Cemeteries, do we also do defunct cemeteries or only current ones?

Question

Hello, 

After finally getting a solution to sorting cemeteries for this province so they show up in proper place in parent categories (2 language streams), I am slowly going through the existing cemeteries for this province to get updated CIB on all of them.

In the process, I came across this Category, Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere... cemetery category.  Only 1 profile in it.  This cemetery has not been in existence or use since 1804 (souvenir plaque is all there exists for it), when another cemetery was created.  Said second cemetery also defunct, no longer in use.  There is a 3rd cemetery extant for this area.

I don't see any pertinent instructions on Cemeterists project page, what I want to know is if we are creating cemetery categories for defunct cemeteries or only for extant cemeteries.  (As a note, the existing category is largely misnamed, will need renaming at the least).

Comments

I don't know what the policy is, but I would go with creating/leaving  a category since the cemetery did/does contain burials.

I suppose exceptions would be if a defunct cemetery became part of an existing cemetery or if all the graves had been moved to a new location (and probably other reasons)

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There are already cemetery categories for defunct cemeteries.

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Melanie, the problem is that this guy got put in that cemetery based on a FG profile.  Which cannot be a valid source for it, there are strictly no gravestones put up in this era.  FG has become a tree site.  Most likely he did get buried there, based on the funeral record, but where in the cemetery is up for grabs, it is extremely rare for funeral records to indicate where in the cemetery somebody got buried.

Answer 1

...do we also do defunct cemeteries or only current ones?

Unfortunately, there is no single correct answer for this.

"Defunct" can mean quite a few things. For instance, it could simply mean that the cemetery is no longer in active use for new burials.

On the other hand, it could also mean that the property was repurposed for reuse or redevelopment, which brings in the question of where the remains are located.

Reuse is a topic we see a lot in European countries where gravesites can have time limits on them. What happens after that depends on the local rules or customs. 

For example, in Japan, where space is limited, it's common for remains to be exhumed, cremated, and then placed in a smaller urn, allowing for multiple urns to be interred in a single grave plot.

In other areas, the remains are removed, cremated, and then scattered on the grounds of the cemetery, therefore allowing for reuse of the gravesite.

I am not sure which one we are dealing with (or if we can even find out), but that would play a large factor in how this might be handled.

Comments

Ancien cimetière Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière has photos of the location as well as the rest of pertinent data, no indication anything was ever moved from there.  There are no gravestones, wasn't a practice much back then here.  Just a couple of commemorative plaques.

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Ancien cimetière no 2 doesn't have photos, just location and other pertinent data, also no longer in use.  States it was relocalised, not sure if that means the graves were moved to the next one, cimetière des Pins started in 1891, still active.  There's a 4th cemetery started in 1978, cimetière de la Montagne.

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Danielle, if you can wait until July, I will be visiting La Pocatière and could take a look at what is and isn't there.

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M. that's a long way away!  Doubt I will have the patience to wait that long. 

Answer 2

I also think the question can't be generally answered. I would ask: what is the benefit of the category?

I added profiles to three cemetery categories, maybe this helps for other ideas:
1a. Cemetery of Worb: established in the end of 19th or beginning of 20th century, still in use, but the graves only remain for 30 years. I have/had a few relatives there (more profiles to come), so I guess that's a benefit. Before, the cemetery was around the church, but doesn't exist anymore. So I wouldn't create a category for this, as nothing shows that there was a cemetery.
1b. Gravestones inside the church of Worb, only for a few local nobles. Those gravestones have been restaurated in 1983 and are shown publicly outside of the church walls since then. I see a benefit in that category, specially as I added photographs of all gravestones.
2a. Cemetery of Larino, still in use, but most graves from 1940ies and earlier have been removed. The cemetery was built in 1837, and if I would add the category to everyone who was buried there, I would be close to the same as the location category. So that would be no benefit. I only add the category to profiles for which I have a photograph of the gravestone.
2b. Before the cemetery was built in Larino, people were buried inside the churches. But those graves don't exist anymore, so I also don't see a benefit in such categories.

Answer 3

There are many small and or family cemeteries in my area, some were used for 20-40 years, others only for <10 years.

Many of them are cemeteries that were created on the family farm, in the 1850s or earlier. Often on the edge of the property. They still exist, sometimes the gravestones have been collected together and fixed into a wall or a group, which helps preserve them. Some only have 10 or less headstones.

Most are accessible to the public and are incredibly useful for creating profiles for people who were born and died before any type of BMD records were required. Or before censuses were taken in the area.

Most of them have been photographed and uploaded to Find a Grave, Canadian Headstones and other websites.

Comments

hi M. the problem with this one is that it closed in 1804 and never had headstones.

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No grave markers of any kind?

And I assume no records of any sort?

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there may have been wooden crosses on there, although I've never come across any mention of such.  Such would not have survived over this length of time.  Funeral records very very very rarely mention where in the cemetery they are buried.  Just ''dans le cimetière de cette paroisse'' mostly.

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I'll be in La Pocatière for a day in late June, and will take pics of anything that seems interesting, it might not be very helpful but I'll do it anyway.

My son in laws family arrived in Kamouraska in the 1660s, his x times GGF got married in Jul 1676 at Québec, he died  at Rivière-Ouelle, Kamouraska in the early 1700s.

Some records are really good for that time, others are mostly non-existent or don't have the information we wish for.

When I have more time I will connect his mother to her I think 5 x GGPs.

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lol, Rivière-Ouelle and Kamouraska are 2 different places, not to be confused together.  Kamouraska in modern times is seat of the county / electoral riding in which Rivière-Ouelle is located, but back then they are totally different seigneuries.

Nice to be able to go travel there.

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When and if I get the son in laws family, actually his mother's ancestors added, I will attempt to get the place names correct and ask for help as needed.

His 3 x GGF and his mother's 2 x GGF is

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hudon-438

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that one is 4th cousin 5 times removed for me.