Expanding the Labels

I visit burial grounds for the markers as much as for the people so I have expanded, and back dated, my labels to tag not only where markers are located and the names carved into stone or pressed into concrete, but the artwork that adorns them.

For easy location, the terms related to marker decoration all begin with "art:" or "sculpture:" like my "surname:" label. Another label is "cross:" and will be used for both art and sculpture with the styles defined. An additional new label is "photoceramic" which is explanatory in itself.

Labels I will be adding as well, are related to grave style, like wolf stones and bed cradles, and what markers are constructed of.

I hope people find the labels useful, and fun, for finding out what art and what art styles enrich the markers of my corner of Saskatchewan.

Holbein's Wayward Cemetery

Ah, the trouble with a fluid, unverified resource. I am sure many have come across this before—incorrect information on a website.

While the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society Cemetery Index has been invaluable in getting me started, I have come across an issue that anyone familiar using Saskatchewan RM maps would immediately discover. On the SGS index it lists "Holbein (Religious Org) SE 16-53-2-W3" which means, according to it, there is a religiously owned/operated cemetery in Holbein located in the Southeast Section-16 Township-53 Range-2 West of the 3rd Meridian.

The hamlet of Holbein however is located at NW 14-49-2-W3. Thus, when looking at the map, Holbein is at the south end of the RM and the 'cemetery' is at the north. Which means there is a whole lot of land between the hamlet and its burial ground (like, most of the RM!).

Rural Municipality of Shellbrook No. 493, printed December 2005.

Looking at a RM map issued in 1988 also doesn't indicate a cemetery in that specific location (SE 16-53-2-W3), the closest is "Holbein - Mayview (Religious Org) NE 33-52-2-W3."

I don't know if the society even really checked it out, as even on the index listing they have nothing entered for first burial, last burial, total burials, recorded, SRI indexed, and a 'No' for FHL film.

Does a cemetery exist at that location? Does one exist for the hamlet of Holbein? Is it an honest data entry mistake or the start of a mystery? I guess we will find out in the future.

Whee! Font Problem Solved

Well, after doing multiple fix attempts for my variant font sizes problem, changes of templates, editing of HTML, I discovered the problem! An unclosed superscript tag in a post.

WHEE! Problem Solved. Now I shall burst into an Arrogant Worms song:

Billy solves his problems by calling up his mom
Heather solves her problems with drugs and alcohol
Daniel solves his problems with a doctor and the law
But Malcolm has his own way and it's better than them all

'Cause Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
and he never has the same problem twice

Whether it's a bill or a cheque arriving late
Rancid marble cheese or a steak that's second rate
Awful TV programs or a broken Elvis plate
Or his fiancee who dumps him because he's gaining weight

Malcolm solves his problems with a chain-saw
Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
and he never has the same problem

And he goes VRRRRRMMM VRRRRRMMM
Problem solved.

Oops

My apologies to my followers and anyone else who checks in on this blog every now and then. I knew I would be absent for some time so I set had set up posts to be published when scheduled during my absence but apparently I didn't do it right!

So I've fixed that and those posts are now online and carry the date stamp for the day they were suppose to be uploaded.

Otherwise, keep your eyes out for another coming special. This time for Levanto, Italy!

Spring Tidying

Today is the first day of spring according to the Georgian calendar and there's been a bit of tidying up going on behind the scenes with my computerized cemetery information and on this blog itself.

I am have wicked fun with Blogger in Draft template designer. (If you use Blogger I urge you to go have fun yourself!)

You may have noted the new pages beneath the masthead image called "Cemetery List" for collecting together the complete data relevant to each cemetery, and "Bookshelf" which lists book and article titles I have read that are related to cemeteries in some manner. More pages will be following in the future.

PDF documents containing data for Holy Trinity churchyard have been added to the MasterList page. I've been sitting on some information for Holy Trinity churchyard and Foxdale cemetery over the winter months and feel that they should "bud" their way onto the Internet like the spring flowers soon will be.

Depending if I get roped into house spring cleaning I might also get the Foxdale inscription record up today as well.

Amusment of Typos

I find myself endlessly amused and enjoying various types of typos, whether they be online, on paper, or carved in stone.

On a Friday recently at the post office I saw a funeral announcement for a Algernon "Sonny" Holmes. This instantly gained my attention because of 'my' Algernon Holmes buried in Holy Trinity at Sturgeon Valley. (Sonny's obituary that followed in the weekly newspaper publication confirmed his identity as the 102 year old son of 'my' Algernon.)

