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Albury Cemetery is co-located with Albury Church and is in Ontario, Canada, in Prince Edward County along the Rednersville Road. Its European origins date back to the Loyalists who settled here in the last part of the 1700s after fleeing the United States following the Revolution. Prior to the arrival of the Loyalists, it was an important hunting, fishing, and water route for the Mohawk nation.
The first burial was in 1812, a Levi B. son of John and Mary, with no recorded last name. The next burials were William Carter Allison and Ensign John Babcock in 1817, then Elizabeth Peack in 1825. Officially the Cemetery came into being with the gift of land in 1825 by the Peacks (Pecks) from their homestead on Lot 93. Family legend says it was Grandma Elizabeth who made the gift, which may be so because it was not completed until after her death, mostly likely by her husband James (Jacobus), and it certainly doesn't explain the burials prior to 1825.
Burials started outside the 1825 Gift area in 1841 (called Old Extension in the 1886-1899 Burial Records), although the area was not officially added until 1877. Additions were made to the Cemetery in 1877, 1885, 1889, 1898, 1917, 1924, and 1980. These additions are shown in an Albury Layout drawing.
A list of Burials by Year has been included for interest.
The burial records for Albury were lost in the 1960-1970 period. We have come a long way in reconstructing the records. We have a way to go yet. We need most of all three things:
The cemetery is laid out in plots. In round numbers there are some 1900 graves in about 500 plots. The base size for most plots is 16 feet 6 inches square, which is sufficient for 10 full graves with caskets. There are some 5 and 3 grave plots, and there are single grave plots in the new 1980 addition.
We are now at a stage in the reconstruction of the records of Albury when we can start allocating persons to graves within a plot. I have left
space in the database for a grave number for each person. For 10, 5, and 3 grave plots,all
oriented north and south (thankfully) with the head of the person always on the eastern end, I have given grave numbers in the following pattern with north at the top and
east on the right:
If you have family buried in Albury, please take the time to find the grave number for each person, and let me know.
There does not appear to be any surviving plot map of the 1825 Gift area. There is no question that the burials there are by families, and that the family ownership feeling was strong enough to force burials outside the area in 1841, even though there were only a few dozen buried in the 1825 area by then. It would be a boon to find an existing plot map of the 1825 area together with the original plot owner's names. Pending that discovery, the 1825 area was staked in November 2001, plots established, and persons allocated to plots. Plot numbers were given. No original plot markers were found. Some plots markers are clearly out of position. Some listed "owners" obviously inherited or acquired their plots as they were not even born in 1825. A cemetery draft sketch has been prepared for review and comment at Draft 1825 Plot Layout. The list of "owners" is contained in owner.htm. The list of persons buried in the Gift area, by plot, is at the link 1825data.htm.
Time has taken a toll on the tombstones and grave markers, mostly because of the soft white sandstone material used for most of the 1800s. The wooden markers, which were there in the 1940s when I was mowing the Cemetery have disappeared. There is still one hand made marker made out of local grey limestone, which probably came from the Bay of Quinte shore.
In December 2001, a Burial Record book 1886-1899 for Albury Cemetery was discovered in with some personal records of Harry Peck, my Grandfather and the second caretaker of Albury. A database was made of this exciting discovery. The explanatory page and data are available at brecords.htm.
Full credit for the base data has to go to Loral & Mildred Wannamaker. Their tireless work for family genealogy has left its mark in the County. Their Weese Family and Peck Family Histories provided fuller names and dates. As well I relied heavily on the Peck Family Database which combined the histories, Peck family data, and data supplied at and through the Peck Family Newsletters and Picnics. Many thanks to Leonard Bedford of the Albury Cemetery Board, Roy Wetherall the present Caretaker, Quinte Kin and the Marilyn Adams Genealogy Centre, and the Loyalist Museum at Adolphustown for their support. Without all of these contributions this site could not exist.
Thanks as well to the many family researchers who have corrected the original information and rounded out the sparse tombstone data on those buried in Albury.
I dedicate this web site to the four men who have lovingly cared for our legacy. My Great-Grandfather, John Greer Peck, the first Superintendent (1877 to 1918), my Grandfather, Harry Woodruff Peck (1918 to 1959), Lawson Way (1959 to 1976), and Roy Wetherall (1976 to present).
This data may be freely used for family and cemetery research. I would ask that it not be sold.
