SCOTS AND THE OLD PUBLIC BURIAL GROUND, FREDERICTON
by Dr. Ellen MacGillivray, c. 1991
When John Ross and I were co-historians of the Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew from 1985-1987 we had not yet started to sort the Society's documents left in John's care by late Dr.
D. J. MacLeod. We became interested in finding the burial plots in the Old Public Burial Ground of
the Chartered Members of the Society as well as those of others who came later. But first some notes on the place itself.
THE OLD PUBLIC BURIAL GROUND
According to Dr. Lillian Maxwell (1937) on August 2nd, 1785 the Governor-in- Council appointed Trustees to lay out Fredericton. One of these Trustees was Lieutenant Dugald Campbell who made the survey in 1785-1786: "The Town Plat as first laid out extended from Smythe street to Sunbury street and from the river to Charlotte street. The blocks were laid out to cover four and a half acres, the streets one chain wide. A square was laid out in the middle
of the town, the square was the width of the present grave yard but extended from halfway between Brunswick and George Streets to half-way between George and Charlotte streets." This is shown clearly on the copy of the town plat of Fredericton, by Lieutenant Dugald Campbell in 1785-1786.
Dr Maxwell states: " The next plan was drawn about 1802 or a little later and shows a situation similar to the present time [sic 1937], Queen street extended to Smythe Street and the central grave-yard had its present bounds."
Austin Squires (1980) provides further light on this property. He notes that when the Loyalist Provincials' Burying Ground was filled, the four and a half acres that had originally been reserved as a common or public square were granted to the Church of England. His reference
was The New Brunswick Reporter, August 1, 1845. He says that the first burial occurred in 1787.
Austin Squires felt strongly about the neglect over many years shown by those responsible for the upkeep and protection of the Old Burying Ground. A five foot board fence had been erected in 1812 and in 1838 tenders were called for a picket fence. In 1846 attention was drawn by a local editor to the decrepit state of the grave yard. A few weeks later a crew laid out walks and planted trees. When a fence fell in disrepair in 1897 it was removed and the cemetery stood open to the public until 1976. Possibly because of the many complaints regarding the lack of care of monuments and grounds, the 1878 act to invest the city with the burial ground responsibility was passed:
"The Act of Assembly 41st Victoria (1878) Chapter 83 intitled An Act relating to the Old Public Burial Ground in Carleton Ward in the City of Fredericton was passed for the purpose of vesting the title of the burial grounds in the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonality of the City of Fredericton and to secure the gradual disuse of the said premises as a burial place for the dead."
In 1886 it was found that the Act was defective and imperfect. A new act, Chapter 88 passed April 2, 1886 contained 10 sections covering the following:
1. Burial Ground shall be the property of the Common Council subject to certain trusts, etc. (Its
boundaries were defined.)
2. Property in whom vested. (It was vested in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonality of the City of
Fredericton to protect from trespassers. beautify, guard the graves, enclosures, tombstones.)
3. Owners claiming lots to file a statement on oath to City Clerk ( Determine who have lots.)
4. City Council to appoint Burial Ground Committee, members of etc.
5. Duties of Committee
6. When statements shall not be received (Limited dates for burial.)
7. When Committee shall finally locate lots claimed
8. How provisions of the second Act shall be construed
9. Where burials shall not be permitted
10. No public street, etc. to be opened through Burial Ground.
Not until 1975, 89 years later was a new section added to the act:
11 (1) Subject to subsection (2) all walks, lanes and pathways in the Old Burial Ground are hereby stopped up and closed and should no longer be public thoroughfares.
(2) The Council of the City of Fredericton is hereby authorized and empowered to make bylaws regulating the walking, standing or trespassing upon any part of the walks, lanes pathways or seats within the old burial ground.
In 1990 further restrictions were listed.
The closure of the pathways no doubt arose when the proposal by Heritage Trust to erect a fence around the site was approved by City Council. The money to purchase the fence was raised by Heritage Trust and the fence was installed by city staff in 1976.
