Book Review: Remember Me As You Pass By

Book

Remember Me As You Pass By: Stories from Prairie Graveyards
written by Nancy Millar

Nancy Millar learned two things as she explored Alberta’s graveyards: graveyards contain our history, and our history is never boring!

In this lively and most unusual history book, you’ll – learn about the real Sam McGee who lived and died in Alberta; discover why babies died in the bad old days; look at the differences between men and women in the graveyard; learn about the changing style in gravemarkers.

Nancy Millar’s refreshing perspective offers up an intriguing and very personal look at history that touches us all.

Review

Remember Me As You Pass By: Stories from Prairie Graveyards by Nancy Millar is interesting and while I definitely recommend it for anyone from Alberta or genealogy in the province, I confess to expecting more from the prairie provinces because of the subtitle "Stories from Prairie Graveyards" which would have been much more accurate to state "Stories from Alberta Graveyards".

The cover blurb of course does specify Alberta, but that isn't much help when you're looking for titles using keywords such as "cemetery" and "graveyard" to learn more about them in a library catalogue.

One way that I relate to how Miller chose to present her subject is that for me, the first and strongest draw to cemeteries has always been the markers. The ultimate footnote in the story of life. Only as I've started transcribing cemeteries have I become interested in learning the stories of the "permanent residents." Though of course, with Miller stating to have visited 250 some cemeteries while researching, only a small fraction of the most interesting stories were included in the book.

I do wish though that Miller had devoted more to "look[ing] at the differences between men and women in the graveyard; learn about the changing style in gravemarkers" as promised by the blurb. It's why I really wanted to read the book in the first place, to learn about those sort of things.

All in all though, I doubt any taphophilia would mind vegging out with this book.

Source: Millar, Nancy. Remember me as you pass by : stories from prairie graveyards. Calgary; Glenbow, 1994.

Visit to the Synod Office Archives

I arranged to visit the Diocese of Saskatchewan Synod Office for the Anglican Church to ask permission to view the burial record archives and copy the information.

I had no idea there was so many little things involved, not only in gaining permission to "publish" the information but how the information is kept. The Information Act only covers stuff before 1910, all my cemeteries are later on (I think) like Holy Trinity which was constructed in 1914.

I'll be writing a letter to the Diocese to see if I can publish the death dates, burial dates, where born, and late residence as well as name on this blog and in printouts that will be given to the researched churches, communities, and genealogical society.

That was also the only information that I was permitted to hand copy, nothing about cause of death but that isn't vitally important to me so of no real matter to my research. (Photocopying wasn't permitted.)

Although a cemetery, like Holy Trinity, may be Anglican they only have burial records for individuals that an Anglican minister preformed the burial service for. So that means that if a person was buried by a minister of a different church or community members if a minister wasn't available, that individual will not be in the Archive's registers.

Plus, a minister may serve one area but provide the service in another area an record the burial information in his 'home' area. To better explain, before Holy Trinity had it's own minister services were provided by the minister at the Sturgeon Lake Mission (Sturgeon Lake Indian Reserve #101) thus the data would be entered in the Sturgeon Lake Mission register not the Holy Trinity register.

Also, later on in the Holy Trinity register there was data for burials in Briarlea (St. Martin's Anglican Cemetery) as well as the two Wild Rose cemeteries that are community operated and not run by any religion.

And then there is the fact that register books aren't all organized the same, so while one book asks for birth, death, and burial dates another only has columns for death and burial dates.

Later I will be printing out what I typed up and taking it back to the Archives to confirm the information I copied to hopefully eliminate transcriber error. And as much as people bemoan archaic handwriting (and I fell I will fast be joining the ranks), I do have to say that I'm in love with Rev. Clayton's writing who served Holy Trinity from 1942 onward. He has very neat printing (yeah!) but slightly unusual due to the fact that his lowercase t's look like larger lowercase r's.

The Archives, once I've compiles everything, also intend to check my records against their computerized records to see if we all have the same thing.

But in any case, I enjoyed myself and look forward to my return visits. My only disappointment is learning that as the Anglican Church is a 'step' away from the Roman Catholic Church, other religiously affiliated cemeteries in my district, like St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery of Deer Ridge may not have centralized archives like the Anglican Diocese to visit.

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?

Flickr - Foxdale Collection Posted

Each time I use flickr, I learn something new and maybe by the time I get Wild Rose North up I'll have figured most of it out! As I'm adding to my photostream I'm keeping my eyes out for "views" and get a little thrill when someone took the time to look at my picture. (Thank you!)

Photographing the markers made me contemplate if it is better to photograph in overcast conditions instead of bright sunlight like I like to. Thought I definitely prefer the weather that comes with bright sunlight.

What I found unusual about the markers in Foxdale was that some of the wolf stones had holes in the chest area, very deep ones, that served as planters. I haven't seen that before and wonder if I'll come across that wolf stone design in other cemeteries.

The Foxdale Cemetery grave markers photograph set can be viewed here. (Have fun and hope someone finds someone they've been looking for.)

The cemetery's tombstone records have been transcribed and mapped, now all I have to figure out is where to post all the documents so that they're accessible to people online...

Flickr - Holy Trinity Collection Posted

Well, I've completed posting and labelling the photographs for the markers in Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery and they can be viewed here. The church and churchyard can be viewed here.

I started uploading earlier, but I was having troubles with my flickr account and then later my computer had problems (everything was recovered thankfully) and I've decided I won't be caught like that again so I spent the day uploading, tagging, and describing.

With winter closing in, I don't think I'll be getting out to take photos so I hope to get the maps and transcripts shorted out and posted before the Christmas season. I already have Foxdale Cemetery photographed and if I'm lucky, will be able to get Wild Rose North Cemetery before the snow flies (again).

I know that some people do photograph cemeteries in winter, but it's too easy to miss a marker buried under snow. Which is not something I, as a transcriber, want to do.