Artifactuality, season 2, episode 7.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:00:01] On this episode of Artifactuality, an accidental discovery, a forgotten cemetery, and an investigation into the people who were buried there. My name is Kim Thuy. On this podcast from the Canadian Museum of History, together we explore what objects and stories from the past can tell us about who we are today. What will resonate tomorrow? How will the events unfolding around us be remembered in the future?
Kim Thuy [00:00:36] So we have Parliament here.
Dr. Janet Young [00:00:39] We have Parliament, but Parliament at that time was Barrack Hill…
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:00:48] I’m at the corner of Sparks and Metcalfe in downtown Ottawa. And I’m standing with Dr. Janet Young from the Canadian Museum of History. She’s an expert in the study of human remains. When Janet examines a skeleton and teeth, she can help us understand what kind of life that person lived – and how they died.
Dr. Janet Young [00:01:07] So I can tell you how old someone was, male or female, if they were sick as children and grew to adults or if they were sick as adults. I can pretty much determine that the cemetery was for people with low socioeconomic status, so they didn’t have a lot of money. So that’s why – I guess why they’re in a public cemetery. And so I can derive everything from the remains.
Kim Thuy [00:01:30] Just from the bones.
Dr. Janet Young [00:01:31] Bones and teeth.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:01:33] We’re on a bustling street. Around us are coffee shops, boutiques, and office buildings. But almost 200 years ago, this was the site of the Barrack Hill Cemetery. Ottawa stands on the traditional lands of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. European settlers first arrived here in the 1600’s and started building settlements in the early 1800’s. Colonial authorities encouraged the arrival of migrants. The settlers came to build and lay claim to the land. Barrack Hill was the first burial ground for these settlers, most of whom were likely working class laborers. They came, many with their families, to help build the Rideau Canal. Many died from the outbreaks of cholera, malaria and smallpox.
Dr. Janet Young [00:02:26] This was the first sort of cemetery for the population, because what was happening at the time when the canal was being built, there was a huge influx of immigrants coming into the area to actually work on the canal works. So people coming from Europe, people coming from the States, there was people coming into the area that didn’t own land that only sort of rented and put up in accommodations. So what happened was when people died, there’s no place to bury them. So we don’t know exactly when, but we think that the cemetery was opened around the spring of 1828.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:03:01] Barrack Hill Cemetery was built on a two acre plot of land, but it wasn’t open for long. In the mid-19th century, this area, then called Bytown, was a booming colonial settlement. As more people moved here, the demand for land grew, forcing the cemetery to close.
Dr. Janet Young [00:03:21] So we have evidence that individuals were actually moved when the cemetery closed. And we presume that was people who actually had money and were able to do that, physically moving the individuals. And over the years, when buildings were starting to be built, we’d have records of people coming across remains, remains being exposed, in 1850 and 1851. We have people who are destitute, who are asking the city, “Can you please move our relatives out of the cemetery because they’re becoming exposed? Can you please move them away?”
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:03:50] As Bytown continued to grow, buildings were erected where the cemetery once was.
Kim Thuy [00:03:57] So each person who bought the lot would have to take care of the remains, the bodies themselves?
Dr. Janet Young [00:04:04] They didn’t bother. So anyone who was buying lots was just building on top of the ground. They weren’t digging down. So, in fact, there was a school at the corner here of Sparks and Elgin Street. There was a school, and the children used to play in the backyard and they used to use some of the skulls as balls, yeah, because they were eroding out of the ground. So people were starting to build on this land and weren’t really paying attention. I think that we’re of a different sensitivity now. Back then, there was really no sense of “we need to do something to move these people.”
Kim Thuy [00:04:40] How could we forget that there was a cemetery here? Or how could we just build on top of it?
Dr. Janet Young [00:04:48] Well, you know, in the 1800’s, populations, people, they moved around a lot. And, you know, you followed where the work was. So a lot of the population was transient. It was a changing environment. And I think what happened was a lot of people were moving in and out as the city was being built. And so people who could afford to move people, they did. Other people were – perhaps their family had already moved out of the area, so they were never moved. And I’m amazed at how much people forget in 20 years. I mean, in my lifetime, I’m amazed to talk to people. And they have no memory of something. And you’re like, “How do you not know that?” But it just happens. People come in, they live their lives and things get forgotten. So much so that in the late 1800’s, so maybe 20 years or so after the cemetery was closed, people were finding remains and they didn’t know why.
Kim Thuy [00:05:48] Flash forward to 2013. Construction workers begin to dig into Queen Street to build Ottawa’s new light rail transit system. And you guessed it, they discover human remains. Janet was there when archeologists took over the site.
