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 Palermo Cemetery, Oakville, Halton County, Ontario, Canada


Latitude: 43.43841498884441, Longitude: -79.77331638336182 | Click to get directions to Palermo Cemetery

Notes:
Palermo Cemetery, located at the corner of Dundas Street and Bronte Road, was operated for most of its existence by the Palermo United Church, located in the small village of Palermo, a stagecoach stop between Toronto and Hamilton.

In 1818 a parcel of land in Lot 30 Concession 1 south was sold to Duncan McQueen, James Hopperd and James McBride by Charles Teetzel for the sum of two pounds and ten shillings. The agreement said the land was "forever for the sole and proper use of a place to bury the dead for them and as many of the inhabitants of Trafalgar lying between the Twelve and Sixteen Mile Creeks as may think proper to join them: as also for a Meeting House and a school house should the same at any time be required"
A log church was built in 1812 on the low where the cemetery now is. The Wesleyan Methodists were first mentioned in an article in the Christian Guardian in 1851. The two frame churches seem to have stood side by side in the cemetery lot until 1867. In this year, 17 years before the general union of Methodist churches, they united and built the present church. At the time of the union, a small minority continued to worship in the small frame church. Eventually it was closed and used as a stable. ( taken from a history by Rev. M.J. Aiken - 1962)
During the decades that Palermo Cemetery was operated by the church, the grounds needed constant restoration and upkeep. In 1926, cemetery caretaker John Hall was paid $75 a season. By 1976, remuneration for cemetery upkeep was $500. In 1945, a committee charged with the upkeep reported that they had to use sheep to keep the grass and weeds down, drawing several letters of complaint from families.
Familiar names that appear in Palermo Cemetery include Cudmore, Pell, Tovell, Inglehart, Fox, Sargant, Van Sickle, Hager, Dorland, Joyce, Gilbert and Secord.
The Town of Oakville took over the operation and maintenance of the cemetery in 1990.

Location details:
Northeast corner of 2480 Dundas Street


Cemetery Photos

   Thumb   Description 
1
Palermo Cemetery
Palermo Cemetery
Entrance on the South Side of Dundas Street, just east of Bronte Rd in Oakville, Ontario, Canada 
2
Palermo Cemetery - Trafalgar Chapel, Methodist Episcopal Church
Palermo Cemetery - Trafalgar Chapel, Methodist Episcopal Church
In 1808 Elder William Case, of the Ancaster Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, began to preach in the homes of Pioneers of Trafalgar Township. This property was deeded in 1819 for a burial ground and a meeting house. By 1824, the Trafalgar Chapel had been built here.

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada united with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Great Britain in 1833 to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. However, several dissident preachers met here on March 10, 1834 to organize a continuing Methodist Episcopal Church. On June 27, 1835 in the chapel the Rev. John Reynolds was elected and consecrated to the Office of Bishop.

A Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was also built on the site in 1848. Both were replaced in 1869 by the present church a short distance to the west now known as Palermo United Church.

Erected by the Canadian Methodist Historical Society - 1997 

Headstones

 Thumb Description Status Location Name (Died/Buried)
Thomas E. Pell and Gladys N. Dunn
Thomas E. Pell and Gladys N. Dunn
PELL
In Memory of
Thomas E. Pell
1879 - 1947
Beloved husband of
Gladys N. Dunn
1893 - 1975
Till We Meet Again 
Located    Dunn, Gladys N (d. 1975)
Pell, Thomas Edmund (d. 1947)