Explore Woodlands Cemetery
Over three thousand people were buried in the cemetery at Woodlands from 1920 to 1958.
The cemetery list shows the names of the individuals and the burial plots. The list is based on an updated database provided by The British Columbia Association of Community Living, BCACL.
Click on the individual names to see where they are buried and to read comments about them.
You can also add your own comments.
The cemetery map shows markers for all the individuals buried in the Woodlands cemetery.
The search box can be used to look up individuals by name or key words.
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Comments
Burials prior to 1920
My great grandfather died at New Westminster in November, 1915. Does anyone know how to locate records from 1915 or know where to find where patients at that time were buried? His name was Arthur Alderson. I have located a copy of his death certificate stating he died of "insane paralysis". I suspect he had received some sort of shock therapy which left him incapacitated. He was only in his thirties and left behind my grandmother who was only a few months old. My grandmother and one of her sons both suffered from the affects of Alzheimers and makes me wonder if this wasn't what happened to my great grandfather. My father was never told anything about his granddad other than his name. People were too ashamed to mention those with such afflictions. Let me know if anyone has any ideas! Thank you. Darlene
Arthur Anderson
Hello Darlene,
might you be looking for Arthur Anderson who died in 1930 and is buried in the former Woodlands Cemetery in New Westminster:
https://www.michaeldecourcy.com/dead_and_buried/node/795
for access to his medical records I suggest you contact the Royal BC Museum at: http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/bcarchives/
as family you are entitled to copies any medical records they might have. Call or email the archives and make a freedom of information request for those records. There is, as far as I know , no charge for this service.
Michael de Courcy
Arthur Alderson
Shock therapy not in use at that time.
Arthur was at PHI from the 4th of March 1915, until his death on the 23rd of November 1915, General paralysis of the insane, cause of death. Dr. Steeves signed the Death certificate, he was a staff doctor. listed as buried in New Westminster, burial by the Bowell Company ( a long time funeral director in New Westminster ) b. 1884 England. Married in 1910 Gladys Violet Demmon, she remarried in 1920 to William Herbert Woodward
New Westminster Public Library has the Bowell funeral records for the date in question. which should tell you Where he is buried.
Good luck
Arthur Alderson
"General paralysis of the insane" refers to a manifestation of late stage syphilis. The discovery and widespread manufacture of penicillin provided an effective cure.
People from several groups, including patients from the Asylum for the Insane, were buried under what is now New Westminster Secondary School from approximately 1860 to 1920.
From headstones to patio stones
In the summer of during the early 80's I got a summer job at Woodlands. Outside of Fraserview they were boasting about their newly installed barbecue area. The recreation staff decided to have a barbecue there for some of the residents. I was there assisting with some of the residents when I noticed one of the patio stones was loose. It was obvious that it had not been installed properly. I lifted it up and turned it over and realized it was a grave stone. I was appalled by the disrespect for whomever it belonged. Later I learned that there had been a grave yard on site. The staff at the time believed the graves were still there but the authorities had ordered the grave stones removed. After a while the stones were secured and you could no longer turn them over.
BBQ area
I worked as film crew shooting at woodlands in 2000 and the BBQ area was still there and there was leaning stacks of 3 or 4 headstones leaning upright near what I recall was a green house near the BBQ area.
We would like our grandmother to have a proper headstone.
My family recently found out our grandmother is buried here and we are not comfortable with her being in an unmarked grave. We are planning to purchase and install a proper headstone as we feel she deserves this respect in her final resting place- who do we contact?
Without a headstone, it still seems that she is very much marginalized, even in death.
Headstone
Hello
My grandfather has a proper marker close to the memorial. If you havent had one installed yet and are still in need of information about this let me know and i will get you the contacts that i used.
Regards
Mark
Grave stone for my maternal Uncle Edward Wilho Pari
Hello Mark, This is John Pari Schreiber. My Uncle Edward Wilho Pari is buried on the site, and I want to place a new Bronze plaque on his grave. What do I have to do to achieve this.
Thanks John Pari Schreiber.
Gravestone for our beloved Grandma, Emma Cameron
Hi John, Mark
I would also like to have a proper marker placed for my family member, Emma Cameron.
Can someone please provide info on how they installed theirs?
Feel free to get my contact info from Michael.
Thanks,
Tia
Dead and buried with removed headstones
Could you please list the contact name for anyone who would like to inquire about providing a proper burial marker?. I have a grandfather and his brother buried here. I am not comfortable with how this burial was treated and that not only were these people marginalized in life but also in death.
My Great Grandfather Alexander Fraser
Hi Catherine, my name is Linda Fraser Osmon. My Great Grandfather is also buried there. Just through my Genealogy that I have been doing lately. Led me to my Great Grandfathers grave site here. When I started reading about this place I immediately became horrified at what I was reading. If there were 3000 Gravestones removed from here, where are they and where the hell are our family members remains. I would like to know before they did all this if my Grandfather or anyone in my family were notified about this. But the looming question is where are the remains. This whole story to me in ludicrous. This isn't making something beautiful, you can call it Gardens all you want. But lets call it what it really is a desecration of 3000 graves. For all we know our relatives could be buried under a parking lot. This is not right the whole things stinks.
headstone
hello john
please contact me through my email and i will give you the contact information i used to get a proper headstone for my grandfather placed at the cemetery.
mark clark
Grave marker or plaque
My uncle died when he was about 5 or 6 here. His name was Gordon R. Scarlett. It looks like there is a hedge where he is buried and a monument with many old gravestones attached to it. My cousin went to visit the garden a few years ago and did not find his gravestone. We would like to put a plaque or gravestone where he was buried. I feel like the children who died of abuse here are not getting the respect they deserve.
