We came across an obscure booklet at the Port Hope Public Library, The Strange Life of Reverend David S. Kidd-Byrne, D.D.: A $36,000,000 Mystery, written - date unknown - by Harold Lynn White as a tribute to Joseph Scriven, author of the hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus. In it, he described his three years in the 1920s as secretary to Kidd-Byrne, who claimed a connection with Scriven from a young age.

Feel free to read the PDF version of Harold Lynn White's booklet.

Who Was David Kidd Byrne?

...from The Early History and Founding of Bewdley

David's parents, Arthur and Elizabeth (Wood) were married in 1858 and lived in Bewdley in a log house where David was born. He was crippled and dragged himself along on crutches. There were different versions how this disability had occurred: some Bewdley people averred that David was crippled from birth; he himself claimed he had had his feet frozen when he fell from a wagon and lay there until he was rescued, cared for, and converted by Joseph Scriven. Foster Meharry Russell speculated in his book, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, that Scriven was actually murdered by Kidd.

In 1919, two monuments were erected to Scriven's memory by the eccentric evangelist and self-styled tea merchant of Montreal. One was located near the Town Hall in Port Hope and the other at the north east corner of the road where old Highway #28 crosses County Road #9. [It was originally erected at the corner of Hope and Ontario streets & later moved to the Queen Street location after being struck by a car].

On 24 May 24 1920, another monument to Scriven was unveiled in an impressive ceremony at the Pengelley Cemetery. The funds for this memorial were contributed by people from all over Canada. Kidd had offered to collect the money for this memorial but was turned down by the memorial committee.

On 07 June 1925, Kidd-Byrne, his blind wife, Agnes Cousineau, and other local notables led a procession headed by Bryne's maroon Durant sedan through bunting-draped Bewdley to the $1400 granite shaft in the cemetery. This monument was located in the Kidd plot and originally intended to be dedicated to Joseph Scriven. The reason for his change of name? Kidd claimed to have rescued the daughter of a wealthy American stockbroker, William Byrne, from a life of prostitution and in gratitude Byrne left Kidd an interest in his estate, provided he add Byrne to his name.

In 1930, Kidd-Byrne was arrested for forgery in Montreal but never brought to trial as he was judged to be mentally incompetent. He died four years later. The truth of this strange man's life will be forever "shrouded in mystery".
www.cobourg.ca

As previously mentioned, the late local author, Foster Russell, in his book, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, examines the belief that Scriven was murdered by Kidd-Byrne. Please read the chapter exploring Kidd-Byrne's life.

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Peter and Barbara Bolton - Port Hope, Ontario
www.alivingpast.ca