88 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
bark, and the new community, thus housed, was able to pass the winter 
in contentment and even in some degree of comfort.! 
On.the day after Easter in the following spring the settlement 
elected its first church wardens and vestrymen, and was permitted for 
a time to enjoy the ministrations of the Reverend John Beardsley, 
formerly of Stratford, Connecticut, who had arrived in the previous 
autumn with Colonel Beverley Robinson’s Loyal American Regiment, 
of which he had been chaplain. But in 1786 Mr. Beardsley was trans- 
ferred to Maugerville on the death of the Reverend John Sayre, and 
remained there until his retirement from the ministry, when he re- 
turned to Kingston to spend the remainder of his days. Religious 
worship continued to be held in the home of one of the parishioners, 
but without a regular clergyman, until July, 1787, when the Reverend 
James Scovil came from Connecticut, and was granted the parsonage 
lot, while the four acres for the church and school were at'length 
transferred to the parish for its use. It was not, however, until the 
summer of 1789 that an edifice which was named Trinity Church, was 
erected in Kingston, the money for this purpose being provided partly 
by local subscription and partly by a liberal donation from the govern- 
ment. In 1803 the Reverend Elias Scovil was employed to serve as 
assistant rector under his father, who had already become somewhat 
infirm, although the latter remained in charge of Kingston Parish 
until his death in December, 1808. Already Trinity Church had 
acquired a steeple, though it had to wait for two years longer before 
it could boast the possession of a stove. Its bell came as a gift from 
some gentlemen in St. John in 1813. However, the prolonged ab- 
sence of these adjuncts and conveniences did not interfere with the 
growth of the congregation, for 257 persons were confirmed at Trinity 
by Bishop Charles Inglis, when he visited Kingston at the close of 
July, 1809? 
A month before the founders of Kingston sailed from Huntington 
Bay the commanding officers of fourteen of the principal Loyalist 
regiments, including the Queen’s Rangers, the Prince of Wales Ameri- 
can Volunteers, and the King’s American Regiment, presented a 
memorial to Sir Guy Carleton at New York (March 14, 1783), urging 
that grants of land in some of the royal American provinces be given 
to the officers and men of their commands, together with assistance 
to enable them to settle thereon, inasmuch as those who had served 
the British cause in arms would not be tolerated in the States. It was 
also recommended that the officers be granted half-pay. This me- 
morial received Carleton’s ready endorsement, and its recommenda- 

1 Bates, Kingston and the Loyalists of 1783, 11, 13. 
2 Thid., 13-17. 
