Unearthing history of York Region's pioneer cemeteries

Cemeteries in Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill and Newmarket date back to the late 1700s, early 1800s

Yorkregion.com
June 26, 2018
Adam Martin-Robbins

York Region's pioneer cemeteries give you a glimpse into the history of the region's early settlers.
Here are five of the oldest graveyards around the region:


Bethesda Lutheran Cemetery
This cemetery, 9423 Kennedy Rd. in Markham, was founded in 1803. Bethesda Lutheran Church was located on this site until 1910 when it was moved to its present location, at 20 Union St. It is where one of Upper Canada's earliest Lutheran congregations, primarily German settlers, worshipped.

Dickson Hill Cemetery
Established in 1803, Dickson Hill Cemetery, 70 Dickson Hill Rd. in Markham, serves as the final resting placeto men and women who lived in four different centuries. The older headstones bear the names of some prominent local families such as Raymer, Button, Stouffer, Wideman, Walker, Musselman and Reesor.

Friends' Orthodox Burying Ground

Quakers from New York and Pennsylvania established this cemetery, located at 17000 Yonge St. in Newmarket, in 1807. It sits next to a simple frame building that serves as a meeting house for the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers.

Richmond Hill Cemetery
The first document burial at this Presbyterian Church cemetery, 10068 Yonge St. in Richmond Hill, is from 1806 when Abner Miles, one of the town’s founders, died. Among the cemetery’s unique features is an octagonal vault, or deadhouse, built in 1863.

Edgeley Mennonite Burying Ground
This cemetery, 7981 Jane St. in Vaughan, was established in 1799 by Mennonites from Pennsylvania. It features a cairn erected in 1985 on the former site of a meeting house built that was built in 1824 and served as a place of worship for more than 100 years.