Description

CEM 209_waterdown_cemetery

Street Address:        Margaret Street, off Highway # 5, Waterdown

Location: Lot 6, Concession 3, East Flamborough Township

Type of Cemetery: Municipal

Responsible Agency: City of Hamilton

Status for Burials: Open for burials          Plot Plan: Exists

Size:         large, 1010 monuments

Fencing: Chain link, iron railings and hedgerow Monument Types:

Flat, upright, monument, and vault Monuments of: Marble, and granite

Date of Opening: 1830

History:

Two churches, one Presbyterian, one Methodist Episcopal, once stood on Vinegar Hill at the eastern edge of the Village of Waterdown, on a property previously owned by Ebenezer Griffin. They shared a burial ground, originating ca. 1830. The burial ground was known as Union Cemetery, because of the interdenominational co-operation,.

By 1877 the cemetery was operated by the Waterdown Cemetery Board with established prices of $2 for full plots, and $1 for individual graves. The cemetery remains in use for those who own plots.

The cemetery contains the McGregor-Ross Vault, a concrete structure containing the cremated remains of members of these two noted families of the Waterdown and Nelson Township areas.

 

The Union Cemetery

Located in an area known as Vinegar Hill in the North-east and oldest part of the village, the Union Cemetery contains over 800 monuments erected as memorials to early pioneers. A village school house was built on part of the property in 1827 and used by the Methodists on Sunday morning and the Presbyterians in the afternoon. The name Union Cemetery originates from another joint venture between the two churches when they agreed to share the cost of maintaining a burial ground in the village.

The cemetery property was purchased from E.C. Griffin by George Bush in 1843, but it was almost certainly in use before this transaction occurred as over a dozen stones date from the 1830s and Griffin’s name appears on the original cemetery plan which is undated. In 1846 this property at the end of William Street was transferred to the Trustees of the Waterdown Chapel and in 1849 another plot was sold by Absolom Griffin, a prosperous mill owner and brother of E.C. Griffin to the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

On January 1, 1877, the Trustees sold the cemetery property for $400 to the Waterdown Cemetery Company with the deed naming the property as The Waterdown Burying Ground.

As one enters by the old-fashioned, hand-made turnstile and goes to the north-west section, one can find monuments dating from the 1830s. Names of many pioneers families are to be found on tombstones together with that of Dr. J.O. McGregor who for over 50 years was a much-loved family physician in Waterdown. This well kept and tree-filled cemetery is owned and managed by the Cemetery Board of Waterdown and is still in use today