The “Old Place”
Cemetery
On Graveyard Spit in
Chance Harbour, NB
Also known as the
Belding Cemetery
In 1795, an unknown soldier was washed up on shore and Daniel Belding buried him on the gravel spit dividing Little Dipper Harbour from Belding Creek, sometimes known as Thompson Creek, making this the first burial known for certain to have taken place in the cemetery.
In 1967, the graveyard was in a derelict state mostly overgrown with broken tombstones such that the location of many of the graves is lost to history. The aging ladies of the Women’s Institute decided to undertake the general improvement of the place where so many of their ancestors were buried. The records of the graveyard were unavailable after an extensive canvass. The ladies of the Women’s Institute went by memory, broken stones still in existence, and family lore to establish the names and dates on the cairn they erected. They missed quite a few of the burials based on the evidence of the burial areas they enclosed with picket fences. Little work has been done since save for the installation of a stone in the memory of Mabel Belding, the daughter of David and Jane Belding, who married Robert Thompson in 1847 and became the mother of many children whose descendants live in the village today. Gordon Mawhinney and his brother in law Harry MacDonald refurbished the cairn with new bricks and cement they carried in over Belding Creek at low water in or about 2000. At that time they did some clearing of the brush and other growth that was overrunning the cemetery.
Below is a map of Chance Harbour showing the location of the graveyard on the gravel spit separating the east shore of Little Dipper Harbour from the area of the course of Belding Cr or Thompson Cr as it is also called.
Cairn
Photo Courtesy of Gordon Hargrove Miller
Cairn
Photo Courtesy of Gordon Hargrove Miller
Marker for Robert and Charlotte nee
Giggey Belding
Photo Courtesy of Gordon Hargrove Miller
The cairn erected in 1967 by the Women’s
Institute of Chance Harbour
Photo Courtesy of Gordon Hargrove Miller
Looking north east over Belding Creek
in the background at the cairn and one burial area marked off by a picket
fence.
Another of the fenced gravesites.
Mabel nee Belding Thompson modern stone
put in place since 1967.
Standing by the cemetery and looking
east over Belding Creek in the background.
Looking north west over a gravesite
beside the cairn.
Above 5 photos shows state
of graveyard October 2004
Burials noted on the Cairn
In the Old Place Cemetery
On Graveyard Spit
In Chance Harbour, NB
The dates in brackets are those researched in PANB,
1901, 1881 or 1871 census, and obits in Johnson’s work on NB Newspaper Vital
Statistics, and family records. Dates not in brackets are from the cairn.
Unknown Soldier 1795
David Belding 1880 (b 7 Jan 1798 Family
Documents, d 30 Apr or 1 May 1883 Newspaper Obits)
Jesse Belding 1838 – 1906 (b 12 May 1827 1901
Cenus, d Dec 1906 Family Documents)
His wife
Mary Belding 1834 – 1919 (b
15 Jul 1836 1901 Census, d 1921)
Robert Belding 1819 (b 12 May 1818 1901
Census) – 1902 (26 Mar
1902 separate gravestone)
His wife
Charlotte Belding 1811 – 1885
Ola Mawhinney 1906
William Hargrove (6 years
old 1871 Census, not on 1881 Census)
Royden Hargrove
Jane Hepburn 1872 (age 8 1881 Census) – 1904 (22
Dec 1904 Family Documents)
Nathanial Cottle (b 1821 1871 Census, d 20 Jan 1879
Newspaper Obit)
His wife
Eliza Cottle (b. 1831 1871 Census, d 13 Jan 1879
Newspaper Obit)
Mabel Thompson 1825(b. 12 Dec 1825 Family
Documents) – 1864
George Thompson 1864 – 1865
Herbert Thompson 1879
Edgar Thompson
James Tiner 1829 – 1884
His wife
Maria Tiner 1829 – 1868
Mary Tiner 1895 – 1907
(Living at 1911 census)
6 Tiner Infants
“Erected by Chance Harbour
Women’s Institute 1967”
Known Burials without
stones
And not mentioned on
the cairn are:
- Daniel Belding b. 29 May 1754 New Haven, Ct(Research Pamela Wood Waugh), d. 8 Dec 1846 Chance Harbour(Newspaper Obit and archived Diary of Rev Robertson of Musquash)
- Mabel Bristol, his wife b. 10 Aug 1763 New Haven, Ct(Research Pamela Wood Waugh), d. 29 Jan 1851 Chance Harbour(Newspaper Obit)
- Jane Thomas, b 1807(Undocumented), d Nov 1838 (Newspaper Obit) wife of David Belding (PANB Marriage Bond Jan 1825)
- Felix Thomas b 1775 (Inferred from Newspaper Obit), d 4 Oct 1849 (Newspaper Obit)
The land on which the graveyard sits was granted to Daniel and his son Samuel Belding in 1819. Samuel, sometime after 1819, died leaving Daniel Belding the sole owner. Since then, the property may have been subdivided yet remains largely in family hands. Verna Thompson sold the property to the Nature Trust of New Brunswick which is a charitable organization partly funded by the government of New Brunswick. David Thompson, another family member, is the volunteer steward of the Thompson Marsh Preserve of the Nature Trust of NB which was how they named this new acquisition. He views the property from time to time and reports all changes, good or bad, to the Nature Trust of NB.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Harry MacDonald
RR 2 Gananoque, ON
K7G 2V4
Ph 613 382 8607
Fx 613 382 8673