His funeral notice however had me snicker I admit and wonder where exactly was "Shellbrook Cametery." What is a 'cametery'? And how in the world do you mistype that in this day and age with spell check on all document programs, emails, blogs, and associated? (Plus when I mistyped 'cemetery' on occasion in the beginning I was far more likly to type 'cemtery.')

Someone else caught the error though and informed the writers and when I went to work the following Monday the notice had been reprinted and reformatted with the correct spelling of "Shellbrook Cemetery."

Barre, A Town With Cemeteries I Want To See

On Tuesday, January 12th events conspired together that I could actually attend the local genealogical society chapter meeting where one of the members was presenting a presentation on Hope Cemetery, Barre, Vermont, USA.

Barre, VT was brought to my attention by an old National Geographic magazine zipUSA 'spot light' series. A city sustained by it's granite quarry industry, of Barre Grey Granite, the graveyards, Hope Cemetery in particular, are show cases of the granite sculptors artwork.

Hope Cemetery was established in 1895 consisting of 53 acres but has since grown in size to 65 acres and is the largest of the three graveyards managed by Barre. Beyond the restriction that all monuments must be of Barre Grey there is no limit on the markers that individuals can have erected. If you've seen pictures of a grey granite car, a grey armchair, a larger then life soccer ball, or a cube with a tree of life on one face--they all stand in Hope Cemetery.

This is why I want to visit the cemetery.

It was always why I was "dying" to attend the presentation when I learned of it some months ago as I wanted to view more of the unique stonework that Hope Cemetery has to offer. The presentation, though too short for my connoisseurs tastes, did not disappoint. Even with those limited photographs, it truly demonstrates how markers can be more then stones but stones of art.

But, beyond the images of Hope Cemetery I got in contact once again with Barb, the woman who manages the societies cemetery and burial records, and a few days later she sent me copies of their burial records! I'm thrilled to have them as I will be comparing them with information that I learn as I transcribe the surrounding graveyards. Seeing their recording system also made me add a few columns in my Excel documents and made me aware of what information they would like as I come across things that will need to be updated.

And as much as I'd love to take time to locate obituaries, if possible, for the individuals interred in "my" graveyards I think for the moment I'll stick to the markers and history book entries to glean additional information. In future years I may be able to add information as all the cemeteries will be transcribed, freeing up time for more in depth research.

Further reading:

05641: A Town of Grave Importance written by Margaret G. Zackowitz

A Tale of Two Cemeteries: Elmwood And Hope Cemetery written by Sally Cary

Where Are the Very Old Native Bones?

As stated in Charles Mann's novel 1941:

Paleo-Indian skeletons are extremely rare. In Europe, archaeologists have discovered scores of skeletons ten thousands years old or more. By contrast, only nine resonably complete skeletons of similar age have been found in North America (a few more exist in South America, although, as with the Lagoa Santa skeletons, their provenance is often unclear). "It's a big mystery why we don't find the burials," the University of Vermont archaeologist James Petersen told me. *

It is a very good question.

Where are the thousands of years old skeletons of South and North American native inhabitants? It depends on may things I suppose. (And what actually is the count for aged European skeletons vs. aged American skeletons?)

Method of 'burial' for one -- in the ground, beneath cairns, air burial, cremation and I'm sure there's more with intricate steps that I'm not familiar with.

Conditions that preserve skeletons for another -- in which type of soils do bones disintegrate? How long does bone disintegration take in those types of soil? What methods of preserving bodies are practiced (not just mummification but use of sarcophagi, removing the flesh, etc.)? Under which conditions are bones best preserved? How many of the European and American burials are accident vs. deliberate interments? Are the European numbers high because burials simply occurred in the right conditions for preservation?

As they say in retail, location, location, location -- European culture tends to be a socially stratified one, thus individuals of high status are buried in significant marked grave sites. Those grave sites are readily discovered with a wealth of burial goods, but were are the skeletons and grave goods of those that buried those kings and priests? In either European or American lands? Also when one considers the population density on available land on either continent, a great deal of American land is cultivated farm land with no previous archaeological examination. Who knows what's buried underneath a farmer's field deeper than the plough? Are they looking in the right place? Do they know were the 'right' place to look is?