The map of 1887 shows numbered lots. No doubt these relate to the Act of 1886 when owners of lots were to make claims.
In the publication THE OLD GRAVE-YARD, FREDERICTON,
N.B. EPITAPHS, (Copied by the York-Sunbury Historical Society, Inc 1938, and edited by L. M. Beckwith Maxwell) the burial ground is laid out into sixteen sections, labelled A, Al, B, Bl to N. Within each section each grave stone is given a number beginning with 1. Using this publication John Ross and I attempted to locate the stones of our members. Only recently has the index to the publication, which I prepared on 5x3 cards, been transferred to a spread sheet. Now graves can be located by name and site and reference made to the page number of the epitaph. Also, now the tombstones can be located using the Global Positioning System.
CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE FREDERICTON SOCIETY OF SAINT ANDREW
(Members buried in Old Public Burial Ground in bold type)
Thomas Armstrong James Balloch William E. Bell Stephen Cameron
James Carter John Coulston James Cumming Peter Fraser
Robert Fulton Arthur B. Garden John Gregory James B. Johnston
Robert Fulton Arthur B. Garden John Gregory James B. Johnston
Charles MacPherson John MacPherson William McBeath Donald Mcleod
Mark Needham James Rankin Thomas R. Robertson John Simpson
Mark Needham James Rankin Thomas R. Robertson John Simpson
George N Smith Rev. J. Somerville Hector Sutherland James Taylor Sr
John F. Taylor James Wilcox
OTHER MEMBERS BURIED IN THE OLD PUBLIC BURIAL GROUND*
(Listed alphabetically with year of membership)
Aitken, Thomas (1826)
Beverly, Francis (1828)
Blair, Andrew (1836)
Blair, Andrew (1836)
Blair, John (1825)
Brodie, Charles (1881)
Brooke, Rev. J. M. (1843)
Brydone-Jack, Dr. W. (1859)
Cameron, James (1825)
Cameron, Stephen - Charter Member
Corbet(t), Peter (1855)
Duncan, Andrew (1854)
Fraser, John J. (1856)
Fraser, Peter – First President and Charter Member
Fulton, Robert - Charter Member
Gowan, Robert (1826)
Gregory, Dr. Thomas (1857)
Gregory, George F. (1862)
Gregory, John - Charter Member
Inches, Andrew (1836)
MacPherson, Charles - Charter Member
Matheson, John (1866)
Matheson, William (1898)
McBeath, William - Charter Member
McFarlane, Peter (1876)
Mclnnis, John (es) (1851)
Miller, Alex P. (1839)
Munro, John (1839)
Needham, Mark - Charter Member
Neill, John (1847)
Nisbet, James (1830)
Pagan, William (1857)
Robb, James (1838)
Robertson, Thomas R. - Charter Member
Ross, Alexander Welsey (1842)
Ross, Robert (1866)
Simpson, John - Charter Member
Stanger, Thomas (1876)
Stewart, Dugald (1868)
Stewart, Thomas (1831)
Sutherland, John (1825)
Suttherland, Joseph (1825)
Taylor, James (1838)
Taylor, James (1851)
Taylor, James Sr - Charter Member
Taylor, John (1831)
Taylor, John F. - Charter Member
Taylor, William (1831)
Taylor, William (1849)
Turner, George W (1838)
Watson, John (1854)
Wilcox, James - Charter Member
Witham, W. R. (1839)
*The records of the Society were examined up to the year 1911 as listed in the 1925 Constitution of the Society.
References:
Maxwell, Lillian M Beckwith , ed. The Old Graveyard, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Epitaphs copied by the York Sunbury Historical Society Inc, 1938 pp. 1-139 .Sackville
Maxwell, Lillian M. Beckwith,. The History of Central New Brunswick 1937 .P 101-102.
Squires, W. Austin . History of Fredericton: The Last 200 Years . Centennial Print, Fredericton pp 167-168.