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no settled minister in the Richmond Bay Charge for six
years. Members of Presbytery provided pulpit supply when
a charge was without a minister. Richmond Bay Charge still
extended from Traveller’s Rest to Lot 11, a distance of thirty-
three miles, making preaching a difficult job. Rev. Thomas
Whent in his work, A History (f Lot 16 United Church, states: In each of these two places, Lots 14 and 16, according to the custom of olden times, nothing less than two discourses with about fy‘teen minutes intermission would satisfy the people: and gt a discourse did not occupy an hour at its delivery it was hardly worth going to hear.
In 1853, Rev. John MacLean MacLeod, who later wrote the book Excerpts From History of Presbtenanism on Bince Edward Island, answered the call of the Richmond Bay Charge. He was born August 25, 1827 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the son of Ebenezer and Barbie Bennie. He was licensed Jan. 5, 1853, and inducted Nov. 9, the same year. He was first married to Amelia Parker in 1858 and second to L. G. Taylor in 1879. Rev. MacLeod purchased twenty-four acres from Mary Ann Green owner of Linwood Farm, (now owned by Ralph Yeo) St. Eleanor’s in 1857.
Under MacLeod’s ministry, the charge experi- enced some major directional changes. The Lot 14 congregation outgrew the small church of the early settlers and plans were made for a new building. “Tenders were called in 1857 for construction of a new church. A start was made the following year and apparently some circumstances delayed the work, probably financial.”52 Little more is known as fire destroyed all the records of the Lot 14 Congregation; however, the new church was essentially completed by 1865.
The Lot 16 Congregation also experienced change. The Summerside congregation grew giving rise to talk of build- ing a Presbyterian church in that town. The minister at Bedeque, Rev. R.S. Patterson, was assisting Rev. MacLeod by preaching every second Sunday in Summerside. In 1859, Rev. MacLeod and Rev. Patterson conducted the financial
ORIGINS or OUR FAITH