Greenwood – Georgetown

Greenwood Cemetery, Halton Hills (Georgetown)

SE Lot 18, Concession 9, Esquesing Township.
King Street, Georgetown.
GPS 43.6557°N, –79.91275°W

History: On 13 September 1869 the Georgetown Village Council passed the following by-law number 41:
“It shall not be lawful to bury any corpse within the limits if this Corporation save and except in the Greenwood Cemetery; also excepting those persons, who now own family plots in the Episcopal and Episcopal Methodist Church Yards, who shall be permitted to bury therein until the said plots now owned are filled.”Thus began Greenwood Cemetery located on Lot 1, Plan 54. The by-law was enacted as the cemeteries located within the town’s boundaries were becoming filled to capacity and a new burial grounds was necessary. It did not apply however to burial grounds located outside the boundaries. Burials continued in the Wesleyan Methodist burial grounds known as McCulloughs. Eventually as cemeteries were closed, the deceased persons were removed and reinterred in Greenwood. Certain of the burials recorded in Greenwood have notes indicating from where they have been removed. For instance the Episcopal Methodist congregation advertised in 1880 for people to remove the remains from the church yard as they were building a new church; and McCulloughs was closed in 1895. All of the deceased were removed, the majority being reinterred in Greenwood Cemetery.
There are certain plots in the cemetery for which there is no information in the cemetery records and such plots may well contain some of these reinterments. Some remains were also removed from St. John’s Church Cemetery in Stewarttown when Trafalgar Road was straightened in the early 1970s and a portion of that cemetery had to be appropriated for construction.Section D is the oldest part of the cemetery, followed by sections A, B, C, E and R. The newer sections are F, G, H-I, J and M. Additions to the cemetery property were made in 1890, 1920, 1950s and 1970. The original road entrance to the cemetery from Maple Avenue was closed and the roadway sold as cemetery plots in section J. In 1960 a single grave plot was available for $25.60 with an additional charge of $14.40 for perpetual care, for a total of $40.When the cemetery was first opened it was managed by a Cemetery Board appointed by the Village Council. It was eventually taken over by the Town of Halton Hills in 1974. Harry Savings was caretaker for many years and, at the request of relatives, would purchase flowers and order monuments, etc. to be placed on the graves. All cemetery records prior to 3 May 1934 have been lost. Any information prior to that date has been obtained from sketches and information kept by Harry Savings or from plot owners who have requested further burials in their respective plots. Due to the incompleteness of the records, it may sometimes be difficult or even impossible to verify that a deceased person has been buried or the respective grave in the cemetery.Much appreciation is given to Sharon Perkins, supervisor of Revenue & Taxation and other staff members at the Halton Hills Municipal Offices for their assistance in reviewing the burial records which are located in the Tax Department in the Halton Hills Civic Centre in Georgetown. [derived from notes provided by Elaine Bertrand]

Transcriptions of this cemetery are available on-line by credit card from the O.G.S. web site click here for price/order.