Since my last visit to Maberly, Ontario (near Perth), much has been brewing with local history buffs helping to put together information for the 200th Anniversary of South Sherbrooke (now Tay Valley Township) coming up in 2014.
PRESERVING LOCAL HISTORY OF MABERLY
We are currently investigating the original Wesleyan Methodist chapel that was built on Conc. 10 Lot 14 of S. Sherbrooke and a petition that was signed by local residents in 1852, including Thomas Moore Esq. (later magistrate/Justice of Peace/Reeve) and many of the early settlers of that area. This chapel and old burying ground is no longer visible, but we are cooperating with local families to research and locate the original location of these sites and preserve what we can of local history.
More photos from our last trip.
Reeve’s walking stick; List of Reeves, South Sherbrooke Town Hall, Maberly including Thomas Moore and Ephraim Deacon
Bethel (Maberly) Women`s Institute, a picture of the Maberly Hotel. See pic below for the same tree beside the hotel, still standing.
Krista in front of oldest tree in Maberly, where John Morrow’s Maberly Hotel stood.
We visited Town Hall where my forefathers, both Thomas Moore Esq., Reeve, and Ephraim Deacon, Reeve, served on council for many years, and many of their descendents. Thomas Moore Esq. was also a local magistrate or Justice of the Peace to the King, and must have been sworn in at some point by the Lieutenant Governor General. Magistrates were put in place in local towns in the new British colonies to settle local disputes outside of the larger courts. He was not likely a lawyer, but a loyal servant who was passionate about politics, justice and local law. He fought to preserve the original Weleyan Methodist Church and old burying ground, in a signed petition with his fellow settlers and trustees of the church.
Here we are on the land that William Moore worked with his father, originally owned by Thomas Hughes and later requested to be deeded to Robert Hughes. It is where the Zealand Rd meets the now Trans Canada Highway, Highway 7, constructed in the late 1940s/50s. The lines of the land have changed, so locating the original burying ground has been a challenge. The land is now occupied by a modern house with new owners.
Karen and Steve discuss where the old landmarks may be on the 1860s map to modern day Tay Valley Township
New highways divide the land once inhabited by the Moores and Wesleyan Methodist church
Here is a letter of petition the old inhabitants wrote to protect the Wesleyan Methodist church and old burying ground on this property:
Original petition to save Wesleyan Methodist church and old burying ground, Maberly, undersigned Thomas Moore et al
“Petition 0526”, Township Papers, Township of SHERBROOKE SOUTH, Microfilm Series C-IV, Archives of Ontario, copy: June 2, 2010, transcribed by Krista Moore September 21, 2011. (Describing petition of Church trustees for Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and burying ground on south South-East Lot 14 Conc. 10 S. Sherbrooke, Oct 14th 1856.)
Transcription:
[marks: 10.165 /slash 58]
To Anthony Leslie Esqr Agent for the
Sale of Crown and Clergy Lands [v mark] at Perth in
The County of Lanark.
[Petition: 0526]
We the Undersigned respectfully state for your
consideration that on the south part of the South East
half of Lot No. 14 in the 10th Concession of South Sherbrooke
there is a plot of ground used as a burying ground
that on a part of this plot or contiguous to it there has
been a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel erected and in [our?]
[start?] occupancy and use for public worship for more
than twelve years. The undersigned Settlers in the nei
ghbourhood of said Chapel and burying ground re-
{ spectfully request that in the event of the said lot being
{ sold that at least two acres be preserved for the use of a
Wesleyan Methodist Church and burying ground
or not deeded to any [purchaser ] except to trustees du-
ly appointed whose names shall forthwith [was? Some or seem as] prac-
ticable be forwarded to you and through you to the land
granting department.
South Sherbrooke Oct 14th 1856
[signed by:]
Abrah Adams } Malcom Morrow
Robert Lewis } John Chambers
John Buchanan } William Armstrong
George Buchanan } Charles Judge
Thomas Moore } Da[vid or Daniel?] Conboy
George Buchanan } John Armstrong
Wm Charlton } John Duffy
William Morrow
[along right margin:]
John Morrow
The now Maberly United Church:
Krista beside the now Maberly United Church. Below an embroidered picture hanging in the local bar and grill on Highway 7.