How graves are marked -- has the landscape been significantly altered or marked in some manner that indicates a burial site or burial ground? Is the site marked with earthen mounds, below ground or above ground tombs, gravestones, or other distinctive 'grave' architecture? Is there a unique communal site used for interment like a cave where multiple skeletons would "accumulate" over time? Or are graves located next to a significant location be it spiritual (e.g. underneath a church) or secular (e.g. outskirts of a settlement)?

Oy. I think that's enough for now until I get some answers to a few of the questions I've just poised. Though now I wonder where I could find the answer to some of my questions. I also wonder if there are any (and where they are) archeological or forensic papers written about some of the issues...

Any help? Or your thoughts about this post?

Citation:
* Mann, Charles C. 1491: new revelations of the Americas before Columbus. New York: Vintage Books, 2006. p. 169.

The Final Resting Place

The January 2010 edition of Graveyard Rabbits Carnival edition, is The Final Resting Place. This theme comes from Colleen McHugh, author of the GYR blog, The R.I.P.PERS. Colleen wants us to investigate how families determine their final resting place. She goes on to say:

In today's mobile society, does one choose a place near where they last lived? Or do they return to the place of their roots? Do they rest in a family plot? If so, and if married, whose family plot? How has the determination of the final resting place changed between the time of our ancestors and now?

In today's mobile society, does one choose a place near where they last lived?

I believe that a person is more likely to chose a place near where they are most sentimentally attached to, not their last physical residence. That is especially if a person has prearranged their funeral details or made their wishes known to others, be it relatives, close friends, or some 'official' if they have none of the former.

At the moment my burial location is in Holy Trinity Anglican Churchyard (Lot 32), a church and graveyard that I am most sentimentally attached too. I have been quite irate twice with changes done to the church and landscape without "informing me" because I live next to it, so it's mine god darn it!

Or do they return to the place of their roots?

Returning to the "place of their roots" happens once again when sentimentality is taken into account. My father will be buried with his parents, uncles, grandparents and other relatives as he has and had emotional bounds with those individuals. My mother on the other hand, has to the best of my knowledge, no burial grounds that serves as a loci point for family and has arranged for burial in Holy Trinity (Lot 32).

Do they rest in a family plot?

While Lot 32 of Holy Trinity Anglican Churchyard can serve as a family plot (having 8 burial places), the location of my father's future burial in Flat Rapids Cemetery, Renfrew County, Ontario is unsuitable to "plot" layouts as the bedrock resides close to the surface resulting in graves being placed where they can be placed. (Or, so I was told at one point so that may have changed and I only vaguely remember one visit to the cemetery.) And as my father has relatives from his maternal and paternal sides of the family in the cemetery it can be seen more as a family "cemetery" then a family "plot".

Plots tend to be restrictive in size anyway. Once a plot fills up a family is usually required, if it is possible, to purchase additional plots elsewhere in the same cemetery. For example, in Holy Trinity the Bruce family has plots on opposite sides of the cemetery (generation 1 and generation 2 here, generation 3 and generation 4 over there, etc), with other relatives that married outside the Bruce family scattered throughout the graveyard.

In my rural area, over time cemeteries tend to become "family" cemeteries simply because the burials reflect the families living in the area and become places where we can see land occupancy traditions as well as marriages between the families that have lived long in the area.

If so, and if married, whose family plot?

I find that wives tend to reside in their husband's family plot. As for the 3,000 km distance between my parents burial places, my mother desires to be cremated and has specified that we split her ashes between Flat Rapids and Holy Trinity, with possibly a third scattered across some landscape or waterway. Discusions have also been had about indicating the burial location of the spouse on the markers erected in both locations.

How has the determination of the final resting place changed between the time of our ancestors and now?

I don't believe it has changed all that much as finances, family association and geographical location continues to play the largest determinant. Individuals tend to be buried with the family they most strongly associated with in life, and if they are not located to "their roots" it is because they are geographically prohibited from being buried with "their roots" (cost of transport, cost of burial in preferred cemetery) or because they have become more attached to a certain geographical area.

Databases and Documents

After basically wrapping up the post, Documenting Information, I got into a discussion with my family's (on hiatus) genealogist about the best method for recording information and keeping track of where it comes from, what it is, etc.

First off, I was recommend to create a unique reference number for each individual to attach to their associate data, be it the gravestone inscription, photographs of grave site, history book entry, newspaper article or other.

