Clearview Township has launched a new online directory for all of its municipally owned cemeteries.
The cemetery database is part of a new website developed for the clerk’s department. It includes a bylaw index, a meeting calendar, a blog and cemetery listings for Batteaux Hill Cemetery, Bethel Union Cemetery, Duntroon Pioneer Cemetery, Lavender Cemetery, Old Sunnidale Presbyterian Cemetery, Second Line Nottawasaga Cemetery and Stayner Union Cemetery.
“These are things that we have been wanting to do for a long time so that’s why it’s so exciting,” said Clearview Township clerk Pamela Fettes.
The cemetery registry is public record and until now searches have been conducted at town hall or over the phone.
“We get a lot of calls every summer from people who are trying to do their family tree and they are looking for different people who are buried in the cemeteries so we thought why not, once we gather all this information, put it in a place where people can access it,” said Fettes. “It’s about making data available to the public.”
Summer students mapped 3,236 cemetery plots and inputted all of the data, which is now searchable on an interactive map.
“…You not only get to read the inscription on the tombstone but you also get to see a picture of it. It kind of touches you in a way because you have been searching for this relative and to actually see the place where the tombstone is also significant to a lot of people,” said Fettes.
The online directory will save staff time and may even entice people to come to Clearview to visit their ancestors’ graves.
“We’re hoping that people will be inspired to want to come to Clearview and actually see where their ancestors are buried in person. We wanted to make sure people would know exactly where Clearview is located so they could drive here to see us,” said Fettes.
The Creemore Union Cemetery is not owned by the municipality so it is not included. Fettes said there are no plans to include the other cemeteries at this time and to do so would have to be a council directive.
Visit the new website at clearviewclerk.ca.