Manitoba Cemeteries

Introduction
Manitoba cemetery records provide the genealogist with birth, death, and relationship information in most cases. Additionally tombstones may have insignia or symbols that provide clues about military service, religion, or membership in an organization, such as a lodge. Nearby markers located in family plots may help identify children who died young, or women who were not recorded in family or government documents. Information gained from cemetery records may be used as a stepping stone to gather additional information through obituaries, probate records, military records and birth notices.

Online cemetery databases
Many groups and organizations are working on transcriptions, photographs and video recording of Manitoba cemeteries. A search of multiple resources is recommended.

National and international

 * Billiongraves is an international database of cemetery interments. Like Findagrave, it is a collaborative project of volunteers. It contains fewer grave listings than Findagrave, however unlike Findagrave nearly all the listings have photographs as well as GPS coordinates of the grave site. It has approximately 17 million records worldwide.
 * Canada Gen Web Manitoba Cemetery Project
 * Commonwealth war graves commission lists the grave location and details of veterans of the commonwealth countries (including Canada).

Brandon

 * Brandon cemetery search hosted by the city of Brandon. It lists all burials in the Brandon cemetery. Exact spelling is required.

Neepawa

 * Riverside Cemetery Burial Database

Portage la Prairie

 * Government database of burials in the City of Portage la Prairie

Winnipeg

 * Winnipeg Municipal Cemeteries Government website lists interments for the three City of Winnipeg public cemeteries (Brookside, St. Vital and Transcona). Burials began at Brookside in 1878. The burial search database index includes first and last name, burial number, lot/section number, death date and burial date.  The site includes cemetery site plans.  By using the site plan and the burial index a grave may be located.
 * Elmwood cemetery a private cemetery in Winnipeg. It has existed since 1902 and has over 50,000 burials

Other online cemetery resources

 * Manitoba Genealogical Society Cemetery Transcriptions Some of the cemetery records have been compiled by the Genealogical Society of Manitoba. ($)
 * Manitoba Genealogy Society fonds MAIN collections Manitoba cemetery transcriptions available at the Manitoba Archival Information Network
 * Manitoba Cemeteries a cemetery listing compiled at Manitoba Gen Web
 * Cyndi's Cyndis List - Cemeteries &amp; funeral homes

Types of cemetery records
Types of care for Human Burial: earth burial, cremation, sea burial, entombment, donation to science, and cryogenic. Several types of cemetery records are available. Rural public cemeteries are under the infrastructure administration of the rural municipality, and urban public cemeteries by the local civic government (city hall). Caretakers or cemetery maintainence committees are usually appointed by the municipal government. Churches maintain church yards, and private land owners maintain homesteader burial sites.

The municipal government may have kept internment records of the names and dates of those buried and maps of the burial plots in public cemeteries. Some churches have kept burial records that may give birth, marriage and other family or health details. Tombstones or gravestones may also exist, or the information on them may have been transcribed. In Manitoba many local organisations are working at photographing, video taping and transcribing the cemeteries.

Cemetery burial records, sometimes called internment records, often include birth, marriage, and death information. These records along with symbols on a gravestone may provide clues about military service, religion, or membership in an organization, such as a lodge. These records are especially helpful for identifying children who died young or women who were not recorded in family or government documents. Visit the cemetery in person to see if other relatives are in the same or adjoining plots.

To find tombstone or cemetery records you need to determine where an individual was buried. The person may have been buried in a community, church, private, military, or family cemetery, usually near the place where he lived or died or where other family members were buried. You can find clues to burial places in local history books, funeral notices, obituaries, church records, funeral home records, death records, scrip and homestead land records.


 * Manitoba Biographies in local history books often provide excellent clues as to the locality which people resided in. A bibliographic listing is provided by Virtual Manitoba, and the University of Manitoba is working on digitising local history books.


 * Land and Property Records are online by Library and Archives Canada for Manitoba in terms of both scrip for First Nations and Metis persons and Dominion land patent records and applications for homesteaders. Where a person lived and farmed is often a clue to locate the cemetery near this locality.

Types of Cemeteries

 * Church


 * Government: town, rural municipality, provincial and national


 * Military: There are over 37 overseas cemeteries and memorials, for soldiers who died during service to their country. There are over 60,000 graves overseas of soldiers who died serving in World War I.


 * Family or private:

Sources for cemetery records

 * The present sexton, funeral home, rural municipality or city municipal government may have the burial registers and the records of the burial plots.


 * The Manitoba Genealogy Society, and its branches may have the records or can help you locate obscure family plots or relocated cemeteries. Similarly local library, historical society, or local historian may assist in locating burial sites.


 * Sextons' records and transcripts of tombstone information that have been published, often in local genealogical periodicals.


 * Lists of soldiers' graves

Terms
Cenotaph: engraved on a tombstone indicates an empty grave, with the stone erected in memory or in honor of a person buried elsewhere. Abbreviations are often used on headstones. A list of abbreviations, including military abbreviations, is available at GRAVE SYMBOLS: Abbreviations on Gravestones and Historic Australian Cemeteries - Key to Symbols and Rituals Used in Cemeteries

Locating Cemeteries

 * Google maps search
 * Billiongraves.com identifies locations of cemeteries, both with and without transcriptions
 * Findagrave.com has a cemetery lookup feature with map (name of cemetery required)
 * Rural municipality maps
 * Early Rural municipality maps, Cummins maps and atlases
 * Rural municipality and town histories
 * Land records: deeds, scrip and homesetads
 * Government officials
 * Church officials
 * Mortuary &amp; Funeral directors
 * Local historians
 * Residents
 * Local history books
 * Online search for cemetery name
 * Information gained from obituaries, death certificates, mortuary funeral cards
 * The Family History Library has cemetery records listed in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - Cemeteries

Cemetery records may include an internment record. This record may contain as much information as the cause of death, person making the funeral arrangements and some time periods.

The library has a few cemetery records listed in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the following:


 * Manitoba - Cemeteries
 * Manitoba - Church history - Biography
 * Manitoba - Church history - Periodicals
 * Manitoba - Church history
 * Manitoba - Church records - Indexes
 * Manitoba - Church records

Guides

 * Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites. 2nd edition. Winnipeg: Manitoba Genealogical Society, 1997.


 * Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Cemetery Records. East European Genealogist 6 and 7 (Summer and Fall 1998, Winter and Spring 1999).


 * Jonasson, Eric. “Manitoba Cemetery Index.” Generations: The Journal of the Manitoba Genealogical Society 3 (Fall 1978), 4 (Spring 1979), 5 (Summer 1979).

Funeral Homes
Funeral directors in the area where your ancestors lived may have records similar to death and cemetery records. Funeral Homes are listed in online telephone directories such as Canada 411. The cemetery and perhaps an obituary; birth date; birthplace; names of parents, spouse, children, and siblings; addresses and biographies of surviving relatives; insurance company; church affiliation; and officiating clergyman may be found in funeral home records. Funeral home staff are familiar with the location of local cemeteries. A response is more successful via telephone calls or personal visits rather than letters.

To find the name of a current funeral home check online telephone books or contact the:


 * Manitoba Funeral Service Association Box 48067, RPO Lakewood Winnipeg, Manitoba R2J A43 Telephone: (204) 947-0927 Email:[mailto:info@mfsa.mb.ca info@mfsa.mb.ca]

A list of those funeral homes and cemeteries that belong to the association can be found on their web page.

Cemetery Addresses
You can find the addresses of Manitoba's cemeteries in the listing provided by the Alberta Family Histories Society which lists Manitoba cemeteries. Alberta Family Histories Society : Manitoba Death Records Cemeteries