The World is a Stage
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Our first Scrub a Stone at the Pioneer Graveyard was disappointing in numbers but not results.
From the history gleaned from Greg Tinguely’s microfilm research we know that 1939 was the year that the Tillson, VanNormans and some other graves had to be moved so that the dangerous curve in Simcoe Street could be made straight. The Tillsons tiered up the area, today enclosed by the wrought iron fence and moved their family, VanNormans and their markers. Clearing the bush from the rest of the graveyard was not done for another 20 years. Even the Founder’s Plot had not been kept up. Nature and vandals had broken all the original markers and toppled tall monuments. Once cleaned out, they then gathered what tombstones and pieces that they could find and cemented them in to eight sections in 1958.
Last year when cleaning the gravestones we found most were just covered in dirt, grime and moss which cleaned up fairly well, but there are a few, especially in section C that were pitch black. Pitch is the prerequisite word here as it seemed as if black pitch or tar, had covered some of the stones. I discovered that pitch from pine trees used to be a big export to Britain and used on their ships!
Last Saturday, Anne Corcoran worked on John Hopkins black tombstone, getting him all cleaned up. Although that is a famous name in Baltimore, Maryland our John Hopkins of Tillsonburg has a very different claim to fame; he was killed in a pre-election riot! During an election campaign that he was attending, in a hall in town, some of the enthusiasts from the opposing party rushed the podium to intimidate the speaker. The floor collapsed and 150 people plunged 20 feet down into the cellar where John Hopkins died. Research has found other Hopkins families in town at the time, however as yet we are unable to link John to them. His tombstone reads: In memory of John Hopkins, died Sep 2 1858 at 59 years.
Greg worked on a stone which named two infants. Albert E died Aug 7 1879 age 6 mo. and Maggie E died Sept 12 1875 aged 2 mo children of (covered in cement). How frustrating to have the parents name wiped out!
The last 56 years have not been kind to the stones. The broken stones which were standing cement in section C have all been broken again, destroying more information. It is interesting note that Albert, who died second, is listed first on the tombstone. It is probable that Maggie had a wooden cross or no stone until Albert died; then the money was found for them to shared one.
Darryl Carter, who has helped research, learned the last name of the children was Williams, which led to the names of the parents, George Williams and Elizabeth Fenall. George was a labourer in Tillsonburg.
I was working on a black stone as well – Nancy wife of Anthony Slingerland died 22 Dec 1858 age 60 yrs 14 ds. The information tells us she was born Dec 8, 1798. Women are harder to research as we don’t have their maiden names. So I started with Anthony and found them on the 1851-52 Dereham census where he was already 59 and Nancy 54 years old. He was listed as a Methodist farmer with Nancy and four children, living in a one story log cabin. Anthony was born in New York State, but Nancy and their children were born in Canada West, which we later learn was in Gainsborough Township, Lincoln Co., Ontario (Niagara District). They had had two older children who did not come to Tillsonburg and would have been married or dead. The two youngest girls had been born in Oxford Co. so we know they moved here by 1835. Two of these four children had quite fascinating lives.
Nancy turns out to be one of 11 children born to Robert Comfort and Ann Elizabeth Book and the only one to move to Tillsonburg.
While we were scrubbing, David Moule was digging in the founder’s plot and discovering that when the Tillsons and VanNorman stones had been moved here they had been cemented in individual bases set on top of the ground, which would explain why they are leaning so much.
Greg and I moved to scrub one of the few tall monuments which had been patched together in 1958 which noted the family name of Dewar and William died Jan 12 1863 2 mon 25 days. Christiana died Jun 20 1868 1 yr 8 ms 4 ds. This monument tells us that the Dewars had money! Their parents were John Dewar and Christina D. Young born in Scotland, married and sailed for Canada in 1837. They lived first in Hamilton then came to Tillsonburg remaining here for 22 years. John was a tailor and we even have an 1870s photo showing the sign ‘J. Dewar, Merchant Tailor’ in the Tillson Block on Broadway west side where Mr Huy’s original jewelry store, is still empty, today. While in Tillsonburg, Mr. Dewar was an active member of council, a Mason; Odd Fellow and belonged to the Canadian Order of Foresters. They had six children, but only William and Christiana died in Tillsonburg. (Christiana of typhoid.) The others moved with their parents to Shagrin Falls, Ohio for one year then to Essex Center, Canada. Isn’t it amazing what you can learn from a tombstone?
Come and help scrub every Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon in July and August, and meet some of our settlers.