MISSION OF ST. MARK
TOWNSHIP SEVEN - BURTON
This mission was settled by Irish emigrants about the year 1823.
Most of these settlers came from the countries of Wexford and Kerry,
some of them emigrated first to Newfoundland, and after serving a few
years in the fisheries there, crossed over to Prince Edward Island.
Going from Charlottetown to Bedeque they found employment in the
ship yard of Hon. Joseph Pope, and after working there for some years, purchased land in Township Seven and removed to what is now the mission of St. Mark.
For some years they formed part of old Cascumpec parish, and not
until 1844 did they undertake the building of a church for themselves. In that year, chiefly owing to the exertions and perseverance of Messrs. Peter Doyle and William Howard, a small chapel was built in which the priest from Tignish would come to say Mass about four times a year. This church was forty feet in length by thirty in width. In 1879 under the direction of Rev. Stanislaus Bordreault, then pastor of Cascumpec, a new church, seventy feet in length by forty in width, was commenced, which was completed in 1882 under the direction of Rev. Stephen Phelan.
In the year 1879 Father Stephen built a parochial house which
stands beside the church, on high land, overlooking the Gulf. Old
travelers, who have painful reminiscences of jogging over the Western
Road of Prince Edward Island, long before that Province could boast of a railway, have pleasant memories of restful sojourns at the house of Mr. Thomas Doyle, a native of Wexford, Ireland, and the pioneer settler of St. Marks' mission. In Mr. Doyle's hospitable house the weary wayfarer always found a kindly welcome, enlivened by the agreeable society of his genial and witty host, and those who are so fortunate as to have partaken of Mr. Doyle's hospitality, hold his name in affectionate remembrance. Upon the division of old Cascumpec parish 1880, St. Mark's was conjointly with the mission of the Sacred Heart, Alberton, placed in charge of the Rev. Stephen Phelan, who says Mass there upon every third Sunday.
From Island Lives