Trinity Anglican (Port Credit) Church Cemetery
Location:
Toronto Township, Concession 2 SDS Lot 5 W-1/2
26 Stavebank Road, Mississauga, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada
GPS:
Latitude: 43.55291°N
Longitude: -79.58789°W
History:
The land was originally purchased from the Bank of Upper Canada by the Church Society of the Diocese of Toronto by an indenture no 150 in 1868 for $25.00. The Church Society sold the land to Trinity Church Port Credit by petition for $1.00 on Dec. 13, 1913.
The original Anglican Church Structure in Port Credit was completed and dedicated in 1867. A modest wooden structure finished in vertical siding painted white with a small bell tower and an entrance porch on the southeast corner of the building surrounded by trees and enclosed by a picket fence also painted white.
Initially Trinity Church was a mission church of St. Peter’s Church Erindale, later known as “the Credit Mission”. Rev. C. J. S. Bethune was appointed in late autumn 1866 as incumbent by Bishop Strachan. The congregation first met in the Rechabite Hall, a fair-size room over a livery stable. Mr. Hall, owner of the hall, was later unable to continue the arrangement. As a result, a permanent building had to be erected. Mr. James Hamilton, a store owner in Port Credit, together with his brother-in-law Mr. Griffith were instrumental in helping with the building of the first church building which opened in 1867. The building was enlarged in 1918 at which time the building was brick veneered. In 1931 a handsome porch of stone on the southwest corner was presented to the congregation by Mrs. F. W. Lee in memory of her parents Mr. and Mrs. James Hamilton. In 1955 The exterior and interior of the was upgraded to the existing structure.
A plaque at the entrance to the porch states: “To the glory of God and in memory of James Hamilton and Alicia (Perry), his wife, who in 1867 gave land and with others built the first House of God on this site and named it Trinity Church. This porch was erected by their daughter Alice.”
The early records of the cemetery have disappeared. A survey of the cemetery was carried out by Geoff Lewis in 1978 which indicated that 55 marked graves in addition to the cremation section which came into use in 1976. Due to age and weathering of long years many of the earlier monuments are difficult to decipher. The earliest appeared soon after the founding of the church in 1867.
The boundaries of the cemetery must have been different in earlier years as there are no graves in the northeast section and three monuments are almost hidden by the cedar hedge on the north side.
Ronald Hibbert
Resources:
Excerpt from the 100th Anniversary.
Trinity’s Yesterdays, edited by Margaret Parker.
Transcription purchase:
Transcriptions of this cemetery are available for digital download from the OGS website – click here to order via credit card.