One service I offer as a Private Investigator in Ontario is locating information about a deceased person, including when they may have passed and where they may be buried. When approaching this assignment, I apply the same methodology as when I'm searching for a live person. By using 'the five W questions', I can create a profile of how that person lived their daily life and hopefully generate leads to point me where to start looking.
Who? What was the person's full name? Did they have a maiden name or were they associated with any other names? Who were their relatives, friends or business associates?
When? What dates did this person live? Is there a specific date of birth or date or date of death available?
Where? What geographic locations did this person live? When they passed away, were they living in a different place from where they were born? How long did this person live in a specific place?
What? What activities was this person involved in during their lifetime? What industry did they work in? Did they have any hobbies such as music or sports? Did they attend church and if so, which religious denomination? What did their daily routine look like?
Why? For what purpose is the client wishing to locate the person's gravesite?
How? Once I have created a general picture of this person, then I can use this information to guide me to where I should continue looking.
By combining this knowledge with a personal interest in history and genealogy, I have devised a formula to use for locating gravesites in Ontario.
As my father has been the caretaker of an Ontario cemetery for decades, I grew up assisting him with cutting grass, cleaning headstones and yes, digging graves. I got to know the personnel of various area Funeral Homes, and learned the general process of what happens when a person dies.
I will first ask my client to provide as much of this information as they may have. Next, I will simply utilize Google. With the current interest in genealogy, and the ever evolving technical world, there is now a wealth of information that can be found online. Some helpful websites include:
www.ancestry.ca; www.familysearch.org; www.findagrave.com; or www.billiongraves.com
How can Provincial history help locate a gravestone?
The colonialism of Ontario, or Upper Canada as it was referred to until 1867, started around 1673 with the establishment of Fort Frontenac, now known as the city of Kingston.
At that time, when someone died, their body was usually buried on the land where they lived. Therefore, once several family members passed and were buried in the same area, a family cemetery was established. Then when a neighbour might request to bury their dead in the same place, it evolved into a formal town cemetery. This was likely how the 'Brick Street Cemetery' in London, Ontario, began with it's first interment dating from 1813.
Between 1815 and 1850 'The Great Migration of Canada' brought over 800,000 new settlers from the British Isles to Ontario. New churches were built of various denominations, such as Protestantism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism. With the establishment of a church building, now an associated cemetery could be started in the churchyard, where its congregation members would be interned.
Prior to the 1850's, if a person died in the winter, they were sometimes also buried in the unfinished basement of a house, as the dirt floor was not frozen. With the evolution of planned cemeteries, a storage shed, called a dead house was erected to house corpses in the winter until they could be buried in the Spring.
By researching migration patterns of specific cultural and religious groups, I am provided with information to help narrow down where a person may be buried.
For example, my mother's paternal family immigrated in 1845 from Cornwall, England, and settled on a farm in Blackstock, Ontario. In the 19th century, community members had to work together very closely in order to function. Neighbours may have such a close relationship that they consider each other as family. Therefore, when my ancestors moved from Cornwall to Blackstock, a large piece of their town came with them too.
Forensic genealogy is a recently discovered tool that uses DNA and ancestral history to try to solve cold case homicide files. The process involves looking back in order to look forward. By tracing up one branch of the family tree, you can arrive to the trunk, then come back down a different but related branch.
Using this logic, it can be determined that the same family names of the original settlers in Blackstock, Ontario, will therefore also be found in the same geographical location in Cornwall, England.
Cemeteries
One of the first deliberately planned Ontario cemeteries in Ontario is the St. James' Cemetery in Toronto, first established for the Anglican faith, in 1844. Still operating today, there have been over 200,000 people interned on the nine acre property.
Surprisingly, no Federal or Provincial laws regarding cemeteries were established until the 1970s. Most cemeteries have their own by-law rules and regulations that they follow and are operated by either a Municipal government, or a volunteer committee. Although a private business can own the rights to the operation of a cemetery, they cannot legally own the land. When an individual purchases a cemetery plot, this is considered as a real estate transaction where they are signing a lease agreement in perpetuity. This means that there is no specific eviction date for the pile of bones in the box six feet under the ground.
Fun Fact: In Germany, there is a set timeframe to lease a cemetery plot, usually between 15 and 30 years. If a family does not pay a fee and renew the lease on the plot, then the remains of the person can be dug up and the plot resold. Any bones remaining are either reburied or placed into a catacomb-style area, but most of the remains will have naturally decomposed into dust. The tombstone is given to a mason to reuse as cobblestone.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2011, 58.7% of Ontarians were cremated. This is a much easier and more affordable option in comparison to a full corpse traditional burial. A structure called a columbarium is like the condominium of the cemetery, where the ashes are placed into a niche, which is like a small locker. There is also an option to bury ashes within a current family plot where someone else may already be buried.
The updated Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act replaced all previous cemetery laws in 2002, with the Bereavement Authority of Ontario overseeing administration. The Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals was also created to encourage more consistent practices within the industry.
Previously, all remains in Ontario, were to be interned only in a registered and licenced cemetery. However, as expected, people would still be inclined to place cremated ashes wherever they wanted to. Therefore, the statute now permits ashes to be scattered on private property with the owner's permission or on designated Crown land.
Fun Fact: There is a frequent problem of people illegally scattering cremated ashes as the Disney Parks. So much so, that there is a special code and procedure in place for employees to enact when they see this occur, and the culprit could face fines or even jail time if caught.
That being said, even if a person has not physically been buried in a cemetery, a gravestone called a cenotaph can still be purchased and erected there.
Who to contact?
People by nature tend to divide into different sections, be it based on religion, culture, family or interests. If I am searching for the gravestone of someone whose family has traditionally been involved with the Catholic church, then I will likely first focus on the specific Catholic cemeteries of an area.
As most cemeteries do keep records of the persons buried on the grounds, I may contact these to enquire if the person I am seeking was interned at that location. By having a timeframe of when the person may have passed, this also helps to narrow down the search field. Funeral Homes also keep records, so I also may contact those using the same parameters.
Before the evolution of technology at the turn of the 20th century most of the population attended church regularly, where a written record of events was often recorded, including births, weddings, and funerals. If a former church is no longer active, the records may have been moved to the local library or museum. Old publications, such as newspapers or club records, may also provide some information to confirm a person's passing.
Inheritances
When a person passes away, if they have a formal will, this should name an executor. This person is in charge of following through with the deceased's directions, such as the details of their funeral, the disposal of their remains, and how to divide any remaining assets within their estate.
If there is no will or no one is named as an executor, the court may appoint someone to do this job called an intestacy. If no one can be found, or does not agree to take on this responsibility, then it is the responsibility of the Municipality to pay to have the person buried.
If someone has been named as executor, but there is no remaining estate money to bury the deceased, then a person can apply to Ontario Works for financial assistance. It is also now a common practice to create a 'Go Fund Me' page, to request for donations to assist with the funeral costs, considering the very basic process costs at least $1500.
If there is remaining assets in the estate, but there is no executor named to handle these assets, then an estate lawyer may try to locate a surviving heir to inherit these assets. As a Private Investigator, Agent K also has the resources and knowledge to help locate this living person too.
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Agent K Private Investigations Inc. has the resources, knowledge and experience to help find a person, dead or alive. www.agentkpi.ca.
