[Welland Tribune December 7, 1943]
Services for the late Charles Nugent, who passed away Thursday evening, Dec. 2 at his home in Dain City, were held yesterday afternoon from his late residence to All Saints Anglican church, Dain City, a prayer service was held at the residence, and a public service later at the church, with Rev. AH. Davis of Holy Trinity church, Welland, officiating at both.
Interment was in the Church of England cemetery, Smith street. The pallbearers were Charles Ort, Paul Pietz, Gus Pakrul, Henry Bartz, Thomas Griffith and George McClelland.
A large number of friends and neighbors attended the services and there were many floral tributes in respect to the deceased who was prominent in agricultural circles throughout the county.
[Welland Tribune December 8, 1943]
Services for the late Hartford D. Webber, who passed away Sunday morning at his home in Electric Park in his 73rd year, were largely attended yesterday afternoon. The funeral was held from the H.L. Cudney funeral chapel, 241 West Main street to Fonthill cemetery for interment.
W.J. Williamson of the Church of the Open Door, Stop 19, assisted by Rev. S.R Weaver of First Baptist church conducted the service and a favorite hymn of the deceased “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” was sung.
There were many floral tributes, among them those from the Church of the Open Door, Stop 19 and First Church of Christ, Scientist. The pallbearers were Albert Copeland, Donald Montgomery, George and Joseph Lanjigan, George Stout and J. Coniam.
[Welland Tribune December 11, 1943]
The death of John Fraser MacGregor, 237 Beech street, Toronto, took place this morning at his late residence, in his 81st year. Mr. MacGregor, the father of Mrs. Alex Smith of Welland, had been in ill health since an accident in which he was injured near Welland two years ago. He had often visited in the city, and was well-known here,
A resident of Toronto all his life, he was assistant city auditor there, and a member of St Andrew’s Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder. He is survived by six daughters and one son. His wife predeceased him two years ago. Funeral arrangements have not yet been completed.
[Welland Tribune December 12, 1943]
Services for the late Mike Smith, who passed away at the Welland County General hospital on Friday December 10, were held yesterday afternoon at his late residence, 65 Cozy street. Interment was in Woodlawn cemetery. The services were largely attended and Rev. Fern A, Sayles officiated at the residence and at the graveside.
The pallbearers were John Honuschak, Mike Bestilly, George Topolinski, Steve Petrachenko, Bill Peters and Steve Kurhanevich.
[Welland Tribune December 20, 1943]
The death of Mrs. R. Shultz, Ottawa, took place Sunday night at the Ottawa Civic hospital. Mrs. Shultz is the mother of Rev. F.C. Mueller of Welland. Those surviving besides Rev. Mueller, include her husband and four other children. The funeral is being held in Ottawa on Wednesday.
[Welland Tribune February 14, 1947]
Infant Ritchie, adopted daughter of Mr. And Mrs Russell Ritchie, Welland Junction, died on Thursday, February 13 at the Welland County General hospital, aged two months. Burial services here held on Friday, February 14 at the Sutherland-Thorpe Funeral Home, 152 Hellems avenue and interment was in Holy Cross cemetery. Rev. J. Culman officiated.
[Welland Tribune December 20, 1943]
BOWLES - At Welland on Saturday evening, December 18, 1943, Mary Ella Kenmer, beloved wife of Herbert E. Bowles. Private funeral service will be held from the H.L. Cudney Funeral Chapel, 241 West Main on Tuesday, December 21, 2.30 p.m. Interment Fonthill cemetery. Flowers gratefully declined.
Mrs Mary Bowles
Services for the late Mary E. Bowles, wife of Herbert Bowles, who passed away on Saturday, December 18, was held yesterday afternoon at the H.L. Cudney funeral chapel, 241 West Main street, with John Wright of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, St. Catharines officiating. There was a large attendance of friends and neighbors
Interment was in Fonthill cemetery. The pallbearers were William Lyon, John Macoretta, Price Edwards, Harry Karle, David Sutherland and Harry Poulin..
[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.
[Welland Tribune, Date Unknown]
WELLAND STAFF: City Council tomorrow night will order a title search on the old Price Family Cemetery on Colbeck Drive, but Anthony Whelan says he already has proof the 144-year old cemetery is city property.
Whelan, a local amateur genealogist who is pressing the city to restore and maintain the tiny cemetery, found documentation at the Welland Land Registry office showing its ownership was transferred to the city in 1960, possibly as part of the land annex for the construction of a nearby bridge that has since been dismantled. It took him an hour and a half, he says.
