Limehouse Presbyterian Cemetery

Sitting beside an active church, this pioneer cemetery had a very sad beginning. The first burial was in 1826, four years before John Meredith officially deeded 2 acres of his land to the Calvanistic Presbyterian Church to be used as a burial ground and site for a church. The payment for the land was 2 pounds ten shillings[about $6]...................................................Agness Fraser, grandfather[Stirrat], was only 3 years and 8 months old when she accidently wandered away from home around the end of March, beginning of April 1826. She still had one chance left to survive though, and it came from an unusual source. Apparently when she was found, alive, she was with a female bear that had tried to warm her. The bear must have just had cubs herself and was still in that maternal phase. It must have been a mild winter as this bear must have just come out of hibernation. A mother bear will generally be in less of a 'sleep' to tend to her cubs. The exposure was still, just too great for her little body and proper medical aid was probably too far or inadequate to handle this back then. Sadly, she died, on April 4th, 1826 and is buried in plot 47, 188 years and almost 4 months ago. She is buried with her grandparents and shares their headstone[see 2 pictures in gallery cropped at end]. Were her parents already dead and buried somewhere else? There is no mention of them. Agness's grandmother Mary Bowman, died in February 1832 at 85 years old of broken heart I'm sure. She along with most of the settlers here were from Scotland. John Stirrat, Agness Stirrat's grandfather died in July, 1850 at 93 years old................................................................................................. The cemetery was extended in 1968. In 1905 a subscription rate of $1 per year was charged for plot holders for maintenance. In 1928 a fee for a plot here was $10. This is still the original church built in 1861 with pine board siding and stain glass windows and several upgrades............................. It is now believed that Agness's parents are buried here as well, but under a Fraser named headstone, like their daughter should have been. ...............................................................................Gravehunter adds:

I was looking up John & Mary Stirrat and found where they had three children. One of the daughters Jannet Bowman Stirrat married a James Fraser and they had a daughter Agness.

Agness Fraser (b. 4 August 1822, d. 4 April 1826)
Agness Fraser (daughter of James Frazer and Jennet Bowman Stirrat) was born 4 August 1822 in Esquesing Tp, Halton Co, Ont, Can, and died 4 April 1826 in Georgetown, Ontario.

Includes NotesNotes for Agness Fraser:
First child buried in Limehouse Cemetary