First
Mennonite Church Cemetery CC#4507
formerly known as Ben Eby's and East End Cemetery
800 King St. East, Kitchener,
Ontario
First Mennonite Church Cemetery is one of the
earliest religious congregation in Waterloo County. The first log church was
built in 1813 on a half acre of land given in 1810 by Joseph Eby from Lot 1 of
the German Company Tract "for the use of building a meeting house thereon
for the said society and for such meetings as the landholders and their
successors shall give privilege to meet thereon, as also for a public
schoolhouse and graveyard." One acre of was added on Feb 15th, 1816, also
from Lot 1, when the first deed was drawn up.
A stone fence was built around the cemetery in 1835. the wall approximately 715
ft. long 5 ft. high and 2 ft thick, with a roof of narrow, sloped boards. Two
openings were left in the wall, a narrow door toward the street for pedestrians
and a wide gate for teams on the church side. Eventually the wall was
demolished by frost.
The first burial has been reputed to be that of John Shupe on 8 November, 1812,
but there are legible stones for two babies buried earlier - Anna Erb, aged 9
weeks, on 25 Jan 1812, and Emanuel Erb, aged 3 mos., 3 wks & 3 days, who
died 20 Mar 1812. A book record gives a burial of a Reist in 1809 but this is
unlikely since the Reists don't seem to have arrived until the 1820's.
The cemetery is still in use and well-maintained, new stones mixed in with the
very old. There is an interesting mixture of old German Script and English,
well-preserved old stones from the early 19th century much more legible than
many from the beginning of the 20th century.
The reading of the tombstones of the cemetery of First Mennonite Church began
in the summer of 1980 and was completed in the summer of 1983. The
information on some of the older stones is incomplete due to the deterioration
of the inscriptions. Some stones are missing or are broken where such is the
case the information from the Book Record of the cemetery is reproduced. A
complete card file of the information reproduced is at the First Mennonite
Church 800 King St. E., Kitchener.
Many of the people buried here are
at a website which the Waterloo Region Branch, OGS has partnered.
From Pennsylvania to Waterloo
- A Biographical History of Waterloo Township
Find A Grave: First Mennonite Cemetery - Ben Ebys
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