Union Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Location:
SE Lot 23, Concession 11, Esquesing Township
22nd Sideroad, Halton Hills (Glen Williams), Halton Region, Ontario, Canada
GPS:
Latitude: 43.692934°N
Longitude: –79.9178°W
History:
During the first few years the area was served by visiting ministers from Boston, Streetsville and Whitechurch. In 1833 a congregation was organized and the following year enrolled: John Leslie, George Leslie, John Leslie Jr, James Stirratt, David Henderson, Thomas Taylor, George Campbell, David Stirratt, James Fraser, Robert Reid, John Stirratt, Dugald W McTavish, John Henderson, John Shearer and their wives.
In 1835 a log building was erected on Lot 23 on land given by James Fraser. The congregation had previously worshipped in Fraser’s barn on Lot 22. A frame church was built in 1848. In 1883 a building committee of William Fraser, William McGill, John Leslie, Joseph Leslie, William Sloan, William Hoare, John Eccles and George Lyons was appointed to look into erecting a new church. Mallory & Son of Toronto were the architects; Hume and Steele of Georgetown the masons; and Joseph Bramley of Brampton. The church, which stands today, opened in 1884.
An interesting historical note: from 1926 to 1934, the minister of the Union and Norval church was the Rev Ewan MacDonald, whose wife organized a drama club for the Young People’s Guild. While doing other duties of a minister’s wife, she found time to write a few books. Her name was Lucy Maude Montgomery.
The cemetery is still open for burials and a burial register has been kept which has not been checked. For further information please contact the minister for Norval and Union Churches.
Information on the congregation was found in Numbering the Survivors by J Richard Houston, 1979, Generation Press.
Information on the Leslie family can be found in the archives of the Esquesing Historical Society and Halton Hills Library in Georgetown.
Information for the history was found in a booklet published by the church in 1983 for its 150th anniversary. A copy of the booklet can also be found in the Georgetown Library.
by Elaine Robinson
Transcription purchase:
Transcriptions of this cemetery are available for digital download from the OGS website – click here to order via credit card.