Greenwood Cemetery (Burlington)
Location:
1030 Greenwood Drive, Burlington, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada.
Brant’s Block, lot 7, Nelson Township.
GPS:
Latitude: 43.31767°N
Longitude: -79.81489°W
History:
By a deed dated September 30, 1888, The Greenwood Cemetery Company of Burlington purchased eight acres for $2,000 from James C. Filman, a widower.1 When a portion of the Brant farm (Brant’s Block) was re-subdivided in 1869, that portion was known as the J S McMurray’s Survey.2 The land purchased by the Company was the north eastern corner of Block No 2 of that Survey. It was a fenced property located on the western side of Rambo Creek and southern side of the traveled road leading through the Brant farm to the Village of Burlington. Subsequently that road took the name of the cemetery, becoming Greenwood Drive.
When the remainder of Block No 2 came under the ownership of John J. Filman, it was sub- divided. The plan of subdivision, registered in March 1897 as Plan No 97, includes an outline of the adjoining Greenwood Cemetery. The plan omits the cemetery deed dimensions of 5 chains 13 links along the road, and 9 chains 32 links plus 4 chains 29 links along the top of the creek bank.
The cemetery was subdivided into numbered blocks and roadways. Although the original plan of that subdivision has not been found, many block corner stones may be found on the ground. Many block dimensions may by determined from the burial records. All of these blocks now comprise the “Old Section” of Greenwood.
In some cases, the burial records and the gravestone inscriptions give death dates prior to September 30, 1888. These cases are evidence of re-burials at Greenwood. Examples of these may be found in Block 50 and in Block 31. Block 50, a large block near the centre of the cemetery was purchased by John Waldie on December 2 1889.3 It is bordered by a rail fence. The north-east corner of Block 31 has a group of eight plots for the family of Charles C King. Prior to his death in 1919, there had been a King family cemetery on his homestead lands “Crown Farm”.4
Eventually, when additional lands were needed for the cemetery, it was fortunate that adjoining lands to the south, half of Lot 7 Plan No 97 remained available for purchase. That half lot, five acres, was purchased from Alexander Donald McMillan by a grant dated February 8 1965.5
A change in management of the cemetery took place on March 11, 1968 when the Town of Burlington took over from the Board of Trustees of Greenwood Cemetery.6 The additional lands, five acres, were surveyed in 1971 into blocks identified by letters and into numbered plots.7 Those lands are now known as the “New Section” of Greenwood.
In October 1978, the remains of people that had been buried in the Tansley Cemetery were moved and reinterred in Block A in the New Section. They occupy two rows, being 29 plots numbered 155 to 184, except for plot 170. The cemetery office has no record of the number of remains that were reinterred nor of the names of the people. There might be approximately 29. Only four gravestones were moved from Tansley Cemetery.
Dave Mott, Cemetery Coordinator, advised that only by chance would the four stones, as placed, be above the remains of the people named on the stones.
There are many “charity” interments (which may number in the hundreds) for which there are no cemetery records. These are located along the east side of the cemetery near the children’s section.
John Quinsey, November 1995
Footnotes:
1 Instrument 4421 registered March 5, 1889.
2 Title block information given on Registered Plan No 97 in the county of Halton.
3 Greenwood Cemetery burial records.
4 Claire Emery and Barbara Ford, From pathway to Skyway, a History of Burlington, 1967.
5 Instrument 184151 registered June 1, 1965.
6 Minutes of the Corporation of the Town of Burlington, March 11, 1965.
7 Survey plan dated in 1971 on file at the Survey Dept of the City of Burlington.
Transcription purchase:
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