St. John the Evangelist, Lancaster— Deanery of East Ontario

At first, we do not see that we are being watched.  But sooner or later we notice the clergyman staring directly at us. He is sitting in the chancel of Saint John the Evangelist Church, Lancaster. Wearing a surplice and stole, he almost appears to be part of the furnishings in this remarkable and unexpectedly lavish Anglican house of worship. It is by no means the end of surprises connected with this unusual church.

It is one of the ironies of early settlement in the Diocese that in all of Glengarry County, next door to where the earliest Anglican mission was established at Cornwall, there was no Church of England mission or church during the first century of settlement. Ironic, yes. But hardly surprising for anyone who knows their history. When the United Empire Loyalists were being settled here in the 1780s, colonial officials were concerned to settle like settlers with one another, to prevent conflict breaking out among groups who were intended to form a bulwark against the expansionist designs of the new republic just across the Saint Lawrence.  

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Hence Charlottenburg Township, located closest to the border with Québec, filled with Scottish Roman Catholics, while next to it, Lancaster was filled with Scottish Presbyterians. As a result, there were almost no Anglicans in Glengarry County until the railways began shunting local families out west and bringing other settlers in at the end of the nineteenth century. 

In 1894, it was suggested a mission in Glengarry be formed, based either at Alexandria or Lancaster. By 1897, a Glengarry mission had been set apart. It was due to the initiative of (and the funds provided by) Charlotte McLennan that the frame Saint John the Evangelist Church was built near the village of Lancaster in 1898 in memory of her husband John who died in 1893.

Saint John’s Church, Lancaster was consecrated by Bishop Charles Hamilton on 29 January 1899. In 1906, a rectory at Lancaster was completed. From 1899 to 1928, Lancaster belonged to the Mission of Glengarry, with outstations at Alexandria and Bainsville.

The design of Saint John’s must have been a shock for local Presbyterians in Lancaster Township, used to large houses of worship devoid of ornamentation. In contrast with the simple pointed windows on the exterior, the interior was lavishly decorated. Below the stage-like proscenium arch of the chancel, we see a profusion of lilies and Easter flowers. We are blinded by the elaborate wall decoration, the sumptuous frontal with its contrasting rich superfrontal and very fine fabric inserts in the battlemented reredos showing Our Saviour, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint David, and attendant angels.  What are we to make of the chancel window?  Are the electric lights in the chancel responsible for the centre panel of the window appearing dim?  Or, is this a doctored photograph, with a design penciled in in hopes of a memorial window being placed there?  Who can say?  We estimate the date to be circa 1950.

In 1928, Saint John’s moved to the Parish of Iroquois which also contained Dixon’s Corners, Haddo and Iroquois. In 1943, the parish was renamed Iroquois & Glengarry. In 1945, Lancaster was transferred to the Parish of Cornwall & Glengarry which included the Church of the Good Shepherd in Cornwall and Saint John’s, Lancaster.  Two years later its affiliation with Cornwall was recognized, as the parish was renamed Cornwall & Lancaster.

The Diocesan Archives collects parish registers, vestry reports, service registers, minutes of groups and committees, financial documents, property records (including cemeteries and architectural plans), insurance policies, letters, pew bulletins, photographs and paintings, scrapbooks, parish newsletters, and unusual documents.