Streetsville

Streetsville. History of the Memorial Cemetery. , In the early years of settlement in Streetsville, the community lacked a formal cemetery. Timothy Street sought to rectify this situation. On February 24th, 1824 Timothy donated part of his land to the Presbyterian congregation for use as a burying ground for all Protestant denominations., The Presbyterian congregation erected a new church within the cemetery grounds, under the direction of John Sibbald. Early ministers included Reverends Andrew Bell and William Rintoul. The cemetery became known as the Scotch Burying Ground., A new church, St. Andrew's Presbyterian, was built immediately north of the cemetery in 1868 and in 1890, the cemetery was officially closed., According to records, there are approximately 500 burials in the cemetery, and surviving stones account for 293 of these burials., Those interred in the cemetery include Streetsville's founder Timothy Street; the first settler in the Streetsville area, James Glendinning; an entrepreneurial leader, innkeeper and storekeeper, John Embleton; mill-owner John Beaty; and prominent early settlers in Isaac Askin, Henry Cooke, Malcolm McKinnon and Isaac Weylie, amongst others. Other burials include Streetsville's first resident doctor, Dr. John Crumbie; a member of the famed "Town Line Blazers", Henry Cole; and members of the prosperous Hyde family, who for many years operated a large commercial and industrial enterprise in Streetsville., The first burial recorded in the cemetery was that of Lachlan McLachlan, a young Scottish man who worked as a driver floating staves down the Credit River and lost his life in the river while freeing a log jam. When his body was being prepared for burial, a locket with a picture of a young girl was around his neck. Lachlan had been a shepherd in the Highlands of Scotland, and she had been the daughter of a forester on the Estate of the Duke of Montrose. It is said that the locket and letters from this girl were buried with him., A bench, plaque and tree in remembrance of Mary Manning, a well-known local author and historian, have been placed in the cemetery. Mary was born in 1919 and lived in Streetsville for most of her life. Mary recorded many aspects of Streetsville's history and was a founding member of the Streetsville Historical Society.