THE first Presbyterian minister, or minister or any denomination, who came into the Scotch Block, was The Rev. William Jenkins from the Township of Markham. He preached on a Sabbath in June, 1820, on the farm of Andrew Laidlaw on Lot 6, in the 4th Concession of Esquesing, and his text was Ez. 34: 25:” “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.” The people sat around him on logs, and his pulpit,* by the side of which he stood, was a maple stump. He visited afterwards in the neighborhood, baptized children, and organized the congregation. He was born in Forfar, Scotland, in 1779, studied for the ministry, and emigrated to the United States where he engaged in work among the Oneida Indians for eleven years. In 1816, or 1817, he crossed over to Kingston, and travelled westward on a missionary journey through the country to York, in the Home District, which comprised the counties of York, Peel and Simcoe.

The seat of government of the new Province of Upper Canada, constituted in 1.791, was in 1794 transferred by Governor Simcoe from Newark, at the mouth of the Niagara River, to York, the new capital, called in honor of the second son of George III, and the Provincial Parliament met there first in June, 1797.

For some years Mr. Jenkins was the only Presbyterian minister in this part of Upper Canada. He organized the Church at Richmond Hill, in 1817, and the Church in the township of Scarborough in 1818. In addition to serving these two congregations he carried on missionary labor over an extensive territory. He owned a farm of two hundred acres upon which he lived. He was in many ways a remarkable man:—an excellent scholar, a ready and able preacher, remarkable for the aptness of his texts, a faithful pastor, of a devoted missionary spirit, of an intrepid courage, and beloved for the urbanity of his manners. He died in 1843.

In the summer of .1821 The Rev. Abner Wright in the Niagara district, which included the counties of Welland and Lincoln, preached near the house of James Laidlaw, Sr., and dispensed the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. On account of some informality on the previous occasion a session was then chosen of the following men:—John Stirrett, James Laidlaw, Robert Shortreed, George Barbour, Thomas Barbour, George Darling, James Frazer and John Creighton. In 1823 The Rev. Andrew Glen, a missionary from Scotland, who settled in Lower Canada, preached and dispensed the Sacrament. In 1824 The Rev. William King, who was ministering to a congregation on Dundas Street in the Township of Nelson, and later on also preached at Flamborough and Watertown, was engaged to supply the Esquesing Church with a service every fourth Sabbath for the remainder of that year, and for part of 1825, but it is said that on account of poor health he was obliged to desist. In 1824 The Rev. Dr. A. Bullious, of the Presbytery of Cambridge, New York, of the Associate Church, visited Esquesing, and was present with JMr. King at a Communion service. It would seem that the Esquesing congregation which from the begininng had been independent, was about this time received into the communion of the Associate Church. What further services were rendered the Church by Mr. King are not known, but he was present at the Communion in 1829, and was assisted by The Rev. Andrew Bell, who was ordained pastor of the Streetsville Church in 1828, and became well known afterwards as clerk of the United Synod, and still later as clerk of the Synod of the Church of Scotland in Canada. In the autumn' of 1826 The Rev. Thomas Beveridge, from the Associate Synod of North America, visited Esquesing, and created a division in the congregation by urging certain tenets of his denomination and makng an unqualified assent to them necessary to participation in the privileges of the Lord’s Supper. Many members of the Church felt themselves excluded thereby, and strongly dissented from the views set forth by Air. Beveridge, while others accepted them. This was the beginning of trouble in the congregation, which was never overcome entirely although both sides made effoffrts to do so. From time to time occasional supplies were furnished by the Associate Synod and the Presbytery of the Canadas, with which the Esquesing congregation became connected. At the annual meeting in April, 1830, it was agreed by all parties to apply to the United Secession Church in Scotland for a minister as the most likely means to'unite the congregation. The month of July was fixed as the time to which the congregation would wait an answer to their petition. In the meantime The Rev. Peter Ferguson preached to the congregation. He had come from Scotland in the autumn of 1830. In May of that year he had been ordained by the United Associate Presbytery of Falkirk and Stirling, and on coming to Canada became a member of the United Presbytery on April 20, 1831, and soon after was inducted to the pastoral charge of West Gwillimbury. Mr. Ferguson was heard in Esquesing with considerable interest and satisfaction, and received a call, which was presented to the Presbytery of York in 1.831, but the call was not sustained. Little encouragement being given to continue the correspondence with Scotland, a second call to Air. Ferguson, signed by a large majority of the congregation was forwarded to the Presbytery of York at its meeting in Streetsville, in February, 1832, which was accepted and sustained, and on April 11, .1832, Mr. Ferguson was inducted pastor of the First Presbyterian congregation in Esquesing. The Rev. Duncan McMillan of Caledon preached the sermon, the questions were put by The Rev. William King, and the charges to the minister and people were given by The Reverend Andrew Bell.