Sask. history told through cemeteries
REGINA — People call the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society every day as they search for the final resting place of deceased relatives.
This week, the provincial government launched an SGS-designed online cemetery database to make those searches easier.
“These cemeteries are a part of our history,” said Linda Dunsmore-Porter, SGS executive director.
“They might be the only record we have of a community. They might be the only record we have of individuals ... It’s a heritage project that should be very important to everyone, and it’s also a way of honouring our pioneers and folks that came before us and helped develop this province into what it is today.”
The database has already mapped more than 3,700 cemeteries, varying in size from private single-burial plots to cemeteries with thousands of burials. Dunsmore-Porter said the information has been collected over the past four decades.
“I guess it sort of becomes an obsession ... It all started out as a volunteer project for the members of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society 40 years ago,” she said.
Volunteers have recorded the names on headstones in 2,500 cemeteries and coordinated information with town and RM offices to ensure even the dead without headstones are recorded. Dunsmore-Porter estimates that the burial index — separate from the cemetery database — contains around 500,000 names. Dunsmore-Porter said all of the names will be available to the public in the future, but for now are only available to members of the SGS and for research purposes.
Cemeteries and the information on headstones are invaluable for genealogists, and allow groups responsible for cemeteries to make better informed decisions about care and maintenance.
“We also have had surveyors call us when they’re out working just to see if we know if there’s any persons buried on a particular parcel of land because they don’t want to be disturbing (that),” Dunsmore-Porter said.
The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority supported the SGS database project through a $24,000 grant.
Matthew Barton with the FCAA said the authority will co-operate with the SGS and the Western Canada Cemetery Association to produce two guides: one for active cemeteries and one for inactive cemeteries. Both will focus on the care and maintenance of cemeteries in Saskatchewan.
Dunsmore-Porter estimated there are 700 unknown or unmapped burial sites in Saskatchewan. The SGS wants the public’s help identifying them.
The online database can be found at stockfamily.ca/cemeteries/.