Chelsea's Historic Cemeteries
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"IN MEMORY OF" CHELSEA'S HISTORIC CEMETERIES: COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS FROM PIONEER TIMES TO THE PRESENT by Jean Carol Craig Martin Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the M. A. degree in History. "•^yotO* Universite d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa ©1999 Jean Carol Craig Martin UMI Number: EC55794 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform EC55794 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 11 ABSTRACT In Chelsea Quebec, four cemeteries date from the early decades of its settlement in the 1820s. Three are burial sites for Protestants and one is a Roman Catholic cemetery. These exemplify different kinds of burial sites which developed in frontier settlements: the family plot, a private burial area, a communal burial area and a church-organized site. As institutions, the cemeteries in Chelsea appear to be models or types common to stages of pioneer settlement. Most studies of nineteenth-century cemeteries and social values associated with death, dying and burial during that time have emphasized church-run sites and urban areas, where city cemetery reforms were prompted by overcrowding and public health concerns. Yet most Canadians—and North Americans—lived in rural areas during this period. In this rural municipality located within a twenty-minute drive from the cities of Ottawa and Hull, the slower rate of community growth and actions to preserve two of its cemeteries as historic sites have presented an opportunity to assess their present status and to research their history. Starting with the cemeteries and their monuments as a primary source, and referring to land grants, church and municipal records, census, newspaper and local people, a rich resource of information has helped to flesh out the story of these grave sites and those buried there. As one of the early unplanned needs in a new community, the first graves were soon followed by others, and cemetery sites were developed by families and community groups. This study traces the organization of cemeteries in Chelsea during its pioneer period, how they continued and changed over time, and their late-twentieth-century roles. It also looks at the relationship between Chelsea's communities of the dead and the living, and the information communicated about the dead as individuals within this community. While the dead were mourned as individuals, their monuments interpreted their lives in terms of the people, and sometimes the places, with which they had been associated. Age and death date were important in nineteenth-century Chelsea, while cause of death was rarely mentioned on its monuments, and only in the late twentieth century does the occasional Ill gravestone here convey information about occupation, interests, or life experiences. During the nineteenth century, Chelsea's cemeteries were informally-organized and family-led. In the twentieth century, those that remained established links with other formally-organized community institutions and continued as either active "living" cemeteries or historic sites. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In preparing this study of Chelsea's cemeteries, I have been helped and encouraged by many people. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Beatrice Craig, who supervised this thesis, and the Faculty of History at the University of Ottawa who provided an encouraging and stimulating environment during that time. The efforts of Arthur Davison, Bob Phillips, Patrick M. O. Evans and the Historical Society of the Gatineau as a group generated interest in Chelsea's historic cemeteries and helped preserve two of them, along with the support of Chelsea's mayor Judith Grant, former mayors Doug Minnes and Jean Chapman, municipal councillors and employees. In every aspect of this project I have been helped and guided by the expertise of others, including Andre Desrochers, Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa, who identified the material of Thomas Wright's monument; Professors Michel Theriault and John Gibaut of Saint Paul University's Faculty of Canon Law who provided information about cemetery consecration; and Bruce Elliott, Professor of History at Carleton University, who offered genealogical information from his files along with helpful suggestions. Numerous archivists and librarians helped me to find documents, and the Rev. Gordon Roberts, Executive Secretary of the Montreal and Ottawa Conference, United Church of Canada supported my request to access the twentieth-century burial records of Chelsea United Church. I am particularly grateful to the Chelsea residents—and those from elsewhere—who provided me with details