Cimetière de la Mission/Paroisse St-Malachie d'Ormstown (Vieux/Old)

the new St Malachie Cemetery opened in 1861

The original St-Malachie Cemetery was the first Catholic cemetery in the upper Châteauguay Valley, dating from the late 1820s. At that time, the parish had not yet been officially established and was called the Mission of St-Malachie. It served all of the Châteauguay Valley area from Ormstown to the US border including Godmanchester and Hinchinbrooke. The Parish of St-Malachie was established in 1858 and the church moved to its present location on the south side of the river at the Village of Ormstown. It appears that neither the cemetery or its memorial stones were moved but left and eventually allowed to disappear.

The old St-Malachie Cemetery was located on the James Finn farm (old lot 40) on the north side of the Châteauguay River, 5.1km (3.2mi) west of the Village of Ormstown. (45.122N/74.058W) The site is now privately owned farmland and all traces of the cemetery have disappeared although the owner indicated that there may still be a few base stones on the side of the adjacent creek. The cemetery was originally in a grove of trees and the story is that a tree was planted for each burial. The problem was that the trees were elms and they all succombed to Dutch Elm Disease in the past 50 yrs. The monuments were not moved but were dispersed locally being used for other purposes such as walkways, etc.

In the 1960s, the local parish priest arranged for the erection of a commemorative memorial at the side of the road, nearest the location of the church and cemetery. The actual location of the cemetery is about 350m north of the road, near the creek (called Finn Creek). No one appears to be taking responsibility for the maintenance of the monument and its surroundings, even though this was part of the agreement with the land owner when it was erected.