So, that was though out for my reference numbers.

Name: FoxCem
Grave: 001
Singular marker: -0
Shared marker: -1
Not buried here: * (pre-erected marker, cenotaph)
Problem record: †(duplicate marker, illegible, unmarked)

So for example:

WilNor069-0 = Wild Rose North Cemetery, Grave 69, Single marker

FoxCem078-4* = Foxdale Cemetery, Grave 78, 4th listing on shared marker, Individual not buried at grave site

HolTri089-0†= Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Grave 89, Single marker, Problem record

Unfortunately, when new records are added, either new burials or learned of from another source beyond the physical gravestone record, the "grave number" won't be the grave site's actually order in the graveyard anymore.

Then the discussion moved onto what type of information I would be collecting which would dictate what type of database I would need to build. Access was mentioned, and when I checked for it on the Dell (essentially the "shared" computer in the household) Windows Office Home and Student 2007 was installed which means no Access.

But I decided to click on OneNote (being curious as to what it was) and went, gasp! This is awesome! The introduction visual is very good, the Notebook is basically your cabinet or notebook, Sections are the individual file folder or those sticky tabs that people stick into overwhelming textbooks, and Pages are the individual pages within a file.

It allows for me, organization by the data type as well as for the deceased individuals.

Then came the question, do I have it on Zousho (my laptop)? I didn't, having Windows Office Professional 2003 installed so I loaded on the 2007 (and got very, very ticked off that Office doesn't allow selective installs and removals). So, now it's on my computer, which is where all the graveyard photographs, transcript indexes, maps, etc. are stored and I'll soon be digitally organizing away!

The hard copies of things, like the transcription forms, will still be organized an kept on hand, but as I do such a large amount of Optical Character Recognition it will mean less printouts to fill up my filing cabinet.

Documenting Information

I have come to the conclusion, after transcribing two cemeteries to this date, for a total of one hundred seven gravestones, that I need a better documenting system then I currently have.

I compile names, birth and death dates, marker description and inscription in an Excel spreadsheet.

Spatial location and grave number is recorded in a Excel spreadsheet, graph paper, and on the form I originally used to copy the gravestone inscription.

But that does not allow for the information that I uncover from the districts local history books or other sources, like the names of parents, siblings, spouses, offspring and other family relations. Important dates from when they were married, to when they migrated to Canada or simply into the area, to their burial date.

I need to create a catalogue of index cards (or something similar), one side with the marker information, the other side with the other learned information and most importantly, where the information came from. I'm thinking connecting the cards to envelops to hold hard copies of the grave site photographs and the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) printouts of the original documentation would also be a good idea. Time consuming, but as I'm already planning to OCR the entries in the history books for the Tombstone Tuesday memes it wouldn't mean more work.

I think I'm also going to start cards (or forms) for the cemeteries themselves, information about establishment, marker types, condition of graveyard, last burial, etc.

I already have two forms for transcribing and cemetery information, copied from Sharon Debartolo Carmack's Your Guide to Cemetery Research with slight adjustments to the later for markers prevalent in my area. I just need to get more file folders for my filling cabinet and be consistent in the data I collect and enter.

So with those thoughts for now, I leave you with a question. What have been the trials and tribulations of other transcribers in the beginning of their endeavours?

I Have A Née Problem

There is a saying that bad things happen in threes, and while nothing "bad" has really happened it has been three instances of née that have brought me to my current (and slightly irrational I admit) frustration with née.

Or more precisely, other people's usage of née.

For those of you who don't know, née or nee, is an adjective that essentially translates as "born". Née is placed after the name of a married woman to introduce her maiden name, such as Elizabeth Darcy, née Bennet.

On tombstones it can be seen inscribed something along these lines (the examples are taken from Holy Trinity):

Nora Ellen
Anderson
(Hourie)
1886 – 1927

Celecia Alice Johnson
nee Halliday
March 3, 1914
February 13, 1987

Now for my née problem.

In Holy Trinity, there is a grave marker in what I call the Holmes Lot, as three Holmes—father Algernon Holmes with daughters Rose Robarts née Holmes and Grace Featherstone née Holmes—along with the sisters offspring are buried there. The tombstone reads:

Clara J. Wells
(nee Holmes)
1887 – 1984

Research in Our Harvest of Memories reveals however, that Clara is Algernon's wife. No where in the account does it make reference to the fact that she remarried after her death which could explain Clara's surname on the marker being Wells. Or else, Wells is her maiden name but that is not clearly stated either.

