John Stuart (24 February 1740 – 15 August 1811) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman,

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, educator, and

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

. He is noted for being the first chaplain of the

Legislative Council of Upper Canada The Legislative Council of Upper Canada was the upper house governing the province of Upper Canada. Modelled after the British House of Lords, it was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was specified that the council should consist ...

, for being the first Anglican priest in what is now Ontario, for building the first church (now St. George's Cathedral) in what is now

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

, and for opening the first

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

Early life

John Stuart was born near

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

in 1740. After graduating from the

College of Philadelphia The Academy and College of Philadelphia (1749–1791) was a boys' school and men's college in Philadelphia in the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania. Founded in 1749 by a group of local notables that included Benjamin Franklin, the Academy of P ...

in 1763 he taught school, but returned to the college to complete a master's degree. He converted from

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

and was ordained by the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

as a deacon, and later, as a priest. Stuart married Jane Okill in 1775 and they would have eight children.

Missionary to the Mohawks

Upon receiving an appointment from the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

he was assigned as a missionary to the

Mohawks The Mohawk, also known by their own name, (), are an Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Five Nations or later the Six Nations). Mohawk are an Iroquoi ...

Fort Hunter, New York Fort Hunter is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Florida, Montgomery County, New York, Florida in Montgomery County, New York, Montgomery County, New York (state), New York, United States, west ...

. His work of serving the people in his chapel at Fort Hunter began in 1770. He was also responsible for a small school at nearby Johnstown where he also conducted monthly services, and he ministered to the Mohawks at

Canajoharie Canajoharie (), also known as the "Upper Castle", was the name of one of two major towns of the Mohawk nation in 1738. The community stretched for a mile and a half along the southern bank of the Mohawk River, from a village known as ''Dekanohag ...

where he met Mohawk leader

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

. Stuart collaborated with Joseph Brant to translate the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mohawk dialect.Osborne 2011, p. 31 Since Stuart was a Loyalist and an Anglican priest, he was harassed by

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

rebels. His home was looted, property confiscated, and his church desecrated. He was almost arrested in 1777 but saved by Joseph Brant and his troops.

British Canada years

By 1781, Stuart was permitted to leave for the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

. He was exchanged for an army officer who had been imprisoned by the British. Stuart arrived in Canada with his wife, Jane (née Okill), three children and his black slaves. He settled in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

where he became the chaplain for the 2nd Battalion of the

King's Royal Regiment of New York The King's Royal Regiment of New York, also known as Johnson's Royal Regiment of New York, King's Royal Regiment, King's Royal Yorkers, and Royal Greens, were one of the first Loyalist regiments, raised on June 19, 1776, in British Canada, durin ...

. He also operated a school and ministered to Loyalist settlers. Stuart realized that prospects of obtaining a more secure position or obtaining property in Montreal were low, so in 1783 he petitioned Governor Haldimand to allow him to move to Cataraqui (now Kingston), grant him land and appoint him Chaplain of the Garrison of Cataraqui. He was successful and so he moved to Cataraqui with his family in 1785. He visited the neighboring Mohawk settlers and tended to his fellow citizens. His church consisted of only a room in the garrison quarters at Tête-de-Pont Barracks. The room was used until the first St. George's Church was built in 1792. St. George's was the first church to be built in the Kingston area.Mika 1987, p. 135Osborne 2011, p. 33 He is often referred to as the "Father of the Upper Canada Church". In 1786 Stuart opened the first school west of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

.John Stuart - Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Retrieved 2015-04-07 It was located in one room in his

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

and had an enrolment of 30 pupils. The schoolroom was expanded by adding a small shed and it would become the first grammar school (

Secondary School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

) in Upper Canada. He ran the school until 1788. In 1792, Lieutenant Governor Simcoe appointed him chaplain of the

. Stuart became the first Anglican priest in what is now the province of Ontario. In 1799 he was granted an honorary

Doctorate of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...

degree from the College of Philadelphia. John and Jane Stuart had eight surviving children. Their eldest son, George Okill Stuart, would become rector of Kingston after the death of his father.Osborne 2011, p. 258

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
John Stuart - Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Retrieved 2015-04-07
The Revd. John Stuart , DD, UEL of Kingston and His Family - A Genealogical Study
Retrieved 2015-04-07 *Osborne, Brian S. and Donald Swainson. ''Kingston, Building on the Past for the Future''. Quarry Heritage Books, 2011. *Mika, Nick and Helma et al. ''Kingston, Historic City''. Belleville: Mika Publishing Co., 1987. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, John 1740 births 1811 deaths Canadian Anglican priests Converts to Anglicanism from Presbyterianism Pre-Confederation Ontario people United Empire Loyalists People from colonial New York People from colonial Pennsylvania People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Early life

Missionary to the Mohawks

British Canada years

See also

References