and stories about Chelsea's cemeteries and the persons buried in them. My husband Bob helped me to measure Chelsea's Protestant cemetery over several scorching summer days, my son Brent's computer expertise overcame several technical hurdles, and my daughter Lorna provided constant moral support. My parents, both dead, have been an inspiration: my mother Dorothy Reid had a long-standing interest in local history, and my father Jim Craig's searching and scientific mind constantly reached out to probe questions about the past. V On Chelsea's grave monuments, almost all individuals are identified in the context of other persons important to their lives. Their space limitations lead to selectively short lists, but the implication is clear: we are all influenced by others. Without the help of many others, not specifically named here, this study would not have been possible. Thanks to all of you Jean Carol Craig Martin Winter 1999. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii 1. INTRODUCTION ... 1 1.1 Approach and sources 6 1.2 Terminology . 8 2. CONTEXT 10 2.1 Chelsea's settlement 10 2.2 Burial custom at the outset of the nineteenth century ... 16 3. CHELSEA'S NINETEENTH-CENTURY BURIAL SITES ... ... 27 3.1 Chelsea's family plots .. 31 3.2 From family plot to private cemetery: Churches' Cemetery 47 3.3 The Protestant community cemetery: "Chelsea Cemetery" .... .56 3.4 Chelsea's Roman Catholic churchyard: St. Stephen's Cemetery 83 3.5 End of a century ... 101 4. CHELSEA'S TWENTIETH-CENTURY CEMETERIES . ..108 4.1 Family plots become history ... 108 4.2 The transformation of Churches' Cemetery to Chelsea Pioneer Cemetery 109 4.3 From Protestant commumty cemetery to Chelsea Protestant Burial Ground 116 4.4 St. Stephen's Cemetery: continuity and change in an active burial ground . 128 4.5 Chelsea's cemeteries at the end of another century ... 134 5. CONCLUSION EPITAPH 137 SOURCES CONSULTED 143 APPENDIX A: PHOTOGRAPHS A-l APPENDIX B: MONUMENT TRANSCRIPTS AND LISTINGS 1. Churches' Cemetery Monument Transcripts and List of Additional Burials . B-1 2. Protestant Cemetery Monument Transcripts and List of Additional Burials . B-4 3. St. Stephen's Cemetery Nineteenth Century Monument Listings (extracts) .B-19 Vll LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures Page Figure 1: Hull Township ... 13 Figure 2: Chelsea, 1998 map showing cemeteries . .... 15 Figure 3: Blackburn Monument Transcripts ... 36 Figure 4: Blackburn Family ... .37 Figure 5: Baldwin Monument Transcripts ..40 Figure 6: Baldwin Family .... ... .42 Figure 7: Site plan, Churches' Cemetery ... ... .48 Figure 8: Old Chelsea area showing Protestant cemetery 57 Figure 9: Site plan, Protestant Cemetery ... ... 64 Figure 10: Site Plan, St. Stephen's Churchyard, first cemetery plots 86 Figure 11: Sites of St. Stephen's earliest monuments .88 Tables Table 1: Family Plot Activity 44 Table 2: Family Plot Burials, by age at death ... .. 46 Table 3: Family Plot Burials, by date .. .... 46 Table 4: Churches' Cemetery Names, by source ... 50 Table 5: Churches' Cemetery Burials, by date and source of information .51 Table 6: Churches' Cemetery Burials, by age at death .53 Table 7: Protestant Cemetery Names, by source . 60 Table 8: Protestant Cemetery Burials, by date and source of information ... .66 Table 9: Protestant Cemetery Monument Groupings 67 Table 10: Protestant Cemetery Activity 76 Table 11: Protestant Cemetery Nineteenth Century Burials, by age at death . 78 Table 12: St. Stephen's Churchyard, Comparison of 1840-1862 sample . 94 Table 13: St. Stephen's Churchyard Nineteenth Century Burials, by age at death 95 Table 14: Protestant Cemetery Twentieth Century Burials, by age at death . 118 Table 15: St. Stephen's Churchyard Burials, by date and source of information ..129 Table 16: St. Stephen's Churchyard Twentieth Century Burials, by age at death 131 Table 17 St. Stephen's Churchyard Burials: death date information 132 1 1. INTRODUCTION In a small community cemetery in Chelsea, Quebec stands a fine grey sandstone grave monument whose beautifully chiselled inscription "in memory of Thomas Wright informs the reader of his death on September 18, 1801. The son of Thomas and Elizabeth Wright, he was born on June 13, 1759. Beyond this brief biography on his monument, tantalizingly little is known about Wright himself and the circumstances of his life and death. While the Wright name is recalled for founding Hull Township, it is Philemon, two years junior to Thomas, who took the lead in this activity, and Philemon's grave monument in St. James' Cemetery in Hull proclaims him as "The Pioneer Settler of the Ottawa Valley." Thomas Wright's stone is silent about his role in founding that earliest settlement, where he survived only eighteen months after arriving in March of 1800.