Thursday, December 22, 2011

Friends (Hicksite) Burying Ground, Newmarket









Located on the west side of Yonge Street, 300 meters south of Mulock Drive.  Quakers settled in the Newmarket area around 1807.  In 1828 the Hicksite Friends, followers of Elias Hicks, separated from the original society. In 1839 the Hicksites built their meeting house and established the burial ground. The meeting house stood on this site until 1942 and the last burial in this cemetery was in 1919.

The early Quakers did not permit headstones and buried in order of death. Which is why the east side of the  burial ground where the first burials are located are not marked.  Later, when headstones where permitted these were usually just fieldstone, Unfortunately, during a restoration a number of fieldstone markers were removed to the western edge of the cemetery, thus destroying many family relationships and the order of burial.

The cemetery was restored by the Town of Newmarket in 1989; it is closed to burials and is maintained today by the Town of Newmarket and is a designated heritage site.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

St. Peter's Anglican Church & Cemetery, Erindale

Church & Grounds




A Family lineage from 1740 for
The Hall Family




St. Peter's Anglican Church and Cemetery is located at 1745 Dundas Street West, Mississauga on the north east corner of Dundas Street and Mississauga Road.  The site over looks the Credit River to the east and sound of the rapids despite this busy intersection makes the area very serene.  This tract of land on the Credit River was part of the Mississauga Indian Reserve.

The property was purchased from the Crown in 1828 for the sum of 10 shillings  by a group of trustees that included Colonel Peter Adamson, who is buried here, and who donated the land for the site of St. Paul's Anglican Church and Cemetery in  Norval in the 1840's. 

The Grave of Canadian Musician
Oscar Peterson

The Grave of The Honorable
General Peter Adamson 


The cemetery which is still in use, and managed by the St. Peter's Cemetery Board, commemorates army officers, pensioners and the sons and daughters of United Empire Loyalists.  The earliest marker is for John Smith who died in 1829.  The first recorded burial however is for an unmarked grave. St. Peter's Anglican burial register show two burials that took place in September of 1828 just after the property was purchased by the trustees.  

One of the more famous burials in this cemetery is that of renowned Canadian musician, Oscar Peterson, who died in 2007.


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Burying Ground, Newmarket

Quaker Meeting House
Built 1810

Historical Plaque

Early Quaker Burials



Marker of Sarah Webster Hughes
who died in 1815 but was refuse burial in these grounds
In 1973 her grave and the graves of two of her children were
found and relocated to this cemetery
This burying ground and meeting house is located on the west side of Yonge Street, just south of Eagle Street in the Town of Newmarket.  In 1807 Asa Rogers deeded two acres of land for a burial ground  for the Society of Friends (Quakers), who had started to settle in this area around 1801.  In 1810 William Doan donated another two acres for the site of the meeting house. The meeting house is still on this land and is still used by the Society of Friends as a place of worship and the cemetery still receives burials.  The area is a designated heritage site, and is maintained by the Society of Friends.

Eagle Street Pioneer Burying Ground, Newmarket

Heritage Plaque



Field Stone Marker of The Rev. Ramsay
Honorary Canon of St. James Cathedral

Cross and Historic Plaque dedicated in 1961 to
the Pioneers of the area who are buried here




Eagle Street Cemetery aka St. Paul's Anglican Cemetery or simply Pioneer Burying Ground, came in to use in the 19th century as a non-denominational burying ground. It is located on Eagle Street just east of Yonge Street in the Town of Newmarket.  

In 1863 ownership passed to St. Paul's Anglican Church.  Many prominent pioneers of the area are buried here, including, William Roe, a town founder, Dr. Christopher Beswick, pioneer physician and Ann Roe widow of Walter Roe, last British Chief Magistrate of Detroit, to name a few.

The cemetery fell into despair following the establishment of the Newmarket Cemetery in 1869.  The cemetery was subsequently leveled and cairns were built to preserve the headstones  in the 1960's.  The area is now a designated historical site and maintained by the Town of Newmarket.


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mount Pleasant Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery, Stewarttown








Mount Pleasant Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery is located at 10579 Trafalgar Road in Halton Hills. It is situated on the east side of the road just south of Stewarttown in Halton Hills.

In April of 1833 an innkeeper by the name of George Thompson sold to a group of trustees for the sum of 50 pounds one acre of land to be used as a burial ground and site for a school and meeting house.  A rough cast chapel was apparently built on the property in 1844, but was closed in 1858 when Thomas Thompson donated land for the Stewarttown Wesleyan Church, which opened in 1859.  The cemetery still received burials after the church was relocated, but it soon fell into despair. 

The cemetery was eventually restored by the Ashgrove Women's Institute.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church & Cemetery, (Haltonville), Milton

Cairn with headstones



















The first Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church was built in Haltonville (Milton, Ont.) in 1839.  The original church records are missing, but there was a society of trustees in 1836 who decided to build the original church.  The present day church was built in 1861 and the congregation increased steadily until about 1869 when the congregation in Campbellville was organized.  

The cemetery was established in 1866, but there is evidence of earlier burials on this land by the headstones that are in the cairn located to west of the church.  However, there are no known burial records for them.

The church building was designated a Heritage Building in 2004 and is still an active congregation to this day,  the cemetery also still receives burials.

Boston Presbyterian Church & Cemetery, Halton Hills

Heritage Plaque



Church & Grounds







Grave of James Laidlaw 1820

Located at 9185 Third Line, Halton Hills, Boston Presbyterian Church and Cemetery was established in 1824 on land that was purchased from Andrew Laidlaw by the church trustees.  Prior to the first church and establishment of the cemetery the congregation met on the farm of Andrew Laidlaw from about 1820. As the above photo shows the Laidlaw family were already using the land for burials.  The area was and is still known as Scotch Block, due to the Scottish settlers that came either directly from Scotland or via the USA around 1819. 

In 1832 there was a large contingent who separated from this congregation, due to different views concerning articles of faith. This group would become the United Presbyterian Church, (Mansewood United Presbyterian), which is located a few kilometers down the road. This church was closed in 1931 and eventually removed from that site.

The present day church was build in 1868 and named after Thomas Boston, significants unknown,  the cemetery association was formed in 1911.  Boston Presbyterian Church is still an active parish and the cemetery is still used for burials. Both the church and cemetery are a designated heritage site.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Mansewood United Presbyterian Cemetery, Milton, Halton Hills

Cairn made from building stones from
the demolished church building

Heritage Dedication 

Rear of Cairn
The rectangle area at the back is the old foundations
Corner stones can still be found in the ground




Mansewood United Presbyterian Cemetery is located on the N/W corner of 3rd Line and 5th Side Road in Milton, Halton Hills.  The original church on this site was built in 1836 and was referred to as the Antiburger Church.  Burials in the cemetery also commenced around this time and continued in to the early 1900's.

The second stone church was built in 1866 and the manse was built in 1872.  The congregation continued until 1931, the church was then only used for anniversaries until 1951 when if fell into disuse.  The building was eventually removed in 1958 and some of the building stones were used in the cairn which is now on the site.  At the back of the cairn a another cairn containing 12-15 headstones, there is also four standing monuments on the grounds.  

If you stand facing due east you will see the foundation lines for the stone church.  Some of the corner stones from these foundations can still be seen in the ground.  This site today is designated as a Heritage Site and is maintained by the Town of Milton.