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Mike Loader

@mikeloader.bsky.social

60 followers 67 following 90 posts

I write about Toronto history, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the Necropolis, and Potter's Field 🇨🇦

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · May 5

Consumption, Inflammation, Cholera, and Bowel Complaints were the most common known causes of death for those buried in Toronto's Potter's Field (1826-1855)

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 5d

While locating the unmarked grave of Reason Williams in the Toronto Necropolis, we found this antique cap gun, likely lost by Cabbagetown children playing Cops and Robbers between the headstones many years ago. We left it where we found it for somebody else to discover someday.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 19d

...to Oakville in 1965. Thomas Fullerton Just bought it in 1970 but his second wife buried him in California. Baillie was a successful bond dealer and steal magnate who built shell casings and airplanes during WWI. He refused a salary, donated his profits, and was knighted.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 19d

Mausoleum Row in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the 1920s before the trees grew. The tall one, third from the left, is the Baillie/Just mausoleum. Neither the man it was built for or the man who bought it are interred in it. It was built for Frank Wilton Baillie who died in 1921 but he was reinterred...

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 26d

...reinterred with their markers to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. Mount Pleasant kindly uncovered John’s marker for the Ontario Genealogical Society Toronto Branch in 2024 so we could check if it was still legible, but sadly it had completely deteriorated.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · 26d

John Wesley immigrated from England to the Town of York (Toronto) where he took over the Neptune Inn on New Street, now known as Jarvis. His wife Elizabeth died during childbirth at age 36 and he died five years later at age 33 from typhus fever. They were buried in Toronto’s Potter’s Field and...

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Sep 12

The Mausoleum and Crematorium in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery was designed by Darling & Pearson and its main chapel is named for Thomas Carfrae who led the creation of Potter’s Field in 1826. It is home to 17 stunning stained glass windows. #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Sep 2

The building was designed by Darling & Pearson with York & Sawyer and was completed in 1931. It was the tallest building in the British Empire until 1962.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Canadian Bank of Commerce building at 25 King Street West in Toronto has a 32nd-floor observation deck which is closed to the public so this is an uncommon view. Each side features four 24-foot heads for Courage, Observation, Foresight, and Enterprise. Photo ©2016 by Michael Leland.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Aug 18

...and her marker and remains were moved to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. The inscription implies she was a housekeeper but the name of her employer is unknown.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Aug 18

The inscription on Eliza Crawford’s marker reads “This small tribute of respect was erected by her master in testimony of her worth”. Eliza was born in Hull, England and died in Toronto of liver disease at age 32. She was buried in Potter’s Field...

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Aug 1

Walter was shot to death in 1902 by a pop bottler in a dispute over the amount owed for returned bottles. The white shooter was acquitted of his murder.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Aug 1

...Reason moved to a farm in Grantham (St. Catharines). After the American Civil War, Reason and Rebecca’s sons Walter and Moses moved to the United States to take part in Reconstruction and taught in Freedmen’s Bureau schoolhouses in Louisiana...

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Aug 1

Reason and Rebecca Williams’ daughter Henrietta didn’t survive the day and they buried her in Toronto’s Potter’s Field in 1836. Her marker and remains were moved to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1875. Reason was an African American blacksmith who’d come to Toronto from New Jersey in 1825. About 1852...

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 24

Jane is buried in Niagara Falls with her husband. The pond was drained in 1936. Illustration 1890.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 24

On July 24, 1892, Jane Lowrie Doran became the first person to die on the grounds of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. She was being treated in the nearby Deer Park Sanatorium on Heath Street when she left the building while it was still dark, crossed into the cemetery, and drowned in the pond.

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 14

His wives and children were reinterred in 1875 to Mount Pleasant Cemetery when Potter’s Field was closed and the marker for his daughter Mary, who died at 16 from Hysteric Passion, has been preserved.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 14

In Toronto, John operated a provision store and later the Scottish Arms Inn and a confectionary. He buried his two wives and three children in Potter’s Field. He died in 1864 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Toronto Necropolis.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 14

John Bannerman was born c.1786 in Kildonan in the Scottish Highlands. He served in the Army and was wounded in the Battle of Toulouse in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. He was discharged in 1815, married, and immigrated to Toronto a few years later.

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Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 5

The accident is referred to as the Woodbridge crash because in 1970 the location was closer to Woodbridge, and Brampton hadn’t grown to encompass the crash site.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 5

The captain was one of Canada’s most experienced pilots, Peter Hamilton, who had flown bombing raids over Germany during WW2. He had been shot down in 1944 and held as a POW. About half of those on board are buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jul 5

On this day in 1970, all 109 people on board Air Canada flight 621 from Montreal to Toronto died when it crashed in a field in what is now Brampton. The Douglas Super DC-8 was half full because it was to to pick up passengers in Toronto before continuing to Los Angeles. #onthisday #thisdayinhistory

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jun 30

Alexander Rogers mausoleum stained glass window depicting Jesus helping Peter while walking on water in the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:31) Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto #stainedglass #stainedglasswindow

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jun 24

He declined a Senate appointment and Knighthood, died in 1918, and is buried in the Necropolis. Photo 1933, courtesy Toronto Public Library.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jun 24

Ross is remembered as the editor of The Globe and founder of the Toronto Evening Telegram and for being taken prisoner by Louis Riel, serving as a member of parliament, publishing the Landmarks of Toronto books, and supporting the Hospital for Sick Children.

Mike Loader @mikeloader.bsky.social · Jun 24

John Ross Robertson donated the large Freemasons lot in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The monument was dedicated in front of 2,600 onlookers on June 24, 1893, the feast of St. John the Baptist who is important in the Masonic Rite. #todayinhistory #onthisday