Duncan McColl's story is one of passion for the Methodist faith, but one arrived at after being a Scottish soldier sent to America to defend Loyalists. He was in Castine, Maine with the 74th Regiment.
When he and his family arrived in St. Andrews, he talked about having only one small loaf of bread for food, and wondering how they were going to survive the winter. With the help of a friendly alcoholic, they survived...
Duncan McColl moved to St. Stephen, and his religion became increasingly important to him. And his religious convictions resonated with many others. He held some prayer meetings in his house. The movement grew and eventually he became the Methodist Minister for not only St. Stephen, but for surrounding areas. He seemed to have a soft spot for St. David Parish, and counted many supporters there.
His memoirs were
printed in the British North American Wesleyan Methodist Magazine,
Vols. I-III (1841-1843), and these are available on microfilm
in a number of places. In New Brunswick, they are available in
the Harriet Irving Library, at the University of New Brunswick
in Fredericton.
Another source a reader might track down is a small book published, perhaps in the 1970s, that excerpts from the Memoirs: Footprints : A Brief History from the Memoirs of Duncan McColl / by Mary Nesbit and Jane Smythe ; with illustrations by Beulah MacCready. -- St. Stephen, N.B. : Saint Croix Printing & Publishing Co., [197-?]. 43 pages.
A few passages of interest from the Memoirs of Duncan McColl:
One cold day,
having no horse, he walked to St. David's, and thinking to take
a short cut across a dam, he fell through the ice. He pulled
himself out of the water and climbing over bushes and fallen trees
along the way, ran in icy clothing, leggings and boots to his
destination. After drying out in
front of a fire, he was able to carry on with his preaching that
evening. Someone brought him home by sleigh and he was none the
worse for his experience.
In April of 1801 the people of St. David's commenced to build a meeting house, and in the spring of 1804 Presbyterians from the Scottish Highlands arrived to settle there. (They eventually settled in St. James Parish). McColl relates in his memoirs, 'They applied to me for liberty to come to the table of the Lord, which was at once granted, as they appeared to be a moral people although I feared inexperienced as to the power of godliness.' He preached to the Presbyterians in Gaelic because many of them could not speak nor understand English. Though somewhat rusty in the Gaelic language he 'hobbled along' much better than he expected. [B.N.A. Wesleyan Methodist, vol. 1, 1841, p. 461-462]
This Meeting House was next the Lindsay Road, but no sign of it or the adjacent cemetery remain.
Throughout his memoirs one notes that his flock in St. David's gave him considerable uneasiness as to their religious steadiness, and he often felt discouraged after a visit with them, when they had seemed to show so little religious response. He said, 'Oh, Saint David, when wilt thou awake and know the time of thy visitation! Surely the Lord calleth thee loudly, but thou dost not take warning.' There was also the matter that he complained that other preachers were trying to steal his flock on occasion. At least one of these had personal 'embarassments' and had to leave St. David hurriedly.
On a Sunday in February, 1817, McColl tried to go to St. David's but had to turn back his horse and sleigh because of the hugh snowdrifts and bad roads.... He was then 63 years old.