Church Records and Cemeteries

If your ancestor or relatives belonged to a church then there might be church records for when they died, got married, were baptized, or attended church meetings/events.

In the early days especially in the rural communities a traveling priest might have only arrived every few months to perform services and marry couples. An overheated wood stove in winter could destroy both the church and documents. This is what happened at the St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, Limestone Lake, AB in the late 1930’s. This church is across the road from my great grandfather, Elko Kalynchuk’s homestead.

https://prairiechurches.ca/index.php/churches/ukr-cath-list/limestone-lake-ucc

English plaque in front

Few of the early immigrants would have called themselves "Ukrainian", but rather identified as Galicians, Ruthenians, Hutsuls, Lemkos or Bukovynians. Most from Galicia were generally Greek Catholic or Uniate while those from Bukovyna/Bukovina were Greek Orthodox. Other churches may include Orthodox Churches in America, Russian Orthodox (Russo-Greek), Romanian Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

My great grandmother, Anastasia Stetsko-Kalynchuk was Ukrainian Catholic however her husband, Elko Kalynchuk and some of their descendants were/are Ukrainian Orthodox. This is why I have family buried at the Church of St. John the Baptist (Ukrainian Catholic), Northern Valley cemetery and at the Willow Range Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery. This family branch was from Galicia.

On my Baba’s branch they are buried at The Nativity of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church of Kysylew (which is under the Orthodox Churches of America) and the St. Elias Russo Greek Orthodox Parish, Pakan cemeteries. This family branch was from Bukovina.

Some church cemeteries have maps, so it is good to ask. Also, I have a membership to the Northern Valley Ukrainian Catholic church near Elk Point and attend their annual praying on the graves and community feast. Last year I attended the same event at the Kysylew Orthodox church, and it was really interesting how different the event was. I have been taking cousins out to the cemeteries for tours of the graves and we have been using our cell phones with Google Translate in camera mode to translate the Ukrainian on the headstones. Many of my cousins did not know that we have great and great-great grandparents buried in cemeteries “back home” especially with the headstones in Ukrainian.

Ukrainian Catholic:

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton
https://eeparchy.com/

Basilian Fathers Museum, Mundare AB
https://basilianmuseum.ca/


Ukrainian Orthodox:

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada Western Eparchy
https://uocc-we.ca/

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (Winnipeg Manitoba)
https://www.uocc.ca/

List of parishes in Alberta, Canada of Orthodox churches
https://orthodoxwiki.org/List_of_parishes_in_Alberta_(Canada)

Orthodox Churches in America (OCA)
https://www.archdiocese.ca/


Projects:

Many genealogical societies and genealogists in Canada have undertaken projects to copy the information from tombstones in cemeteries. The tombstone inscriptions are transcribed and compiled in indexed publications or in databases.

Alberta-Ukraine Genealogical Project
Documentation of Church Properties in Rural Communities of Alberta
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ukrville/Family_History_Portal/fhp.htm

Pioneer Churches on the Prairies
https://pioneerchurches.ca/
https://pioneerchurches.ca/index.php/resources/links

Prairie Souls.com
You can search by surname or complete name then click on the cemetery to get a list of everyone in that cemetery. Cemetery listings from numerous counties in Alberta and Saskatchewan. With the cemetery listing, you can go through it and identify your relatives in advance and look at their headstones before visiting the cemetery.
https://www.prairiesouls.com/
https://www.prairiesouls.com/counties.php

Ukrainian Churches in Canada
http://www.ukrainianchurchesofcanada.ca/

The Sanctuary Project, University of Alberta
https://livingcultures.ualberta.ca/sanctuary/
Sanctuary Project Interviews - https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1784

Canadian Orthodox History Project
For example, Kysylew AB Nativity of the Holy Virgin Russo Orthodox Church 1898
https://orthodoxcanada.ca/Kysylew_AB_Nativity_of_the_Holy_Virgin_Russo_Orthodox_Church_1898
https://orthodoxcanada.ca/Main_Page

Alberta Genealogical Society
Various projects including the Alberta Newspapers & Obituaries, Alberta Records Name Index (ARNI) Database, and Branch databases.
https://www.abgenealogy.ca/alberta-databases

Canada’s Historic Places
For example, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Michael and Bell Tower, near St. Michael, Alberta, Canada https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7920
https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/home-accueil.aspx


General Information including Tours:

Self-Driving Church Tours, Lamont County, Alberta
Click on the + to see the additional information under the “Churches in Lamont County”.
https://www.lamontcounty.ca/visitors/church-tour

Find a Grave
You can click on a cemetery and get the list of everyone on this website, buried at this cemetery.
https://www.findagrave.com/

Newspapers.com
Obituaries and other announcements
https://www.newspapers.com/

Provincial Archives of Alberta
Hundreds of newspapers from communities, both large and small, in Alberta are stored on microfilm in the Reading Room at the Provincial Archives of Alberta in Edmonton.
https://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/explore-paa-research-resources/newspapers

You can also do a google search with the name of your relative plus obituary.


Books:

Ukrainian Genealogy, by John D. Pihach, Church Records in Canada, pages 43 – 53.
(Really good article in this book)

Finding your Ukrainian Ancestors… 4th Edition by Muryl Andrejciw Geary, Church Records and Cemetery Records, pages 63 – 70

Sources for Researching Ukrainian Family History, by John-Paul Himka and Frances A. Swyripa, Church Records, pages 27 – 30.

The Nativity of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church of Kysylew 
Photo: Mikhail and Ekaterina / Aerialphoto.ru