Please bear in mind that this document is currently under construction.

Methodist Missionary Letter Excerpts - Trinity, Newfoundland

Beginning in the early 1800's, Methodist missionaries came to Newfoundland and established several missions in existing communities. One such community was Trinity, Trinity Bay.

Each missionary was expected keep a journal as well as to periodically write to his superiors in England. The letters sent back to England are now archived at the Methodist Missionary Society, who can now be reached at 25 Marylebone Road, London, England, NW1 5JR. I looked at microfilm copies housed at the United Church Archives in Toronto, Ontario under location number "87.225C".

Below I have transcribed excerpts of some of the letters written at Trinity. Occasionally a missionary would include in his letters excerpts from his journal, which today shows us a small glimpse of the information contained in these journals. From the letters I have read, it is clear that the Methodist missionaries were conducting baptisms, marriages, and burials... at a time when no registers of such events were being kept. The journal excepts which appear in the letters thus illustrate the wealth of information which exists in the journals, information not available elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the current location of many of these journals is unknown, assuming that they still even exist. Nevertheless, I would like to make a request of anybody who may be able to help... specifically, if anybody knows the whereabouts of ANY journals of Methodist missionaries once stationed in Newfoundland, please contact me.

For the curious, I've also made available biographical information on some of these missionaries.

Having said all that, let's get on with the excerpts. I've taken the liberty of doing minimal editting (mostly no more than fully stating dates and the addition of punctuation).



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