The first church was built around 1803, but it was made an official parish or mission sometime between 1772 and 1780. The building was constructed from logs and was 20' x 30' with a 10' post. The building was built close to the shore due north of where the present church is situated. It was slightly south of where the pioneer cemetery is located. This cemetery was blessed and first used in 1792. It is unique in that it is raised and dyked.. The church was moved to the location of the present church in 1898. Opposite the entrance gate of the old cemetery, stood a white cross, commemorating a mission at St. Margaret's given by the Redemptorist Fathers in 1884. Some of those more recently buried in the pioneer cemetery were moved to the present cemetery in 1898 when the church was moved south. The cross was also have been removed to the present cemetery in 1898.
The current St. Margarets Hall served as a church for 10 to 15 years after the old church and all the other parish buildings except the hall were destroyed in the 1921 fire. Part of the hall was used as a cheese factory prior to this. The hall has been used for concerts, benefits, church suppers and as an election poll.
While English was spoken and understood, Gaelic was spoken by the early settlers until the 1860's.
In 1831 Alexander MacDonald chaired the General Meeting of the St. Margarets Agricultural Society. Inhabitants of Lots 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 were in attendance.
Rev. John MacDonald
1802-1873There was a wild scene during Mass in 1844 at St. Margaret's when local Member of the House of Assembly, John McIntosh, a radical Escheater, confronted priest-proprietor Rev. John MacDonald, suspected by many of calling in troops to enforce property rights in the area. MacDonald sues McIntosh for disrupting Mass, but the Court has no law against it. A drama, written by Souris Regional High School students in the late 1970's, may be found
HERE.
Edward Daniel "Ed" Feehan (1891-1964) was born at St. Margaret's in 1891. He was a Teacher, a Journalist and an Educational Adminstrator. He was educated at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, P.E.I. and became principal of the High School in Souris. While in Souris, he was the correspondant for the Charlottetown Guardian. He moved to Saskatchewan and settled in Saskatoon. He earned his B.A. at the University of Saskatchewan and became Superintendant of Education of Saskatoon Separate Schools. He received many awards and honours of which was the naming of a newly constructed High School in Saskatoon for him. He died at Saskatoon in 1964.
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