This weekend on Newmarket Today I have again chosen to continue my examination of the importance of ‘family cemeteries’ in the Newmarket area. This weekend the featured cemeteries may be a bit smaller and perhaps less well known but they are indeed excellent examples of the historical family cemeteries that I have been trying to…
Tag: Genealogy
Family Cemeteries Rich With Local History
This is the second in a three-part series on family cemeteries in the Newmarket area, in which we’ll investigate some of our local family cemeteries with an eye to their location, uniqueness, and history. Here is a list of the family cemeteries in York Region I shall examine in this column. You can get a full listing…
The Historical Significance Of The Family Cemetery
My topic for this weekend’s article on Newmarket Today will focus on one of my favorite topics, our local cemeteries. I have written a few articles in the past on the subject, focusing primarily on the history of the various public cemeteries in our area but I thought that this weekend we would have a…
Newmarket Historian Dedicated Years To Sharing Town’s Past
This column highlights the life and contributions of an individual who I believe is ‘the mother of Newmarket history,’ Ethel Willson Trewhella. If you have followed my columns, presentations, or videos over the past 40 years, you know her work is the foundation on which I and other local historians have built our narratives. She,…
‘Discovery’ Of Remains On Former Newmarket Cemetery Site Unearthed Storm Of Controversy
Let’s return to a story I touched on recently, the Methodist cemetery known as God’s Acre on Garbitt Hill, now Prospect Street, at the former site of Alexander Muir school and now Chartwell Alexander Muir Retirement Residence. I must admit the story invokes a bit of bewilderment within me as it involves, if you can remember, the…
Ila Haines Kept Memories Alive Of Growing Up In Early 1900s Newmarket
I want to touch on one of the real pleasures of getting involved in our local history: the incredible people you chance to meet. Very few of you who grew up in Newmarket and area do not know the name Ila Haines. I want to share my recollections of two conversations I had with Miss…
Many Of Newmarket’s Prominent Families Called St. Paul’s Their Spiritual Home
Over the next few months, it is my goal to highlight the history of the many churches in our town, beginning with St. Paul’s Anglican Church currently located on Church Street at D’Arcy Street. While the current structure was erected in 1884, there are many predecessors as far back as the early 1830s. Rev. Adam…
Take A Peaceful Stroll Through Newmarket’s First Public Cemetery
NewmarketToday.ca brings you this weekly feature about our town’s history in partnership with Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, a local historian for more than 40 years. He conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, as well as leads local oral history interviews. You can contact the History Hound at thehistoryhound@rogers.com. I grew up the grandson of George W….
Christmas Was More Of A Community Celebration
As many of you know, I have been conducting oral history interviews, first audio only and later audio-visual, for many years. Eventually, Christmas memories come up in most of the interviews and this article centres around some of those discussions with our older interviewees. Many of these memories may strike a chord with you or…
PROPOSAL COMMISSIONING NEWMARKET ORAL HISTORY PROJECT (2011)
PROPOSAL COMMISSIONING NEWMARKET ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Oral history is a record of information, captured electronically, as the result of a planned interview. Its purpose is to create a record where none exists or to supplement existing records for future research. Oral history is a method of recording spoken language, eyewitness accounts and insights into society…