In 1891 and early 1892, various members of the families Trémorin, Lévèsque, Bonnet, Péchoux, Rey (and), Laurent, Rosset (and), Aubé, Bouillit, Minaudier(and), and Chareyron take up homesteads in the area. In 1892, the R.P Dom Paul Benoit, a Trappist monk, intent on realizing his vision for a French presence in Canada, one which would include a Saint-Claude, mirroring his home town in the Jura region of France, began to establish this mission location from his base in nearby Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, MB. With attention and assistance from Archbishop Taché of the Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface, he obtained some land from the Canadian Pacific Railroad on which to establish a church, a cemetery, a rectory, a convent, and other religious institutions necessary to the Catholic community of the time. He led the first religious service in St-Claude on November 29, 1892 in a residence.

Services led by priests were rare in the early years due to the lack of reliable roads. The first post office opened in 1893. The first wooden church was built that year, as well. Once the first cemetery was established, some graves were removed from family cemeteries with remains being reinterred in the old cemetery.

In 1911, due to the growing numbers in the congregation and the proximity of the first cemetery to the town's inhabitants, a second cemetery was conceived. M. Henri de Moissac donated two acres (~0.81 hectares) for this use.

(Source: Anecdotes, Saint-Claude 1892-1992, pp 6ff [1992; Adapted and freely translated])

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In 1906 the Rural Municipality of Grey was formed, separating from the northern portion of the Rural Municipality of Dufferin. The RM of Grey was named after the Governor-General of Canada at the time, Albert Henry George Grey, the fourth Earl of Grey. The first meeting was held on March 13, 1906, in Whitlam's Hall in the Village of Elm Creek.

The Municipality is made up of 10 geographic townships extending 19.2 kilometres (12 miles) from north to south and 48 kilometres (30 miles) from east to west. The original settlers in the region were mostly French-Canadian, French, and to a lesser extent of English descent. The Métis community has also had, at times, a strong influence in the community. The turn of the (twentieth) century saw a larger immigration of people from different parts of Europe. Immigrants from Belgium, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, and other Slavic countries moved in to locate on prime farmland.

(Source: Rural Municipality of Grey website [2024/02; Adapted])

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Established in 1912.

(Source: Manitoba Genealogical Society)

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Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD13-10-08-07-W1

In the Rural Municipality of Grey

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A part of the community's story, and those of its inhabitants, from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1992 is told (in French) in the volume "Anecdotes, Saint-Claude 1892-1992". Reflecting the fct the area was part of its jurisdiction until 1906, another part of the community's story is told in the book "The Rural Municipality of Dufferin 1880-1980".

Free digital versions of these and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

NOTE: Available only in print form in February, 2024, there is an updated version of the "Families of St-Claude" book (2016) available for purchase as indicated on the "History" page of the RM of Grey website

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #0564), transcribed by a member or members in 1990. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication "Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites" (revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages).

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The St Boniface Historical Society (La Société historique de Saint-Boniface) maintains extensive records of the lives led by and influences of the people in Manitoba who had French ancestry, be it recently from France and Belgium, or by way of Quebec.

Additionally, the South Central Regional Archives Inc. / Archives régionales Centre-Sud Inc. curates and makes available extensive records related to the communities established by the families of the area who contributed to the story of Manitoba.

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ALSO OF NOTE: The town records of births, marriages, and deaths are incomplete due to fires and floods over the early decades that destroyed some of them