114 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



in a state that we could attend Divine Service, but during this season it 

 is hardly possible to attend. It remains in the state the Commissariat 

 put it in for the purpose of storing provisions in after we repossessed our- 

 selves of the frontier, with the trifling addition of a temporary reading 

 desk and gallery for the troops. Your Lordship saw the state it was in 

 last summer. Nothing whatever has been done or likely to be done. It 

 is not even weather proof. The church was made use of in 1812 as an 

 hospital for the wounded. We were deprived of our all and have bare!)- 

 the means of getting covering for ourselves and families, to which must 

 be attributed the melancholy state the church remains in, &c., &c." 



The next letter is dated Niagara, 20th Sept., 1820, and first speaks of 

 the visit formerly paid and goes on thus : " It may not be amiss to re- 

 capitulate. Previous to war of 181 2 the small congregation of Niagara 

 erected at their own expense a church which cost ^1200 cy. After its 

 destruction by fire, application was made in 18 16 to His Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment for some aid towards putting it into a state to perform Divine 

 service in, when His Majesty was graciously pleased to order ;^50o stg. 

 which has been received and applied, but falls short of accomplishing our 

 wish. Our congregation are too poor to expect much from them. From 

 their living within gunshot of the enemy's lines, they suffered the loss of 

 all they possessed, burnt out and plundered of everything, and they had 

 really not yet recovered their misfortunes from the late unhappy events, 

 &c., &c." 



The answer to this letter is dated 25th Dec, 1820, mentions that the 

 Society had lately placed money in hands of Bishop of Quebec for aid 

 in building churches and refers writer to him. 



The churchyard is very interesting and also unique, for here may be 

 traced the rifle pits constructed during the war. The church was used by 

 both armies, for after the battle of Quecnston Heights it was used as a 

 hospital for our wounded, then by the Americans as a barracks, and 

 again by our own commissariat. What an eventful history! Could these 

 stones speak, (and do they not speak eloquently of the past .'') what 

 disputed points in our history might not be cleared up .'* The lover of 

 the curious may find many strangely pathetic and sometimes strangely 

 grotesque lines here, the desire to be remembered being so strongly im- 

 planted in the human breast, but I only copy here those having some 

 bearing on the history of the place. 



Length of service seems to be the rule, for in the graveyard is an in- 

 scription : " In memory of Jno. Ray, 50 years parish clerk of St. Mark's, 

 who died at an advanced age, Oct. 6th, 1846." The oldest record is placed 



