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ft The At on March Centennial year for St Albans parish St Allan the nam win given to fine new church In Acton by its first rector the Rev SwaDow mi the British martyr in A The church celebrating Its centennial year In 1973 with many special services and former rectors as guests How did the church begin The property was deeded to the incorporated synod of Toronto In by William and Esther Sharp of Hamilton It was then described as the southeast half of village lot No in Block 1 In the village of Acton The church with the fine new name of St Alban was a plain rectangular frame structure with the door at the east end same building today completely renovated In The Church of England settlers had ministrations of religion before the church was built of course Missionary Rev Adam Elliott a travelling missionary called a large part of cenual Ontario his parish It thought the mission station In this area was at One was recorded there as early as 1M9 and was probably ministered to by the Rev J D MacKenrieandtheRev F A Georgetown Service would have been held Irregularly in a home railroad cut through the bush here when became Acton in IMS Progressing from an itinerant minister the next Anglican services in Acton were conducted by the Rev W Bates who lived at and Tad con gregations there and at Acton Erin Eramosa Hillsburg and Both he and his horse Hiawatha were well known In Acton he held services in the Old Temperance Hall The story goes that the roof leaked and one winter day he slipped and fell on the icy floor Parish split By 1873 his big parish was divided Rev Massey took over the north Erin and Garafraxa Acton and were under the care of the Rev Swallow who brought the Acton parish its name and first regular Church of England services in town a main ran boom the north- corner of Main and Bower Three years later a rectory was purchased new church free of debt was consecrated In July 1S7S by the first Bishop of Niagara Mr Swallow was a young married man In deacon orders till when he became a priest and was assistant to Archdeacon Palmer tie died in at the age of After Acton he had ministered at and Pine Grove Next to come was tho Rev Christopher son of an Irish clergyman who had emigrated to Canada Although many of his parishioners believe it ho was ac cused of intemperance to the point of delirium tremens His departure altogether a happy one Longtime rectory Next comes a quaint and kindly bachelor the Rev Charles Russell Lee MA and the rectory on Willow St was purchased in for him from Mr John It was torn down several ago and has been replaced a parking lot were a popular social event and were one of ways used at the church to raise money to pay Tor this fine new parsonage Records show a in raised for tho editor one year events would ill to Next rm tor wo lev HI Smith from lUiB then the I 10IR mi tho I 1WI lMi J A IBM to the Nov MM 17 who had u brilliant r a padre In the historian lln Arnold Brooks will be tho gui speaker at fit service on June of tills He In Acton from mm to lie was very rented In the church history an I many of the early which have been adapted far tills account of the parish Hie dtulh of tho Rev liixton was shock to tho parish town He was rector from wt hall then India memory Many donations and lilU volunteer rk this line It is a popular plain for tan groups and many others Ho was followed by the Ralph I ITke now of flt Mr was a Sunday The Jones was hare from MM to MM Is now a and preached recently at Knox church here Hie Hank wan here from MM to and la now with tin hoard of education at Niagara Kalis He exported to bo back for anniversary June In 1060 for the first time Acton last month became affiliated withKt James Moat recent rectors are the Don West to IMS now officer In Ottawa lha ItlUhle McMurrny 1965 to now Anglican United 1l lain at the University of and the present rector Rev Horry Dawson the pant ten years the has been a bright new In subdivision Hie mean ol I rectory next or to torn down the yfarn tho of windows on furniture added to the arm of St Albans church 1872 By then there were all of 100 people in Acton and six congregations Anglican Pres byterian Methodist Congre- gatlonalist Baptist and at the Acton point in the charge Sunday school was In the after noon By 1880 the newest rector Rev W J wanted to build a his two charges He tailed In Acton but succeeded in Rockwood All he obtained for St Alban a was a new color scheme in cream walls lavender celling rose pink chancel stonecolored woodwork and a narrow fresco border A new organ was bought and paid for total It was Mr who dedicated the new grounds for cemetery In and conducted the first burial there After Mr came Alexander George Edward West macott and congregational con fusion Their heart had been set on a Wyctiffe student and he was asked not to stay Hedldntgetas far as to live in the rectory Died at His successor was luckily very popular Rev George Cooke The rectory was too small for his family of 10 children and he lived Instead on the former property now destined or apartments He was on school board and laid the of th public school In He died of cancer of the stomach at and memorial tablets were placed in the Acton CORNERSTONE OF St Alban parish hall was dedicated in June 1951 On the left Is the rector the Rev who died the next year subsequently the new hall was named in Us honor With him left to right are United church minister the Rev E A Currey warden Jolley Oakley who laid the blocks T Cook who donated the stone warden Jones Very Rev W E Jackson dean of Niagara who dedicated the stone the Rev W Craven of Hamilton Beach and Knox the Rev Armstrong Long obituary Week after week the Free Press reported In detail on Mr a Illness first reported as catarrh of stomach Then doctors adjudged a small seed had lodged in his stomach and was growing hence he drank carbolic acid to try to kill the growth Four doctors from Acton Toronto and Chicago operated on him at his homo here an J pronounced a malignant growth and no hope When ho died his obituary ran to over a column in the Free Press recalling his early work as a missionary in sparsely settled Muskoka when he travelled miles on His liberal views and free association with the members of all churches made him a general favorite the editor wrote Bell Installed In 1695 came Rev John Keith and during his stay pressured to have the rector live there unsuccessfully The rectory was raised repaired and enlarged He had the bell put In which has ever since called the people to worship An aristocrat from the West Indies came the Rev Joseph Grayfoot Browne who stayed three years before returning south due to his wife health Canadian winters t for him They say one night he knocked a door during a snowstorm to plain pitifully he lost his hat Ins horse and his way He took over a parish in the Hopes unsuccessful His successor Rev Matthew Wilson was a Scot from Cheshire who arrived In town in 1905 but like his predecessor returned to his native land after a couple of years here The frame church was 36 years old now and he too hoped to replace It A building fund was begun and a great threeday fund raising bazaar was held in the town hail in 1905 Among the workers was Jalna author Maze la Roche then a parishioner But the ambitious plans of 1907 for a new church never came to pass All they could do was fix up the old church Later the same year the Bishop of Niagara re- dedicated the church with Its improvements widened and enlarged chancel new wing added including parish room fur small vestry room with small in the nave west door closed old inner removed and new porch built at the corner cellar with furnace whole Interior lined with pine pulpit and Lovcrlng etc new brass memorial lectern and cork carpet original wide boards arc still beneath the present walls and flooring Mr Wilson was a tall angular man who always wore a black hat with white band trouser lens tucked into logins and was recalled a often walking so right down the centre of the road Stormy years 1J09 to 1911 saw the Incumbency of the Robert Ferdinand Kelleman bom In Central America distantly connected with the emperor of Austria a graduate theological seminary in New York Apparently his few years here were very stormy The pons survived but he He conducted his last services in October 1011 and died the next March In the brass communion rail was placed In the church In his memory Then came the Rev H Wilkinson from to 1915 the first parish hall was built during this time It was torn down in Churches important i Press files over the years show the church close Involve ment with the life of the town Each week in those days there was a special article of church news A special sermon could rate a full column of reporting Concerts were detailed the participants and their soloi and recitations The Sab bath School for many years pic nicked in Warden Warren bush east of town The most feature was he tea a well fed participant reported to floras The 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