The gov't removed his stone and did who knows what with it. They should replace it at their cost. Since I know they won't do this, I am willing to pay to have this done myself. Gordon died in 1937, but all his sisters are still alive and tell stories about him. My grandmother never got over the loss of her son. She died 70 years after he died and still spoke about him. She called him her little "Ralphie".
He is very much marginalized in that there is no gravestone or plaque for him there.
Headstone for my uncle
Hello there Mark,
My family wants a proper marker for my mom's brother as well. How do we go about this?
Placing/replacing a gravemarker in the former Woodlands cemetery
Hi Mark, I am the site administrator. This site has been receiving more and more messages asking for information as to where and how one goes about placing/replacing a marker in the ground at a grave in the former Woodlands Cemetery. If you can you share with me who to contact about this I will be happy to pass the information along to interested parties. Thank you Michael de Courcy
Insane paralysis was the term
Insane paralysis was the term used to describe the final stage of neurosyphilis, a common reason for a person to be housed in a mental hospital at the time
headstone
Hello
Im not sure if i responded to your email before so here is the information. I worked with Eric Lees from Lees and Associates to get Arthurs headstone placed.
Mark Clark
Current status
Was there ever any information gathered on how to go about having our relatives graves properly marked? I’m in the process of trying to find (closer) relatives of James T. Underhill. If I don’t find them or if they are not interested in replacing his marker, I would like to take care of it myself so he can be properly remembered.
Gravestone
To whom it may concern,
Recently, through a DNA test my sister was contacted by a cousin in Australia. My sister and I decided to travel down under and met with all four of our cousins. While there, my cousin showed us medical records she had found in the BC archives. I was shocked to learn that my Great Grandmother was “incarcerated” in the then BC Hospital for the Insane and later died in Woodlands in 1913. Her name was Huldah Edlund. I found her name on your list.
Secrecy and shame permeate our family tree. I was appalled looking through the medical records to read words like stupid, dirty, problematic and awful… It was heartbreaking to read letters to her from the family. I’m no doctor, but the fact my great grandmother was taken to this institution mere days after giving birth to my grandmother screams post partem. 8 years later she died in Woodlands.
I have yet to really process any of this. I’ve read several posts on your site. I too would be interested in purchasing a new gravestone honouring the life of my great grandmother. I wonder too about whether any support groups have been formed to deal with the inter generational traumas that occurred as a result of this and other institutions like it. When I met my long lost relatives it became apparent we were sharing the same pain…
Please let me know ..
Best regards,
-Michael
Support Group
Michael,
The comments made about your great grandmother break my heart. My great great grandfather and grandmother are buried at Woodlands. They were a secret my family kept for 3 generations which I recently uncovered. I visited their final resting place here just yesterday and am still processing what happened to them and so many like them, although I do not know why they ended up at Essondale.
The generational trauma really stands out to me. My father isn't a part of my life, and his father took this family history with him to his grave, never uttering a word about his dad or his grandparents. The son of my great great grandparents who died at Essondale was likely left an orphan. I imagine this began a long and poorly understood chain of trauma and absent fathers in my family.
If there ever is a support group for the descendents, I am absolutely eager to be a part of it.
Sending strength and with you in solidarity.
May your great grandmother's memory be remembered with compassion.
Gordon Scarlett GPS location
Hello,
I would like to visit the memorial garden and find the exact spot where my uncle is buried. His name was Gordon Scarlett. He died in 1937 at 6 years old. I have his plot # from this website, but when I clicked on the map that shows the exact location, the page won’t load because of “too many redirects”. The “full cemetery map”. He is buried in plot 9, block 17. Do you have access to this map? I would like to see a screen shot of where he is in the cemetery.
Thank you,
Leah Shuler
I would like a headstone too
I tried to find who could help me get a headstone for my uncle in 2021, but I was just shuffled around from one government agency to the next. City of New West could not even help me. Did you ever find out how to get a headstone there? I would really like to know.
Possible contact for cemetary
The land on which the cemetery lies (Woodlands Memorial Gardens) is owned by the provincial government and the ministry responsible is Citizen' Services. You could try contacting the Real Property Division as a start.
I too have a great uncle buried there and wish to lay a headstone for him.
Advice for locating Gorden Scarlette actual gravesite
hi Leah
Thank you for your note about your search for your uncle’s grave. I understand your frustration. I created the new survey of the former woodlands cemetery and the interactive cemetery googlemap enabled website almost 20 years ago as part of a public art project/exhibition. The interactive map aspect of the website has been deteriorating lately and it doesn’t work well now. I have been supporting this public art project for the past 20 years and now can’t afford to fix it. Not sure what im going to do about it.
Being able to find coordinates for individual grave sites is still helpful. If you can get hold of a handheld GPS finder you can enter the coordinates available on the website next to your uncles name and then use it at the cemetery to locate your missing grave. The new handheld GPS devices are quite accurate and not overly expensive. I have included a screen shot of the map as you requested it clearly shows plot 9 in block 17. Also places it in an accurate relationship with the architectural features and the trees on the site.
Hope this helps you with your search for your uncle. Please keep us posted on your progress and of your effort to place a proper marker at the grave.
Cheers!
MdeC
Site Administrator
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