Snure Cemetery

Snure Cemetery, Jordan, Ontario

Snure Cemetery is a small cemetery of about 180 gravestones located in the Town of Lincoln near the village of Jordan, Ontario. The cemetery is one of several of various sizes and ages in the former township of Louth. The area was first settled by United Empire Loyalists following the American Revolution and by Swiss Mennonites from Pennsylvania. The names on the gravestones reflect both groups—United Empire Loyalist families such as HARE and HAYNES, and Mennonite families such as CULP and HIGH.

The cemetery is sometimes referred to as the Disciples of Christ Cemetery. A red-brick church built in the early 1840s occupied the site but has since been demolished. The only indication that a church once stood on the site is the horseshoe of gravestones surrounding a largely open area.

Research on the descendants of Adin BEEBE (1761-1842) of Butler's Rangers has led me to Snure Cemetery on several occasions. Adin BEEBE was the brother of my gggg-grandmother Charlotte BEEBE (1767-1852) , and three of his granddaughters are buried at Snure. Also buried at Snure is Captain Peter HARE (1748-1834) of Butler's Rangers. Peter HARE's daugher Deborah HARE (1798-1884) married Adin BEEBE's son, Joshua BEEBE (1795-1834). Peter HARE's gravestone is one of five mentioned in Janet Carnochan's Inscriptions and Graves in the Niagara Peninsula.

The most interesting gravestone visually is that of Andrew BRADT (1838-1928) and his wife Libbie (1842-1923). Andrew Hansler BRADT, the son of Thomas BRADT (1810-1885) and Elizabeth HANSLER (1817-1889), was born in Louth. He married Elizabeth Amelia "Libbie" DARLING, daughter of Thomas DARLING and Eve HAINER (1818-1898) on 11 Jan 1865 in Wainfleet, Welland. According to census data, Andrew BRADT was a farmer, so it is unclear why the gravestone has a nautical motif.

Last summer I undertook to photograph every gravestone for the CanadaGenweb Cemetery Project. Almost a year later I started to index the photographs and cross-check them against a transcription published by the Niagara Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in the early 1980s.

It soon became apparent that there were some issues with the published transcription. There were a number of stones that I photographed that should have been listed in the transcription but were not. The transcription also listed eight gravestones recorded in an 1965 transcription that were unlocated. I had found and photographed six of them. As expected, some dates had also been incorrectly transcribed.

Not surprisingly, there were a few gravestones listed in the OGS Transcription that I could not find. Weathering and vandalism will certainly account for some that are missing. Sometime in the next few weeks I will revisit the cemetery to retake a few photographs and check once more for the missing gravestones.