By Ocean Francoeur
Cynthia Costigan, who lives on the south shore of Montreal, was dismayed to find that, after researching her family ancestry, her journey to the past hit a dead-end in Richmond’s St-Bibiane cemetery. At least twenty of her family’s tombstones had simply vanished, while others were found broken, or even used to prop up the foundations of a nearby building.
For ten years now, Costigan has been researching her family ancestry with the help of a genealogist, tracing back her lineage both here in North America and in Ireland. A couple of years ago, her research led her to Richmond, where she found out much of her family had been buried.
“When I found out, I took my 90-year-old dad out to Richmond. He had never been,” she said. “We drove all that way and didn’t find a single tombstone. Dad was very upset. I left him in the car and walked all around, looking at all the names, but I never found them.” See full story in the Friday, June 29 edition of The Record.
