Cemetery Records

Copies of all cemetery transcriptions for the Hamilton area are available in the Local History and Archives department. These are transcriptions of headstone engravings in some Hamilton Cemeteries, and sometimes include grave locations for 1800s-1990s.

Physical location: In filing cabinets in Reading Room Alcove, in duotangs
File Path for list of cemeteries available: https://lha.hpl.ca/cemetery-transcriptions
Cemetery Duotang with Codes and Locations: available in hard copy in alcove.

Quick Steps:

• If you know the surname of the person, you can look in one of the following places:
  • OGS Surname index – beige filing cabinets in the public annex
  • Hamilton Cemetery Index
  • Woodlawn Cemetery Index
  • Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Index -White Chapel Cemetery Index
  • Wentworth Cemeteries by Township – lists all the burials by township. Good place to
    start if you know where a person might possibly be buried
  • Some surnames or family burial plots are listed in the WTL
  • We have Queen’s Lawn Cemetery for Grimsby as well
  • Funeral Home records – located in the public annex and don’t necessary list a cemetery
    but are good for locating date of deaths in a pinch if someone knows who buried them
• Once you checked either of the Indexes listed above, located next to the name should be the cemetery code – need to make note of that so you can then go to the Cemetery finding aid
• Look up the code in the Cemetery Finding Aid, red duo tang located on top of the filing cabinets
  in the public annex
• If for example the index listed a code as “CEM-158”, you would look up that code listed in the
  left-hand side of the paper to find the corresponding folder.
• Once you find it, you will also note the finding aid also lists the name of the cemetery and the township
• Example: “CEM-158” has a bold 72 next to it, you would then go to the OGS filing cabinets which
  are in the public annex, labeled with the folder #’s
• Find the corresponding drawer and find the correct folder # you need
• In the folder, the back of them usually contains an index, look up your person “last name, first
  name”
• Once found you will find a line #, go back to the cemetery listings at the beginning of the book and search through until you find the correct line # and corresponding name
• The listing will state what is transcribed on their headstone(s)
  • sometimes more then one line if there is multiple members burial together in the plot