Burns Presbyterian Church Mosa Celebrates 190 Years

A view of Burns Presbyterian Church Mosa from Kilmartin Cemetery across Dundonald Road, west Middlesex County. 

On Sunday, March 30 at 2:00 pm I attended a rare event, an historic church celebrating an anniversary. At a time when many rural churches are closing, it's a pleasure to see one commemorating the 190th anniversary of the congregation. 

The March 30th event wasn't an actual church service, mind you, but a celebration of the surrounding community and the role Burns Presbyterian played in it. The occasion, more historical than religious, was entitled "A Stroll Through Time." Actors portrayed fictional, but plausible, characters from the church's past, including an early Scottish settler, a later Dutch arrival, the last Precentor, a member of the women's auxiliary, etc. Sometimes amusing and often poignant, the stories of former congregants were well written and allowed the modern audience to imagine life in Middlesex County, Ontario in the Good Old Days. 

Event flyer includes an old photograph of the church and cemetery.

One only needs to stroll through the nearby cemetery to discover the pioneers were Scottish. Gravestones list McPhails and McIntyres and McLachlans and McVicars and Campbells and Monroes ... Well, you get the picture. 

These Scottish Highlanders arrived in the 1820s after being dispersed from Argyllshire (now Argyll) during "the clearances" - the forced eviction of people from their homes in the Highlands and Scottish Isles between 1750 and 1860. Why the eviction? Because their landlords discovered they could make more money raising sheep than by traditional farming, and therefore chose to dislodge their former tenants. With nowhere to go, large numbers of Scots had no choice but to migrate across the sea to Upper Canada.

Being good Presbyterians, the settlers wanted a church. The first, built of logs in 1835, was opposite today's church on the site of the cemetery. Unfortunately, after work began, the builders had a disagreement about the location. Construction stopped. The congregation spent the first winter in an unfinished building with no roof, windows or floor. Brrrr! And since there were no pews, everyone sat on exposed boards. It's hard to imagine something less comfortable. Not surprisingly, when spring arrived, the congregants gave up on this edifice and started again. The site continued as the cemetery.

Rear of flyer shows the four Burns Presbyterian Church structures. Note the typo at upper right: it should say "Early 1840s"

Another, more successful, log church was built in the 1840s. Not only did it possess four walls and a roof, it even had a wood stove to provide warmth. Unfortunately, in the days when there were assigned pews, the stove was a problem. Those who sat at the front, farther from the stove, shivered through the services. Those whose pews were at the rear, near the stove, roasted. Half way through, someone at the rear would get up and close the damper, cutting off the heat altogether and causing folks at the front to freeze. One elderly man, whose family pew was among the chilly, decided he could no longer stand this state of affairs. Accordingly, one winter Sunday he took the damper off as he entered the church and carried it to the front with him.*

But progress dictated a brick building. Hence, in 1867, a new church was built. The first service in that building was held by Dr. Robert Burns, a well-known professor of church history at Knox College, Toronto. The congregation must have been very impressed with the staunch Dr. Burns; they promptly named the church after him. It's been Burns Presbyterian Church Mosa (the latter is the township) ever since. 

Unfortunately, when the church needed a new roof, slate was chosen. Being too heavy, it caused the walls to buckle. One imagines congregants looking nervously about them as they sat in their pews, wondering if this was the week the church would collapse on their heads. Yet another building was needed.

Thus the current church, finished 1892, came to be. It's been redecorated over the years, of course. A controversial organ - how shocking! - forced the retirement of the Last Precentor in the 1900s. The hand-dug basement allowed for a church kitchen and offices in the 1950s. 

Services have changed as well, not being in Gaelic since 1909. Interestingly, the flyer indicates a Gaelic Service, conducted by Rev. Theresa McDonald-Lee, will be held Sunday July 20 at 10:00 am. Who will understand it? And an anniversary service will be conducted by Rev. Laurie McKay on Sunday April 27 at 2:00 pm. How would Dr. Burns feel about female ministers, I wonder? 

