Thanks to blogger Penny Allen of UK to Canada Genealogy, I learned about the long-running website, RCMP Graves, that chronicles thousands of Mountie graves and monuments/headstones.
The database includes 30,000 photos and information about RCMP graves in Canada and around the world, and so much more.
Since 2001, former RCMP superintendent Joseph “Buffalo Joe” Healy has spent countless hours working on this website that apparently contains the name and regimental number of every Canadian mounted police officer going back to 1873.
Mr. Healy started the website as a retirement project after a 36-year career with the RCMP. He has been cataloging the final resting places of former RCMP members.
The database is easy to use to search for family names. Simply select the appropriate item in the left-hand margin. After entering a number of surnames, I was surprised to find a Dever, although I have no idea if he is a relation, and pleased to see a photo of a cousin-in-law who died, while retired, less than a year ago.
If a relative served in the RCMP or North-West Mounted Police, the list of website links may help with further research.
Mr. Healy’s work earned him the Sovereign’s Medal for Canadian Volunteers from the Governor General in 2016, as well as a Commissioner’s Commendation from the RCMP in 2013.
Last year, Mr. Healy told Canada’s History magazine why he continues to work on the website: “This information, which I input daily — many hours each day — is of immense help to Canadians, archivists, genealogists, family members, troop mates, and members of other police forces around the world who are keen to begin their own databases and to follow this model.”
