High school students at Academie Ste. Cecile are on a mission to find out more about the lost cemeteries of Essex.
Next Monday, the students in Grade 11 and 12 will be at Central Grove Church Cemetery, Gilgal/Taylor Cemetery, Harrow Baptist Methodist Episcopal Cemetery, and St. Mark's Cemetery to record the condition of the headstones, the names of those deceased, and their date of death.
Once they have that information, the students in geography and history will create a digital map of their findings.
"We are using geo-technologies," says student Jason Leung, explaining to Essex Town Council how they will use technology and the earth's natural resources to gather information. "It would help African-Canadians today in discovering their ancestry."
Councillors were receptive. Councillor Randy Voakes offered to help host a public meeting so those looking for information on their ancestry, and those with information to share could help the students in their quest.
"I think there's a host of rich history there that is yet to be discovered," he told fellow councillors. "It could be to great advantage to unearthing some of that history in the cemeteries there that we don't even know about today."
Council also agreed to post a link to the digital map on the town's website.
Economic Development Officer, Nelson Silvera believes it could even help boost tourism to Essex.
"Heritage is one of our four pillars that we focus on for tourism in Essex, and we could definitely include this in our tourism website," he offered.
The students also plan to ask Essex County Council for support.
The final project is expected to be finished by May 7.
- With files from Mark Brown