Which Church for the Charters? (I)

We know that William Charters, who was always listed as Irish on the censuses, was listed as a Baptist in the censuses. Below is the Bond Street Baptist church, the earliest Baptist church in Toronto, built in 1832.

Source: Toronto Public Library

William arrived in Toronto around 1850-1860, possibly after fighting raids by the Fenians. So where did he and his family worship?

The Bond Street Baptist church (above) was the earliest White Baptist church in the city. It was founded around the time William was born and was southeast of where he lived, at Queen and Shuter.

There were also African Baptist churches in Toronto. These are relevant because although the family in Toronto (now) identifies as White, there are separate family rumors (1) that William and Ann Captain were runaway slaves and (2) the Charters had Black relatives. Below is a photo of the First Baptist Church, founded in 1841, an African-American church. From 1841 on, this church was at the corner of Victoria and Queen Street. In 1905 the church moved to Edward and University Street.

Lucy White (Mary's mother) was usually listed as a Baptist on the censuses, as were the Captains, but she was listed as a Methodist in 1891. So I've also been looking into the English and African Methodist churches as well.  There was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) below, which was at Elm Street at one point. AME was founded in 1816.

Source: Ontario Places in Black History

The Elm location for AME is interesting because, in the 1866 directory, William Blashford's home is listed as 34 Elm Street, but 34 Elm Street was actually vacant lots next to the AME church. At the time he was working as a machinist at 22 Beverley Street; Thomas Chartres, a machinist, also worked there.

His father Richard Blashford worked near the AME church as a tailor at 82 Elm Street, in 1866, and William Evans, "mariner," lived at 76 Elm in 1866.