In any case the inscription of "(nee Holmes)" is incorrect. I know it is possible that she was born a Holmes (I have a neighbour who was born Anderson and married an Anderson) but there is nothing for the little amount of research I have done to indicate that possibility.

The second instance of née. The post office in the town where I work uses it's doors only for posting funeral notices. This last Friday, November 27th I went to fetch mail and found a notice for a:

Mrs Jane Doe (née Deer - née Buck)

(The reason for the brevity and ungulate references is that I didn't actually memorize the notice, just got annoyed with what I understand to be the incorrect usage of née. I'll try to do better in future.)

Then the third offence. I was browsing through Graveyard Rabbit blogs checking for updates, and came across the photo in the Cemeteries of Bloomington-North, Illinois blog run by Julie. The photo in question can be seen here, but the transcript is as follows:

Sarah A. Vreeland
nee Smith - nee McFee
Oct. 24, 1830, June 17, 1897

Which concludes the instances of frustration arousing offences that lead me to write this post.

I'm going to eventually work out the mystery of Clara as she's buried in one of "my" cemeteries, but I do wonder about the other two ladies. Of the nées attached to their names, is one actually their maiden name and the other their first husband? Or are both for husbands and the surname following their given name their maiden name?

Is there actually a pattern to what order the nées are listed, such as first husband's surname then maiden name? Or is it up to the person who does the "writing". What happens when you have a woman who's remaired three or more times?

Can anyone reading this explain why née is written the ways they are in these instances?

Learning on the Hunt

In a previous post I mentioned that some basic research went into the set up of this blog and how to actually proceed with a cemetery transcription. Some things that other people didn't mention/cover because they are already familiar with the entire process have presented some learning curves for me thought. Things that I thought I'd touch on.

First of all when photographing grave markers -- make sure to keep your toes out of the picture! Something I fell 'afoot' of on my first photo expedition and transcribing trip. It also gave me a few chuckles when I spotted the tip of a shoe on a photograph taken on a Boy Scout group for an Eagle Badge project on Names in Stone, an interactive cemetery on the web. (The story and project can be found in the site's 'News Room' tab.)

Multiple trips to Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery is also allowing me to work out the kinks in my transcribing process. I've basically worked it out to: paper form for recording the grave marker inscriptions, systematic photo taking (grave site, "footer" if inscribed as wolf stones are popular markers in my area, headstone), and grid paper to mark down grave site locations for mapping to show spatial relation.

So while the transcriptions and maps are coming along nicely on my computer, I'm still not to sure how to post all the gathered data on the blog. (Besides linking to my forthcoming Flickr collection.) Turning the "Tombstone Tuesday" meme into a regular method of posting all grave markers and inscriptions is a possibility, but there are not enough Tuesdays in a year for all the markers which means I'd be posting far into the future.

Maybe by making a "Tombstone Thursday" meme I'd get more up quicker? Unless of course I want to keep it weekly so that this blog is active far into the future. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Your thoughts?

The Research In Setting Up "A Grave Undertaking"

Beyond the initial search for information regarding cemeteries in R.M. 493 there was a search into how does one correctly photograph grave markers, how does one transcribe a cemetery, preservation and restoration of graveyards, and a dozen and one other things that occur and learn about the more one because involved in cemeteries.

While I have borrowed from the regional library service all books under the category of “cemeteries”, “graves”, and “epitaphs” and their sub-catagories and expanded my search throughout the province and further. While the books were all enjoyable many were not relevant to my focus and/or to my area. So I once again turned to the Internet as a source of information.

The first search parameter I entered was “how to photograph gravestones” which turned up two very nice articles regarding the subject though one article, which was referenced by others, did have me searching the Internet in my attempt to successfully locate the actual article. So armed with their words of wisdom I moved onto researching the topic of how to transcribe.

Like previous there were many articles and websites located, one of which brought to me to my mind points to ponder -- in particular the interesting question of how to arrange the transcribe information: alphabetically or in order of burial? Alphabetical allows for quick location but burial location is also important, especially in family plots. The problem for me was solved when in my search I was directed to the Doukhobor Genealogy Website where they presented alphabetized transcripts and cemetery maps. The perfect solution in my opinion.

