The history of the Episcopal Church in Canton is a two-fold tale. It involves two separate eras , two distinct congregations and a gap of over a century between them.

In Colonial times Canton, then part of Dorchester and later of Stoughton, was settled largely by Congregationalists , also, known as Dissidents. They were so called in England because they dissented from some of the dogmas, sacraments, rites and episcopacy of the established Church of England. The Churches in the English speaking world were state-supported and thus Established. Not all, however, were Episcopal in nature. The Churches of England and Ireland were indeed Episcopal, whereas the Church (Kirk) of Scotland was Presbyterian. In the Massachusetts colonies the Congregational Church was state-supported and the Church Meeting House was, also, the Town Meeting center.

Accordingly the number of Episcopalians in the area was small. At their peak membership in the decade before the American Revolution there may have been twenty families in Canton. The local church as an entity was begun as a Mission in 1754 and was known as the "English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel". In that year Jonathan Kenney deeded to the Society land for a church. The site was at the front of what is now known as the Old English Burying Ground which is on Washington Street next to the Matthew Sullivan estate. The rear part of the lot had been used as a burial place for almost fifty years before the Church acquired it. As a consequence one finds buried there both Dissidents and Episcopalians sleeping peacefully together oblivious of the mutual antagonisms and hostility engendered in their lifetimes. By 1758 a modest house of worship had been built and services had commenced.

Reverend Timothy Cutler , first rector of Christ’s Church in Boston, was instrumental in authorizing the Mission here. The actual establishment of the Church itself has to be credited to Reverend Ebenezer Miller D. D. of Braintree who was in truth a local Defender of the Faith. Miller was a brilliant and strong-willed person who was born in Milton in 1703, graduated Harvard in 1722, and had a desire for the ministry. At that time one could not be ordained an Episcopal minister in America because there was no bishop here. Miller therefore went to England and was ordained a deacon and priest by Edmund, Lord Bishop of London. He remained in England about twenty-five years. In 1727 he received a Master of Arts and in 1747 a Doctor of Theology from Oxford. Responding to a request from co-religionists in this area, he returned to America and settled in Braintree. From that location he served congregations in Canton and Dedham.

The transition from urbane London to a primitive rural Canton must have been staggering. With his educational attainments, Miller was not timid about defending his church against the polemics of the local Congregationalists. Parson Dunbar of the First Church accused him of being sent by his English superiors "to foment disturbances" and "cause division" among the local churches and "by promoting Episcopacy to increase the political influence of the Crown". There must be a better way of welcoming a new clergyman to Canton. Nevertheless Reverend Miller was able to hold his own in their salty exchanges until his death in 1763 five years after the local church was constructed.

The next minister of note was the unfortunate Reverend William Clark. Clark was a man of high principles who was loyal to his Church and his King and who paid dearly for both fealties. Born in Danvers in 1740, the son of a Congregationalist clergyman, he studied for their ministry. Before finishing his studies, he became an adherent of the Episcopal religion and was a lay reader in Canton and Dedham until 1768 when he went to England to be ordained. He returned in 1770 and took residence in Canton. He entered his priestly ministry with several handicaps: the environment was hostile to the King’s religion; he was only thirty years old, and he was almost impossibly deaf.

Clark was greeted by the implacable animosity of Parson Dunbar who was decidedly not ecumenical in his relations. Clark and his predecessors had attempted to develop a more friendly atmosphere with the dissenting brethren but without success. Dunbar even questioned the numbers belonging to the Episcopal church, and the minister and his wardens had to certify the exact name and numbers of the congregation. Furthermore the small Episcopal parish had to pay taxes to the Congregational as if they were members of it.

On top of all that, the members of the so-called English Church were generally supportive of King George in those pre-Revolutionary years. In substance they were, for the most part, Tories. Their neighbors were not of a mind for either religious or political tolerance. As is the case in so much of history the two elements were intertwined. We may think that what is happening today in Belfast could not happen here. It could and it did.
Under all these circumstances it is not to be wondered that Reverend Clark’s congregation began to melt away. In 1771 he moved to Dedham but continued to preach here off and on to an often cold and nearly empty church till 1775. On June 11, 1776, the feast of St. Barnabas, the local church met for the last time and dissolved. The founding families, notably the Aspinwalls, Kenneys, Kingsburys, Taylors, Spares, Curtises, Liscoms and Crehores practiced their faith in their own private fashion. The last member of the old church was Mrs. Joshua Kingsbury who died in 1848 at the age of ninety and had an Episcopal service read over her coffin. The gravestones of these families may still be seen at the English Burying Ground.

