52 Ancestors: Week 22: Cemetery Records on Canadiana

This week's 52 Ancestors prompt is "At the Cemetery". I'm going to look at some of the more unusual records you can find on the Canadiana website relating to cemeteries. Through my research I haven't found a lot on there that pertains to indexes and transcriptions. However, I did find some interesting records.


Monographs

• The first Catholic cemeteries of Montreal : and a guide to the present cemetery  by Simeon Mondou (1887). Go to the image 200 to see the cemeteries listed. If your ancestor owned a business in Montreal in 1887, then check out the last set of images showing advertisements.

• Glenwood Burying Ground (Picton, Ont.) The Trustees of Glenwood Burying Ground : rules and regulations. (1911)

• Saint John Rural Cemetery Company. Fernhill Saint John Rural Cemetery Company : acts of assembly and by-laws for the government thereof, together with reports of directors and treasurer and an alphabetical list of the proprietorsof lots, New Brunswick 1898.

• List of missions of the Church of England in Newfoundland and Labrador : with a tabular statement of the number of inhabitants, members of the Church of England, clergy, licensed lay readers, churches, school chapels, cemeteries and the approximate extent of each mission, to accompany a map of the diocese.  by Joseph James Curling (1877).

• A monograph of St. Paul's Cemetery  by George Mulane. Published in Halifax 1902.

• Customs and arts of the Kwakiool by George M. Dawson (circa 1888). Starting on image 348 is an outline of their burial practices.

• The "Last Post" Imperial Naval and Military Contingency Fund : roll of honour

• A sermon, delivered at Plantagenet, Upper-Canada, August, 1828, at the interment of John Chesser, Esquire

• Baptist Burial Ground (Woodstock, Ont.) Baptist Burial Ground, Woodstock, Ontario : Board of Trustees, R.H. Burtch, chairman ..

Government Publications

• Bill : an act to authorize the formation of companies for the establishment and management of cemeteries in Upper Canada. Act to authorize the formation of companies for the establishment and management of cemeteries in Upper Canada (1850)

• Bill : an act for more adequately securing the health of localities in Upper Canada against risk from infection arising from bodies of persons who die of malignant infectious diseases lying uninterred. (1860)

• Bill : an act to incorporate the Congregati[on] of the Most Holy Redeemer (1900)

To see all 1,846 monograph results on Canadiana using the search word "cemeteries" click here. Try playing with search terms. You might find some surprising things. For example, I tried "funeral" and start getting results for funeral invitations. I then tried "funeral notices". I got over 4,000 results. The top results were invitations and notices dating back to the early 1800's. Here's one for a Mr. Jacob Duseler from 1832:

Some publications I didn't include above but are worth looking into for cemetery information on Canadiana:

• Place histories
• Directories
• Church newsletters

As always with Canadiana, book yourself a good chunk of time to explore the site.