Thomas Christie, during his life in 19th Century Canada, made heroic efforts to establish the Presbyterian Church as a fixture of many communities in and around Flamborough.
Thomas Christie arrived from Scotland in 1832, as one of a group of three missionaries sent to Upper Canada on behalf of their home church in the Orkney Islands. These men, together with Mr. Christie, volunteered to leave their homeland and come to Upper Canada, where they would lead church work in the new colony. On arrival in Québec, they contracted cholera, which claimed the life of one of the men. Mr. Christie also contracted the terrible disease, but after several weeks of sickness he survived. Reverend Christie settled in West Flamborough close to the boundary with Beverly Township, where his goal was to establish preaching stations in the surrounding settled area. Travelling throughout the province of Upper Canada, Thomas Christie preached to communities from Kingston in the east, to Hamilton in the west, to Fergus in the north, spreading the teachings of the Presbyterian church. Congregations were established in Kirkwall (Beverly), St. George (Dumfries), Puslinch, Elora, St. Andrew’s, Dundas, West Flamborough, and Hamilton where Central Presbyterian Church originated through Christie’s work.
Reverend Christie reported to his home church in Scotland that he found the settlers of the area to be “sober, industrious and spirited”. He was most active in the congregation of West Flamborough, where the congregation was officially established by Mr. Christie in November or December 1832 in connection with the United Secession Church. In 1848, Christie described the trials and tribulations of the early services in what he referred to as “Little Scotland” or Kirkwall, by stating, “when they hardly had a roof to cover their heads and when, in the midst of privations and difficulties, they had worshipped from place to place in houses and barns”.
The first services led by Reverend Christie in West Flamborough were held in a schoolhouse on Lot 1, Concession 1, across the road from the present church at Christie’s Corners. In 1833, Mr. Christie saw the erection of the first church building in the township. This was a frame structure that stood south of the present stone church, on land that is now the area cemetery.
At the time of the Union of Canada in 1861, Thomas Christie remained aloof from the Union of Synod of the United Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Free Presbyterians Church of Canada. The West Flamborough congregation remained loyal to him after his decision to not join the new union. By the 1860’s, a steady influx of settlers resulted in a congregation which had outgrown the frame building, so a Reverend Christie conducted the first morning service held in the new church.
Although he helped establish many congregations, the West Flamborough Presbyterian Church was Reverend Christie’s only charge in Canada, where he remained the pastor for 38 years. He actively discharged his duties a few days before his death on 8 September 1870. Thomas Christie was buried below where the original pulpit has stood. It has been stated that Reverend Christie forever “lies resting among his flock”.
Christie served as an ordained minister for fifty three years, the majority of which were spent in the wilds of Upper Canada. He can be regarded as one of the “giants” of the Church in Canada, and typified the passion and determination that brought Presbyterianism to Canada and established it here. It has been said that Reverend Thomas Christie’s life’s work will long be felt in the communities where he was influential in establishing a Presbyterian institution.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 2002, 2023.