Minister Clark was a victim of the Revolution. He was branded a Tory and when he charitably gave aid to two Loyalist refugees , he was denounced, arrested and tried without counsel before a Revolutionary tribunal in Boston. The kangaroo court was willing to acquit him if he would swear loyalty to the independence of America. This he refused to do saying "it is contrary to my King, my country, and my God". He was sentenced to harsh imprisonment on a guard ship in Boston Harbor. The rigors of his captivity destroyed his health; his vocal chords were injured so that he could hardly speak. He was finally released and banished , a broken, deaf, speechless outcast. He went to Ireland and England seeking a home and was an object of charity. In 1786 he came to Nova Scotia and in 1795 returned to Massachusetts dying in 1815 in Quincy.

What of the old church itself? After the Revolution the building was unused for many years until purchased by Adam Blackman in 1796 and moved across the street to be converted to a house. It was so used until September 13, 1874 when it was destroyed by fire.

Over a century passed before there was a Second Spring of the Episcopal Church in Canton. On August 10. 1884 mission services were conducted in Lower Memorial Hall by Reverend William Cheney. The Town Hall was so used for about fifteen years. The first Bishop’s visit was in March 1885 when he confirmed eleven persons. The mission was incorporated as "The Trinity Episcopal Parish" in 1887. The parish was part of a Mission that encompassed Canton Sharon and Stoughton and received some modest annual financial support from the Archdeaconery of New Bedford.

The officers of the new parish in 1887 were: Rector, Reverend Albert George; Senior Warden, Richmond L. Weston; Junior Warden, Georgett King; Treasurer. William Hatfield; Clerk, Edward King; Vestry, Harlan Curtis, Clinton Curtis, Miss Fannie Allen, Miss Sarah W. Ames, Miss M.P. Reynolds and Edward King. Later the Bolster and Thomas families were to be devoted members of the parish.

The Church began to grow and plans were made to have a place of worship, The first location chosen was on Sherman Street (then known as Depot Street) on a lot purchased by Reverend George from the Oliver Dean estate in 1887 for $500. The land was situated just west of Cross Street. After a few years of inaction it was felt that the site was not suitable and in 1893 the land was sold back to the Dean family. In the spring of 1895 a house and lot at the corner of Washington and Chapel streets were purchased from the Bent estate for $3000 with the aid of a $2000 mortgage from one William Doherty.

The parish decided to build a stone church and construction began in August 1897. The end result was a beautiful church, enhanced with stained glass windows and a feel of ancient English tradition. The first services were conducted on January 2nd 1898. In 1909 the Church came into possession of an unusual bell donated by Edward H.R. Revere. The bell which has a strikingly clear peal was cast in Cincinnati in 1856 and installed in a church in New Orleans. It was confiscated by the soldiers of Union General Benjamin Butler and sent north with similar bells to be melted and cast into cannon by the Revere Copper Company. Its clear tonal quality saved it from a fiery fate, and it hung in the Revere Copper Yard in Canton for over forty years. With the closing of the Canton mill, the ownership of the bell went back to the Revere family who donated it to Trinity.

The new church cost about $5000 to erect and was financed by a $4000 second mortgage from Mr. Doherty. The mortgage was discharged on October 2, 1909 at which time the church was consecrated by Bishop Lawrence. A church cannot be consecrated while a mortgage lien is on the property. After the celebration of the consecration and the mortgage burning, the parishioners enjoyed a collation across the street at the Town Hall.

The church served the parish for over seventy years. In 1964 Mrs. Martha Prowse, a parishioner, donated 5.45 acres of land at the corner of Route 138 and Blue Hill River Road to the Church. A new church was erected at this location and dedicated on Sunday September 28, 1969. Many valuable and meaningful items were transferred from the "Stone Church" to the new edifice. The stained glass memorial windows, many of the original pews and the altar were installed in the new Martha Peabody Prowse Chapel. The organ was rebuilt and placed in the church sanctuary and the bell, which was found in New Orleans by one of the Reveres during the Civil War, was hung in a new free-standing bell tower. The old building was sold to Schlossberg-Solomon as a funeral chapel. The Schlossberg family restored the chapel with new stained glass windows, pews and lighting fixtures and added a modern lobby to what was the exterior of the building. They also purchased additional property in the rear of the chapel to provide greater access and parking for over 100 cars.