Address: SW Lot 16, Concession 4, Nassagaweya Township.

Current Address: 3097 15 Side Road, RR1, Campbellville, ON 

The first Nassagaweya Presbyterian church, a frame building in Haltonville, was erected in 1839.  The old records are missing, but a society was organized some years before that at Knowles School House on Hutcheon's Hill in June 1836, when John Bell, John McAlpine and John McKinnon were appointed the first elders of the Presbyterian Church in Nassagaweya by the Rev. D. McMillan.  They had no minister stationed here but were occasionally supplied by ministers from adjoining stations, amongst whom were the following: Meldrum, Wardrobe, Barrie, Ferguson and Rintoul, and also students from college.

The earliest record found is as follows: At Nassagaweya, the seventeenth day of May 1839, on which day the session of the Presbyterian Church met, after sermons in English and Gaelic by the Rev. Peter Ferguson and Rev. William Rintoul was constituted with prayer.  Preparatory to the dispensation of the Lord's Supper, the following persons were examined and admitted to church membership – Mary, wife of John King; Margaret, wife of Samuel Taylor; and Ann, wife of Archibald Campbell.

In 1861 a stone church was built to replace the frame one.  Church membership in 1854 was 45 persons.  This increased in numbers until 1869 when the congregation at Campbellville was organized, at which time 58 members left the Nassagaweya congregation and went to Campbellville.  In 1889 the communion roll contained 204 names.     [Abridged from "Early History of Nassagaweya" by J. Norrish, printed 16 Sep 1889]

Norrish also states about Haltonville: "This place is and always has been called Sodom.  I suppose some person called it that at first for mischief, the residents call it the bigger name [Haltonville] but it don't stick worth a straw."   The rival community of Moffat was called Gomorrah.

This stone church was recognized as a Heritage Building in 2004.

The cemetery was established in 1866.  There are no known cemetery records.

"Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church & Cemetery." Ontario Genalogical Society: Halton-Peel Branch. 9 November 2014. www.haltonpeel.ogs.on.ca/h/na02.htm

History:

Nassagaweya was surveyed in 1819 with settlers arriving soom afterwards from England, Ireland and Scotland. A Sabbath School was established in Knowles School House (on Hutcheon’s Hill) in the early 1830s; the church was established in 1836. The first church building was a frame building which was erected in 1839. The stone building we meet in today (now a recognized historic building) was built in 1861.

In 1869, 58 people from Nassagaweya established St David’s Presbyterian Church in Campbellville. Nassagaweya and St. David’s operated as a two-point charge (i.e. where two congregations are served by the same minister) from that time until November 2004. Many ministers have served Nassagaweya and St. David’s well through the years. A few names that stand out are: Archibald Blair, who stayed at Nassagaweya/St. David’s for 30 years (1885-1915) during which time the congregation numbered 204 members; Mary Farmery (1976-1979), the first female minister to serve the charge; Desmond Howard (1980-1990), Glen Soderholm (1991-2004), whose gifts and leadership helped us begin the transition into a 21st century ministry and then Sean Howard (2004-2011).

"History." Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church in Canada, nassagaweya.com/about/history/