Oakville Town Cemetery (including St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery)
Location:
659 Lyons Lane, Oakville, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada.
Concession 3, lots 15 & 16, Trafalgar Township.
GPS:
Latitude: 43.45258°N
Longitude: -79.69203°W
History:
The cemetery land was given to the Town of Oakville by the mayor, George K. Chisholm, in March 1858. It is a plot of about five acres situated on the bank of the Sixteen Mile Creek where the old road (Sixth Line) crossed the creek. This land was then at the Northern boundary of the municipality. Here the winding Sixteen forms a point of land surrounded by steep banks on three sides. These banks are of red clay and shale some seventy feet in height, a beautiful spot. The town council formed a committee for laying out the new cemetery. The land was surveyed by George C. Tremaine who was responsible for publishing a number of maps in Ontario in the mid-19th century, including the 1858 “Map of Halton County, Canada West.” After being stumped, it was surrounded by a white picket fence, and a line of hitching posts was placed on the Sixth Line. A road was cut through the cemetery to the southern section, which was reserved for the use of the Roman Catholics, and along it pines were planted, some of which still survive. A sale of lots was held at the Town Hall, and those purchased were marked with little white stakes bearing the names of the owners. The removal of remains from the old cemetery on Reynolds St. for re- internment in the new Town Cemetery was immediately begun, though the transfer was not completed for more than twenty years. In January 1881, under Chief Constable Sumner’s supervision, the last sixteen bodies were disinterred for removal to the Town Cemetery, a project which created considerable interest among the townspeople.
The cemetery records are kept at the Oakville Municipal Offices in Oakville Town Hall at 1225 Trafalgar Road, the east side, just north of the Queen Elizabeth Way. There are very few records available there and no old ones. No new plots are being sold, but there are still burials in existing plots, and a record of these open plots is kept in the office. If a person is looking for a name which is not on the enclosed cemetery list, I suggest a visit to the Municipal Offices. The name being searched may be among the few they have. The Offices are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. There is a book at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Oakville, which contains the names of people buried in the St. Mary’s section of the Oakville Cemetery, as well as burials in nearby Cemeteries in Halton. There is nothing recorded prior to 1859, and there are no details regarding the person buried. These records are not complete, and most entries begin in the 1940’s.
The Oakville Cemetery belongs to the Town of Oakville, and so the grass is kept cut, and the road and footpaths Maintained. There has been some vandalism in recent years, and in a few cases, the inscriptions cannot be read on an overturned stone.
The earliest burial is believed to be that of Joshua Leach, born 1776 and died at age 86. Although there are earlier dates on some stones, I understand they were re-interred from the old cemetery on Reynolds St. A few Roman Catholic burials took place in an old burying ground surrounding St. Andrew’s Church, which has long since been dug up and built over.
History compiled by Janet MacKay; uUpdated by Kathy Baker, 2022
Excerpts of this history is from Oakville and the Sixteen by Hazel C. Mathews, 1953 (pages 319-321).
The southern section of the cemetery is reserved exclusively for Roman Catholic burials.
Transcription purchase:
Transcriptions of this cemetery are available for digital download from the OGS website – click here to order via credit card.