The Gore) which became Ferrier's main responsibility.

What is known about Dr. Ferrier? His great-grandfather was Thomas Wilson, one of the four founders in Scotland of the Secession Church, which split in 1733 from the Established Church on its views of patronage. Andrew's Father was also a minister, distinguished in many ways. Born in Paisley, on March 7, 1793, Andrew entered the University of Glasgow on October 10, 1809, where he excelled in the classics. Three years later he commenced the study of divinity in Edinburgh.

Licensed on July 29, 1817, he received a call from the congregation of Newarthill, Lanarkshire, and ordained April 23, 1818. Ferrier's ministry there lasted for fifteen years.

At Airdrie, he built a church and collected a large congregation. Because of his outspoken secessionist views a difference of opinion arose among his people, some resorting to "calumny and slander." This led their minister to follow some of his relatives to America in 1841. There he connected himself with the Old School Presbyterian Church and, in 1842, became a minister at Union Town, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The following year, he was elected President of Madison College, and Professor of Moral and Physical Science. In 1843, Union College, Schenectady conferred on him a D.D. By 1844, the funds of the college began to dwindle and the institution closed. Receiving encouragement to visit Canada, he reached Hamilton on January 24, 1845.

Waiting for such a person to become their minister, the Caledonia Church now wooed Dr. Ferrier. The Allan Tract concurred in a unanimous call and he was inducted on April 23, 1846. It is at this point that a remarkable about-face-change had occurred. In the time between his arrival in Canada and his induction, Dr. Ferrier changed his allegiance from the church of his grandfather to the Free Church, rapidly gaining new members. This wedding lasted four years.

From a narrative written by Dr. Ferrier, he outlined the steps, which led to his expulsion from the Free Church. The basis was theological - concerning the old differences in views about state control - which led a few members in the Caledonia Church to begin a campaign to seek his dismissal. Ferrier and his followers fought back, until both the presbytery and synod agreed with his enemies. Now Ferrier and his supporters sought admission within the Presbytery of Flamborough in connection with the United Presbyterian Church. Successful in their request, Ferrier's flock met in the schoolhouse in the Scotch Settlement, and on October 21, 1850, they constituted themselves for the first time, counting fifty-one communicants. Two months later they occupied and laid claim to the frame church (later called the White Church), meeting there until 1898.

Meanwhile, in Caledonia supporters from the Free Church there followed Ferrier to build a United Presbyterian Church on Sutherland Street. This congregation was formed on September 24, 1850. For over thirty years there would exist two Presbyterian churches in Caledonia. With Ferrier gone, the Presbytery of Hamilton moved quickly. They secured the services of a Knox College student, James Black, who kept the Argyle Street Church intact, until his ordination and induction on November 9, 1853.