slow, sporadic steps in erecting the building went on.  Many people on both sides of the river continued attending the Gaspé church and also went to the new church, but the Reverend Mr. Richmond in his report for 1870 stated that the two congregations were becoming more and more distinct.  In that year the church in the Southwest had been able to pay their assessment of $75, pay the sexton $18, and make repairs worth $30. In addition the people bought a harmonium for $80.
 
The 1860s had begun with a terrible diphtheria epidemic affecting all the congregations around Gaspé Bay but especially the Southwest. The many mourning families marked the period. There was hardship everywhere in that decade and the next.  Even in 1883 Mr. Richmond was reporting on the exodus of many young men going elsewhere to look for employment, leaving fewer people to keep the churches in repair and contribute financially.
 
However, the mid-1880s saw the beginning of change to a more prosperous era in which prices for fish, lumber, and other products were rising, lumber companies were moving in and work was becoming more easily available. The problem which had dogged St. James' Church from its beginning, that it moved with the frost and was constantly in need of repair, had to be dealt with.  About 1890, the decision was made to abandon the 50-year-old building, get a new piece of land, and build a new church.
 
The new land was given by Felix William Boyle. This lot was on the north side of the road and not far to the west of the old church. Eden Street, which runs north from the highway today, divides the old lot from the new.  I have been told that Mr. George James Boyle Ascah (1858-1938) of Haldimand was hired to put up the frame of the new church; otherwise I do not have the names or contribution of any of the many other men who must have worked on the building.  The walls were strengthened and the roof given added support by the construction of flying buttresses along the outside walls between the windows.
 
The church saw its first wedding ceremony before it was fully completed, as it was said that the shavings were swept up to allow a marriage to proceed, November 24, 1891. The couple were Francis Elias Annett and Charlotte Jane Boyle.  A diary entry on January 1, 1893 states that the new church in

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