Cold and wet weather forced the stop of a few parts of the St. Mary Church and Cemetery sesquicentennial celebration on Saturday.
Fred Payton, the warden of St. Mary’s Church and Cemetery Church, was to do a walking tour of historical headstones at the cemetery, a historic site located just west of the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.
The weather forced the cancellation of the walking tour and a meal of tea and Bannock that was to occur before it. However, Payton still had time to discuss the headstones and their historical significance.
Established in 1875, St. Mary’s was the first Anglican church and cemetery west of the Red River settlement. Its role in Prince Albert’s early days remains deeply rooted in the region’s heritage. The site served as a pro-cathedral for Bishop John McLean, who founded the original Diocese of Saskatchewan after arriving in the area more than a century ago.
Bishop McLean is better known to current Prince Albert residents as the name of Bishop McLean Drive, which goes around St. Alban’s Cathedral.
“This church was his was the first church,” Payton said. “It was his pro-cathedral. He lived out here and there was quite an actual community out in this area, including the Emmanuel College.”
Emmanuel College was founded in Prince Albert and is now part of the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad located on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
Bishop McLean died suddenly in 1886.
“They had an accident with a team of horses and a wagon coming down that big hill up in Edmonton to the river and he developed Pneumonia,” Payton said.
“He and his family were living out here and of course now he’s no longer Bishop. They need the house for the new Bishop, so the new Bishop moves into the new house and they built a house for Mrs Mclean and the family, which is actually currently standing on 15th Street,” Payton said.
“It’s an old house that they moved off here and down there. But there are a lot of houses out here,” he explained.
Payton added while talking inside the church that the distinctive walls were first varnished in 1890.
He said that the McLean headstone is one of several from the family with others located just immediately east of the cemetery.
The next stop would have been that of Archdeacon John MacKay. He is the cousin of the other famous Prince Albert McKay family though the names are spelled differently.
“Archdeacon John MacKay was one of the early Metis missionaries and he was very actively involved in translating the Bible into Cree, did a lot of translation into Cree. He actually was at La Ronge for a number of years. Bishop Pinkham brought him down here to Prince Albert,” Payton said. Mackay served as the Principal of Emmanuel College and the rectors of St. Alban’s
Cathedral. The next stop would have been the headstone of Canon James Flett who served as Vice Principal of Emmanuel College.
“They were both fluent in a number of different languages, including Gaelic, English, French, Cree, Chipewyan,” Payton said. “They were very fluent in a number of different languages and they taught their students in their mother tongue.”
The headstone of Canon James Flett was refurbished.
“Between McLean starting Emmanuel college, starting the diocese, and John Mackay and James Flett, those three individuals really were responsible for very a lot of the early education in this area,” Payton said.
The next stop would have been the headstone of Jacob Beads.
“Beads, a Metis had worked with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1853, he went with Doctor John Ray on an expedition to try and find the Franklin expedition. They didn’t find the Franklin expedition. They found some artifacts, but they didn’t find Franklin expedition, but Jacob Beads was given 200 pound silver and a small silver medal by Queen Victoria for the work they did trying to find the Franklin expedition,” Payton said.
“He bought the river lot here that we’re sitting on right now and he donated a portion of the river lot to the Anglican diocese to be used as church and cemetery.
“We would have gone to the headstone and James Isbister. He settled here in 1862. James Isbister helped to build this church,” Payton said.
The theme of the headstones for the tour were that they were both historically significant to the church and to the anniversary.
The final stop was to be Thomas Scott, who was not the more famous Thomas Scott.
“He was taken into custody by the Dominion government during the 1885 resistance. Not the Thomas Scott who was put to death in Winnipeg but our Thomas Scott and he also helped to build this church and his headstone is still here as well,” Payton said.
Payton said that weather presented a challenge on Saturday.
“You could tell even after the service and having the number of people we had in here, it’s still cold in here, you know, although in my talk I mentioned the fact that the first ordination, Bishop Mclean’s first ordination after his consecration occurred in this church in January of 1876. If you think it’s cold in here today, imagine that,” Payton said.
Payton said the numbers for the day were fine but not as large as anticipated, partly due to weather and partly due to forest fires.
Payton was also aware there were several events in and around Prince Albert. He said he had numerous other invitations including to the anniversary of Abbeyfield House.
Payton explained that he was asked by the person covering the anniversary for the Anglican newspaper if he had written anything down about his presentation and he told her that it was all off the top of his head.
The anniversary included a talk by Payton on the origins of the church, there was also a Holy Communion using the same rite believed to have been used in 1875.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
