John Lowry Gourlay (1821–1905) was an Irish Presbyterian minister and missionary in Upper Canada.

Life

John Lowry Gourlay was born in 1821 in

Drumquin Drumquin (Irish: ''Droim Caoin'' (Pleasant ridge).) is a small village and townland (of 398 acres) in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies between Omagh and Castlederg, on the banks of the Drumquin River (Fairywater). It is situated in the ci ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of John Gourlay and Jane Lowry. He emigrated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

with his parents, brothers Hugh, William, James, and sister Rebecca. They left

Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a so ...

, "walking out through the stumps of the Richmond Road, stopping for a mid-day meal at William Bell's tavern, spending the night at Billy Bradley's log tavern at Hazeldean, and proceeding to Stittsville the next day and then up the third line of Huntley". The Gourlays settled in the Huntley and

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

townships. John was ordained as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister and served as the first Presbyterian minister in Ashton. In 1851 he became the first settled minister of the Merivale Presbyterian Church and served the congregation there until 1868. It was written of him "Rev. Gourlay appears to have been both erudite and energetic. He is described as a diligent student of theology and a Hebrew and Greek scholar of note". In addition to Merivale (then known as Hopper’s Settlement), he later served congregations in Bell’s Corners,

Goulbourn Goulbourn Township, Ontario, was formed in 1818, roughly 20 km southwest of downtown Ottawa, with the first major settlement occurring in Richmond. Other communities in the township include Stittsville, Munster, and Ashton. Stittsville i ...

, and Aylmer, QC. In the early 1850s he was also a Superintendent of Schools in March Township. While in Aylmer, he served as chaplain of the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

. In Bell's Corners, Gourlay acquired Lot 10, Concession 2, Ottawa Front. On 18 January 1862, he sold six acres in the west part of the lot to the Municipality of Nepean. On the same day, the municipality then sold the original road allowance between Lots 10 and 11, totalling 11 acres, to Gourlay. Seven years later he sold all his land to Robert Moodie on 24 March 1869. Moodie then sold part of an acre to Canada C.R. Co. on 14 June 1870 and the remaining lands to his son Robert, less parts of the original road allowance between Lots 10 and 11 on 10 July 1905. John Lowry Gourlay died in 1904.

Writings

In 1896 Gourlay wrote the ''History of the Ottawa Valley: A Collection of Facts, Events and Reminiscences for Over Half a Century''. The book includes a second work entitled ''Difficulties of Religion''. A quote from Gourlay's history reads as follows:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gourlay, John Lowry Settlers of the National Capital Region (Canada) Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario People from County Tyrone 1821 births 1904 deaths