Collar Hill Cemetery is located in a quiet corner within the central Village of Merrickville. It contains the grave of William Mirick, founder of Merrickville who was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, on April 30th, 1760. His ancestors had migrated nearly 125 years earlier, in 1636 from Wales to Massachusetts and prospered there. William came to Canada in 1788 as an United Empire Loyalist and the same year married Sylvia Comstock. In 1793 he first came to this area and with his U.E.L. grant built the mills around which grew the Village of Miricks Mills, now Merrickville. William Mirick died in 1844 and Sylvia some 8 years later. Both are buried, in Welsh tradition in above ground stone crypts