Grand River Branch Burial Grounds Plaque Project
2006 : For the second year, Grand River Branch has been actively engaged in marking the burial places of Loyalist Ancestors in the Grand River Region.
Largely through the work of Marilyn Haslinger and Cathy and Don Thompson, we have been able to erect plaques in throughout the area.
The Branch has already applied for a 2007 grant from Dominion and we are continuing to look for cemeteries where Loyalist Ancestors are buried.
It is anticipated that as we erect more plaques
that there will be fewer Loyalists in each cemetery, however it is
certainly the goal of the Branch to erect as many plaques as there are
cemeteries with Loyalists buried in
them.
Cemeteries with Plaques for 2006:
Oakland Pioneer Cemetery — Daniel and Elizabeth Secord; Finlay and Tryphena
(Wardell) Malcolm.
Johnson
Cemetery (St. Williams) — Margaret (Mabee)
and Anthony Manuel; Peter and Elsie Procunier; Peter SR. and Leah (Mabee)
Montross; Thomas Co
St. John’s Woodhouse - Abraham and Sara (Vanderburgh) Rapalje; Ephraim
Tisdale; George and Parnel (Mead) Salmon; Jonathan and Mary (Titus)
Williams.
McCall Fairchild Cemetery (Charlotteville) — Lieut. Donald
and Elsie (Simpson) McCall; Martha (McCool) wife of John McCall.
Greenwood Cemetery — Haviland – Waterford Job and
Elizabeth Slaght; Capt John and Sara (Birdsell) Haviland; William and
Margaret (Walker) McCool; Abraham and Sarah (Slaght) Mesecar.
2007 :
Strongly supported by the Branch with generous assistance from Dominion Council, members Marilyn Haslinger and Cathy and Don Thompson make the rounds armed with plaques, shovels, expertise and sweat equity. We're grateful for their time and effort!
2008 :
During the past year
my husband Don, along with Marilyn Haslinger and I have put up the
"Loyalist Burial Grounds" signs in these cemeteries honouring the
Loyalists who are buried there:
Hazen Cemetery Fairview (Forrestville)
Cemetery Boston Baptist Cemetery
McQueen Cemetery
Neal Memorial Church (Port
Rowan) North Norwich Pioneer Cemetery
Port Ryerse Anglican Church Cemetery
With the placement of these years’ plaques our
branch has now honoured those buried in 17 cemeteries which are in the
counties of Norfolk, Oxford, and Brant.
This report respectfully submitted for the year
2007 Annual Report; Catherine Thompson UE, Genealogist, Grand River
Branch UELAC
Dominion President Peter
Johnson, Vice-President Fred Hayward and Central West Regional V.P.
President Bonnie Schepers were in attendance along with an enthusiastic
group of devoted members and guests. Truly a memorable day for all!
With the sheer number of
Loyalist communities throughout Grand River Country, our work is an
ongoing effort. Inspired by the determination of our Loyal
ancestors, we'll continue to place these plaques as a gesture of respect
and honour.
2009 : The group of Marilyn Haslinger, Doug Coppins, Don and myself again placed the "Loyalist Burial Ground" Plaques at 6 cemeteries this past summer. This makes a total so far of 23 cemeteries that have been designated. The ones that we did this summer were in:
We are still trying to get permission to put a plaque at the Mohawk Chapel to honour Capt. Joseph Brant but we continue to wait for responses to our letters and other correspondence. I think that we can place another 5 or 6 plaques this year and they will likely be out of Norfolk. I have attended the regular meetings and the Exec. Meetings during this year, have participated in outreach and educational programs and have had many emails requesting help and wanting information about joining our branch. I believe that it has been a good year for our branch and trust that it will continue in 2009.
Grand River Branch is firmly committed to paying our respect to and acknowledging the sacrifices of the United Empire Loyalists who were instrumental in helping found our great country of Canada. We will always be indebted to these extraordinary people.
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