Fortune. He came from Scotland in 1806 and spent six

Sundays in Halifax before preaching one day each in Windsor,

and Shubenacadie. Rev. Gordon was then settled on the

Island. He occasionally travelled to Princetown to conduct a

service prior to the arrival of Rev. Keir. Rev. Gordon died in 1809.

Rev. john Keir was born in Bucklyvie, Stirling-

shire, Scotland on February 2, 1780. He was edu-

Rev. Peter Gordon cated at Glasgow University and VVhitburn. He died on April 2, 1809, had medical training as well as theological training. and was so lovingly His wife was Mary Burnet of Glasgow. Injune of held in remembrance 1810, Rev. Keir was ordained and inducted into the that he was called the Princetown—Richmond Bay Pastoral Charge. He Apostle of Prince was called by sixty-four people of the first Edward Island. There Presbyterian Church.”‘7 Since this was the first ordi- being no stone in this nation of a minister on the Island, “nearly the Province suited for whole population of Richmond Bay, Bedeque, monuments, a young Cavendish, New London, and Princetown were man who revered his present.”"’a The ministers who took part in the ordi- memory, erected one of nation were Rev. James MacGregor, Rev. Thomas

wood at the back of the McCulloch, Professor of Theology, Rev. Duncan pulpit of the church in Ross, and Rev. john Mitchell. They represented which he ministered. In the Presbytery of Pictou, Nova Scotia under whose 1840 a stone monument jurisdiction the entire Island fell. The service was

was placed over his conducted partly in Gaelic and partly in English.

grave, a plain free stone While Rev. Keir was inducted into the slab, which commemo— Princetown-Richmond Bay Charge, he served all of rates his memory. Prince County and a portion of Queen’s County. (Carr papers.) He served the Princetown-Richmond Bay Charge

36

until 1819 at which time the charge was divided into Princetown, and Richmond Bay. Rev. John Keir stayed with Princetown where he served for a total of fifty-one years until his death in 1858. During an impressive career in the min— istry, he was a founding member of the P.E.I. Presbytery and its first moderator; he also assumed duties as a professor at the School of Theology for the Maritimes in 1844: Students trav— elled to Princetown to study with Keir. In addition, he travelled to West River and Truro in Nova Scotia to teach. It was while teaching at Truro, September 22, 1858 that he died.“9

LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE