Missionaries
Beginning in the 1840s, missionaries began arriving in the Peace River country for visits to the First Nations Peoples and the forts. It was not until the 1860s that the clergy took up longer term residents in the Peace country.
The first missionary to travel to the Peace River country was the Methodist superintendent of western missions, Reverend James Evans with Reverend Robert Rundle in 1841. Rundle continued to make visits to Lesser Slave Lake until 1846.
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The First Roman Catholic missionary in the Peace River country, Father Bourassa, who visited Lesser Slave Lake in 1846 and again in 1847. Father Lacombe and Father Thibault made a visit in 1856.
Father Alexander Tache chose Fort Chipewyan for a Catholic mission in 1849, and Father Henri Faraud became the first resident priest with the Roman Catholic Nativity Mission being dedicated in 1851. In 1857, the first prayer books with both Cree and Chipewyan languages were printed.
The first Anglican missionary in the Peace River country was Reverend W.C. Bompas who traveled through Fort Chipewyan in 1867, to Fort Vermilion, then from Fort Chipewyan to Hudson’s Hope. He became the first bishop of the Athabasca diocese in 1874 after which the Anglican Church became more established in the Peace River country.
The Presbyterians began their presence in the Peace River country just before the first wave of settlers began to arrive in 1911. Reverend Alexander Forbes of the Presbyterian Church visited Beaverlodge in 1909 and held services at the home of Rede Stone. The Reverend Forbes returned to stay in 1910. The Methodists and Presbyterian Churches continued to serve their congregations in the Peace River country until 1925 when the congregations united. The new United Church continues in the Peace country today.