Dr. Janet Young [00:06:06] So soon as you find remains, it’s a police matter. And so you have to go through the coroner’s office. And so it’s actually a really long process to excavate remains. And so it was during that time that I actually had been doing work with the police. So I called up someone who I knew from the identification unit and told them that its actually a cemetery, a settler cemetery. So, just to sort of touch base. And that’s how really I became involved with the project. So the remains were found in 2013, but you have to have an agreement in place with the Ontario government to excavate or remove a cemetery. And so they had to put a lot of paperwork in place before the excavations took place, and that took place in 2014. So when we were excavating the south side of Queen Street, we had fencing up and around us and we have blockades, sort of blinds, so that people couldn’t see us. So we were actually below the level of the sidewalk, but city life went on around us so we could actually hear and watch people walking by on the sidewalk while we’re excavating individuals that died in the mid to early 1800’s right below them. The people who actually built this town, we were excavating those people. While today’s people are just walking back and forth on the sidewalk. So it’s really very striking of the old and the new and how people don’t realize the history that they’re walking in and around every single day.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:07:29] At that moment, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a modern city, I think about the people that are still likely buried below where we’re standing. Over the years, some of their remains were carefully moved, but others weren’t treated with as much care.
Dr. Janet Young [00:07:49] Because what happened when the infrastructure of the city was being put in place, and early on when they came across graves, a lot of time what they were doing was collecting the bones and then digging another hole and putting them in. So those are secondary burials. So we found a bunch of those on the site, but there are little pockets, I think, that still exists over on Queen Street that have not been disturbed.
Kim Thuy [00:08:11] You used the word disturb. Should we take the bodies out or should we leave them there undisturbed?
Dr. Janet Young [00:08:19] I think, honestly, that when they are found, then they need to be moved because a lot of the remains were very crushed from cars going over, and 62 Sparks was a parking lot, from vehicles sitting on top of them. So I think that when they’re found, they should be moved. And what’s really great is Beechwood Cemetery, which is our national cemetery, they created a Barrack Hill cemetery within that cemetery. So when the remains are found and then after I have studied them, they get reburied there. So it’s a nice, quiet place. And so I think it’s more respectful than leaving them underneath the street. And this is where the heart of the cemetery was down here.
Kim Thuy [00:09:15] We’re literally walking through the…
Dr. Janet Young [00:09:15] Through the cemetary.
Kim Thuy [00:09:15] Oh. I’m sorry.
Dr. Janet Young [00:09:21] I think it’s good that we acknowledge that they were here.
Kim Thuy [00:09:24] Yes. Yes, absolutely.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:09:29] Janet and I come back to the museum where she brings out small pieces of bark that were found at the site.
Dr. Janet Young [00:09:37] So what I’m showing you now is, basically, it’s the bark that was left from the coffins. And there was a lot of that at the site.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:09:44] In the 1800’s, Bytown was a lumber town. When workers squared the logs, they threw away the sap, wood and the bark.
Dr. Janet Young [00:09:54] These people were so poor that they were taking these square things and they were building the coffins out of them. They were putting the bark side in so you couldn’t tell that the bark was still there and the live edge was still there on the wood. And so they were putting it in and building these coffins for these people, using the cheapest lumber that they could find. So you can see remnants of this. If you turn it over, there’s remnants of the sap, wood underneath and the bark. You flip it again, still adhering to it, and you can still see some of the dirt that is there from when it was buried.
Kim Thuy [00:10:35] It’s very emotional, actually, you know, to think about the hardship and how in a way, we recycled the wood.
Dr. Janet Young [00:10:45] Yeah.
Kim Thuy [00:10:45] We didn’t waste it, you know, at that point in time, but… [sighs]
Dr. Janet Young [00:10:51] Yeah. So this would have been the top and the bark would have been inside, so no one would really have been the wiser.
Kim Thuy [00:10:58] You said that the cemetery in that area was really for the workers, the poorer part of town.
Dr. Janet Young [00:11:06] So basically it was for all the settlers of the area. But the people that – the remains that I was working on, those individuals were mostly of the lower socioeconomic status. So I think a lot of the people that were buried in that space were part of the working class.
Kim Thuy [00:11:25] How could you tell?
Dr. Janet Young [00:11:27] I can tell by the changes to their skeletons. So your skeleton actually changes how you use it. The more you use your muscles, the more you do something, it actually shows on the skeleton. So you can see health and disease over time. Your teeth are a marker of your childhood and your bones are a marker of your adulthood. So if I see changes in your teeth that related to ill health or bad nutrition, they stay with you until you die. As long as you keep your teeth. So I can really look at the remains of those individuals and be able to say they’ve been through a lot and they work hard for a living and you can see it right on them.
Kim Thuy [00:12:07] How can you see with the bones? I thought that the bones are as they are, you know.
Dr. Janet Young [00:12:12] Yeah, no, so it’s really interesting. So your body is like a frame, which is your bones and then all the muscles, ligaments and tendons that move that frame around. And so if you are pulling on certain tendons or certain muscles over and over and over again, more bone goes to that area, and so those areas build up. Or, if you are squatting down and the bottom of one of your bones doesn’t have enough space for the bone to really squat, it will create a new line or a new marking for you to do that. So all these little details, I have to sort of bring them together to sort of write a biography of who these people were. And this is really what I did for most of the individuals that I had at the site. And I discovered I was able to identify who I think was a millner based on the skeleton, not really anything else. I was really able to pull apart what they were doing and trying to figure out how they were using their skeleton and what it could be extrapolated to. So it’s super cool. I’m biased, but it’s super cool. Like, just going in and sort of reading the skeletons of these people.