I bought the church cookbook (right) while I was there. First of all, to support the church. Second, because I'm a sucker for church cookbooks, filled with delicious dips, satisfying soups, scrumptious baked goods (can't wait to try the Aero Bar Squares, made with real Aero Bars). And third, because as operational churches become rarer, so will church cookbooks. 

By the way, Burns was once a village church. The surrounding area was known as Kilmartin,** after a town back in Argyll. A post office by this name opened in 1861, operated by a John Smith. There was also a school, blacksmith, cabinetry shop, and hotel nearby. If the locals hoped to develop into a larger community, they had their hopes dashed when the Michigan Central Railroad was built through the nearby hamlet of Walkers instead. Kilmartin dwindled and the post office closed in 1911. 

Needless to say, I enjoyed my visit to Kilmartin, such as it is. The history was palpable. But there's just one thing ... the congregation has dwindled from its all time high of over 200 in 1915. Will there be a 200th anniversary?

* This story wasn't told by the actors. It comes from History of Burns Church Mosa 1835-1941. Alvinston Free Press, 1941, p. 48.

** "Kil" means church, hence the Scottish community means St. Martin's Church.

Canadian Veteran Biographies

We live in strange times. Our neighbour, the USA, is no longer defending democracy. They've elected a convicted felon to the presidency but an unelected billionaire appears to be running the government. They've placed tariffs on Canada, supposedly because of fentanyl and illegal migrants, although everyone knows drugs and guns flow north over the 49th parallel.   

Canada, on the other hand, has lurched to the left. Maple MAGA and the Freedom Convoy notwithstanding, the past few years have witnessed the toppling of statues, the renaming of our schools, calls for a republic, a rise in Antisemitism, the DEI obsession, a recent Prime Minister who claimed we have no core identity, and a school that decided a Palestinian song was appropriate for Remembrance Day.

I'd like to discuss that last one because it bothers me. Not because a Palestinian song was played, but because it was the only song played. Perhaps the teachers running the Remembrance Day programme  at Sir Robert Borden High think Canada's own wars are too long ago to matter. Or perhaps our history is just too white. The principal stated that he didn't want students to think the day was just about "a white guy who has done something related to the military." 

Since everybody's history matters and Canadian history should matter to Canadians, it's annoying that there should be such a disconnect between our history and our schools. While students should be encouraged to think about current events, they also need to understand our past. That includes our military heritage, especially on Remembrance Day.

So I'm proud to introduce Nick Corrie's new website, Canadian Veteran Biographies. Nick, a member of London's own First Hussars, has been writing biographies of 1H veterans for years, mainly for the use of their families and the First Hussars Museum. These bios of WWII vets tell the stories of the men's lives - where they were from, why they joined the Hussars, what they went through during the war, and the lives they lived afterward - if they made it home. The bios will be a great educational tool for future military historians. 

The biographies are revealing and deeply touching. Howard Spark Wright, for example, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, flying more than 30 different aircraft across the Atlantic. Finally, he and his navigator disappeared while delivering a Canadian-made Mosquito bomber to Scotland. When his pregnant wife received the letter advising her of his death, she was so overwhelmed that her tiny daughter, Carol, had to tell her baby brothers that Daddy was never coming home.

Or Major James Stewart Duncan of the First Hussars, who, suffering from the horrors of the D-Day landing and its aftermath, asked to be relieved of his command. Despite resigning for the good of his regiment, the stigma of cowardice haunted him for the rest of his days.  

Or Manni Peterson, who wrote his own story, including his return to his parents' Manitoba farm in January 1946:  "Many times over the years in the army I used to long for my mother’s home-baked hot brown bread with fresh butter. Even before I got to the door, I could smell it. My father wondered why I had tears running down my cheeks when I should be happy to be home."

So far, the bios are only for the Second World War. Contributions are needed, especially for World War I. If you have stories to contribute, please send them to Nick. Because these stories are extraordinarily important, not only for us but for future generations. If we want a world that continues to respect freedom, sacrifice, history, and tradition, we must remember the world wars and the men who fought them.