Near Cobourg in Northumberland County, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)

Harris Burial Ground - Susanna Moody Home

Photographed by Tim Boyd, June 7, 2025

1. Harris Burial Ground - Susanna Moody Home Marker

Inscription. Boltus Harris, a United Empire Loyalist from New York, was granted this property (Lot 32 Concession 4 of Hamilton Township) in 1797. Known as the township's "first settler". Boltus and members of his family (plus others) are buried here. The graveyard, considered to be the first in the township, is located on the bill just south of the creek, In 1832 this lot became “Melsetter Farm”, first home in Canada of Dunbar and Susanna Moodie. Mrs. Moodie's book Roughing It In The Bush, relates the story of the Harris family she found here and of her adventurers with them.

Erected 1984 by Township of Hamilton.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Settlements & Settlers • Women. A significant historical year for this entry is 1832.

Location. 44° 0.734′ N, 78° 16.65′ W. Marker is near Cobourg, Ontario, in Northumberland County. It is on McClellan Road 0.2 kilometers north of Bell Hill Road East, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 7272 Bell Hill Road E, Cobourg ON L1A 3V6, Canada.

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Regionally, this marker is in the Kawarthas Northumberland Area

and in Eastern Ontario.

It is also in Central Canada.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Great Lakes,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony,

the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and Rupert’s Land.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 kilometers of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Hope Chapel (approx. 5.8 kilometers away); Sgt. Edward Edwin Dodds (approx. 5.8 kilometers away); Myndert Harris 1748-1823 (approx. 6.8 kilometers away); St. Mark’s Church 1822 (approx. 6.8 kilometers away); Aboriginal Settlement (approx. 6.9 kilometers away); The Great Farini (approx. 6.9 kilometers away); Port Hope Early Settlement (approx. 6.9 kilometers away); Signor Farini (William Leonard Hunt) 1838-1929 (approx. 6.9 kilometers away).

Also see . . . Roughing it in the Bush (Archive.org). Susannah Moodie’s description of meeting Harris “Uncle Joe” Uncle Joe! I see him

Photographed by Tim Boyd, June 7, 2025

2. Harris Burial Ground - Susanna Moody Home Marker

now before me, with his jolly red face, twinkling black eyes, and rubicund nose. No thin, weasel-faced Yankee was he, looking as if he had lived upon 'cute ideas and speculations all his life; yet Yankee he was by birth, ay, and in mind, too; for a more knowing fellow at a bargain never crossed the lakes to abuse British institutions and locate himself comfortably among despised Britishers. But, then, he had such a good-natured, fat face, such a mischievous, mirth-loving smile, and such a merry, roguish expression in those small, jet-black, glittering eyes, that you suffered yourself to be taken in by him, without offering the least resistance to his impositions. Uncle Joe's father had been a New England loyalist, and his doubtful attachment to the British government had been repaid by a grant of land in the township of H—— [Hope] He was the first settler in that township, and chose his location in a remote spot, for the sake of a beautiful natural spring, which bubbled up in a small stone basin in the green bank at the back of the house. (Submitted on June 9, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario.)

Credits. This page was last revised on June 9, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 9, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. This page has been viewed 166 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 9, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.