Wellesley Abandoned Cemetery CC#4525
Also known as Pioneer Mennonite

 Concession 7 East Lot 8, Wellesley Township, Waterloo Region, Ontario
Corner of Lobsinger Line and Hackbart Rd.

This abandoned cemetery on the south-east corner of the intesection of Waterloo Road 15 (Lobsigner Line) and Wellesley Township 8 Rd. (Hackbart Rd.).

On 9 Feb 1864, Henry and Susannah Ernst, who were among the early pioneers of Waterloo County from Pennsylvania, sold for $40 one acre of Concession 7 East, Lot 8 in Wellesley Township, to Daniel Martin, deacon and appointed trustee of the Religious Society of Mennonites for the use of a meeting house and burying ground. A provision was made that "the portion of land intended for the burying ground shall be freee for all religious denominations.

The cemetery was used for but about twenty-six years, and most of the burials seem to be those of relatives or near neighbours of the owners of the adjacent lots. It is interesting to note that two infants had apparently been buried there prior to the sale of the land to the church. The last interment appears to have been made in 1887.  Edgar Hammond of Milverton remembers that at this corner was a school house.

At the time of the relocation and widening of County Road 15, the little cemetery was moved, the stones were reorganized, and an attempt was made to salvage some of the broken stones. Most of them had been placed in cement blocks, with some of the broken ones placed sideways. Three of the stones carry the insignia of Monument companies in Berlin, Ontario, Frank Bros., Meinke & Douglas and M. & S. several are in German.    1978

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