Burial of discovered human remains represents window to London’s past

An important burial that took place Wednesday is helping to serve as a window to our past. Seventeen years after the discovery of human remains at a west London construction site, a woman and her three children were finally laid to rest.

“With the remains, I think honouring them, and laying them to rest shows a respect for the person, the person in their life, and in their death,” explained Bishop Ronald Fabbro of the Roman Catholic Diocese of London.

The bishop himself performed the service at St. Peter’s Cemetery in London, which was attended by a couple dozen people.

Laid to rest were Catherine Mason and her three children. Their remains were discovered at 565 Proudfoot Lane in London in 2006, at what was then a construction site. It happened after a rusted piece of thin metal was found, which turned out to be Catherine’s coffin marker.

According to Hilary Neary, who headed up the research into the discovered remains, Catherine’s maiden name was Reid. She had married John Mason in 1854, himself a man of African descent who had come to Canada from the United States.

Catherine died in 1858.

Original plaque for Catherine Mason, who was buried along with her three children 17 years after their remains were found at a construction site, in London, Ont. on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2023. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)“Although we know she was Black, we don’t know when her family came to Canada,” explained Neary. “They could have been free Blacks who fled here. They could have been enslaved and found their way to Canada. But many, many Blacks came to this part of the country during the 1850s.

“Neary says she discovered who Catherine was by finding John Mason in the 1871 Census. She then found out through the records of the Roman Catholic Diocese of London that the couple had married at St. Peter’s Cathedral, which is also where two of their children were baptized.

According to funeral director Joe O’ Neil, who is also a local historian, Catherine’s death took place after what was known as the Black Frost.

“There was an economic depression in 1857 to begin with,” said O’Neil. “And then in June of 1857 they called it the Black Frost, which killed all of the crops in the area. About 70 to 80 per cent of the crops in the area were wiped out. Everything. Corn, wheat, you name it. And then there was starvation.”

The property on Proudfoot is owned by Summit Properties, which has assumed care for the remains. The coffin plaque will be on display at Eldon House, London for the month of October for its Victorian funeral display.

It’s then being donated to Fanshawe Pioneer Village for its collection of artifacts relating to important contributions of Black settlers to the history of this area.