St. John’s Anglican Church

The First Hundred Years

It is hard to tell the story of a church. Records show when it was built, name its rectors and identify many of its people but these are just facts, they are not that church’s story.

This book is about St. John’s Anglican Church in Schreiber and its first one hundred years. It contains facts but hopefully some of the story too. It wasn’t easy to find the story but we gleaned what we could from old parish records, old news clippings, W. A. minute books, photographs, memories and the present people of the parish who are in many ways the sum of all who went before.

We dedicate it to the past, the present and the future parishioners of St. John’s.

With love, The Centennial Committee and all who helped make it.

The Bishop dipped his pen and, putting it to the deed signed with a flourish: "E. Algoma". He did everything with a flourish. It was one thing he had learned from his predecessor Bishop Fauquier. "When you are a bishop, Edward," old Fauquier had said, "You are not expected to move like a mortal man. If you’re going to do something do it splashy!" Good advice he had found. With an even greater flourish, he passed the pen over to the railroad representatives.

It was soon over. One deed giving three properties from the railroad to the Church. It wasn’t a long ceremony although it was impressive but, if you counted preparation time it had been a long ceremony indeed! Years in fact. Sullivan’s memory stretched back in time to the very beginning.

Chapleau, Sudbury and Schreiber! New towns, boom towns and growing towns, or so they were when he first saw them. Railway towns mostly although there was some talk of mining at Sudbury and they might turn into something in the future, you never knew. Still that wasn’t his consideration - the people were and they were coming into these places at a great rate. Roman Catholic for the most part but a fair number of Church of England too and they were his responsibility for this was his diocese. They hadn’t been there long when they started to push for a church of their own and you couldn’t blame them. Most of them had grown up in the Church and it was natural for them to want the same for their own families now. The pinch was with the money and the clergy! It cost money to build and you needed a priest after the church was up and Algoma Diocese wasn’t exactly overloaded with either commodity but then again, you couldn’t hang back until you had everything! You had to have a little faith.

The Railway had been the logical place to start. Most of the people in the towns were there because of the Railway so it seemed natural that the Company would help get things going and they had too, although it hadn’t been as easy as he first thought it might. He remembered his first meeting with the CPR men. He’d been a little nervous and it must have showed for the Rural Dean and the young student helping him had tried hard to put him at ease.

"Well, Bishop," the Dean had said. "I think you will do our cause justice. You have the facts, you have the figures and I don’t see that there is anything else you can do to be any more prepared."

"Well, I suppose," he had replied,, but I just wish I had a better instrument to present the case than my poor tongue." he continued to study his notes.

"Remember Sampson!", the student suddenly blurted. "He overcame with just the jawbone of an ass!" The Dean and the Bishop turned to look at him.

"Er, quite right!’, the Dean had begun hastily, giving a half smile to the Bishop. "Yes . . . ah . . . point well taken . . . ah . . . well, . . . ah . . . well best be going!", and he ushered them both quickly through the door.

The Railway men had been polite but not overly enthusiastic about helping out in any big way. They had talked about many churches and many denominations and the demands of all upon the limited resources of the Company and it looked like things might go along that way for quite a while in spite of the Bishop’s best efforts to show them the advantage of churches in the towns. They agreed that the men would feel more settled in their own Church and they agreed that it would please the wives and this would make the men happy, and happy men worked better than unhappy men, but it was obvious that they didn’t see a real need for churches until he hit upon the recent labour troubles. That got their attention! He sensed their interest and elaborated.

"Yes, a real shame about the difficulties with labour in the east and south of the border!" They agreed - a real shame. "Of course," he continued, "it is heartening to know of the Church’s work in helping calm this unrest." He read the ‘Tell Us More" message in their eyes and continued. "It is a well known fact that the Church brings stability to a man and settles him down. No time for any shenanigans when his church duty calls him!"

"Really," they said. "We hadn’t realized."

"Oh yes," he continued. "Why in England last year they reckon that almost all the labour strife was caused by people living in areas where they had no access to the Church. It has a tremendous stabilizing effect, of course."

"Of course," they agreed, and exchanged glances. "Perhaps we are able to do something about this unfortunate condition in these towns. As you know, we’ve always been interested in the Church . . ."

And they had been able to do something too. Property deeded to the Church in all three towns and a church building to be erected by the worshipping community as soon as possible. Yes the first hurdle had been crossed but now came the bigger task - getting the towns to work together and put up a church. Now that was going to take some doing . . .

How Much??!!

"Well, they have made a beginning", said the Reverend Machin to himself. "A humble one perhaps but still, you have to start somewhere." He settled back in the seat and continued to stare out of the window of the swaying caboose as it took him further and further from the newly formed parish of Schreiber.

