Hamilton Cemetery

Hamilton Cemetery on York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, is the oldest public burial ground in the city. It is located on Burlington Heights, a high sand and gravel isthmus that separates Hamilton's harbor on the east from Cootes Paradise on the west.

Hamilton Cemetery
Entrance
Details
Established1847[1]
Location
777 York Boulevard, Hamilton, Ontario
CountryCanada
Coordinates43°16′36″N 79°53′25″W
TypeCemetery
Owned byHamilton, Ontario
Size~100 acres[2]
No. of graves21500
No. of interments~20
No. of cremations~30
Find a GraveHamilton Cemetery

Historically, the cemetery consists of three, separate burial grounds over 100 acres: Burlington Heights Cemetery, the Christ Church Grounds, and the Church of Ascension Grounds. It has been a contentious issue whether a flood, which around the 1860s inundated the city, necessitated the recollection of gravestones to be amassed in one place.

From 1850 until 1892, each burial ground was administered separately, but by the beginning of the 1890s, the church wardens had difficulty paying for the maintenance and upkeep of their areas. In 1892, the City of Hamilton agreed to assume responsibility for all the grounds, which were renamed "Hamilton Cemetery".

Notable plots

Mayors

Thirty-three mayors of Hamilton are buried/interred here,[3] including:

Others
George Hamilton's monument
Southam family memorial
Tomb of George Washington Johnson, who was buried with his third wife Nellie Johnson

Common stones

A large number of the stones contain masonic symbols, as well as a number of carved tree-stumps.[4] Several family vaults are also found here, including the Sanford Vault, the Tuckett vault, the Thomas C Watkins vault, the Col. Land Family Vault and the Stinson Family Mausoleum. Oddly, there is indication that these crypts are renovations of an existing (ancient) stone building. Even more curious, is that these crypts are half-buried in a mound of earth.

War graves

The cemetery contains the war graves of 139 Commonwealth service personnel, 127 from World War I and 12 from World War II.[5]

References
  1. "Hamilton Cemetery". City of Hamilton. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  2. "Cemeteries 12.0 – City of Hamilton" (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  3. "Mayors of Hamilton". Hamilton Public Library. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  4. irisheyesjg (July 14, 2010). "Wordless Wednesday: Cemetery Trees". Over thy dead body. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  5. CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown obtained from casualty records.
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