St. Teresa's Roman Catholic Cemetery - Elmira, ON

The first thing you'll likely notice when you come across this cemetery is the strikingly tall wooden cross at the center of the lawn. Located just outside of Elmira, Ontario, I first stumbled across this cemetery while taking a detour to avoid construction. The tall, white cross caught my eye against the blue sky and I knew I had to stop and get a better look. The name of this cemetery is St. Teresa's Cemetery, though it is also known as Saint Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Cemetery.

St. Teresa's Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery that is still an active burial place. The cemetery is the graveyard of a small church that was built there in the late 1940's. Forty years later, however, the congregation of the church moved to a larger location located within the town of Elmira. The church was later demolished but the cemetery remains today. 

The large cross in the middle of the cemetery is definitely it's dominant feature. The cross was donated and constructed in 2006 by two couples, John & Alice Basler and James & Audrey Martin. Martin and Basler were both family names that I saw scattered on headstones throughout the cemetery, and upon some research I found that the Basler's and the Martin's were both of the original families who used buried their family members here. 

One headstone that stood out to me was that of Charles Fischer and his wife, Clara Fischer (nee Reidel). The dates inscribed show that Charles lived to about 50 years old, but Clara would go on to live until the impressive age of 105 years old. Charles was a business man who owned and operated a barber shop for over 30 years in the town of Elmira. Since Clara was born in 1868 and died in 1973, it is remarkable to think of the world events and advancements in technology and lifestyle that she would have lived through. She would have seen the industrial revolution, both world wars, the emergence of the automobile, and electricity become commonplace in homes. She would have also seen the rise of technology including telephones, television and a slew of other modern appliances. It would have truly been an amazing time to be alive. The Fischer's headstone looks to have been cared for somewhat recently as generally a headstone over a hundred years old would not look this clean.

The headstone shown above is one that is fairly unique to anything I have seen in my travels so far. This marker is made out of some type of metal and belongs to Johann & Maria Reuter (nee Oechsner). The couple was from Stuttgart, Germany. Together they had six children and their sons, Johannes and Charles worked as watchmakers in the town of Elmira.

The headstone of the reverend of the church that once stood at St. Teresa's cemetery, is buried here. I did quite a bit of searching but was unable to locate information beyond the birthday, date of passing, and the area where he lived. Regardless, his grave is unique as it has what was traditionally called a gravestone laying the length of the plot. The gravestone reads Pray For Me, while the headstone is simply inscribed with his name, and year of birth and death.

Research Credits to:

Find A Grave.com