It had been a hot meeting following last nights service. The Presbyterians had allowed them to use their church and the place was packed because everyone knew that this was the night to get out and fight for the church building they wanted. Everyone wanted a church but it seemed as if no one could agree on how to get it. Some wanted to borrow and build and get their own church up as soon as possible but the Rural Dean did his best to discourage that path. Debt was an awful way to start a parish and no one realized as well as he just how difficult it was to raise the money once the building was up. They would work a lot harder to realize their dream than they ever would to pay for it once it was built! Others had argued to keep meeting as a house church and build up a fund that could get the church built free of debt when they had the money. Machin liked that one! Some wanted the Diocese to take charge and some wanted to keep the whole thing local and it had produced some hot debate but it had finally fallen to the Dean to try and come up with some plan that would create a parish in Schreiber with as little division as possible.

He had done it too, although it had been a touch evening’s work. At his suggestion a parochial organization had been formed and, acting as rector of the fledgling parish he had appointed Ernie White as Rector’s Warden. Frank Johnson had been elected People’s Warden and Mr. Wetmore, Mr. Hibbard, Mr. Newman and Mr. Patch had become sidesmen. St. John’s first official parish meeting had been called to order and discussion began on the first order of business for the new parish: the erection of a church. All agreed that a new church was needed and, after some long speeches the vestry had adopted a principle of keeping out of debt while building. It might slow down the building process a bit but, as he well knew, it was a sound principle on which to launch a parish. "Be content with the ministrations you can pay for," the Rural Dean had said, and now, gazing from the train window into the night he added to himself, "and God knows you can’t afford too much!" He settled back and slowly slipped into sleep as the train snaked its long way back to Port Arthur.

It was the Bishop who discovered that the young parish formed during the Rural Dean’s Easter visit was a hard working parish. A large congregation appeared during his September visit and, after a service in the Presbyterian Church, they brought him up to date on the progress of their growth. An impressive $600 had been subscribed for the building of the church and $400 of that was already on deposit in Port Arthur. It quickly became obvious that the parish in Schreiber expected their bishop to be more than a spiritual leader and he was soon examining the building plans that the Rural Dean had provided. The plans were excellent, coming as they did from a Toronto architectural firm, but they had one serious flaw: there was no way that the parish could afford such a church. With regrets the Toronto plans were scrapped and the men of the parish drew up their own uniquely Schreiber plans. The bishop had been hard pressed to make his feelings know as things progressed so quickly at this point but he had pressed it and they took down what he said. Roof pitch, wall heights, chancel layout and window styles were duly noted by Mr. Patch and were carefully incorporated into the new church plans. The community had the building momentum now and it would be a great surprise to the bishop if a new church did not grow up in Schreiber in short order. It was time, he realized, to look about for someone to become the priest here. Perhaps a young, vigorous man for a young, vigorous congregation.

"Maybe a student," he thought to himself, "would be just the ticket here. They are usually young, willing, tireless people." He smiled to himself as he mentally concluded - "and they come cheap!"

Mr. Evans

William Evans was "just the ticket." He was 34 when he arrived in Schreiber and his experience in life had seasoned him for just such a position as this. He had come to the ministry fairly late, entering St. Bee’s College, England in his late twenties for theological training but he had done a variety of things before that and his experience, combined with his training and youth made him ideal for the challenge of Schreiber. Besides that he came cheap! Students weren’t paid at the regular rate and that suited the parish fine. He arrived late in 1888, to a situation which immediately tested him fully. No church, no parsonage, and winter coming on! He threw himself into the work.

The church was the first priority of the parish and it became his first priority too. He worked hard, as did everyone and things soon began to take shape. Hammering on the roof, nailing down flooring, or sometimes applying a paintbrush, his energy seemed limitless and it soon earned him the respect of his congregation. They had a man of God alright but they learned they had a workman too! His energy matched their own and, working together they soon had the church complete. It was a proud and thankful congregation that met in the new St. John’s Church for their first service in 1889. Snug the building seemed, and just the right size too for their present needs with a little left over for future expansion. Of course it still needed the odd thing. A chimney, chancel, pews, furnace, pulpit, fond, choir seats, tower and a bell might help to make it seem a bit more church-like, but, still and all, they had made a good beginning and, as everyone knew, Rome wasn’t built in a day! Besides, a congregation needs something to aim for in the future.

With the congregation under cover, Evans now turned to his own needs. The time had come to get a place for himself. It was all well and good to live with the various parishioners for a while but it wasn’t a thing that one could stand indefinitely. Sometimes you just didn’t feel like shaving when you first got up in the morning. Sometimes you just wanted to sit at the table with your suspenders hanging down while you took in that first cup of coffee or two. Sometimes you just wanted to lay on the settee of an evening and read a good penny-dreadful but you couldn’t do that when you lived in the home of a staunch church member! Besides, it seemed like everyone had some unmarried female relative tucked away in their family tree and they were forever bringing them by to meet the nice, eligible minister. No, it just wouldn’t do! Time to get into his own place.

