Ingoldsby Pioneer Cemetery

Ingoldsby Cemetery is especially important to me because it(a)s where my love of local history was born. When I came across the grave marker for the two young children, marked with the two hearts, I couldn(a)t help but think about how sad it must have been for their parents .. even though it was over a hundred years ago.

I became curious about their story and decided to do some research. I eventually came across the death records for the two babies. The two had died, just three days apart, of cholera. Alberta Margaretta James was born August 20, 1878 in Port Hope. She was the daughter of George Walter James and Margaret Simpson. She was also the twin sister of Margaretta Alberta James. Margaret died soon afterwards, and George remarried. His new wife was Margaret Hatton. Eventually they moved to Snowdon township near Haliburton, where their son Norman James was born, on March 6th, 1881. A year and a half later, a cholera outbreak took the lives of both Norman and Alberta. Here they lay together for eternity in the cemetery. Margaretta survived and eventually married �the boy next door� and settled in the area.

I was also intrigued by another set of tombstones, also children, five identical tombstones in a row. It turns out that just three years earlier, in March of 1878, an outbreak of scarlet fever took the lives of many in Snowdon Township. Between March 21st and April 3rd, the Harrison family was devastated by the deaths of Elda (6 yrs), Maeda (4 yrs), Martin (8 yrs), Andrew (8 mos) and Emily (10 yrs). A disease that is now easily cured was a death sentence to the settlers.

You will find this lovely cemetery at the intersection of Ingoldsby Road and the South Kashagawigamog Lake Road.