Caesar’s Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery
Also known as: Caesar’s Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery
Location:
14999 Dixie Road, Caledon, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada.
Concession 4E, lot 32, Chinguacousy Township.
GPS:
Latitude: 43.8220°N
Longitude: -79.8723°W
History:
In 1879, Hugh Wilson bought Caesar’s farm. It was not until 1960 however, when Hugh Michael Wilson had the property surveyed, that it was discovered that the cemetery land had never been severed from the Caesar property.
The first frame roughcast church building was built in 1820 by Mr James Caesar and trustees, and this is the only available record to help establish a possible date for the cemetery. When the first church burned down the new brick church was built on the south-west corner of the 4th line and No 32 Sideroad but the original burying ground remained and has always been known as Caesar’s cemetery.
In 1927, the unkempt condition of Caesar’s cemetery, overgrown with weeds and brambles, broken monuments and fences, came up for discussion at the Mono Road Women’s Institute and a committee, composed of the President, Mrs Sam Wilson, Mrs Thos Wilson and Miss Grace Bolton, was appointed to investigate the possibility of cleaning up this neglected burying
ground. At the committee’s recommendation that the Institute undertake this as a project, a committee of Mrs C J Cranston, Miss Victoria Ward, Mrs Wm Hewitt, and Miss Margaret Caesar accepted the responsibility of recruiting help to do the work. The services of Mr Robert Mansfield of Kilmanagh were engaged at $1.00 per rod for clearing the debris and leveling the ground. This was the beginning of “Perpetual Care” in Caesar’s Cemetery that has been carried on ever since.
Euchre parties were held to raise funds until March of 1972 when the Chinguacousy Township Council granted them one day’s assistance in the Spring.
On January 27 1975, the assets of the Mono Road Women’s Institute Cemetery Fund were turned over to the Town of Caledon to be held in a special Trust Fund designated for Caesar’s Cemetery, with an agreement that the Town of Caledon would assume the future care of the cemetery.
Although Caesar’s Cemetery closed in 1961 when no more land was available, there have been two burials since that date. Listed below are the last two burials:
November 12 1973 – Freda Cunnington.
July 1975 – Frank Hodgson.
Caesar’s Cemetery was a free burying ground except for grave fees. It is rated as one of the best maintained cemeteries in the Township of Chinguacousy – a great tribute to the untiring efforts of community service by Mono Road Women’s Institute.
Collena Wilson
References:
Minutes and Tweedsmuir History of Mono Road W. I.
Also from Mr Harold Wilson grandson of Mr Hugh Wilson.
Transcription purchase:
Transcriptions of this cemetery are available for digital download from the OGS website – click here to order via credit card.