20 remaining stones have been gathered together and set on a concrete base.
Office:
Township of Essa
5786 County Road 21
Utopia, Ontario, L9M 1T0
(705) 424-9770
Publications:
Pioneer Cemeteries of Essa Township
Transcribed by Norma Hammond, Arnott Wilson & Helen Wanless, Ed: Ken Reese
Barrie, Ontario: Simcoe County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 2000. Publications
History:
The Turnbull family came to the area in 1836 and settled at what was to become known as Turnbull’s Corners, later West Essa. Early on, they donated land for building the Methodist Church. At first, the church was part of the Cookstown Circuit. The West Essa Circuit was formed in 1879 but by 1889, the church was closed. The building was torn down in the early 1900’s and the cemetery became overgrown. In 1971, the Cemetery Committee of Essa Council cleaned up the lot, gathered the old stones together, set them in concrete with a plaque commemorating the pioneer families, and enclosed them with a steel fence.
Based on information from: Theodore Pringle Loblaw (Loblaw & Stevenson) Family Study, by Robert E. Harrison, 1996
Thompsonville: A History of the Church and Community, by Verna Murray & Mary Reynolds, 1980.
Local History Project, by Louise Gallaugher, 1977
Alliston Tweedsmuir History Book , Alliston Women’s Institute, 1972
The above sources are available at the Alliston Memorial Branch of the New Tecumseth Library.
