The Pioneer Cemetery holds part of the history of St. Margaret\u2019s and the surrounding communities of eastern Prince Edward Island. Its surviving inscriptions and burial records preserve the names of people whose lives helped shape the parish, alongside children and others whose stories are known through only a few details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This archive brings those records together with family histories, newspaper notices and local research. It remembers people with surviving markers as well as those whose burials are recorded as unmarked, and helps families explore the connections between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Archive snapshot \u00b7 22 October 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The archive currently contains 575 people classified under the Pioneer 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
575<\/strong> \u2014 People recorded<\/p>\n\n\n\n 154<\/strong> \u2014 Associated with a recorded marker<\/p>\n\n\n\n 421<\/strong> \u2014 Recorded as unmarked<\/p>\n\n\n\n A shared monument may commemorate several people. \u201cNot established\u201d means that marker information is missing or conflicting; it does not mean that a grave is unmarked. These are working archive classifications, and some identities, dates and burial locations remain under review. The figures will change as evidence is checked and records are improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The records connect individual lives with the wider history of the parish. They include accounts of settlement, farming, working life, migration and the family relationships that joined neighbouring communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example is John McIntosh of Naufrage, whose involvement in the struggle for land reform is described by Jenny McQuaid. Her account also records the memorial erected in his honour by the Big Cape History Society in 2006, on land that had formed part of his farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the 575 Pioneer records, 318 currently have recorded family connections and 257 have none yet linked in this archive. An unlinked record still belongs in the cemetery\u2019s history and may hold the clue another researcher needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Family records can lead to relatives in other cemeteries or communities, helping place a person\u2019s life in context. A name or surname alone does not establish a relationship, and recorded connections remain open to correction as better evidence becomes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim is to make the cemetery\u2019s records easier to find, read and understand while retaining the sources and uncertainties behind them. A brief entry can be as valuable as a detailed biography, particularly where no legible inscription or family connection has yet been identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you recognise a name or have something to add?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Archive figures: St. Margaret\u2019s Heritage Master, version 3.44, and the grave-marker classification review prepared on 22 October 2026. These figures describe the archive\u2019s present coverage and are not a complete, independently verified census of all burials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John McIntosh historical example: Jenny (O\u2019Hanley) McQuaid, Genealogy of St. Margaret\u2019s Parish<\/em> (2022), chapter 6, page 87, as cited in the supplied archive notes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pioneer Cemetery holds part of the history of St. Margaret\u2019s and the surrounding communities of eastern Prince Edward Island. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[271],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pioneer-cemetery-history"],"gutslider_comments":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8358"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8688,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358\/revisions\/8688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peipioneercemetery.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A history beyond the inscriptions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Following the family connections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
An archive that continues to grow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sources and scope<\/h3>\n\n\n\n