http://fredericton.anglican.org/nb_ang/pdf/nba0412.pdf
DECEMBER 2004
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE DIOCESE OF FREDERICTON
VOL. 29 NO. 10
From Long Island to home sweet Queenstown
St. Stephen’s celebrates
100 years in 2005 (moved from Long Island)
THE REV. GERRY LASKEY
The congregation of St Stephen’s, Queenstown, together with the whole Parish of Gagetown family, is marking its centennial year with special celebrations. Sunday, Dec. 26, the patronal feast for St Stephen the Martyr, will be marked with a parish Eucharist at 10 a.m.The main celebration for the centennial, however, will take place on the Sunday nearest the consecration date, which is August 21 with a service at 3 p.m.with guest preacher BishopWilliam Hockin. All parishioners, past and present, are warmly invited. A reception, time of fellowship and display of memorabilia at the Queenstown Orange Hall will follow the service. By the time you read this we shall, God willing, have begun the new Christian year that leads us into 2005 with several events at St. Stephen’s. The first is the first pastoral visitation of Bishop Claude Miller on Advent Sunday with a parish Eucharist. During the service it is hoped that one young person will be confirmed, while one adult and four young people will be both baptized and confirmed. What a great way to start this Christian Year! On the Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 5, it is our Annual Service of Lessons and Carols for Advent at 7 p.m. Saint Stephen’s Church, Queenstown, Queen’s County was consecrated on the Feast of St Bartholomew the Apostle, August 24, 1905 by Bishop Tully Kingdon. At that time the Church was still part of the Parish of Greenwich where it remained until 1912 when it joined the Parish of Gagetown. The Church is the second in the area to bear the name of the first recorded Christian martyr. Stephen, one of the original seven deacons in the Church, was stoned to death as Saul of Tarsus (later St Paul) bore approving witness. The original St Stephen’s Church was built in 1790 on Long Island, Queen’s County, just off shore from the present site on the west bank of the Saint John River, at the head of Church Creek. At that time it was served by the first resident Society for the Propagation of the Gospel missionary, the Rev. Richard Clarke, who arrived in Gagetown in 1786. It served both the Queenstown/Hampstead and Wickham sides of the river for some years, but over time proved impractical due to freshets and poor ice conditions. For a considerable time a small community settled the island and in addition to the church was an inn and a tavern. Today our Long Island (not to be confused with its New York name-sake) serves only as an often-wet pastureland. The original church was eventually moved to Wickham where it was used until its destruction during the Saxby Gale of 1869. For a few years before the construction of the new St Stephen’s, services in Queenstown were held in the Peter’s family hall.