St. Paul's Anglican Church (Manitouwaning, Ont.), the oldest church in the Diocese of Algoma, was originally built in 1845. Anglican services in the area had begun in 1835 began when Capt. Thomas G. Anderson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, was sent to organize a missionary and educational establishment on Manitoulin Island accompanied by the Rev. Adam Elliot. This “establishment” faced difficult times in its early years, peaking with a fire in 1838 which destroyed most of its buildings. The Irish-born Rev. Frederick A. O'Meara, a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, was the incumbent during St. Paul's construction and he remained the priest-in-charge until 1863. O'Meara translated Scriptures and Liturgy into Ojibway. He also helped an aboriginal man, Peter Jacobs, prepare for the Holy Orders.
O'Meara, quite successful in his proselytizing, applied unsuccessfully for funding to build a church. The congregation at Manitouwaning went forward anyway, felling and squaring trees, and by 1845 the aboriginal congregation had raised a porch and steeple. With the frame completed, a petition was created and sent to the Rt. Rev. John Strachan, the first Bishop of Toronto, and the man who had confirmed the members of the congregation. The petition convinced the bishop to appeal to the English Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and its grants in combination with subscriptions from individuals in England, allowed for the completion of St. Paul's. When Bishop Strachan visited Manitouwaning in 1849, he commented that: “The new church, a very neat wooden building stands high, and is the most inspiring object in the village. Though not quite finished it was made fit for Divine service.”
Mr. Jacobs succeeded O'Meara and was in charge of Manitouwaning until his death at the age of thirty-one in 1864. There remains a marble tablet to commemorate Jacobs on a wall within the church.
The 1862 Manitoulin Treaty opened Manitoulin Island to white settlement and displaced many of the aboriginal people who had been living at Manitouwaning, most of whom would re-settle at Sheguiandah.
When the Rev. Roy Locke arrived in Manitowaning in 1958, the church had fallen into disrepair. Locke began a restoration fund to remedy the situation. The renovations began within a few years and were completed in time to celebrate the church's 120th anniversary. The renovations included raising the church onto a new concrete foundation, the addition of a full size crypt to allow space for a parish hall, and the purchase and installation of a new furnace. On June 30, 1964 the cornerstone of the new foundation, marking the beginning of the restoration, was laid by the Most Rev. William L. Wright. Archbishop of Algoma.
Sources:
Algoma University, http://archives.algomau.ca/main/sites/default/files/2013-086_001_003_005_1.pdf [accessed 2013 July, 15]
http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100028959/1100100028961
