October 25, 2009:

Hello
 
I was at Beechwood Cemetery and found John Burrows grave site.  He is mentioned in Mary Cox's contribution to 
the bytown.net website.  
 
Al, if you think the information in the text below may be of interest to your readers, you may post it and the attached 
picture on your site.
 
There is a coincidence here....I was not looking for his grave site but merely stumbled across it while getting a pic of 
my Snow ancestors headstone.
 
As for the text below...I was not searching for information on John Burrows, I was searching for information on any 
of my Snow ancestors.
 
John Burrows keeps popping up in my searches, so maybe he wants to be 'found'.

... Karen Prytula
 
TEXT:
John Burrows Headstone at Beechwood Cemetery. This stone lies flat on the ground. He was probably moved here from another Cemetery 
(Sandy Hill, or one in Hull) since he died before Beechwood Cemetery opened. It reads 
"John Burrows, Born in Plymouth, England, May 1st 1789, Died in Bytown July 27th 1848, Honored Pioneer gentleman, civic and 
religious leader, Royal Engineer, and Superintendent of the Rideau Canal, Came to the wilderness of Canada in 1816, From England.

From "Women's Canadian Historical Society", 1901: "Mr. Burrows lived for a short time on the uncleared land he eventually sold to
Mr. Nicholas Sparks, the only settler in a wilderness of forest and rugged hills. He had come out to Canada in 1818, and settled on 
a farm between Hull and Aylmer. After Colonel By's arrival he was appointed on the engineering staff of the Ordnance Department, 
where he remained until his death in 1848. He built the first Methodist Church, which had the honour of being as well the first of 
any creed erected in Ottawa, at his own expense. It was a little frame building on Chapel Street, just below Rideau Street and gave 
it's name to the former street. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire a few months later....We are told that the first school in 
Nepean met at the house of Mr. Burrows." 



As an engineer on the construction of the Rideau Canal between 1826 and 1832, John Burrows made the
120 mile trip between Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario, many times. As he travelled, he sketched and painted
the lock stations along the route. Here is one of his many paintings:

Painting by John Burrows (1789-1848)
Kilmarnock Lock, 1835
Source: Library and Archives Canada, REPRODUCTION:  C-092892 
 


Many of his paintings can be seen in the book Building The Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, by Robert W. Passfield.