Middle Sackville Baptist Church

Middle Sackville Baptist Church
14 Church Street, Middle Sackville, N.B. 
MIDDLE SACKVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH
1763/1905
Both Middle Sackville Baptist Church and Sackville Main Street Baptist Church trace their origins to the first Baptist congregation in Canada established in Middle Sackville near Morice’s Mill Pond/Silver Lake by a group of thirteen Baptist settlers from Swansea, Mass. who landed at Slack’s Cove in 1763. While the majority of these settlers returned to Massachusetts in 1771 the congregation was reconstituted under the leadership of Joseph Crandall in 1798. After a period of growth and the building of several chapels a division of the field was made with those living north of Ogden Mill Road attending Middle Sackville Baptist Church while those living south of this point were connected to Main Street Baptist Church. The present Middle Sackville Baptist Church building was constructed in 1905, and a major addition with classrooms and a gynmnasium was built in 1995.The 100th anniversary of the building of the present church was celebrated in 2005.
The 250th anniversary of the founding of the congregation was celebrated in 2013.
Marker placed by Tantramar Historic Sites and Middle Sackville United Baptist Church, and unveiled on Saturday 11 June 2005 by a group of descendants of the 1905 Building Committee
1763
Middle Sackville Baptist Church
The first Baptist congregation in Canada was ìplantedî in Middle Sackville in 1763 upon the arrival of 13 Baptist settlers from Swansea, Massachusetts. Although most of these settlers returned to Massachusetts in 1771, and the congregation struggled for several years, the church was reconstituted by Joseph Crandall in 1798. Records indicate that a Meeting House was being used by 1809. In 1839, a division occurred in the congregation, and Bethel Meeting House opened in 1842 near the site of the present church. Beulah Meeting House was built at Four Corners in 1844. After many congregational reorganizations, the Middle Sackville Baptist congregation was formed in 1902 for Baptists living north of Ogden Mill Road. The present building was built in 1905, and expanded in 1995.
MIDDLE SACKVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH
CANADA’S FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
ESTABLISHED 1763SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:45

HOME OF
SACKVILLE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
EST. 2003

CHURCH OFFICE 536-2615
PASTORS
VERNON VICKRUCK       TARA ALBERT
Estabrooks, R. Ernest, The History of the United Baptist Church at Middle Sackville 1863 – 1953 (Sackville, N.B., 1953).

Beal, Margaret and David H. Snell, “An Historical Sketch of the Middle Sackville United Baptist Church,’ The White Fence, #47, October 2010.

“A Timeline of Significant Dates in the History of Baptists in Sackville, NB,” Sackville Tribune-Post, 14 August 2013.

Middle Sackville Baptist Church: A Brief History.

“The First Baptist Church in Canada”.

Jackson, K. & C.Scobie, Sackville Then and Now: New Brunswick’s Oldest Town in Photographs (Sackville, N.B.: Tantramar Heritage Trust, 2013), p.63.

On the importance of the Baptist allegiance of many of the New England Planters who came to Sackville, see Snowdon, James D., Footprints in the Marsh Mud: Politics and Land Settlement in the Township of Sackville 1760-1800 (M.A. thesis, University of New Brunswick, 1974; reprinted, Tantramar Heritage Trust, 2000), pp. 28-30.

Joseph Crandall

Bumsted, J.M.,”CRANDALL, JOSEPH,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. VIII.

Hamilton, Bill, “The legacy of Rev.Joseph Crandall (c.1761-1856),” Sackville Tribune-Post, 26 September 2007, p.31.

Hamilton, Bill, “Examining the lasting legacy of Joseph Crandall,” Sackville Tribune-Post, 6 October 2010.

100th Anniversary Celebration (2005)

“Middle Sackville Baptist Church marks 100 years”, Sackville Tribune-Post, 8 June 2005, p.15.

“Marking 100 Years,” Sackville Tribune-Post, 22 June 2005 (photo of unveiling of plaque).

250th Anniversary Celebration (2013)

Tower, Katie, “Local Baptists Celebrating 250 Years,” Sackville Tribune-Post, 3 July 2013, p.5.

Tantramar Heritage Trust | Historic Sites