Storekeepers in nineteenth century Canada enjoyed prominence. They were the day-to-day link for isolated families with the outside world and outside markets. Their prominence was summarized in 1836 by Catherine Parr Traill. “Though a store is, in fact, nothing better than what we should call in the country towns at home [England] a “general shop,” yet the storekeeper in Canada holds a very different rank from the shopkeeper of the English village,” she wrote. Storekeepers “are the merchants and bankers of the places in which they reside. Almost all money matters are transacted by them, and they are often men of landed property and consequence, not unfrequently filling the situations of magistrates, commissioners, and even members of the provincial parliament.”

Not everyone had such exalted views of storekeepers. John MacTaggart, an early surveyor laying out the route of the Rideau Canal in the 1820s, for one, perceived them as having pretensions to gentility, and he referred to them as counter-jumpers, saying, “I have seen a counter-jumper, alias a shopman, assume the office of reforming the manners of the age.”

MacTaggart was appalled by how storekeepers took advantage of isolated men in the Ottawa country working in lumber shanties, perceiving “the storekeepers cram their stuffs into their shanties…giving long credit” in order to rapaciously “get three times the value for them.”

MacTaggart was not done. “What is the storekeeper but a person living on [the lumberman’s] exertions,” he asked, contriving “to get him into what he calls his debt,” where “he keeps his victim, feeds, clothes, kicks, and tantalizes him to madness, making him a character far worse than he otherwise would be…but there is the sleek-shaven storekeeper, mild as a lamb, and tame as a dove, uttering delicious phrases, and, nevertheless, behaving abominably. Crafty old fellows! but we see through them. But to hear it attempted to be developed over a counter by a smart-looking fellow with a quill behind his ear, is all humbug and falsehood.”

But there was another view of storekeepers, one evident in the emergence of Saint Mary’s Church at Navan, Ontario in 1867. In that Confederation year, the local general storekeeper at Navan in 1867, one Captain Visser as he was known, overheard farmers complaining about having to travel five miles to Bearbrook to attend Anglican services. Visser suggested that they build their own church, a suggestion they immediately pooh-poohed as impossible with so few families to undertake such a venture.

Undeterred, Captain Visser offered a site on land across the road from his store. Navan tradesmen caught the spirit and added their donations to a list, according to their means. For instance, there was the village carpenter, Richard Bickerton, who offered to make the pews, and later gave land for the parish cemetery. Thomas Sidney Smith, a plasterer, agreed to finish the interior walls, along with other craftsmen who offered their services to help build the church.

When preparations were made in 1898 to build a larger stone church (shown here), the original frame house of worship was moved to another location in the village, and it became the lodge hall of a fraternal group, the Canadian Order of Foresters.

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

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In 1878, Chelsea was served from Ottawa by the Rev. F.R. Smith. From 1879 to 1885, the mission was vacant and served only in summer in 1882 and 1883 by Mr. N.A.F. Bourne, a student from Montreal. By 1886, the mission consisted of one church, Saint Mary Magdalene, Chelsea and two outstations—schoolhouses at Templeton and Ironsides. In 1900, services were held every week at Chelsea and Ironsides and on alternate Sundays at Kingsmere and Kirk’s Ferry. At Kingsmere, the congregation met at the country house of a Mr. Bryson.

By 1910, Chelsea consisted of one church, Saint Mary Magdalene, Chelsea, and five outstations: a house chapel at Ironsides; the Union Mission Hall at Kirk’s Ferry; a schoolhouse at Cascades; another schoolhouse at Meech’s Lake (as it was then called) and cottages at Kingsmere. By 1924, the mission consisted of one church and outstations of Union Church, Kirk’s Ferry; Union Church, Cascades; and a house at Ironsides. The 1926 Synod Journal noted the effect of the Gatineau Valley power developments on local congregations.  The old settlement at Kirk’s Ferry was swept away by the flooding; however, there were hopes for a strong summer settlement to develop there, requiring priestly services.

In 1928, the mission included Saint Mary Magdalene’s, Chelsea; Saint George’s, Gatineau, a Union church at Cascades and a Union church at Kirk’s Ferry.  In 1929, controversy arose over whether the reopened church at Kirk’s Ferry would be a Union Hall or an Anglican Church. From 1935 to 1940, the Mission of Chelsea was a three-point mission consisting of Chelsea, Gatineau and Kirk’s Ferry, served from Ottawa by the Rev. W.B. Morgan. In 1935, the Union church at Cascades was transferred to Wakefield. In 1940, the mission of Chelsea consisted of Chelsea and Gatineau and an arrangement began where Chelsea was served from Hull, and Gatineau was served from Buckingham.

In the autumn of 1943, old Saint Mary Magdalene Church was demolished, partly because an error caused the old church to be built on two feet of land sold along with the rectory.  The congregation met in the school. In 1944, Gatineau was served from Aylmer. In 1947, Kirk’s Ferry became an outstation of Gatineau, also served from Aylmer. From 1950 to 1956, the congregation of Saint Mary Magdalene met in the United Church at Chelsea. On 24 May 1957, the cornerstone for a new church at Chelsea built of ashlar concrete blocks was laid by Bishop John H. Dixon of Montreal. From 1963 to 1965, the Mission of Chelsea & Portland was established, until Clarendon Deanery was transferred from Montreal’s oversight to the Diocese of Ottawa. In 1971, the mission became vacant, and Chelsea was separated from Portland.

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.

Brian Glenn fonds CL06 E100

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As part of the festivities to celebrate Chelsea’s 150th anniversary, members of the public were invited to take a turn ringing the bell at St Mary Magdalene on June 7, 2025. The original SMM Church was built in 1875, the same year that Chelsea was founded. Longtime resident and member of SMM Church, Irene “Renie” Nielsen, who turned 90 in 2025, was the first to ring the bell.  Photo: Marian McGrath

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