Topsail United Church had its beginning in 1837 with the formation of a small Wesleyan Methodist " meeting house". Before this, the early settlers (farmers and fisherman who had moved into the area from Portugal Cove around 1822) had been holding church meetings in various homes throughout the small community, visited by clergyman from St. John's.

By 1869 the meeting house that was used for both church and school, was getting too small for the growing congregation. It was time to build a larger church, so the men got together and using new wood plus materials from the old meeting house began to construct a larger church on the same site. The new Church was opened in 1871. It had two rooms (the church sanctuary and the school). There was no bell, rough benched for pews and no organ, only a flute. Gradually a tower was built and a bell installed. Years later with money raised by the people of the congregation, an organ was purchased. The church became known province wide as the "Little Church by the Side of the Road".

The last anniversary was celebrated in the old church in 1971. It was the 100th Anniversary and by now the building was badly in need of repairs, however the congregation were trying to decide if they should repair the old one maintaining the historial landmark or build a new one. They finally decided on a new one and this was built in December 1977. The old one is landmarked by a cross constructed with its own timbers. Today, Topsail United has a congregation of 465 families, and the old brass bell from the old church still rings in the new one.

This Parish originally only covered Topsail area, but has now for sometime covered the areas from Holyrood to Paradise. This is the only United Church in this area.

This church started in 1837, however, they only keep 25 years of records at the Manse. The records prior to this can be found at the United Church Archives. This church services the area from Seal Cove to Topsail Road and is the only United Church in this area.

Baptisms		(1886-1973)	Box 1	Reel # 42 (1884-1973)
Marriages		(1886-1982)	Box 2 	Reel # 42 (1882,1886-1982)
Burials			(1886-1958)	Box 1	Reel # 42 (1886-1958)
Burials			(1960-1984)	Box 1	Reel # 42 (1960-1984)

These are the following Vital Statistics Volumes (DPHW) that 
are available at PANL only:

Place:			Topsail
Parish:			Topsail
Religion:		Methodist

Baptisms:		1884-1901		Vol 33		Reel No. C
Marriages:		1882-1901		Vol 33		Reel No. C

These are the All Newfoundland Births - Vital Statistics Division 
microfilm available for this parish at the PANL for the period from 
1891 to1926 for baptisms and from 1891 to 1922 for marriages.

The death records for this parish start from 1886 onwards.  There are 
also microfilms at the PANL from the Vital Statistics Division from 
1891 to 1949 for deaths.

Cemetery used:

they have 3 Cemeteries :
(1)	United Church Cemetery, Topsail Road (adjacent to the 
Church on Topsail Road)
(2)	United Church Cemetery, Long Pond (on Anchorage Road 
in Long Pond)
(3)	United Church Cemetery, Upper Gullies	
(on the Conception Bay Hwy in Upper Gullies)

A list of Ministers who served the parish of Topsail:
Revs. John Pickavant & John Tomkins		1832-1833	
Visiting clergy from St. John's
Rev. John Haigh					1833-1836	
Visiting clergy from St. John's
Rev. J. Smithies				1837-1838	
Visiting clergy from St. John's (small mission built 30 X 18)
Rev. W. Faulkner				1838-1842	
Visiting clergy from St. John's
Rev. Richard Williams				1842-1848	
Visiting clergy from St. John's
Rev. E. Botterell				1848-1852
Rev. Henry Daniel				1852-1858
Rev.  Mr. Gaetz					1866-1867
Rev. Mr. Comden					1867-1867
Rev. Mr. Ackman					1867-1878
Rev. Thomas Fox					1878-1886
Rev. Mark Fenwick				1886-1887
Rev. W.H. Adams					1887-1889
Rev. Samuel Snowden				1890-1891
Rev. John Reay					1891-1894
Rev. Anthony Hill				1894-1897
Rev. F.G. Willey				1897-1900
Rev. Jesse Heyfield				1900-1904
Rev. George Willey				1905-1908
Rev. James Nurse				1908-1924
Rev. S. Vatcher 				1925-1926
Rev. Mark Fenwick				1927-1928
Rev. Wm. H. Thomas				1928-1929
Rev. Oswald Jefferson				1930-1930
Rev. A.W. Holmes				1930-1932
Rev. M. Butler					1932-1933
Rev. W.J. Morris				1933-1937
Rev. George A. Norman				1937-1938
Rev. Bert B. Snow				1938-1938
Rev. T. Thompson				1938-1941
Rev. E.C. Sturge				1941-1942
Rev. B.L. Hodder				1942-1943
Rev. S. Williams				1943-1950
Rev. G. Crew					1951-1952
Rev. Richard Reeves				1952-1956
Rev. H.M. Dawe					1857-1957
Rev. J.D. Barnes				1957-1958
Rev. James Downey				1959-1959
Rev. Pearce J. Penney				1959-1959
Rev. David L. Winsor				1959-1962
Rev. Pearce J. Penney				1962-1962
Rev. Wm Taylor					1974-1977
Rev. Reginald Rowsell				1975-1977 (fill in)
Rev. Melvin Ralph				1977-1984 (June)
Rev. Jack C. Mercer				1984-1988
Rev. Harry Whitehorne				1988-1991 (July)
Rev. Lorraine Jarvis				1991-1991 (Aug)
Rev. Myles Vardy				1991-1997 (Sept)
Rev. Lorraine Jarvis				1997-1998 (July)
Rev. Harry Whitehorne				1998-present

Most of these ministers were taken from existing records, year books and other histories of the church, there still are some missing and this is mostly due to the records from 1827 to 1884 that are missing due to the fire of 1892 where the Methodists Missionary lost all there records. All records were kept at the Methodist Offices in St. John's during those periods.

A number of Ministers were used for fill ins such as: Rev's: Thomas P. Moulton, Stanley Williams, A, Young, George Crewe, J. L Reynolds, Arthur S. Butt, Wm G. Bartlett, W.B. Johnson and many more.

Thanks to Rev. Whitehorne for the history and photo of the Church as well to the Janet Andrews for all her kind assistance for the above information.