226 William Street - St. Jude's Rectory

This house served as the Rectory for St. Jude's Church from 1887 - 1979 and was originally owned by Joseph Howse and his wife Zylpha Pollard.

This house, well known as St. Jude’s Rectory, was built c1874, and its first owner was Joseph Howes who operated a grocery, shoe and bookmaker’s business on Colborne St. (now Lakeshore Rd.) with his brother-in-law Erastus Pollard He was also pursuing a career as a photographer and several of his pictures can be found in the Oakville Historical Society Archives.

Howes was born in 1835 in Upper Canada and married Zylpha Pollard of Sheridan in 1862.
They had 2 children, Minnie and Sidney. Howes sold the property in 1885 to James McDonald who in turn sold in 1887 to St. Jude’s Parish.

Canon John Bell Worrell, of St. Jude’s parish, was the first rector to reside in the home. He
was born in London and came to Canada in 1847 to study theology at Trinity College, Toronto.He was rector at several parishes and became Canon at the Cathedral in Kingston beforecoming to Oakville where he served for over thirty four years.

The rectory at the time of his arrival was situated a mile and a half west of the church at thefoot of Holyrood, past the cemetery. During a winter blizzard when the Reverend was returninghome from church one day, he became lost and was finally guided home by the family dog. As a result of the near tragedy, the Rectory was moved to 226 William St., much closer to the church.

In the 1940’s the front porch was enclosed, and in 1979 when the property was sold, the new owners removed it and a new porch was designed based on physical and photographic
evidence in order to return the house to its original 1870’s appearance.