Saturday, February 18, 2012

Britannia United Church Cemetery, Mississauga



Grave Markers of Joseph & Catherine Gardener 




Two Infant Daughters of
Joseph & Catherine Gardner
both named Catherine

South Gate to Cemetery



Church Building


Britannia United Church Cemetery

(South east corner of Hwy 10 and Britannia Rd)

The land for both the church and the cemetery were donated by Joseph Gardner in 1848.  He was the original land owner and had obtained the land through a patent from the crown on July 14, 1841.  Both  he and his wife Catherine along with several of their children are buried here. 

Although, there had been reports of religious services on the land since 1821 in a log church in what was call Gardner's Clearing.  The denomination was originally Wesleyan Methodist, and became part of the United Church of Canada in 1925. 

The first burials in the cemetery began in 1837, although there is evidence that earlier burials took place but they were not recorded. Two of the early burials are the infant daughters of Joseph and Catherine one in 1837 and the second in 1842. 

The cemetery has been enlarged twice, once in 1910 and the second time in 1933.  The present day church was built in 1864 and still conducts services, but not as part of the United Church. 

 Both the church and the cemetery were designated a heritage site by the City of Mississauga in 1981. The cemetery still receives burials for those who have family plots.

Burnhamthorpe Primitive Methodist Cemetery, Mississauga







Burnhamthorpe Primitive Methodist Cemetery

(South west corner of Burnhamthorpe Rd and Dixie Rd)

The cemetery is located in the old village of Burnhamthorpe (formally Sand Hill), now the City of Mississauga, which was named by John Adelson an immigrant from Burnhamthorpe England.

The land on which the cemetery is located was originally a crown grant to Abram Markle who sold the land to Levi Lewis in 1811.  In 1825 Lewis deeded nine-tenths of an acre to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church for a public cemetery and school house.  The cemetery remained public until 1859 when it was deeded to the adjoining Primitive Methodist Church. 

In 1981 the cemetery was still in use and the Burnhamthorpe Public Library was built directly behind it.  The cemetery is well kept to this day. 

The cemetery has been transcribed three times since 1938, but a burial register had never been found.