Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Brookfield and Clyde River congregations were originally part of the New London presbyterian charge and were ministered to by Rev. Alexander Sutherland. In 1856 Brookfield was separated from New London and joined with Bonshaw and West River to form a new charge and in 1860 received their first settled minister, Rev. William Ross. In 1862 Clyde River which had been included in the charge joined the congregation of Queen's Square until 1873 when it rejoined Brookfield and West River. Bonshaw had benn separated to join Tryon in 1866. In 1886 the charge was split in two: Brookfield, Hunter River and New Glasgow Road, and West and Clyde Rivers. By 1919, the Brookfield Presbyterian Congregation consisted of the Presbyterian churches at Hartsville, Hunter River, and Brookfield. Hartsville had started as the Congregation of Strathalbyn in 1845 but in 1917 was transferred to the Brookfield Congregation. Clyde River had also been part of the congregation for a few years but appears to have been separated again before 1911.
The date of building of the Presbyterian Church at Brookfield is not known but the Hunter River Church which opened in 1890 had been built at the instigation of Rev. A.A. MacKenzie who preached at Brookfield. In 1925, led by their pastor, Rev. Hensley Stavert, the Brookfield congregation churches declined to join with the Methodists and Congregationalists to form the United Church. The Brookfield Presbyterian Church was still active in 1978 as was the Hunter River Church in 1981.