Froomefield Pioneer Cemetery

Froomefield Pioneer Cemetery. . , This site before you is what remains of St. Mary's Churchyard, built in 1840 with funds raised by Froome Talfourd. This would be the only Church ever to be built in the village of Froomefield., Originally an acre of land, it was donated by Col. Froome Talfourd who offered the location for this Church. Froomefield's St. Mary was named after Froome's baptismal Church at Reading, England, St. Mary the Virgin. By 1844, St. Mary's had fallen onto hard times. The Church was turned over to the Diocese of Toronto and later turned over to the Diocese of Huron in 1857. By 1868, the church had fallen into disrepair and was restored by October 2, 1869., The Church continued to serve the local population until about 1897 when sometime after that it was closed and relocated to the Sarnia Indian Reserve, now known as Aamjiwnaang. The Church, renamed as St. Peter, was then operated from St. John's Anglican Church, Sarnia, as a mission until the 1920's when it stood vacant, to be eventually demolished., What you see now before you is the Cemetery of St. Mary's. Story has it that the Cemetery surrounded the Church building. Whether that is fact or folklore, what we have now is this small plot of land. The first burial was probably 1839/40 as the Church was being built. The last burial was 1878., One of the most noteworthy burials is that of Froome's first wife, Eliza Johnston, who died in 1855. Froome had a memorial plaque installed in St. Mary's honoring Eliza. When St. Mary's closed, the plaque was moved to St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Courtright. St. Stephen's closed in 2017 and the plaque is now installed in Trinity St. Clair Chapel at the Moore Museum, Mooretown.