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A tiny bit of the known History of Craford Cemetery

With Thanks to Jo-Anne Hendry (Story), Allan DeClute, and Ed Miller

The true pronounciation of the name is like "Cray_Ford" and NOT Craw_Ford. There were apparently both Crafords and Crawfords who lived in that area though.

Jo-Anne Hendry (Story) Writes...

I have heard that it also is an ancient Indian burial ground as well as European. Years ago I tried to find any type of written records, maps, plots anything to no avail. There are SO many lost stones out there. I remember as a kid, seeing several laying down the slopes of the gravel pit beside the Cemetery.

So far other sources of information have been mixed in regards to the story of native graves on the site. Some suggest that there MIGHT have been and some suggest that there were none.

We do know that this cemetery began in the early 1800's with some neighbors there getting together and deciding that they should have a local cemetery for burials near by. We know that the Craford Family provided the land for it but we do not know if it was sold to the group or if it was donated to them. We also know that it was of a size that was "More than a simple family cemetery". Before the time of anyone living today it was apparently added on to once. Then was added on to in more recent times as we can see today. We can pretty much guess the original areas by the dates of the burials and they type of land. They would of course be looking for the highest and the sandiest land to bury people on to allow for easy digging in even the worst of climate conditions be it very severe cold, or severe heat of summer.

We can pretty much confirm that this cemetery was NEVER Church oriented. Pardoville Cemetery we know was, so it is likely that this church orientation is why there are two large cemeteries located so close together.

Comments so far suggest that there was NO Potter's Field at the site but of course these were mostly very early so it could well mean that one existed and it was simply long forgotten and/or abandoned.

Despite comments above we believe that some records existed at one point but so far we have not seen them and time will tell if this proves to be true or if those records were simply burial locations and nothing to do with the history of the cemetery grounds itself. That may well be the case.

The Cemetery has now been sold out totally. This may well have a great deal to do with it's beauty! It may well be the most beautiful cemetery in Chatham-Kent with all of the trees around it and the well kept lawns, etc. The cemetery is still privately owned and kept up by a private board today as of time of writing in 2014.

If you know further information on this cemetery please let us know!