He couldn’t rent. There wasn’t much available and besides, he barely made enough to pay for what he needed now, and even that money he didn’t always get. The parish was often short of cash and what could a fellow do when they asked if he’d mind waiting a month or two? No, he couldn’t contemplate anything that might cost money.

Building was the answer but that wasn’t going to be easy either. It had taken all of the parish’s available cash to get the church up and they certainly were in no hurry to raise more for the parson’s place. And there was no sense suggesting a mortgage. Evans knew how the parish felt about debt! If he was to get his place he’d have to come at it a different way. He took his time and carefully made his plans.

It was a great deal of interest that the parish found Evans busily working in the corner of the church property one morning, laying out foundation lines and getting ready to dig. "Building myself a place," was the response they got when they asked and they left him to it for a few days but then felt drawn to give him a hand. After all, he’d done so much on their church when he first came and it seemed only fitting that they help him now. The digging was soon done and then came the shock of finding out just what Evans proposed to build with. Old lumber, packing case material from the railway, rusty bent nails and an old assortment of boards, windows, doors and miscellaneous hardware found their way to the lot and were wrestled into place. Some days they weren’t sure if they were building a house or an old shed and it slowly occurred to some that whatever they built was not going to be pretty. "Tis a right ugly thing we’re going to have right up side our church!" was the way old Mr. Patch put it to his wife but she shook her head and said nothing. After all, the man did have the right to live somewhere with some privacy but still, it seemed a shame to spoil the look of their beautiful new church!

It was old Patch who finally brought a change. He might have lived with the look of the place but he just couldn’t live with the second rate building materials, and, after smacking his thumb ;for the 100^th time straightening nails he threw down his hammer in disgust and called an emergency session of the Vestry Board. It was unanimous and the next day the Vestry negotiated a $250 loan for the purpose of building a rectory. They did it quick too and within three months Evans moved into his new house. He was barely settled in when he received word that he had been transferred to Parry Sound!

So, there they were! Nice new rectory and the priest was gone! They couldn’t do much about that though and the first thing to do was to figure out some way to work on that debt! A renter was found for the new parsonage and the ten dollars a month that brought in was applied to the mortgage. They left a room vacant for the new priest when he came but for a while they didn’t need it much. Clergy were in short supply and a newly formed parish, struggling with debt, was not too great an enticement to the clergy that were around. Debt was not the only problem facing the parish in these years though.

Canada, along with many other countries, was in a financial depression and that led to a cutback policy on the CPR which meant many transfers and layoffs for Schreiber. The church lost many members and financial support dropped until it became impossible for the struggling parish to support a full-time resident priest. A succession of student ministers, short-term priests, and visiting clergy augmenting the work of local Lay Readers became the lot of the parish. The Schreiber Church was designated a mission church and became part of the work of the priest at Nipigon. In spite of the best efforts of the parish the debt increased and by 1895 there was $350 owing on the parsonage and a great deal of work needed to be done on the church. The Ladies Auxiliary mobilized and took as its personal mission the reduction of the parish debt and attacked it fiercely. They made progress too, and within two years their bake sales, teas, entertainments and sewing projects had battled it down to $100 and they looked to have that paid off within six months. It was good that they were so aggressive in fighting the bills as it soon became evident that St. John’s faced an even greater financial challenge.

First off, the parsonage burnt down! No one knows exactly what caused it although some said it was the stove chimney not fixed in right while others felt that it was careless handling of the lamps and candles. A few even said that Reverend Larzen burnt it down himself through careless smoking but they always spoke tongue in cheek since everyone know his views on tobacco! Nobody knew, really, and it didn’t matter much anyhow since the fact of the thing was it burnt, right to the ground. Well, you can’t have a church without a priest and you can’t have a priest without a place for him to live and so a new place had to be built and it was too, but it cost money.

Then there was the church itself. A lot of repair and outfitting had been done and it showed a nice new pulpit, tinted windows and book rests added to the pews. It was shiny and clean looking but it just wasn’t up to a Schreiber winter! It had been built with love but love wasn’t enough to keep out the cold. You just couldn’t heat the place! A new furnace would help but even the most fervent churchgoer cringed at the thought of chopping all the wood needed to bring the temperature up to bearable. The windows weren’t tight nor the walls nor the floor neither for that matter and there just didn’t seem any way feasible to bring the place up to standard. Church in the winter was a hit or miss affair and if it were really cold outside it was really cold inside too and you just couldn’t go. Even in the warmer winter days it was no picnic and many a child amused himself through a long sermon by blowing out clouds of steamy breath as he sat buried in woollies and coats in the pew. It didn’t seem they could go on too much longer without doing something drastic about it but in fact they had to. It would be almost twenty years before the parish was in any position to get itself a church building more suited to its needs. In the meantime, they listened to sermons of Heaven but secretly dreamed of the warmth of the fires of Hell!