Jonathan David Marsh

  General Notes:

Listed as a minister and a baptist in 1881 Quebec Census.

The full history of Quebec Baptist Church cannot be told without some mention of its second and longest serving pastor, the Reverend Jonathan David Marsh (1805-1888). born in Lancashire, England, David Marsh at the age of forty, along with his wife, Marian Etchells arrived in Quebec just after the two great fires of May and June of 1845 which had left nearly one-half of the city in smouldering ruin.

The Baptist Colonial Missionary Society had offered Reverend Marsh a guaranteed salary for three years to start a church in Quebec. Despite the Missionary Society's decision to abandon the Quebec station due to discouraging results, Reverend Marsh resolved to stay on and continue his ministry. He preached his first sermon on October 19, 1845 and was called to accept the pastorate three years later. David Marsh, father of six children and a devoted husband, was a well-loved and respected man of the community.

Apart from being a preacher, Reverend Marsh was also a teacher. He lectured on chemistry and astronomy at Jeffrey Hale's day school on Saint-Joachim. At one point, Reverend Marsh was selected as a tutor to Lady Elma Bruce, the daughter of Lord Elgin, then Governor General of Canada. Reverend Marsh also served as one of the governors of the Jeffrey Hale Hospital and also as a Trustee of the Jeffrey Hale School.

He died at the age of eighty-three and is buried in the Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery. An article on Reverend Marsh appeared in the 1881 edition of the "Biographical Dictionary and Portrait of eminent and self-made men".

Jonathan married Marian Etchells. (Marian Etchells was born in 1823.)