Chinguacousy Township Cemetery No. 12

Concession 5E, Lot 9, Peel County

West side of Torbram Road, just north of North Park Drive, Brampton, Peel, Ontario



In the year 1818, the Township of Chinguacousy (an Indian word for "pinery") was first surveyed out of the primitive forest. The Township was settled by United Empire Loyalists who came from the United States after the War of 1812-14, as well as immigrants from the British Isles. By 1819, nearly all of the Township of Chinguacousy was settled.



On May 2, 1840 Emmanuel Harrison Sr, a native of Yorkshire England, deed one acre of land for a Wesleyan Methodist Church and Burying Ground to Trustees: Mathias Holtby, Robert Bowesfield, John Watson, Daniel Wilcox, Thomas Modeland, Joseph Graham and John Dale. Prior to this, the community had worshipped in the Harrison home or "Meeting House" as it was often called.



The first Church building was erected out of logs (about 40 feet by 60 feet) and was situated about the center of the cemetery on the west side of the road. A newer brick structure was erected in 1875 on the east side of the road; funded in part by legacies left by Emmanuel Harrison and George Elliott. The land was deeded by John Stubbing, the elder, to the church trustees on 13 Nov 1875.



The original design of the Church had a balcony over the west end and a two-story section on the east. A circular stained-glass window was installed above the vestibule which originally had a flat roof with a steeple-shaped tower on each front corner. In 1925, Harrison Methodist Church became Harrison United Church, following the union of Congregational, Methodist and many Presbyterian churches to form The United Church of Canada (June 25, 1925).



In 1947, the building was renovated to raise the auditorium 35 inches and the lower level was dug down three feet. In 1983, Har Tikvah Congregation of Brampton purchased the church and converted it into a synagogue. Currently the building is the home of the Shree Jagannath Temple and the cemetery is maintained by the City of Brampton.