W. Arnot Craick, in Port Hope Historical Sketches

Owing to the unfortunate destruction by fire of the first Roman Catholic Church in Port Hope, all the records which could throw any light on the early history of this congregation have been lost. It was destroyed by incendiaries one evening in August 1851 and completely destroyed. The Town Council offered a fifty pound reward for the apprehension of the perpetrators of this outrage, but the guilty parties were never brought to justice.

The first frame Catholic church - believed by historian, Mike Wladyka, to have faced east - was built in 1825 and replaced by a larger structure in 1833. Following the 1851 fire, the brick Gothic-style church of Mary, Star of the Sea, was dedicated on 07 October 1855,

The original cemetery was to the southeast of the Church, as shown in the photograph, with earliest burial records in 1849. Monsignor Browne was appointed to the parish in 1869 and it was he who moved the the cemetery, at some point between that date and 1874 when in-town burials ceased, from beside the church to its present location on Toronto Road.
[Source: Port Hope Saturday Guide, 20 June 1998]

The markers in the cemetery can be seen to the left of the Church (centre). The tower in the background, to the left of St. Mary's spire, is that of the First Presbyterian Church on Baldwin Street. Click on the image to enlarge.

St. Mary's vital statistics records can be searched online with a free Family Search membership.

Recently, the cemetery has been remapped. The map below shows the sections, and, by using this with CemSearch, you will be able to get a general idea of where to search. It is not a large cemetery.

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Peter and Barbara Bolton - Port Hope, Ontario
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