Lower Burial Ground

Joseph Forsythe

Joseph Forsythe, born in Huntly Scotland in 1760, married first Ann Bell, Kingston, Upper Canada 1797 (1 son) then secondly Alice Robins (6 children). He died 20 September 1813. He had settled in Kingston by 1789 as a merchant and was soon busy supplying the garrisons as well as the arriving Loyalists from a large storehouse he built. Forsythe worked with several other prominent Kingston merchants, Richard Cartwright, Robert Macaulay and Thomas Markland, all of whom are also buried here. In 1794 he invested in a brewery, then became involved in land speculation including areas of Scarborough, Haldimand and Clarke townships. He was the Kingston agent for the Receiver General and the Surveyor General. He dealt in peas, flour, pork, butter and potash and supplied York, Niagara, Detroit and exported wheat and flour to Lower Canada. Local retailing was a major part of his enterprises and he sold a wide variety of goods including luxury items. During the War of 1812, together with some other merchants he established a bank. He was also a vestryman then churchwarden at St. George’s, a Justice of the Peace, a collector of customs. In his obituary he was eulogized as a “fond husband, affectionate father, and the constant patron of all who had the honour of his confidence; in hospitality he could not be exceeded, as a magistrate he was irreproachable; none ever filled that honourable station with more credit.” The Forsythe Monument is a fine example of the art of cemetery stone masonry and it is worth a visit to see the resting place of one of the leading citizens of Kingston at the beginning of the 1800's.

Slaves in Kingston?

Some people are shocked to learn that in the early days of Kingston, many prominent people had black slaves. It wasn't until 1793 that the government of Upper Canada ruled against slavery so there was nothing illegal about it until then. When the law did come it only ruled against having new slaves, people who already had them were allowed to keep them but children born in slavery had to be freed when they turned 25. (Source: Buckskin to Broadloom (1973) by Alvin Armstrong). There were slaves in all the Loyalist settlements. Richard Cartwright had 10 or more slaves. Reverend John Stuart brought several slaves with him when he came to Cataraqui in 1785. A record of the day states that his old black body servant used to precede him on Sunday nights and light the tallow candles that stood at the end of the pews. The Herchmers, the Fairfields, the Van Alstines all had slaves. Sir John Johnson brought 14 slaves with him to Canada,
In the burial records of the Lower Burial Ground there are a number of recorded funerals as follows:   Sept 20th, 1794- a black boy ; May 28th, 1795 - Indie, a negro woman ; Nov 6th, 1800-Sophia, a black woman belonging to Mr. Robins; Dec 14th, 1801 -negro child; June 28, 1804- Gin, a black woman; May 16th, 1806-Prince, a black man. We have a number of burials not identified, they weren't always careful with the records and there were at the time of the War of 1812 a number of burials at the Upper Burial Ground, (now McBurney/ Skeleton Park) especially of non-Anglicans and soldiers.