Saturday, June 27, 2009

Cemetery in Proton Township Reorganized Church of Jessus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Here at Graveyard Rabbit of Grey County, Ontario, I primarily blog about Grey County cemeteries but from time to time, I will blog about other cemeteries of interest.

Yesterday, while working on a client project, I visited two cemeteries in Proton Township, part of the municipality of Southgate. Today, I will write about the Latter Day Saints Cemetery at lot 15, concession 15. It was actually the cemetery for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This denomination has changed its name to Community of Christ Church. The church is active. According to the Township of Proton, 1857-1982 : a history, the church was built at this site in 1891. The old sign is behind the building.




What is interesting about this cemetery is how hilly the land is. There is quite the slope to climb. Below is a photo looking down. Of course, the main one I was looking for was almost to the top. The marker had broken off and was lying on the hillside with what looked like the base to the right.


Below are some photos looking up.











My question is - Was the land this hilly and rolling when the site for the church and the cemetery was chosen or has the contour changed over the years?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Janet: your name sounds famialiar. I use to live in Mount Forest. My parents are buried in a Proton Cemetery east of Cedarville. I was wondering where the cemetery you mentioned is located?

Janet Iles said...

There are Iles in the Mount Forest area but I don't know of any connection unless it goes way back in England.

This cemetery is at lot 15 concession 15. (on Southgate Road 22 east of Grey Road 14 when it is going north & south) northeast of Hopeville and southeast of Swinton Park so it is a bit farther north and east of Cedarville.

Diane Franks said...

Hi Janet, I attended Community of Christ, Proton until we moved to Orangeville 20 years ago, now attend Grand Valley Community of Christ. To answer your question about the cemetery. In 1949, the church building was raised from its foundation, and a basement was dug under the church building - starting with hand shovels , then as the hole became bigger , horse and scoop to drag under the building and haul the dirt. The dirt was taken to the cemetery and the hill was terraced with the topsoil. It was a horrendous job, my Dad (Robert Black) did a lot of labour along with many other members and neighbours -digging and constructing a basement and improving the cemetery which had been a hill. The church and cemetery are kept in good repair.
Diane Franks