Melodie Seto
Few people may realize just how long the St. Paul’s Cemetery has been around. Built in 1818, the burial ground is one of the oldest in the area. Established on approximately three acres of land, the St. Paul’s Church was constructed later on in 1837. The cemetery may be rich with history, but the harsh elements of passing years leftsome aspects of the land in poor condition.
A team of workers take down a monument at the St. Paul Cemetery to repair its foundation. Photo: Melodie Seto.
St. Paul’s Cemetery trustees are taking actions to repair and restore parts of the church building and some of the headstones with the help and support of the Township and the local community. Photo: Melodie Seto.
Beautiful turn of the century headstones make for a rustic country scene but need some TLC. Photo: Melodie Seto.
Back in the fall of 2014, local Anglican Churchtrustees who oversee St. Paul’s Cemetery’s affairs approached the Township of Cavan Monaghan under its Community Funding Grants program to present their case and seek out help.Theywere successful and received the maximum grant amount of $2,500 for the restoration of some of the monuments and repairs to the building.This grant, however, wascontingent on matching the amount given,so a fund raising program was started to help meet this condition.
Restoring the cemetery is a large project that will takeyears to fully realize. The funds from the fall grant are only sufficient to cover the restoration cost of 15 monuments along with a few repairs to the church.
Derrick Lennox has been assigned the task of repairing the selected headstones that were prioritizedbased on their threat of falling and potentially injuring cemetery visitors and workers, or their inability to last another winter. Although these 15 were labelled as the “most dangerous or at risk” stones, there are still many others requiring attention.
As the restoration process involves disassembling some monuments to reconstruct their foundation, the St. Paul’s Cemetery Trustees want to inform family members about the current project.They are particularly anxious toget in touch with any descendants of the following families: Byers, Storey, Heaslip, Thorndyke, Shaw, Francey, Lee, Doughty, Reynolds, Millward, Wood, Fair (Howard), Armstrong (John G.), Graham (William), and Campbell (Florinda).
The headstones found in St. Paul’s Cemetery can be viewed at www.canadianheadstones.com.With volunteers from all over the country, including Millbrook, the Canadian Headstone Photo Project is a non-profit organization that has been capturing digital images of headstones along with their complete transcription. As it becomes difficult and sometimes nearly impossible to read the inscription on stones after decades and even centuries, this project works hard tocreate a public archive, which can prove to be a resourceof invaluable assistance in genealogy or ancestry research. This site also brings a bit more exposure to the cemetery on 4th Line.
As a charitable organization, the St. Paul’s Cemetery continues to raise funds to match the Township’s grant, and any donations over $25 are tax deductible to St. Paul’s Cemetery, 11 Bank Street South. PO Box 202 Millbrook L0A 1G0. With the community’s support, they hope to be able to continue caring forand preserving this historical site in Millbrook for many more years to come.
