St George’s Anglican – Georgetown

St. George’s Anglican Church & Cemetery

NW Lot 18, Concession 9, Esquesing Township.
60 Guelph Street, Georgetown.
GPS 43.651°N, –79.922°W

History: In 1849 George Kennedy signed his name, and his wife Sarah (Bedford) put her mark on a deed conveying one acre to the Bishop of Toronto and his successors for a church and burial ground for the nominal sum of five shillings. The land was on the road to Norval, bounded partly by land the Barber brothers had bought in 1837, and partly by land retained by Kennedy. At that time the village of Georgetown had a population of about seven hundred.

In 1855 Bishop Strachan endorsed Georgetown’s application for a grant towards the building of a church. This implies that it was 1855 before the original church was built. It was a frame church with large windows, a tower, and square pews. There is a parish register that contains entries as early as 1852, but these are duplicates of entries in the Norval register and appear to be a copy made by the minister of the Norval (or perhaps a private) register. Although some duplication with Norval continued in 1855, only in that year are independent entries made in the Georgetown register. One final piece of evidence is the burial register. There were six burials in Georgetown in 1854-1855 but, when Evan Price a native of England and early supporter of St. George’s died in June 1855, the minister used the description “St. George’s Burial Ground” for the first time to indicate the place of interment.
Reference: The above history from St. George’s Anglican Church – A History by Richard E. Ruggle (published 1982).

The original frame church was replaced in 1878 by the present stone building.

For many years this cemetery was uncared for and the monuments lay scattered beside the church and covered with weeds. Finally in 1958 the remaining monuments were gathered up and put inside a fenced area. [by Elaine Robinson]

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