My daughter and I pedalled our bikes to Canadian Tire on Regent around noon when they opened, in between Costco and Canadian Tire is a paved road that leads back to a wooded area. We decided to screw Canadian Tire and go explore in the woods, we found a narrow overgrown path that lead through the woods, ducking under branches and skirting boggy puddles we went along till suddenly I ran smack into a 7 or 8 ft high chain link fence. A sign on the fence said "Children Of Israel Cemetary 1883-1935, from what I could see through the fence was about 40-50 graves, all with hebrew writing and the star of David on the stones.
How strange to find a cemetary in the bush.......the lock on the gate was pretty rusty so not sure how regular its taken care of or even by whom I wonder. Has anyone got any info on this cemetary? Would be neat to find out more information!
Just thought of doing a quick google and found this information.....
Children of Israel Jewish Cemetery: {10506} 484 Almey St, Transcona, 1883-1933, 113graves, (204) 452-3711. Shaarey Zedek Synagogue has records. According to Archival Sources for the Study of Canadian Jewry, Second Edition 1978 by Lawrence Tapper, published by the National Archives of Canada, the following collection can be found at The National Archives of Canada in Ottawa: Chesed Shel Emes Chapel (est. 1930), Winnipeg MG 28, V 153. Microfilm, 1946-1969
Interesting find Eastsider. I just looked on Google Earth and typed in 484 Almey St, Transcona and Google zoomed to B'nay Abraham, 235 Enniskillen Ave (!). The paved road you were on, was it Peguis Street? Can't see anything on Google Earth except trees. How well marked are the graves?
GOG........I think it was Peguis I was on. I said at first 40-50 graves because thats about how many stones I could see, they were well marked, I could see the stars and the hebrew lettering. If theres 113 as google says then there must be quite a few unmarked I think. Its completely surrounded by woods, had never heard of it before. I'm interested because I live in an old former synagogue in Transcona and I thought this cemetary might be tied to my residence.
I met an old man at Grey (Gray?) Academy once, on the Jewish campus, who showed me pictures of this cemetery. It is taken care of, and documented, as are all Jewish graves in the peg-town. So if you are interested, you could call them up and ask about it--I'm sure they'd be happy to show you the history they have.
Thanks for that info Wolfboy, I'll give them a call and find out. The cemetary itself looked in good shape it was just the surrounding bush that puzzled me.
Our afternoon adventure in the bush cost us now...........picking off woodticks galore,lol.Had no idea they were out already, careful if ya go tramping!!
So... you live in an old "gog" in T-Cona? Weird. I had no idea there was one. I'm sure the graveyard is connected somehow. Please let me (us) know what you find out.
I had no idea either that I lived in a former synagogue till I went to the Transcona Historical Museum 2 years ago. I looked through their historical photos of Transcona houses, buildings, etc. I ran across a photo of my residence and the caption said it was a former synagogue, thats all I have to go on. But now with finding this cemetary I want to get the facts straight. I'll be sure to post what I find out when I make a call to the Academy.
Well, I know there was a small Jewish population in T-Cona way back in the day (remember Max Katz Dry Goods, or Blostein's Hardware, anyone?), so it seems likely there would have been a Gog there at one time.
I don't think that there were any synagogues, or residents of the Jewish faith living in Transcona! maybe, they ran some stores there, because that was what a lot of the immigrants did, when they came to Canada- work 16 hour days trying to make a few pennies! So did the Ukrainians, the Germans, a lot of immigrants, worked their butts off with long hours.
so... was the jewish population in winnipeg concentrated only in the north end at first, then slowly spread to river heights/crescentwood as it grew more prosperous, or...?
we're sure there were no jewish peeps in T-Cona? then why the cemetary there?
sorry, i'm just curious. i love the study of demographics-- how populations change, move, grow, shift, etc.