Thomas Trivitt was born in Somerset, England in 1813. He and his wife Elizabeth moved to Upper Canada and settled in Centralia in 1848 where he became the first clerk of Stephen Township. The Trivitts later moved to Exeter and Thomas Trivitt was appointed as the local Justice of the Peace.
After being a long-time parishioner, Thomas Trivitt, developed a warm friendship with the Anglican minister, Samuel F. Robinson in Exeter and offered to donate $5000 to build a new Church on the conditions that it be called The Trivitt Memorial Church, that it hold an anniversary celebration each year and that no pew rental fees be ever charged to its membership. The Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Huron, The Right Reverend Dr. Maurice Baldwin accepted these stipulations in May, 1887 and the church held its first service in December, 1888.
The early Gothic architecture of Trivitt Memorial Church was based on a portion of the Exeter Cathedral in England. It consisted of a nave, transept, chancel and tower and was substantially built with local white brick. Ohio standstone trimmings were liberally used throughout and every opportunity of creating a massive and solid effect was utilized.
Inside the walls were sand finished and painted. The woodwork was made of white pine, stained an oak shade. The interior dimensions are: nave – 79 by 38 feet; the chancel – 25 feet square and the transepts are each 25 by 14 feet. The outside measurements of the tower are 17 feet square, not including the buttresses, by 92 feet high. The belfry was especially built to hold a set of chimes and accessed by a spiral oak staircase. The seating capacity was 600.