The
Wiltse
Pioneer
Cemetery
is
found on the south east corner of the farm being sold through this Bill of
Sale. The original cemetery was
naturally separated from the main farm by the Elbe Creek.
The original cemetery property was bordered by the Elbe Creek on the
North and East, the 8th line road on the south and the division
between lots 12 and 13 on the west.
This is the first known cemetery in what was then
Yonge
Township
.
As this area was first settled in 1792 and a high mortality rate was
known to exist at that time, especially with regard to newborn children and
mothers, due to childbirth complications, the first burials are therefore
believed to have taken place no later than 1795.
It is believed that this site was chosen as it was naturally isolated
from the main farm by the Elbe Creek making it difficult to farm and it was,
as well, a picturesque and serine location. In
1967, the
Township
of
Rear
of Yonge and Escott
arbitrarily fenced a portion of the cemetery property.
At a later time, all of the original part of this farm south of the
Elbe Creek was sold as a building lot and the survey excluded the fenced area.
These events now define the
borders of this early burying ground. The
Col. Edward Jessup branch requested that the present owner deed the remaining
cemetery property to the
Township
of
Athens
and at this writing, the process is underway.
Wiltse,
Benoni & Solomon
Memorial
W. 202
A
memorial to be registered pursuant to an Act for that purpose made….
Of
a day dated the Twenty Fourth day of April in the year of our Lord One
Thousand Eight Hundred and Five (1805) (called
therein an Indenture, but which said deed is not indential, purported to be a
Bargain of Sale, and made between Benoni Wiltse of Yonge in the Country of
Leeds in Upper Canada, Bargainer of the one part and Solomon Wiltse of the
same place of the other part, whereby the said Benoni Wiltse for the
consideration of One hundred pounds hath granted bequeathed and sold unto the
said Solomon Wiltse, his heir, assigns forward, part of Lot Number Twelve in
the Eighth Concession of Yonge aforesaid bounded as follows, Beginning where
the post has nine chains from the center North on the side line between Lots
number Twelve and Thirteen, then South twenty four degrees, East thirty seven
chains, eighty seven links, then North Sixty Six degrees East nineteen chains,
then North twenty four degrees West thirty Seven Chains eighty seven links,
then North sixty six degrees, East nineteen Chains to the place of Beginning
containing Seventy two acres same more or less.
Which
said “Indenture”
(stroked out with” Deed” written above) is witnessed by
Lynds Hudson and Jonathon Brown of Yonge aforesaid, Yeomen and is
hereby required to be registered
by one Solomon Wiltse the Grantee in the said Deed mentioned.
In witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and Seal this thirtieth
day of May in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and
seven (1807)
Registered
on Saturday, the thirtieth day May in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight
hundred and seven (1807), Livius P. Sherwood, Registrar
Signed
and Sealed in the presence of
Jonathan
Brown
his
Cornelius
Wiltse
Signed/
Solomon X
Wiltse (
LS)
Mark
Notes:
A chain is 66 feet, a link is 7.92 inches: (land measurement)
Solomon
Wiltse was a nephew of Benoni, being the son of his half brother, John, who
also came to Yonge Township but died in 1801 at age 53 of cancer of the face.
John was an early burial in the subject cemetery. At
the time of this transaction, Solomon was 32 years of age and Benoni was 47
years of age.
Solomon
would have been only 10 years old upon the arrival of the Loyalists in 1784.
His father’s war service is unknown at this time but he certainly was
of the right age for service.
The
subject 72 acres appears to be the only land held by Solomon Wiltse during his
lifetime.
By
comparison, his uncle, Benoni Wiltse, received a land certificate in 1784
authorizing a grant of 350 acres. He
appears, however, to have acquired much additional land over the next 8 years.
This
original land certificate gives Benoni Wiltse’s rank as sergeant.
He is often referred to as Captain Wiltse, but this was a rank held
later in the Leeds Militia and one also shared by his brother, James.
Lot
12 Concession 8 where the Wiltse Pioneer Cemetery is located was first granted
to Benoni Wiltse in 1792, and formally
deeded in 1802 when most other land owners in Upper Canada exchanged their
“location certificate” for a “Land Deed” issued by the government of
Upper Canada. The south
portion of this lot, about 72 acres, measuring about 1320 feet by
2466 feet was sold to Solomon Wiltse in 1805 and registered in 1807.
The farm was divided at the
Wiltsetown
Road
as it still is today.
The
house that now stands on this property, located on the 8th
Line
Road
,was
that of Solomon Wiltse, built about the time of the
sale outlined herein if not earlier. As Benoni is believed to have lived on
lot 12 concession 7,
Solomon may have farmed this land before buying it.
This house is without question from the very first part of the 19th
century and perhaps the very end of the 18th century and will be
one of the oldest homes in the Township of Athens which incorporates what was
previously the northern half of Yonge.
It
is interesting to note that the saw marks on the still exposed lumber in the
interior of this house indicate that it was sawed by an early reciprocating
saw of the type that would have be used in the nearby sawmill owned by Benoni
Wiltse. Almost certainly
this house was constructed from lumber cut for Solomon by his uncle Benoni
Wiltse at a time when most dwelling places would have been of log.
Transcription
and Comments by:
Don
Galna,
September
8, 2003
Amended
October
27, 2003