Henry Northrop
Plot T, Lot 3, Private Mausoleum
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Born in New York State in 1821, Henry Northrop joined with fellow American John Lyman to form the Northrop and Lyman Company that specialised in the manufacture and sale of various patent medicines. In 1854, the company moved to Newcastle, Ontario and twenty years later re-established itself again, this time in the bustling provincial capital city where they occupied an office and warehouse at 21 Front Street West. Henry Northrop died on November 20, 1893, and was placed in the cemetery’s vault until the fortress-like family mausoleum was completed in the fall of the following year. Henry’s wife Mary (d. 1899) is also entombed in the Northrop mausoleum as is George Horace Gooderham, a member of the city’s prominent Gooderham family.
Gooderham, who was the son of George Gooderham and grandson of William Gooderham (the last gentleman being the founder, with James Worts, of the Gooderham and Worts distilling empire in 1832), was born in Toronto on April 18, 1868. Educated at the Normal School and the old Jarvis Collegiate Institute, Gooderham married into the Northrop family in 1888. Gooderham was always keenly interested in the city’s educational system, an interest that prompted him to run for and win the position of school trustee. He remained a trustee from 1890 until 1903 and in 1904 was elected school board chairman, a post he held for another four years. In 1908, Gooderham was elected MPP for the riding of Toronto South, being re-elected in 1911 and 1914. He was also president of the Canadian National Exhibition from 1908 until 1910, president of Ridley College, and a director of several financial institutions.
Gooderham had a passion for yachting and held the position of commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club for more than a decade. He skippered his many yachts, which included the famous Oriole III, Oriole IV, and Cleopatra to many national and international championships. George Horace Gooderham died at his residence, 204 St. George Street on December 22, 1942. His wife Cora died in 1962 at the age of 96 and is also buried in the Northrop-Gooderham mausoleum.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded