A History of Canoe Cove Church History The early settlers were mostly Scottish Presbyterians. It is said that the more they suffered from the iniquitous "Clearances" the more devout they became, and that being so, they gathered regularly for worship from the time of their arrival. Many of the ministers in Scotland sided with the land owners and encouraged the Clearances so that one could understand if the people turned their backs on the church. Again this emphasises their sterling character in that the Lord was not blamed for the wrongs inflicted on them by their clergy. Reverend Donald McDonald was sent from the Free Church of Scotland, as a missionary to Canada . Probably he was sent not so much that they wanted to give this country a missionary as a desire to get rid of him for he was an embarrassment to the Church of Scotland for his apparent intemperance. He went first to but apparently his behavior there was much the same as in Scotland . Two years later, when he was forty-two, he came to the Island and started an itinerant ministry among the scattered members of the Scottish Kirk. He was a deeply troubled man as no doubt his addiction was in severe conflict with his religious convictions. His anxiety was so great that he gave up preaching for a time in early 1828. He spent much time in prayer and reading his Bible and while he was at the home of one of his parishioners on the he was Rev. Donald MacDonald