Lakeview Cemetery
Located on Route 143, North Hatley, Quebec, formerly known as the Stanstead highway.
It is one of the many quaint family burial grounds dotting the countryside in the original Townships. On Interment.net you can find the precious recording of all existing and legible stones done by Leslie Nutbrown and his wife Susan who surveyed most of these cemeteries for the sake of preserving their visual records.
The cemetery is well maintained and mowed but quite a few stones need attention and a good scrubbing to restore them their original splendor. This cemetery dates back to the early settlers in the 1800s. Its original name was the “Bean Burial Ground” on land donated by Moses Bean.
The names witness the history of the rural families established in Hatley, North Hatley and Hatley Center. We aimed our attention towards the original Lebarons, Japhet and his descendants. His monument is easy to locate, the one with a white plaque attached atop two granite pillars situated on the South front corner of the cemetery. As many other prominent figures, their monuments were very distinctive in size design and quality.
This Lebaron monument throughout the 210 years has been alarmingly leaning backward to a point of collapsing. My wife Helen Lebaron urged me to see to its fate.
During the First of July celebrations in Bury, 2019, I met Wendell Smith who is also an avid preserver of cemeteries. He pledged to evaluate the safest way to bring it back to its vertical position.
The photos describe the effort involved: Wendell did the arduous lifting while I saw to its face lift by scrubbing this white sandstone plaque until it reached its original appearance.
To all the Lebarons lying there along with their neighbours and many descendants, be proud of this newly found allure. Our volunteer workers surprisingly offered to donate their time and effort asking family members to contribute to the Lakeview Cemetery Association, which they generously did. Hopefully other families will do the same.
Submitted by Lewis Downey