Kim Thuy [00:13:33] You’re like a detective.
Dr. Janet Young [00:13:35] Its almost like a detective, yeah. Even though the anatomy gives you some information, you’re trying to pull from other things as well. I’ve sent remains for DNA testing to see sort of populations in the area at the time. And so even I can look at the remains, but there’s a lot of research that goes into actually understanding what they’re telling me.
Kim Thuy [00:13:58] So technology helps a lot.
Dr. Janet Young [00:14:00] Technology does provide pieces of the puzzle and really all it is, is working on different pieces of the puzzle and then going, “Okay, how do they fit together? What is it going to tell?”
Kim Thuy [00:14:12] Connecting the dots.
Dr. Janet Young [00:14:13] Connecting the dots. Exactly.
Kim Thuy (Narration) [00:14:16] So what will happen in the years to come when there’s more development in the area and the possibility of discovering other remains? Janet says an archeological team will be onsite to monitor any construction that needs to be done.
Kim Thuy [00:14:36] Was there a discovery that really struck you or the first one that you got your eyes on?
Dr. Janet Young [00:14:44] All of them are obviously super interesting. The one that sort of emotionally struck me was there was a baby that was found, and because it was a very wet season, instead of trying to excavate this individual insight, we took the dirt that was in and around them and we put it in a box and it was brought back to the Museum where it could be dried. And then I slowly excavated this child, and underneath the coffin, I found a bunch of little seeds. And it was very odd. Not something we usually see. And so I sent off the seeds for analysis to Agriculture Canada, and they came back as pine cherry. So this led to the conclusion that what happened was this infant was about maybe a month old, was very young, and so when they were laid to rest, the parents put a bed of pine cherry boughs underneath. And now the pine cherry is a very dark red fruit, and the leaves, it’s almost like mistletoe. The leaves are quite green and the berries are quite red. So it would have made this amazing little bed for the little coffin to go in. So if an emotion could pass through time, those little seeds were a representation of an emotion. And for me, that was one of the very impactful discoveries, I think. And I don’t know if we would have found it had we not block lifted the little child from the space, but because we did and let everything dry and was able to excavate in a controlled environment, they can see that the child was loved very much when they were lost.
Kim Thuy [00:16:26] Now I’m emotional. Oof! [Laughter]
Dr. Janet Young [00:16:27] Sorry!
Kim Thuy [00:16:30] So eventually the remains were re-interned? That’s how you say it, re-interned?
Dr. Janet Young [00:16:36] Yeah.
[00:16:36] – at another cemetery in Ottawa. But you were able to keep small samples for analysis, right? So your work continues today more than ten years after the remains were discovered. How far can your analysis take you? Is there more to discover?
Dr. Janet Young [00:16:53] There’s always more to discover. And what’s interesting is that even though I’m sending samples off to be tested, the technology is always evolving, so DNA that I could do ten years ago is not the same DNA that I can do now. Honestly, they can pull more information from the samples that I send now than they could ten years ago. So I’m trying to capitalize on those new technologies. And in one incident, I’ve identified two children that might be related and the DNA has already been done. The DNA was done many, many years ago. So now I’m asking them to take one step further now to see if these two individuals are actually siblings. And so adding to the information based on the evolution of technology as it comes forward, and because I was allowed to keep samples that I could send for this testing, we are understanding the situation of these individuals more and more.
Kim Thuy [00:17:49] And why do you think it is important for us to understand what happened in the 1800’s?
Dr. Janet Young [00:17:55] For me, it’s not just a time in history, it is the fact that these individuals persisted in a time – they worked really hard – and then to let people know today that every individual life is pivotal to something. They don’t know what it is going to be in a hundred years, right? And so for me, it’s important to tell those stories and to make sure that those people are recognized for creating something that we stood on the shoulders of.
Kim Thuy [00:18:26] Absolutely. Every citizen has contributed in building our country. And we, as much as possible, I think, recognize the contribution in my mind, because society is made of so many of us, right? All of us, actually.
Dr. Janet Young [00:18:43] Yeah. And these are people that the history books aren’t written about.
Kim Thuy [00:18:51] Dr. Janet Young is the curator of physical anthropology at the Canadian Museum of History. It’s amazing how the tools and technology of forensic science reveal very human, very moving stories about how people lived, how they died and how they were mourned. Thanks for listening to Artifactuality, a podcast from the Canadian Museum of History. I’m Kim Thuy. Artifactuality is produced by Antica Productions. Ann Lang is our producer. Soobin Kim is the researcher. Laura Regehr and Stuart Coxe are Executive Producers at Antica. Mixing and sound design by Alain Derbez. Jenny Ellison, Robyn Jeffrey and Steve McCullough of the Canadian Museum of History are the executive producers of this podcast. Check out historymuseum.ca for more stories, articles and exhibitions from the museum. For more information about the Barrick Hill Cemetery, check out the links in our show notes.