Fifty-two people are listed on page 183 of the register of Prospect Cemetery in Toronto. Fifty-one of them were buried in Prospect from May 2 to 11, 1935. Their ages ranged from 1-month-old Margaret Mech to 91-year-old Frances Hubble. There were four stillborn babies, but very few infants and children—perhaps an indication of improvements in medical care.
The remaining entry on page 183 was for the lower limbs of Alfred Holmes—“amputation by train” listed as the cause.
The 51 all died in Toronto, but only 12 were born in Toronto. They came from other parts of Ontario, England, Ireland and Scotland (of course), but also Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, the British West Indies, and Finland.
Almost all the burial records include a “nearest relative” with their street address. Most also list the name of the plot owner—often a different person. On page 183, plot owners include the Oddfellows and the Last Post Fund.
In all, the deceased people, plot owners, and relatives, add up to 149 names on page 183. That’s 149 names now indexed as part of the Toronto Trust Cemeteries project—the very last names to be indexed—on the very last page of the project!
Volunteers continue to arbitrate the recently completed pages, but the finish line is getting very close!
At this milestone, let’s look at a few approximate numbers for the whole project:
| Burial records indexed (names of the deceased) | 148,000 |
| Plot owner names (usually a relative, often more than one, good source of married names of daughters) | 120,000 |
| Relatives (could be a parent, spouse, sibling or offspring. Later records give addresses.) | 100,000 |
| TOTAL NAMES INDEXED | 368,000 |
Congratulations to all the volunteers who have participated in the Toronto Trust Cemeteries project since its launch in September 2009—mostly from the GTA, but also from across Canada, the USA, Australia, and the UK.
Thanks also to the folks at FamilySearch Indexing who have helped us along the way—Rose Pierson, Stephen Young, and Rex Peterson.
We’re almost there!
3 thoughts on “A Single Page from the Registers of Toronto’s Prospect Cemetery”
Hello OGS Toronto Branch: Just came across this site. I can’t seem to decipher how to carry out a search. I have used two different search fields but get nothing found. I guess I’m missing something. I’m looking for tombstone photos if available. Many thanks, Tim Fletcher, Grimsby
Hi Tim. This site has a few tombstone photos, but that is not its purpose. The index we created with the Toronto Trust Cemeteries project, which includes images of the burial registers (but not tombstone photos) is available on the FamilySearch website here.
My grandfather’s uncle, William Crockford is buried in Prospect Cemetery. Our family never knew of him. He died Feb 23, 1917. He was living with his mother at 11 Bird Ave at the time. He died just before his battalion went overseas. I’d love to visit his grave one day.