ST. ANN'S CHURCH, MERRICKVILLE, 1903
The first Catholics to settle in Merrickville were the families of the Irish, Scottish and French builders of the Rideau Canal, 1826-32. The area was originally served by priests visiting from Perth and Prescott and later from Smiths Falls and Kemptville. It 1848 Bishop Patrick Phelan of Kingston blessed the first church on this site and consecrated St. Ann's cemetery just to the south of the Village of Merrickville.
A resident pastor was stationed at Merrickville in 1886, at which time it became a formal parish. The rectory next door to the east was built in 1887. From 1886 until the present, the boundaries of the Merrickville Catholic Parish have been all of Wolford Township to the south and west and parts of the townships of Montague to the North, Marlborough to the north-east and Oxford to the east.
The present church was built during 1902 and 1903 and was formally dedicated by the Most Rev. C. H. Gauthier, Archbishop of Kingston, on Sunday, October 12, 1903.
This historical plaque was blessed and dedicated on Sunday, October 12, 2003, by the pastor of St. Ann's Parish, the Rev. Andrew B. Shim, and the Rev Edward J. R. Jackman O.P. of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association.
An historical plaque of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston
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| IN MEMORY OF REV. MORGAN C. O'BRIEN DIED JAN. 13TH 1894 AGED 38 Y'RS. & 9 MOS. REQUIESCAT IN PACE. |
