Catholic Parishes in PEI (c. 1885) by Rev. Alfred E. Burke
Please see the Contents page for information on this and other historical sketches of PEI Roman Catholic parishes, as compiled by Father Alfred Burke circa 1885.
The Mission of St. Lawrence, Morell
The district now known as the mission of St. Lawrence of Morell, comprises within its parochial limits the site of the old French town of St. Peters, once the principal trading post of Ile St. Jean. At the mouth of St. Peter's Harbour, on the land of Mr. John Sinnott, may still be seen row after row of the old cellars of the French houses, while, close down by the sea are the bastions of what was, according to plans still extant, a finer fortress than that of Port La Joie.
It was from St. Peter's in 1755 that the three hundred French Neutrals and their families were sent to a cruel death, under pretext of being shipped home to France, they being, by order of the Nova Scotia Government, forced to embark in a leaky transport which foundered within a hundred leagues of the Scilly Isles. The remainder of the French inhabitants of the Isle St. Jean then took fright, some going to Cape Breton, while others made their way to the New England Colonies.
Others again, on the hide and seek principal, were removed to a different part of the Island. Many years later Irish and Scotch settlers came to take up the land and their ploughs now furrow what were once the streets of the deserted town of St. Pierre. The greater part of Morell was at that time owned by Mr. Morrell, who is said to have been a good landlord, but as he only granted leases for a term of forty years, the early settlers contented themselves at first, with small farms, for which they paid about thrity two cents an acre. This rent they paid, by working for Mr. Morrell, they also purchased seed from him, paying him in manual labour. The oldest inhabitants still tell, how, after a hard days work, they would return to their log hut in the woods with a bag of seed potatoes on their backs to be sowed amongst the stumps of their new clearings. Up to the year 1866 the settlers of Morell heard mass at St. Andrews, but in that year they commenced, under the direction of Bishop McIntyre to build their church. It is a wooden edifice sixty feet in length by thrity five in width, and twenty two feet from floor to eave. The spire rises to a height of seventy five feet. The framer was Thomas Dunn. That the people of Morell possess such a church is chiefly due to the Catholic spirit and perseverance of Peter Sinnott Esq. whose influence at the time, was very great in the parish. There has never been a resident priest in the mission of St. Lawrence, it having always been attended from St. Andrews.
There is now very little trace of the primeval forest at Morell: by the sea coast and along the banks of the curving Morell river, and bordering the cross roads leading through the settlement are the houses of comfortable husbandmen who by thrift and energy have added to the land they originally held. Particularly handsome and luxuriously furnished are the houses of some of the Sinnott Family who have certainly lost nothing by their unfailing generosity to the house of God.
All through the settlement one is struck by the fine orchards of the farmers, apples of very choice varieties, here attain to a great degree of perfection. The Morell is the finest fresh water river in Prince Edward Island, indeed the only one that is worthy of the name. Its banks are fringed by shade trees and afford a charming resort to the angler, for to this river the disciples of Isaak Walton flock every summer in great numbers, and here the speckled trout are taken captives by thousands. There does not seem to be any authentic version of the origin of the appellation of this river, which has given its name to the parish. It is the centre one of three streams, which irrigate this part of the country, flowing through land that still shows the dykes and narrow furrows of the early French farmer. These rivers have all French names, one is the Marie the other the Midgell probably a contraction of St. Michel. Part of the Morell estate, that part upon which are the ruins of the French cellars and earth works, was at one time rented to Captain Stukely, a friend or relative of the Captain Burers, who was the first resident at St. Andrews. After his departure for England, the farm was rented by Mr. Donald Beaton, who with his family had come from Lochaber in Scotland to settle in Ile St. Jean.
Mr. Beaton had several sons who assisted him on his farm, he also had hired the services of an English labourer, who was a resident in his house. One night this servant was out about the farm until a late hour and returned in a state of nervous excitement, telling how he had seen an old man in the blue uniform of a French Military Officer, who had asked him to meet him at a given spot on the following night.
The Englishman appeared anxious to escape the proffered interview, but Mr. Beatons sons persuaded him to keep his appointment, and provided him with a blessed candle and holy water, in case of emergencies. The military ghost, true to his word appeared, and after a long conversation with the Englishman, told him, that when:
"On every stream should stand a mill
And a house be built on every hill."
The French would again come and take possession of Ile St. Jean. He also mentioned casually that he was buried under the end of one of Mr. Beaton's barns, and adduced as a proof of the verocity of all that he had said that a certain cow would be turned out to graze with the herd the following day and would never more be seen. This fell out as was foretold but modern incredibility suggests that this story was simply a clever plan laid for the stealing of the aforesaid cow. Another legend which is in all probability the story of a fact, is that before the poor Acadians were shipped off in Captain Nicholls leaky transport, they took their church plate, the missal and vestments and put them in a cannon, which they buried as they did the church bell. Every spring and fall in the ploughing season relics of the old French times are turned up in the soil, rings, coins, shot, images, hinges, cutlery and so forth; perhaps in some future day the plough may unearth the old cannon and restore its precious charge to the service of Holy Church.
First Catholic Settlers of the Mission
St. Lawrence
Morell
Peter Sinnott
Thomas Murphy
John Phelan
Edmund Barry
Michael Hogan
Matthew Murphy
John Hughes
Charles McCarthy
Hugh McVarish
Roderick McDonald
Allan McDonald
Angus McVarish
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