As churches closed, the responsibility for their cemeteries was reassigned to current churches. It is interesting and important to know their history, so Carol Barkley detailed the history for the Colquhoun Cemetery and Bill Smirle wrote the history for the Morewood Cemetery. Each of these histories is being written in April 2025.
Colquhoun United Church Cemetery
Before 1831 the Colquhoun’s attended the Anglican Church at Riverside.
In 1831 a Presbyterian Church was built at Williamsburg and the Colquhoun’s assisted in building that Church and many walked the 12 miles to church every Sunday due to lack of roads.
After the disruption in Scotland in 1843 between the Free Kirk and the Old Kirk the Free Kirk came to Canada and services were held in James Colquhoun’s home.
In 1857 Alex Colquhoun (a brother of James) gave land to build the brick church on his farm, Lot 7 concession 4 Williamsburg Township.
The Colquhoun Presbyterian Church was associated with many pastoral charges from Morrisburg, Dunbar, Chesterville and had supply preachers who travelled on horseback.
In 1876 the Reverend George Dunlop Bayne was supplying Dunbar and Colquhoun from Chesterville.
In 1885 Rev John P Grant was inducted as minister of Dunbar and Colquhoun churches.
The Little brick church at Colquhoun was deteriorating and it was too small for the congregation, so in 1887 they built a frame church on the same foundation and took the bricks to interline it to please those who were not in favour of the new church.
In 1915 Colquhoun was put on a mission station and had student ministers in the summers and ministers that came every two weeks if the roads and weather were suitable for travel.
In 1923 Williamsburg and Winchester Springs asked Colquhoun to join their charge as they could not raise enough to pay a minister’s stipend.
In 1925 The Colquhoun Presbyterian Church joined The United Church of Canada and took on the name Trinity United Church.
Sunday worship services continued 130 years of service to Christ and community until July 1st, 1977, when by vote of the congregation Trinity United Church amalgamated with Williamsburg United Church. The church was taken down and replaced with a Carin using stone from the foundation.
Some of the updates over the years included electric lights, a new electric organ to replace the old pump organ, but two wood burning box stoves with ceiling-hung pipes were providing heat up to its last winter.
About 1930, a former cheese factory across the road from the church was obtained and converted for use as a hall.
It is a note of interest that Colquhoun Cemetery did not sell plots but offered to families a place of final resting for their loved ones. Each family was responsible for the upkeep of their family plot,
This practice continued until July 1, 1977, when the trustees of Colquhoun United Church Cemetery established a trust fund responsible for the financial care, maintenance and burials in the cemetery and are “officially “under the guidance of the “outreach committee” and “trustees” of Christ Church United, Chesterville, On.
The earliest burial recorded is November 21, 1865.
Morewood United Church Cemetery
The first burial in the Morewood Cemetery was in the late 1830’s. First though I want to note information on the local Churches. At that time there were Methodists and Presbyterians in the Morewood area.
In the early 1800’s the first ministers were Circuit Riders who visited communities a few time a year and held services in local homes, sheds or barns. While visiting they conducted weddings and funerals.
The Presbyterians built their first church east of Morewood in 1870 and they have a Cemetery there as well.
There were two groups of Morewood Methodists. West of Morewood were the European Methodists and East of Morewood were the United Empire Loyalist Methodists. In the 1840’s the European Methodists had property at the south end of Morewood, built a white clap-board church on the property and had their first cemetery around the church.
In the early 1870’s, the two Methodist groups amalgamated and built a beautiful red brick church about a mile east of Morewood and officially dedicated it in 1875. The Cemetery in Morewood was now the Methodist Cemetery and the small white church was sold , moved by horses and wagons to a new location east of Cannamore and was used for various purposes until it had to be torn down.
In the early 1920’s, an Act of Parliament formed the United Church of Canada which would be made up of Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians. There were no Congregationalists in our area and during the “discussions” some of the Presbyterians decided they did not want to join, so in our area the new Morewood United Church of Canada was made up of the Methodists and the Presbyterians who decide to join. The Morewood Methodist Cemetery now became the Morewood United Church Cemetery.
A new Morewood United Church was built in Morewood and opened in 1925, The 1875 Methodist Church east of Morewood was torn down and parts of it were used in the construction of the new 1925 Morewood United Church of Canada.
In 1966 the United churches in Morewood and Chesterville (Trinity United) decided to become a joint charge. Between 2005 & 2011 church populations were dwindling and after much debate, discussion and thought, it was decided that Morewood United Church would close and join with the Trinity. This happened in 2013 and part of the change was that this new joint charge would be renamed Christ Church United, Chesterville.
This new “joint charge” was now responsible for the Morewood United Church Cemetery. However, for many years this Cemetery has had a very responsible Board that continues to manage the Cemetery and look after all burial, maintenance and financial responsibilities. It is “officially” under the Christ Church United Outreach Committee and Christ Church United Trustees.
The Morewood United Cemetery has a few burials yearly and still has plots of various sizes available for both casket and urn burials. If you wish information regarding this cemetery, please contact the Christ Church United Church Office for details and contacts.
