Angel Child

I'm not one to include pioneer cemeteries in the database, but this one is truly something special because of it's age and seclusion...

On a long, lonely stretch of Willoughby Road somewhere between Chippawa and Fort Erie one may be able to find a very obscure, barely perceptible path in the middle of nowhere. It looks like little more than a game trail made by deer, but if it is followed quite a ways into the bush, far off from the main road, it leads to one of the most isolated and long forgotten family burial plots in the Niagara region.

In 1779, Michael Gonder became the very first settler to Willoughby Township, erecting a superior house along the Niagara River. His house was known in ancient lore as the "resting place of the needy", as well as the "abode of the great". During the war of 1812, General Drummond occupied the house and, for a time, made it his headquarters.

Over a century of growth has turned that farm into a this heavily bushed area that is not easily accessible due to road and ground conditions. If one finds their way into the heart of the property and has the proper footwear to traverse a stream with no bridge, a mysterious metal gate can barely be seen on a raised hill.

Here a single dark marble monolith marks the centre of the Gonder family burial. Historic city records indicate that there are 20 burials here, even though only 3 or 4 markers can now be found. Largely responsible for this family plot were Michael’s son Jacob Gonder (1791) and wife Mary Miller (1798). Jacob and Mary gave birth to 15 children, spreading the Gonder roots firmly throughout Niagara. Jacob named one of his son’s Michael (after the grandfather), and he became captain of a company of militia in the war of 1812.

On one occasion he was taken prisoner by the Americans and confined in old Fort Niagara for a period of six weeks. He died at the age of 71, and was also buried “in an old family burial on the farm on which he lived,” presumably meaning that he is here as well.

Although the inscriptions on the limestone have long faded, one remains quite decipherable. It is the marker of Sarah, daughter of Mary Christianna Fares. Fares was yet another owner of this property after Jacob sold 100 acres to her in 1844 for ₤100. In flowing italics, the headstone for her daughter asserts that it is the resting place of “our angel child above." Although we all know someone who has suffered through the death of a young child, Sarah's grave is a particular testimony to the hardships of those who came before us and settled the area that Niagara residents now call home.