Remembering generations of parish life

The New Cemetery forms another part of St. Margaret’s parish history, preserving the names and connections of families across generations. Its monuments and associated records offer a starting point for learning about the people remembered here and their ties to the surrounding communities of eastern Prince Edward Island.

This part of the archive brings together cemetery records, inscriptions, family histories and local research. Read alongside the Pioneer Cemetery collection, it helps researchers follow family connections while recognising that the story behind a name may reach well beyond a single cemetery.

Archive snapshot · 22 October 2026

What the records tell us

The archive currently contains 857 people classified under the New Cemetery. Their records have been grouped by the available evidence about grave markers; these figures describe the people in the archive, rather than a physical count of gravestones or burial plots.

857 — People recorded

673 — Associated with a recorded marker

0 — Currently classified as unmarked

184 — Marker status not established

The zero above means that no New Cemetery records are currently classified as unmarked; it does not establish that every burial has a marker. Marker status is not established for 184 people. A shared monument may commemorate several people, and a monument’s location does not by itself establish the place of an original burial. These working classifications may change as evidence is checked.

One family history, several generations

Family histories can add detail that a brief cemetery entry cannot hold. Jenny McQuaid’s account of Roderick McIntyre and Catherine Campbell names six children, including the twins Angus James and Ann Cecily, also recorded in the archive as Annie Cecelia.

The twins both died in infancy in 1851; a younger son, also named Angus, later became a Catholic priest. Their story illustrates how family trees, inscriptions and biographical records can help distinguish people with repeated names and connect different generations. It does not establish that the twins were originally buried in the New Cemetery.

Following the family connections

Of the 857 New Cemetery records, 329 currently have recorded family connections and 528 have none yet linked in this archive. The absence of a link describes the present state of our records, rather than the absence of a family.

Some connections lead back to the Pioneer Cemetery or to relatives buried elsewhere. Comparing names, dates, inscriptions and attributed family accounts can help clarify those relationships, while keeping uncertain identities and conflicting details open for further research.

An archive that continues to grow

Work on the New Cemetery archive is continuing, with biographies and family connections at different stages of preparation. The aim is to make these records easier to find and understand while preserving their sources and clearly identifying details that still need confirmation.

Do you recognise a name or have something to add?

A family photograph, obituary, inscription, document or recollection may help identify a person or clarify a connection. When sharing information, please include its source and distinguish what is documented from what is remembered or suggested.

Sources and scope

Archive figures: St. Margaret’s Heritage Master, version 3.44, and the grave-marker classification review prepared on 22 October 2026. These figures describe the archive’s present coverage and are not a complete, independently verified census of all burials.

McIntyre family example: Jenny (O’Hanley) McQuaid, Genealogy of St. Margaret’s Parish (2022), chapter 4, pages 65–66; supplied shared infant gravestone photograph and transcription. The family account supports the relationships and infant deaths, not an original New Cemetery burial location.