Searching on the topic of preservation and restoration lead to more articles, a video, and a book. Linking to this is identifying grave marker construction material (wood, slate, marble, sandstone, 'white bronze', limestone, bronze, granite) and what type of grave markers there are (upright, flat, pillow, plaques, crosses, etc.). There's so much to learn! That lead me into looking up cemetery terms learning their definitions and word origins and learning new words as well, like the lovely word “taphophile” of which I most definitely am one!

How I Became Interested in Cemeteries

I have long been interested in cemeteries and fascinated by grave markers. This interest grew and was nurtured by the manner in which I grew up interacting with graveyards. Visits to these sacred parcels of ground for me when I was a child always meant -- not that someone had died -- but that it was picnic time! More specifically, it was when the Anglican Parish of my community opened the historic Holy Trinity Anglican Church for a Sunday service and afternoon pot-luck picnic.

There was also two 'games' that were played between my siblings and I during long road trips. The less frequent one, was holding one's breath when passing by a cemetery which is occasionally very hard to do when the cemetery in question fills an entire city block and the vehicle you're in is stopped at a stoplight at one of the corners of said cemetery! I don't think we every quite succeeded with that one. But the most frequent 'game' happened on the long road trips in which my siblings and I would keep out our eyes for horses and when seeing them, claim and count them for ourselves. We would also keep our eyes peeled for cemeteries because the person who spotted it would yell out "Bury all your horses!"--and take the lead with the highest count of horses while everyone else had to start counting all over again.

My passion and appreciation continued to grow with the occasional visit to various cemeteries while vacationing in the province of Ontario primarily in the company of my mother hunting down unique grave markers, interesting names, unusual epitaphs, looking at dates and calculating math. (To be honest, my mother calculated the math and I was just suitably impressed with a person's age or saddened that they had died so young.)

As I grew older I grew interested in photographing my local cemeteries and have decided that 2009 is as good a year as any to start my ambitious project. To begin of course I needed to learn just how many cemeteries there are in the Rural Municipality of Shellbrook No. 493. So like any child that has grown up digitally, the first source of information that I sought was the Internet.

Entering the search parameters "cemeteries + rm of shellbrook," the first hit was for the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project (CGWCP) website with five cemeteries being registered in the CGWCP database. I knew automatically that that was not a correct total as two cemeteries that I pass daily on my way to work were not mentioned though a third one that I knew of was.

However CGWCP lead me to the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society (SGS) when I duh! -- my mother is a member of the local chapter! Ask her! -- Mom did not know the answer, but the SGS website does host a cemetery index which listed fourteen cemeteries for the R.M. of Shellbrook and with that list is the all important land location data.

So, next source of information was my father and his profusion of maps. Surprisingly Dad could not find his map for Shellbrook, just Canwood, Buckland and other neighbouring R.M.'s. But my questions were not a loss as Dad began to instruct me on how to actually decipher the Saskatchewan method of land location.

While waiting to get the R.M. of Shellbrook map I visited the local library, Shellbrook Public Library, and pulled from the shelf all the history books related to the various R.M. districts to see what I could learn from them about the history of any mentioned cemeteries and the unlikely discovery of a cemetery not mentioned in the SGS cemetery index or marked on the R.M. map.

And this is where I learned something interesting. The SGS index references cemeteries by the community district they are associated with while the history books reference cemeteries by their church affiliation or given name. So what the SGS index labels "Holbein - Sturgeon Valley" I have always called "Holy Trinity Anglican Church and Cemetery."

I was disappointed to learn that of the fourteen catalogued by the SGS, only nine are mentioned in the history books compiled by the local people and of those nine, only three were mentioned because of their religious affiliation and did not have individual entries. But I'll include the book exerts and other information for those mentioned cemeteries when I start posting about them.

Later Dad purchased a new R.M. map and we spent time one evening going over it. We got sidetracked however because though the map has a helpful little red cross in eleven spots that mark according to the legend "cemetery/church" -- in that order -- we knew that it was not entirely accurate as the legend also had a symbol representing community halls. Three of which we knew of were not indicated on the map and further pursuing of the map reveled that some of the residences were not located in the correct locations either. So the R.M. map is useful, and I intend on learning fully how to decipher land locations, but unfortunately the map is not entirely dependable.

So it will be interesting to discover in time just how many cemeteries there are in the R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493.