George Marshall, chairman of the parks, recreation and arena committee, says the city will fulfill its responsibility under the Ontario Cemeteries Act if a title search indicates it must.
The cemeteries Act makes all owners of cemeteries responsible for keeping them in good condition. When a cemetery is unowned, it becomes the responsibility of the municipality in which it sits.
At a closed meeting on Oct. 22, the parks, recreation and arena committee voted to order both a title search and a “clean-up” at the cemetery.
The recommendation will be before council on Tuesday, and Marshall says city workers will be sent to begin clearing the site soon after.
He did not suggest a date, however, added the matter is to be reviewed by city solicitor Barbara Moloney.
The cemetery-now overgrown with weeds and bushes, most of its headstones beneath the soil and its fence all but fallen down-is one of two cemeteries used by the descendants of David Price, thought to be the first white settler in Welland, The other was long ago pushed aside to build homes near Denistoun Street and the Welland River.
The only visible headstone at the cemeteries bears the name of Sarah Hutson, a member of the Price family who married a man named James Hutson.
She was buried in July, 1886. The first record burial at the site took place in 1842, although Whelan suspects Elisha Price, the first member of the family to own the property on which the cemetery is located, is buried there with his wife. Elisha Price died in 1824.
Whelan has done considerable research on the cemetery and views it as an invaluable piece of Welland’s history.
He is angered that it has been left to fall into its current state, feeling the city has been reluctant to devote money to taking care of the cemetery, while spending much larger sums of money on projects of lesser importance.
Between August 1973 and April 1975, city council and the parks committee dealt with the matter without significant results.
A chronology of the matter compiled by city staff shows a series of recommendations, letters and motions that trailed off on April 1, 1975, with an apparently unfulfilled council instruction to the city solicitor for a title search to be conducted.
“This has gone on before,” Marshall admitted this week.
“I guess it just drifted away, as some issues do.”
He said, however, the parks committee would take steps to see the city’s responsibility under the Cemeteries Act, if it can be established, is fulfilled.
“It’s clear in the Cemeteries Act,” he said. “It certainly appears to be our responsibility.
“It’s one of the first cemeteries in Welland, so it obviously has some important historical merit.”
Whelan has the backing of the Welland Historical Society, which voted recently to support his effort with the city.
“The pressure has to be kept on,” he said recently, vowing to do so until he sees the cemetery well maintained. The money required to do so, he claims, would be comparable to the roughly $1,600 which will be devoted to staging the opening of the renovated farmer’s market next month.
There’s an urgency now, because a lot of this stuff is disappearing,” he says.
“I feel that urgency.”
Salem, Dec. 18- Mr and Mrs. Walter Brown have returned home after spending a few weeks with Mr and Mrs. Harry Robins of Tilsonburg.
Mervyn Wilson spent Monday and Tuesday in Toronto.
Mr. Metler has returned home from St, Catharines hospital.
Mrs. Cecil Chambers called on Mrs. C.E. Strawn on Saturday afternoon.
Mr. Coulter of Port Robinson called on several friends in this vicinity on Thursday.
Guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Amos Wilson on Thursday were Miss Inez Wilson of Welland, Mrs. Ernest Farr and the Misses Ethel, Reta Armbrust, also George Edgar and Ernest Armbrust of Bridgeburg.
Norman Cout and Miss B. Boilman of Welland visited Mr. and Mrs. Court last Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Strawn and family visited Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Chambers on Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Strawn visited Mr. and Mrs. F. Court last Sunday.
Sunday visitors at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Edward Hayward, Mr. And Mrs. A. Caughell of Welland were Miss Winnie Nelson of St Catharines, Miss Marion Chambers and Jack Hayward of Fenwick.
Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Misener of Perry Station, Miss Marion Chambers, Jack Hayward of Fenwick called on Mr. And Mrs Cecil Chambers Sunday evening.
Mr. and Mrs. A. Chambers spent Tuesday in St. Catharines.
Mrs. R. Murray and son Reggie of Prairie Siding, are spending a few days with Mr. Murray.
Hewlitt Brown and family of Welland, Ambrose Misener and family of Perry Station, Mr. and Mrs Walter Brown of Welland spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs Hampton Brown.
Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Strawn and June, Shirley and Kenneth Strawn spent Wednesday with Mrs. Hockey in St Catharines.
Mr. and Mrs. Willson spent Tuesday in St. Catharines.
Mrs. Perly H. Robins of Wellandport visited Mrs. Asa Chambers on Sunday.
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