Saturday, November 1, 2014

Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Oro-Medonte








Located on the north west corner of Old Barrie Road and the 9th Line is Knox Presbyterian Church Cemetery.  In 1842 a log school house was built on the south east corner of lot 12 conc 9 on the farm of Samuel Jermey. The Presbyterians held services there until they had built their own place of worship.

A church was eventually built by volunteer labour on lot 11 conc. 9 in 1844 with the assistance of a grant from the Hon.Isaac Buchanan of Hamilton Ontario.  The church was open for service in 1845 and held its last service in 1900.  Over the years the wooden church fell into disrepair, but was restored and is now used only for an annual memorial service held on the last weekend of June.

If you look inside of this small white washed building you will still see the wooden pews and pulpit. As well as the wood burning stove with the long pipe that runs the length the building to provide heat during the cold Canadian winters.

The cemetery is large and well maintained and is still in use to this day. 

Lone Plots - Old Barrie Road. Oro Medonte






















Located on the north side of Old Barrie Rd, next to the new entrance of the Oro-Medonte Landfill Site, sit two lone grave sites.  If you blink you will miss them, there is no plaque or cairn to provide a history.  

One grave however has been marked with a modern marker slab that identifies Elizabeth Tuck, wife of David Thompson along with an infant daughter, died in 1879.  The other grave on this site is unknown, the marker long gone.

The Illustrated Atlas of the County of Simcoe 1881 shows that this land was jointly owned in 1881 by J. McIntyre and M. Bush.  Was Elizabeth Tuck related to one of these people and buried in a family plot on the side of this hill.  Who knows,

The author has come across some additional information while researching other cemeteries in this area. There appears to be a number of burials for Tuck in the Old Edgar Congregational Cemetery just a few kilometers east of this location.  It is highly possible that Elizabeth Tuck was related to these people. There are also burials for the Tuck family in the West Oro Baptist Cemetery on Bass Lake Rd & Line 4.