S.S. Class Record
Of last quarter, 1849, for Second Class Boys. Among the names on it are Rev. Dr. Sutherland's, that of the late Dr. George Orton, M.P., and that of Mr. Edwin C. Stannard, the 1906 Treasurer and Librarian of the Sunday School and the keeper of the Early Records.

It is probable that in 1828 the first Sunday School was started in Guelph, at the home of Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, an earnest Methodist, and was continued during the summer months for some years, but it was not until July 17th, 1836, that the Norfolk Street Methodist Sunday School, as at present constituted, took definite shape, and Mr. James Hough, with the assistance of Mr. James H. Stannard, formed a permanent organization which has been in continuous existance up to the present time. (1906)

After meeting for some time in a log building which stood on the north corner of Waterloo and Gordon Streets, the school was moved to what was then known as "The Little Red Chapel" on Nottingham Street, thence to the frame chapel which occupied the south corner of the present church site, and in 1858 to the basement of the church building.

There were ten scholars present the second Sunday of the school, but the attendance grew rapidly. The first class records were kept on sheets of paper, pasted on small boards with handles.

On July 5th, 1840, the Sunday School Library was opened, forty-nine books being issued. Four tin tickets were given to scholars each Sunday, one for early attendance; one for cleanliness; one for good behaviour; and one for each ten verses learned. A large number of Scripture verses were recited by the scholars in 1842-1844. In one quarter Mary Field recited 1820 verses; Elizabeth West, 1901; W.H.G. Knowles, 2060; John Fear, 2993; Henry Wright, 3121; and Ruben Smith, 3282, or an average of 274 verses each Sunday. In one Sunday 720 verses were recited by Henry Wright. Prizes were also given for proficiency in the Catechism.

The annual tea-meeting was the early social gathering of the school, and a recipe used for fruit cake in 1843 shows that 98 pounds of flour, 21 pounds of sugar, 11 pounds of butter, 11 pounds of lard, and 17 pounds of currants, besides spices, went to make up the cake consumed on these occasions.

The first picnic was held in July, 1851. For five years, in a time of stress, 1861-1866, the school paid $16 a year rent for the basement to the trustees.

The average attendance of the school was:

1840 85
1850 105
1860 125 Morning
1860 170 Afternoon
1870 258
1880 205 Some went to the new Dublin St SS
1890 350
1900 319
1905 315

Rules and Regulations of the York Methodist Episcopal Sunday School - 1830

The object of the Guelph Wesleyan Methodist Sabbath School, as set forth in the first constitution, was "the instruction of the rising generation in reading and spelling, and in the doctrines and duties of Christianity."

At the begining the school had two superintendents and two sets of teachers. One superintendent, with his staff, had charge of the two sessions of the school, at nine in the morning, before church, and at two in the afternoon, on one Sunday, and on the following Sunday the second superintendent with his teachers undertook the work. This arrangement continued in force for nearly thirty-three years. In 1869 it was decided that one superintendent and staff should take the morning school, and the other the afternoon school. In 1877, however, the morning school was discontinued, in order to strengthen the afternoon school.

Sunday School Superintendents

1836-1840 James Hough
1836-1861 James H. Stannard
1840 William Crowe
1841 Henry Masters
1842-1857 Richard Ainley
1857-1859 Henry Kirkland
1860-1868 George Smith
1862-1863 James Hough
1864-1872 John Hutton
1869-1870 Joseph Fessant
1870-1875 Henry Kirkland
1875-1888 John Hutton
1873-1875 M.A. Keables
1875-1877 Edwin Stannard
1880-1886 A.O. Bucham assistant
1887-1888 G.B. Ryan assistant
1888-1896 G.B. Ryan
1889-1896 W.G. Smith assistant
1897 F.W. Galbraith
1897-1906 D.A. Scroggie
1899-1904 Asa Rumford assistant
1906-1906 Eli Cunningham assistant