Analyses of Coffin Hardware from Unmarked Burials Former Wesleyan Methodist Church Cemetery,Weston,Ontario

Abstract

As part of the municipal and provincial development approvals process, monitoring of construction excavation for the Central King Seniors Complex was conducted at the former Wesleyan Methodist Church cemetery on King Street, City of York (Weston), Ontario. Approximately 135 grave shafts and forty-three isolated findspots were found to contain the skeletal remains of 157 individuals. These remains were subsequently disinterred following the regulations of the Ontario Cemeteries Act RSO 1990. The cast and stamped metal handles, hinges and escutcheons were analyzed for spatial distributions of stylistic and temporal characteristics, and then compared with the few other available contemporary collections. Computer generated distribution maps and charts were prepared, along with a summary list of physical traits, characteristics, associations and temporal indicators which can be used by other studies to determine nineteenth-century Euro-Canadian interment periods.

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