What would become the Holy Trinity Anglican Parish (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), then the Tarentorus Township, started as an outstation for St. Luke’s Anglican Church (Sault Ste. Marie); St. Luke’s would become a mother church to the rest in Sault Ste. Marie.
Anglican services began in the former township of Tarentorus in July 1876 under the Reverend Thomas H. Appleby. Originally Appleby ministered to both St. Luke's in Korah Township and the congregation in Tarentorus. After 1885 the church saw recurring periods of inactivity due to gaps in incumbency; the Diocese of Algoma was stretched thin during this period. There were a few bursts of activity with the arrival of enthusiastic clergymen such as Rev. John peter Smitheman and Rev. J. Ethelstan Cheese, but both these incumbencies lasted only a few years. The church was administered to by clergy from St. Luke’s and students during these gaps.
The Holy Trinity congregation was officially organized in 1915, and in 1916 Owen L. Jull, the incumbent at St. Peter's (Sault Ste. Marie) and Tarentorus purchased the land (a Michigan blueberry patch). The first Holy Trinity Anglican Church (a white frame building) was completed in October/November 1917 with the first service being held on December 9, 1917. In 1918 the church was consecrated on Trinity Sunday with Archdeacon Gowan Gillmor ("the tramp") as incumbent.
The first parish hall was completed in 1924; it was sold in 1939. Holy Trinity separated from St. Peter's in 1928; the two were rejoined in a single parish with Christ Church (Korah Township) in 1942 under F. F. Nock. A second, adjoining church hall was completed in 1952. In 1958 the parish was reorganized and Holy Trinity was twinned with All Saints' under Bruce Fraser. In 1959 the congregation decided to build a new, larger church; the first sod was turned on August 28th. The second church was completed and dedicated December 1, 1960. In 1962, Holy Trinity became an independent, self-supporting parish with its own Rector, Donald M. Landon.
In 1976, the parish celebrated its 100th anniversary and accepted the parochial responsibility for the Soo North Mission in the Heyden and Searchmont areas. In 1980 the parish retired the debt on the church building and on November 30th it was consecrated by the Right Reverend Frank F. Nock.
Past clergy and divinity students ministering in Tarentorus have included: Thomas H. Appleby (1876-1881); Henry Heaton (1881-1882); J. H. Glass (1882); George B. Cooke (1882-1884); Frank F. W. Greene (1885-1890); J. P. Smitheman (1896-1899); Henry A. Brook (1906-1914); J. Ethelstan Cheese (1906); C. R. Palmer (1906); Leo D. Griffith (1906-1907); Richard Haines (1907); Thomas Scarlett (1907-1908); J. A. Richardson (1908); Edward F. Pinnington (1909); Percival J. K. Law (1911-1914); Owen Lacey Jull (1916-1919); E. H. Baker (1919); Franklin F. Watson (1919); Gowan Gillmor (1919-1923); F. E. Jewell (1923); Charles B. Harris (1923-1925); Richard G. Warder (1925-1927); A. P. Banks (1927-1928); Benjamin P. Fuller (1928-1929); R. M. Boas (1929-1930); Charles F. Hives (1929-1933); Frederick W. Colloton (1930-1933); D. A. Johnston (1933-1940); J. Scott Wilson (1937-1939); A. B. Hives (1940-1941); A. P. Scott (1941); Donald H. Dixon (1941); Douglas G. Murray (1941-1942); Frank F. Nock (1942-1945); Peter William Olaf Hill (1945-1947); Harold Beatty (1946); Arthur James Bruce (1947); Allan H. McEachern (1947); Charles B. Noble (1947-1958); Percy C. Dodd (1948); Bruce W. Fraser (1958-1959); Warren S. C. Banting (1960-1961); Donald M. Landon (1962-1971); William R. Stadnyk (1971); Jerry William Smith (1976-1978); Kenneth G. Ostler (1978-?), Fr. Bob Elkin (?), Rev. Thomas A. Corston (1992-?)
Sources:
- Rev. W.C.S. Banting, "Tarentorus Opens $100,000 Church; Cost to Parish $60,000", The Algoma Anglican 5, no. 1 (1961): 1.
- "Bishop Nock begins parish's Centennial Celebrations", The Algoma Anglican20, no. 5 (1976): 3.
- "Holy Trinity Church burns mortgage and is consecrated", The Algoma Anglican 26, no. 4 (1981): 7. Algoma University Archives, 2013-086_001_012_019.
- Rev. Donald M. Landon, “Early Anglican Work in Tarentorus”, The Cross in the Devil’s Abode, 1967, Diocesan Heritage Centre history files collection, Algoma University Archives, 2014_037-001-025.
