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Documentation on the history of the Cemeteries

The beautiful stained glass window in the old mausoleum Note the upside down torch A symbol of a life extinguished Click on Photo to link to Our Gallery

Chatham Asks for a Chatham Casket Maker

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A Bylaw to authorize the granting of aid, by way of a bonus, by the Corporation of the City of Chatham for the promotion of a factory or industry in the said City, for the manufacture of caskets, vaults, and undertaker's supplies of all kinds under the Corporation name of "Everlasting Caskets and Vaults Limited" and to provide for the issue of debentures of said City in the amount of $3,000,00 and to raise the sum required.
Therefor (?) was read before the council 1st and 2nd (?).

A Planet Reporter takes a Stroll.

Chatham Tri-Weekly Planet 8 April 1889

A Planet reporter took a stroll last Sunday to the cemetery. Squire Sainsbury was sunning himself outside the fence looking well pleased and in good condition, and thinking, no doubt , of his peaceable tenants. The dark, rich foliage of the evergreens contrasted finely with the purity of the white marble. Some of the polished Scotch granite monuments would not be out of place in a metropolitan burying ground. One of them, massive and costly, but badly foundationed, leaned tower of Pisa fashion. Two things are needed in the cemetery. There should be a pavilion, or at least a shed to shelter visitors caught in sudden rain, and it must be remembered that the cemetery is the objective point of many a summer's walk. Again, at present, relatives and friends who wish to water the flowers are awkwardly situated, having to run the risk of stepping into the creek. Why could not steps be made down to the water.

The New Morgue

The new morgue at the cemetery has been completed to the satisfaction of the Parks and Cemetery committee. The building has been fitted up with trusses, new steps and doors, and it is said will make a convenient place for the storing of bodies when it is impossible to bury them. Under the former conditions undertakers had to store bodies in their private morgues sometimes for weeks when it was impossible to bury them. The morgue will also prove a convenient place for the holding of burial services when the weather is increment outside.

The building is twenty feet long by fourteen feet wide, and the renovations were made by thomas McKie. Chairman Baxter is more than pleased with the economical cost at which he managed to get the work done. In his estimate to the Council, he asked for $50. He has had the work completed for $38.75. The morgue will be painted later.

The City of the Dead

Information Concerning Maple Leaf Cemetery

Number of Interments Increasing -- Better Sanitary Conditions of the City Results in Fewer Deaths.

A quote from ? Source unknown at the moment.

Ever since the advisability of extending the limits of the Maple Leaf cemetery before it was everlastingly too late was discussed a couple of years ago, there has been in the minds of many citizens an idea that the city acted unwisely in allowing the matter to lapse. It would seem however that room for all of us and our children's children within the present bounds of Maple Leaf.

Nearly twenty-eight years ago - July 30, 1869 - a by-law was passed by the town council for the purchase of this thirty acres. On Jan 13 1871, a deed to the corporation was made by Patrick Tobin, the consideration being $3,430.

During the year of '71 the land was surveyed and laid out in lots, walks and driveways, this work being carried on under the supervision of Israel Evans, E W Scane, and the late Thomas Holmes who composed the cemetery committee of the then town council.

There are 22,505 lots divided off into wards as follows - Ward A 591 lots and gores: Ward B 268: Ward C 85: Ward D 163: Ward E 151: Ward F 599: Ward G 353: Ward H 395.

A by-law for the government was passed on the 7th July 1871 whereby the property was named "Maple Leaf Cemetery" and providing among other things that "From and after the passing of this by-law it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to bury or cause to be buried or interred or participate or assist in so doing in any place within the limits of this corporation."

This by-law was repassed in an amended form Dec 15 1894.

The first superintendent of Maple Leaf cemetery was Thomas Sainsbury, who was appointed at the opining of the cemetery in 1871 and held the position continuously until the spring of 1895 when he resigned and was succeeded by Homer B Turner on the 1st of March 1895.

Many Invested

When this plot so nicely located was opened for interments lots sold very rapidly, and soon many of what were then looked upon as the most desirable locations were snapped up. Most of those who had relatives buried in the burying grounds so commonly found under the shadow of the churches had the remains removed to the new cemetery as did many others resident near the city upon whose farms a white-wasahed fence marked the confines of the plot set apart years before for burial purposes. Only one church buring ground remains within the city limits - that at the easterly extremity of Stanley Avenue which despite the fact that many bodies still lie there has been left for years with broken down unsightly fences, and is and has been for years used as a cow pasture.

Naturally, the most desirable lots are sold off first, but under competent and painstaking superintendence past and present, the more unpromising portions have been improved and beautified until the rival if not indeed excel those which a few years ago were preferable in every respect.

