PARKHILL UNION CEMETERY
The Parkhill photographs were taken on September 11, 2004
shortly after visiting the Exeter cemetery. At that time, GPS was not available
for marking the cemetery and stone so the readings shown here are taken from
Google Earth. As time permits, I will return to the site to get the actual
readings, as done for Niagara Falls in July 2008.
The Parkhill cemetery is the final resting place for the
majority of the siblings of John Hugh
Laughton 1859, son of John Laughton
1829 who is buried in the Niagara Falls
cemetery. John Hugh's son Harry Van Wyck is in a mausoleum in Belleville,
Ontario. George Van Wyck Laughton, my
grandfather, is buried in the Exeter
cemetery, with his wife Mary Elizabeth and my parents Charles and Maureen. The
records suggest that son St. Clair Van
Wyck Laughton is also buried in Parkhill but there is no record of him on
the stone, nor is there any mention of his wife Eva. Family records suggest that
Clair was a bit of an outcast and so he may be in a separate plot, or just not
recorded. I will need to investigate that further.
Eva was living in Grand Bend and I knew her as a youngster but do not recall her
death or funeral. I never met St. Clair.
Also not mentioned on the family stone in Parkhill is John Hugh Laughton's
second wife Katie May Campbell nor their sons Malcolm Campbell Laughton (d. 1
day) or John Malcolm Laughton ("Jack"). Katie has been located
in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in London, now
added to the list.
There remains confusion (or questions) related to John Van
Wyck Laughton who apparently died in his 2nd year of life. The Parkhill
grave stone says 1896-1898, however other death registers state
A complete set of the site photographs can be downloaded as a zip file from
the Parkhill ZIP link. Included in that file are all
the "marked up" photos so that it is easy to find the family stone. I
do not recall if all the family members had individual markers but I have to
assume they did, given that the marker for Fred Van Wyck Laughton was found
lying in the area, now propped up against the main stone. Unlike the Niagara
Falls project in 2008, I did not go to Parkhill with the necessary equipment to
dig out and clean the stones. I will return to do that as
time permits and to look for other Laughton's in that cemetery - St. Clair and Eva.
Parkhill Union Cemetery |
The Parkhill
"Union" Cemetery is located in McGillvray Township, Middlesex
County, more or less on the Highway 81 route from Grand Bend to London.
The John Hugh family was located in Parkhill for many years and each of
John Hugh Laughton and his son Frederick Van Wyck Laughton were Clerks
of the Town of Parkhill. Daughter Louise Van Wyck Laughton (a spinster)
of Terra Cotta, Ontario was in the Parkhill nursing home at the time of
her death.
The family plot is located 4 stones to the north
of the 2nd large maple tree, east of the 2nd internal road, as shown on
the Google Earth image. The stone closest to the road is marked
"Griffeth".
The GPS coordinates from Google Earth are as
follows:
43o 10' 15.75" N 81o
40' 46.59" W
|
Historic Photograph of Stone Reverse
Louise Estelle Laughton (nee Van Wyck)
January 7, 1860 - October 25, 1919 |
Historic Photograph of Front - Children Only
(see notes regarding John Laughton dates and place of burial here and on
the page of his father John Hugh
Laughton)
|
John Hugh Laughton family stone
John Hugh Laughton - reverse side of family
stone
|
The family
stone is clearly marked as that of the "Van Wyck Laughton"
clan, the Van Wyck coming from John Hugh Laughton's first wife Louise
Estelle Van Wyck.
The stone is marked as follows:
|
Van Wyck Laughton
| Edna 1894-1894 |
Paul 1887-1899 |
| John 1896-1898 |
Bessie 1898-1905 |
Fred Van Wyck Laughton
1882-1947
His Wife Myra E. Rogers 1891-1987
Louise Van Wyck Laughton 1892-1985
Father
John Hugh Laughton
1859-1933 |
The reverse "west" side of the stone is marked for his
first wife and mother of the children and spouses shown on the stone:
|
MOTHER
Louise Estelle
1860-1912 |
The GPS co-ordinates for the stone, based on the
best estimate from Google Earth imaging is as follows:
43o 10' 17.28" N 81o
40' 50.51" W
I will need to return to obtain the exact GPS
coordinates with my handheld unit.
|
Fred Van Wyck Laughton - marker |
There was a
loose marker for Fred Van Wyck
Laughton lying on the ground at the time of the September 2004 site
visit. I do not recall if there were other markers in the ground,
I presume there were.
I will return to the Parkhill
Laughton stone to see if the other markers are there and if so I will
clean them, as done for Niagara Falls, and re-photograph the site.
I must also look for Clair and
Eva, perhaps in another location in the same cemetery. |
Marked location - from main road |
In September
2004, pre-GPS, I recorded the location of the stones based on local
reference points. These photographs are shown in the ZIP
FILE that can be downloaded from this site. That file contains all
the raw photographs, plus those that were "marked up" for easy
identification of the Laughton stone.
The Van Wyck Laughton stone is the 4th one in from
the main road leading off Highway 81 towards the maintenance area of the
cemetery. There are 2 internal roads and 2 large maple trees along the
main road. The Laughton stone is the 4th large stone in from the main
road at the 2nd large maple.
|
Marked location - from 2nd internal road |
This
photograph is a reference picture from the 2nd internal road. When
standing in that location you can clearly see the Van Wyck Laughton
stone.
You can "click" on any of the
photographs on this page to see the larger versions which are clear
enough to read the wording in the text marker boxes as well as the
notations on the neighbouring grave stones.
In the near future all of this information will be
available on the Google
Earth Community, so please do check there for details. Check
for "rlaughton" under the "username" function
of the site search. |
In March 2009 we received our initial response from the
Box Funeral Home in Parkhill. Clair and Eva are definitely buried in the
Parkhill Union Cemetery. There are other Wickert (or Wilson?) images that
Chuck Box also sent. I am awaiting the site plan and will conduct a site visit
in the Spring of 2009. Here are the photographs from Chuck Box:
St. Clair Van Wyck Laughton
Eva Laughton (nee Wickert) |
Wickert Grave Site
Needs to be Investigated |
Unknown Reference
Wickert/Wilson? |
We hope to find out more about these grave markers in our Spring 2009 site
visit to the cemeteries.
