Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 26

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Lake Bennett, British Columbia

by Margaret Carter

The Church in Action

Comfortable quarters were still scarce in Bennett in 1899, and it was important they serve as many functions as possible. An Anglican missionary arrived in Bennett in 1899 and set up headquarters in a crude tent (Fig. 60), but upon completion of St. Andrew's Church he held services in the building as well.¹ Presbyterian services were conducted at 2 and 7 on Sunday, and were well attended: "although the population has decreased by two thirds I had one of the best congregations yet last Sunday."² Sunday school classes were held every week long before the church was completed. Hazel Hartshorn Gloslie, who was in Bennett as a child, remembers sitting on crates in the unfinished building to learn her lessons.³ There was an active Ladies Aid Society⁴ (see Fig. 61). An evening prayer and praise service was also held in the middle of the week. Those attending sat on benches that could easily be moved aside, for church uses extended far beyond the usual worship function.

60 The church. (Sinclair Papers.)

61 One of the postcards printed up and sold by the Ladies Aid to obtain money for the church. (Sinclair Papers.)

Socials occurred every week, first on Thursday, then on Tuesday. Their object was "to bring the men into contact with what family life we have in the town. It is remarkable how an introduction to wives and daughters make the average man without a family more particular about his conduct and associates,"⁵ wrote Sinclair. These socials were so popular that they attracted as many as 60 people to one gathering⁶ — a number which included visitors, church members as well as other Bennett residents. A description of one of the socials in the Bennett Sun of 5 August 1899 accounts for their success, for everyone participated. The program included several solo and duet renditions of favourite songs, political discourses and comical elocutions. At a later session, Sinclair himself entertained as a part of a quartette — "Messrs. Stewart, DuBressy, Cullen and Sinclair! We sang (1) 'The watch on the Rhine' encore Canadian Boat Song. (2) 'Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day!' Encore 'Trembling O'er us.' What do you think of your old man in this new role!" ⁷ he jokingly wrote his wife.

The church was used as a community centre during the day. Sinclair reported,

Our pretty, cosy little Church is the most popular rendezvous in town for the best people. They hold socials, write letters, have business meetings, meet engagements, read, smoke, file saws (when there are no ladies present), and sometimes do a little courting in the place, which in a better equipped town, they would reserve exclusively for worship. ⁸

He provided plenty of fuel for the stove, books, and a wide variety of periodicals sent from the south for reading matter (see Appendix B). The church also contained paper and pens for writing.

Figure 54 shows that special tables were constructed on the front sides of the building to hold these materials and act as writing desks. Sinclair secured a gramophone for those who wanted entertainment and kept it in good repair while ensuring that those interested had a variety of music to listen to.⁹ He encouraged discussion among the thoughtful. The aim of this activity was to keep men away from saloons and gambling, and Sinclair was so successful at this campaign that the gamblers themselves singled him out for blame when their 'dens' were closed in 1900.¹⁰

The pastor of Lake Bennett church held his first wedding in the church while the walls were still of canvas (Fig. 62) and buried many dead. He sought out the sick and escorted the seriously ill to hospital in Dawson or Skagway.¹¹ Hospital bills were paid through a fund collected at the weekly socials. During the winter of 1899 he repaired the cracks in Grant's old manse.¹² Before long, everyone knew and liked Sinclair; consequently, they felt welcome in the church.

62 First wedding in St. Andrew's Church tent. (Sinclair Papers.)

Not the least of the reasons the church at Bennett grew as it did by the spring of 1900 was its success in meeting some very pressing Yukon needs. On his return from the Klondike in 1899, Bennett's second minister Dickey pointed out, "a great many of the people have been on the frontier for many years and look upon a church as altogether unnecessary. They do not feel the need of a church unless you can show them that the church is doing some practical good."¹³ He continued to list the avenues they considered productive: "caring for the sick, providing for the destitute, leading intellectual and social pursuits." This list aligns very well with a detailing of the possible functions that could be performed by Yukon churches given by G.E. Gartrell in a thesis on the subject.¹⁴ Gartrell outlines four: ministration of spiritual needs, entertainment, hospital services and education. As the previous paragraphs indicate, Sinclair developed all of these aspects extensively while he was in Bennett — with considerable emphasis on the practical.

Sinclair's ability to understand community needs and take measures to fulfil them played no small part in the growth of the church. His autonomy and that of the ministers that preceded him in Bennett was an integral part of the Presbyterian mission policy. According to Gartrell, the Presbyterian Church's policy of treating each missionary or "parish" as a unit which could best determine its own needs¹⁵ played a major role in making it the most successful in the Yukon field.