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HISTORICAL INJUSTICE?
[Welland Tribune, 30 July 1986]
PELHAM-Tony Whelan thinks his family has been done an historical injustice and he is determined to see it get right.
Whelan, a member of the Dawdy clan, says the town of Pelham broke an agreement to keep the Dawdy Burying ground name when it was changed to the Hillside Cemetery in 1933. The graveyard along Canboro Road near Effingham Street was taken over by the town in 1926 and he claims the agreement was made then.
Whelan said he learned of the agreement between the town and the cemetery’s trustees from his grandparents.
“When I three or four years ole I would visit people along with my grandparents and I would hear them discussing the issue.”
He said it stuck in his mind and last year he finally checked the record had to be set straight. Whelan approached the town last fall and presented his research. He asked that the Hillside Cemetery should be renamed back to the title it had since the early 1800s’.
Whelan said the renaming would acknowledge his family’s place and role in Pelham’s history. “There are parks and streets named after politicians and others for their community service. I just want the same thing.”
He said he is not alone in his battle but has numerous other clan members backing his efforts. He expects 50 of them to attend a meeting with Pelham town council on August 18when the issue will come up again.
The Dawdy Clan can trace their Canadian roots back to the year 1800 when Jeremiah and Susanna Dawdy moved to Pelham from New Jersey. They purchased 175 acres of land in the area of what is now known as Canboro Road and Centre Streets.
When Jeremiah died he was buried on the family farm, thereby creating the Dawdy Burying Ground. His family and descendants continued to grow and prosper in Pelham. Whelan says they were never community leaders or politicians but simple hard-working farmers.
As they died most of the Dawdy clan were laid out beside their forefathers in the same graveyard. Whelan said there are now more than seven generations and 130 descendants buried there..
Over the years the graveyard expanded and non-family members were buried there as well. The Beckett family became associated with the cemetery and many of their family descendants were buried there. There are reports the cemetery was known as Beckett’s Graveyard at one time but Whelan disputes this and the facts are debatable.
TRUSTEES
A board of trustees took over the administration of the site in the early 1800s and continued to run it right up until 1926 when the town assumed the responsibility.
Whelan said the town never filed a deeming bylaw and therefore it doesn’t even actually own the cemetery, “Not that we want it. All we want is the historical name back.”
He has still yet to find a document which can prove the existence of the agreement to keep the Dawdy name but he said the weight of the historical evidence he has accumulated is more than enough to prove his case.
“I won’t take no for an answer now. There are just too many facts for this case to be ignored. He said he is willing to take the case as far it has to go to see the name changed. “
Right now Whelan is preparing for the first round on August 18 when he will have a chance to speak before the town council.
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