The sale of lots is slow, only one and a quarter having been sold during these first two months of '97 and the unsold portion is looked upon as large enough to last for many years to come. The reason nof the slow sales is obvious. A great percentage of Chatham's citizens already own lots, many of which have nveer yet had the sod disturbed for the digging of a grave. The older part of Maple Leaf that lying west of the creek is pretty well sold out, few if any, desirable lots remaining. All recent sales of lots have been east of the creek.

Some Statistics

The present rate of burial can be closely estimated from the statement that since New Year's day, 1886, 2,000 burials in round numbers, have been made in Maple Leaf. This covers ten years and two months of 1897 during which twenty-eight interments have been made.

Although from year to year Maple Leaf Cemetery has grown in popularity and the range of territory it takes in has widened. January of this year shows fewer interments than for the more than ten years past. The figures are Jan 1887 11, 1888, 14, 1889 14, 1890 25, 1891 15, 1892 20, 1893 14, 1894 15, 1895 14, 1896 15, 1897 10.

The interments in the year 1896 were much fewer in number than the preceding four or five years. The cause ascribed to an improved sanitary condition of the city and the discontinuance of the use of well water by a majority of the citizens. It appears to those who are in the habit of drinking well water is much greater than among those who patronize the town pump. During 1896 there were only 160 persons buried in Maple Leaf cemetery while in 1895 there were 191. In 1894 218 and in 1893 190.

End of Quote.

(Note to clarify. Under the title above Some Statistics. The list of burials by year is, we believe, a list of burials for the month of January each year. So, in January of 1896 there were 15. As indicated below, over the whole year there were 160.
Also. Re the second sentence beginning "This covers ten years and two months ... " It probably means that between Jan 1 1886 and Dec 31 1896 [yes, that is actually 11 years and not 10!] plus the the first two months of 1897 there were about 2,000 burials in the cemetery.)

Part of a News Story. Chatham Daily News Maybe?

(?) named Edward Basset Jones. He put the facts together anad conducted a dig that revealed some of the history of the Neutrals. The bones of over 35 fallen citizens lying where they had been when they died were uncovered on the cemetery and McGeachylands. As strange as it may seem they were later put in barrels and sold to local medical students.

The patch of land on which the cemetery stands was once the farm of William Mickle, then James Messmore , then Patrick Tobin. In 1869 the Corporation of the Towne of Chatham met in council, decided they needed a larger cemetery, and officially began to negotiate for this part of Tobin's farm. Until then, people from the city were buried in many different places; on the third lot east of fQueen Street on Indian Creek Road, sometimes on family plots, and sometimes in small church cemeteries. On July 8 1869 the towne agreed to purchase 20 acres of land for $3430 from the estate of Patrick Tobin. Alphonsus Baudin rector of St Joseph's Church purchased an additional 21 3/4 acres to house a Catholic cemetery, because another law prevented the sale of cemetery land to specific religious groups. With the new cemetery the towne government forbit burials inside the town limits and called for the re-interment of those buried locally to Chatham to Maple Leaf/St Anthony's. The last of the old church burial grounds were Old St Paul's on Stanley Street near CCI, the Presbyterian at the corner of Wellington and Adelaide near the Judy LaMarsh Building and the catholic cemetery behind St Joseph's Church on the intersection of Jeffery and Cross streets. The Catholic land became St Anthony's Cemetery. Finally town council decided to move the bodies from the other area cemeteries after allowing families to move their ancestors if they wished to the Potter's Field of Maple Leaf.

There is a bit of a mystery surrounding what happened then. A Potter's Field is a place where the poor are buried. No one kept track of who was buried in the New Potter's Field. Markers werer usually made of wood, which lasted only a few years and many people were buried without markers at all. We know that many area families moved their loved ones when the city government ordered the closing of local cemeteries, but were the rest of the bodies moved to Potter's Field? Not all were moved, we know that much. Several bodies have been accidentally unearthed where the old cemeteries were and headstones were stacked up on Stanly Street in the 1940's, then turned upside down and used as patio stones.

one thing we do know is that there used to be a stone near the train tracks and close to the road. It read, "In memory of an unknown man" and served as a marker for all the unmarked graves. Vic Miller archivist for St Joseph's Parish in Chatham confirmed that it was there as late as the 1950's. He worked for Union Gas then and was sent to investigate some underground pipes that would be submerged when the creek overflowed. Apparently, this was a hazard and the gas sent him over to put the gas line up in the air, flush with the road and tracks. So we build it a bridgeway and it ran a few feet in the air from Indian Creek Road to the old Graveyard House where former cemetery Keeper George Manninger lived. The stone was here then, right up against the base of the tracks and right near the road. I have no idea when it left. I remember George saying something about graves only having to be maintained for forty years or something. I guess the stone would have left after forty years then? That was the last recorded sighting of the marker of the Unknown Man.

There are many people buried in Old Maple Leaf whose lives were legendary and whose gravestones deserve a quiet visit. ...

Note Connie Rivard remembers passing this stone up to the approximate time period of 1989 to about 1992. So the stone was standing until this point.