Uspeniye Cemetery – Whitebeech District, Saskatchewan

The following is an overview of the Uspeniye Doukhobor Cemetery located 1 3/4 miles northeast of Whitebeech, Saskatchewan. Rural Municipality of Livingston No. 331. Land location: NW 3-36-30 West of First. Latitude: 52°03.952 . Longitude: 101°40.836. Compiled by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff with Peter and Laura Verigin and Fred Petroff on June 17, 2006.

View of the cemetery from the west facing east.  It is located at the forest edge.

Historical Background

Uspeniye Cemetery was established in 1899 by the Doukhobors of Uspeniye village near Whitebeech. After the abandonment of the village in 1913, the cemetery continued to be used by local Doukhobor and French settlers until 1948. It is no longer in active use and is badly overgrown. It is privately owned.  

Layout

The cemetery is approximately half an acre in size. There is dense forest throughout. The cemetery contains approximately 25 interments in several rows facing east-west. Over half the graves (22) have no marker, however, many of the mounds are still clearly visible. I have used death certificates to identify three of these. The remaining unmarked graves are unidentified. Three of the graves have plain iron markers. 

Driving Directions

To access the cemetery, travel east from Whitebeech on the gravel road for 1 mile (1.6 km).  Then turn north on the dirt road and continue for 3/4 mile (1.2 km). The cemetery is on the east side of the road, approximately 1/2 mile (.8 km) from the road allowance at the edge of the forest. This cemetery is on private property and permission to access should be obtained by the owners.

Burials

There is no burial register, cemetery plot map, grave markers or other records for Uspeniye Cemetery. According to the available death certificates, the following people are known to have been buried there:

Surname Name Birth Date Death Date Comments
Assoignon Blanche T. Jan. 21, 1940 Jan. 21, 1940 Died at birth
Hoodikoff Annie J. 1845 Apr. 18, 1938 No Marker
Kanagin Malania Oct. 1, 1885 Mar. 1928 No Marker
Karioff Anastasia 1867 Feb. 5, 1946 No Marker
Pierrard Henri 1845 1937 Died – age 92 years
Pierrard Maria 1898 1935 Died – age 37 years

In addition, the following families resided in Uspeniye village and may have members buried in Uspeniye Cemetery: Antifaeff, Barabanoff, Barisoff, Bayoff, Bikanoff, Cheveldeoff, Evdokimoff, Faminoff, Gretchin, Hadikin, Harshenin, Hoodikoff, Jmieff, Kanigin, Kolesnikoff, Konkin, Lavrenchenkoff, Lebedeff, Makaeff, Markin, Miroshnikoff, Plotnikoff, Popoff, Ribalkin, Sherbinin, Shustoff, Sookorukoff, Strukoff, Susoeff, Swetlikoff, Swetlisheff, Tarasoff, Terekoff, Zarchikoff.

Grave mound on the forest floor.

Notes

Various sources of data have been used in compiling this information including: death certificates. This is a work in progress. If readers have any comments, corrections or additions with respect to Uspeniye Cemetery, please contact Jonathan J. Kalmakoff.