By Caroline Sealey
This is the second part in a series on the Mapleton Historical Society’s annual Cemetery Walk on Sept. 9 at Bethesda Cemetery. Located on Wellington Road 8 near Moorefield, the cemetery is rich with history about the property and those buried within it.
The first person thought to be buried in the Bethesda Cemetery was Mary Luxon, wife of John Luxon, originally from Cornwall, England.
An 1861 census indicates that the Luxons’ resided in Hustonville with their daughter, Mary, her husband David Calloway and their son, John and his family. Calloway was a merchant and post master in Hustonville. An association with the Methodist Church in Cornwall would likely lead the family to connect with the first Methodist church constructed in Hustonville. After Mary’s death in 1862, John Senior, John Junior and his family moved to Bruce County. The elder Luxon died in 1880. John Junior then moved to Minnesota. Mary and David are the only other members of the family buried in Bethesda Cemetery.
A verse written in 1859 by James Smith titled “A Solemn Admonition” is inscribed on the family gravestone: “Reader, one moment, Stop and think! That I am in eternity! And you are on the brink!”
The Cosens’ family have owned the farm on the northwest side of the cemetery since 1947, when Sheldon and Frances Cosens moved there from a neighbouring property on Concession 10. Bruce Cosens, son of Sheldon and Frances, along with his wife Shirley were the second generation on the farm. A retirement home for Sheldon and Frances was built on the northwest corner of the farm. Bruce was employed with the Murray Group as a truck driver and operated a backhoe. Their son, Adam, took over the farm and is currently constructing a new home on the property.
Reverend Richard Moore settled on part of Lot 9, Concession 9, Maryborough Township before 1852. His son, George, took over the property and later donated four acres to be used for a railway station provided that the station was named Moore’s Field. By 1970, the railway was servicing Harriston and Moorefield had a post office. As the railway bypassed Hustonville, located on the 8th Concession east of Moorefield, most of the businesses from Hustonville moved into Moorefield, establishing themselves on Moore’s land.
Catherine, daughter of Reverend Richard Moore, was born in Ireland and educated in a private ladies school in Dublin. While on a walk one morning in the Moorefield area, she met Thomas Booth, also an Irish immigrant and Justice of the Peace. The couple were engaged by the afternoon and married that evening. The newlyweds took up occupancy at Booth’s shanty on Concession 8, where they raised three sons and five daughters. Catherine passed away in 1901 and was buried in Bethesda Cemetery. Thomas moved out west with their daughter Margaret. Much of the Booth family remained in the Moorefield area. Booth Street in Moorefield is named after the family.
No other Moores are buried in Bethesda Cemetery. One family member, Rothsay resident, Richard S. Moore, a conveyance, loan and insurance agent was buried at Derryadd cemetery on the 14th Concession of Maryborough. The most famous member of the Moore family was published poet, William Wallace Moore, a Hustonville resident, who moved out west. Moore wrote poems about the residents of Moorefield and local happenings.
Keith Hammond, the youngest son of Alexander and Esther Hammond farmed on the 6th of Maryborough. The family purchased the farm next to the cemetery in 1923 from the Walker family.
After serving in the Second World War, Keith purchased the family farm with assistance from the Veteran’s Land Act. In 1958, he donated two acres to the Bethesda Cemetery Board. In 1954, Hammond’s registered dairy herd under the name Rivermede, was dispersed and in 1961 the farm was sold and the family moved to Moorefield. Keith started an office supply business in 1953 at 53 McGivern Street in Moorefield in front Brouwers Garage. From there in 1957, a move was made to a former egg grading station at 22 McGivern Street. In 1960, a warehouse was purchased at 38 Adam Brown Street and one year later the current building was purchased. In 1982, Keith’s son, Greg, purchased the business.
Garfield Kopas grew up on a farm on Concession 7 in Maryborough. The farm is currently owned by LH Gray and Sons, Gray Ridge. Kopas married Lenore Wildfang and the couple moved to a property on the corner of McGivern and Moore Streets in Moorefield. They remained living there for 40 years. Kopas also owned lots on Concession 9 and sold a lot to the trustees of SS#12 in 1954 for the building of Maryborough Public School. Lenore worked as a nurse and the couple had two children, Sally and Peter.
In 1936, Kopas purchased property on the corner of McGivern and Booth Streets in Moorefield and started a chick hatchery. As the hatchery was a success, expansion became necessary and the Temperance Hotel was bought from the Temperance Society and converted into a chick hatchery. With the hatchery being a seasonal business, Kopas installed a Sunoco gasoline outlet in front of the building and began a gasoline and home furnace oil delivery business. In 1968, the fuel delivery business was purchased by Ken Hill. A garage designed to repair automobiles and farm tractors along with a carwash operated from this site. A pair of chinchillas were purchased by Kopas in 1947. Their number increased to 48 by 1952. The chinchillas were raised in the basement of the Kopas home and were sold for their fur.
