Hello all, My father, J. Donald Sutherland, would often comment on unmarked graves in our local cemeteries in Nova Scotia. Sometimes, there would not be enough money or indeed interest as the descendants had already moved or there were none. There were even periods when people would simply pick up and leave their homes with the bedding still in place. As children, it was fun to go and play in these abandoned homes. Eventually the contents would be lost to thieves and the houses to the elements. There are still a couple partly standing. Glen Matheson may indeed have a rough idea of the percentage of unmarked graves. This phenomenon was not peculiar to Scots. My wife is a descendant of one, Benoit Darou, of the Swiss Demeurons that fought for Britain in the War of 1812. We know where all his children are buried, but not he and his wife. He was French, his wife was Irish. In Ontario, more so than Nova Scotia, several people were buried on their farms. Near York, Ontario, on the Grand River, a Murray family has their own graveyard enclosed with a stone wall, accessable by a stile! Many other such graves had stones later removed and 'farmed over.' As for census, they can be searched. Here is one link for part of Nova Scotia, http://nsgna.ednet.ns.ca/dl/dlfiles.html Another link is to the Canadian archives, www.archives.ca Early census often just had the name of the head of the household. Births and deaths were recorded with various degrees of quality. Usually by the local church. In Earltown, as I have stated on another occasion, birth records were not kept until about 25 years after first settlement. After Canada was formed in 1867, a dispute developed between the Federal Government and that of Nova Scotia. During the period of a couple of decades, records may indeed be scarce or non existent. It was resolved and then disputes developed between researchers and the department controlling the census data. That is ongoing, but some later ones have been released. Donald Lee Sutherland, Hamilton, Ontario _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail