St. Cornelius Roman Catholic Cemetery
Also known as: Silver Creek Churchyard
Also known as: Caldwill Burial Ground
Location:
16631 Kennedy Road, Caledon, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada.
Concession 2E, lot 7, Caledon Township.
GPS:
Latitude: 43.83543°N
Longitude: -79.93719°W
History:
Cornelius Murphy who emigrated from Ireland around 1825 settled in the area of Silver Creek (Caldwell) in Caledon Township. Here he established his home and an inn that became the site of masses celebrated by Father Gordon. Fr. Gordon traveled from Toronto to serve the Catholic settlers of the townships above York from 1830 to 1833.
Cornelius gave ten acres on the west half of Lot 7 Concession 2 East Caledon Township for a church site and cemetery. By the end of 1834 the churchyard had been cleared and a log church was erected under the direction of Fr. Lalor at Wildfield. It was named St. Cornelius after the Patron Saint of the donor.
Ironically, the first burial in the cemetery in 1836 was Cornelius Murphy himself. William Perkins Bull points out that many of the names of those buried in the cemetery are Irish, representing the fact that Silver Creek, was one of the first Irish Catholic settlements in northern Peel. Pioneer names include Harrigan, McEachren, McDevitt and Sweeney. The priest of Wildfield served St. Cornelius until it was made a parish in 1867. By this time, the original log church had been replaced by one made of planks which was built in 1847. This church in turn would be replaced in 1886 by the present structure.
When St. Cornelius became a parish in 1867, it’s first pastor was Fr. Francis McSpiritt whose fame in local folklore relates to his power as a healer. Fr. McSpiritt built the rectory which still stands on his arrival in Caledon in the late 1860’s. In 1878, Caledon took on the responsibility of the mission The Cataract and Brampton. This relationship continued until Orangeville became a parish and took on responsibility for both missions in 1915.
In 1908, St. Cornelius lost its status as a parish and for a few years was a mission of St. John’s in Albion. After the First World War, radical restructuring of the diocese caused Caledon to become the mission of Orangeville, a relationship that continued to the early 1980’s when Caledon and Albion were reunited as one pastoral charge.
Father Francis V. McDevitt
Transcription purchase:
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