For more than two centuries, Canfield Cemetery has served as a final resting place for people whose lives reflected the history of the Canfield community. The earliest existing tombstone marks the death of Huldah Tanner in 1803, and although seven earlier deaths in Canfield Township were recorded from 1798 to 1803, their gravesites are unknown. Elijah and Rhoda Hopkins Wadsworth formally deeded the cemetery to the citizens of Canfield in 1810, and Matthew B. Whittlesey donated a first addition of land in 1811. The cemetery was enlarged again in 1862-1863. For seventy years, the cemetery and its fencing were maintained by volunteers, and after the Village of Canfield was incorporated in 1869, its care and management were vested in a board of trustees. Many pioneer families are buried there, including people who served with distinction in civil and military roles. Among those honored are three of the seven original stockholders of the Connecticut Land Company who first owned this Western Reserve township: Judson Canfield, a respected lawyer and local surveyor for whom the township is named and a veteran of the Revolutionary War; James Johnston, proprietor of Johnston Township and also a veteran of the War of 1812; and Elijah Wadsworth, who served in the War of 1812 as Major General of the 4th Division of the Ohio Militia.