Monument Analysis

When our group (the Pharohs) decided to do our fieldwork in Ross Bay Cemetery it seemed to me like a daunting task because the cemetery is so expansive. To narrow down some of our research we decided to look at mausoleums and we didn't exclude any; we even looked at the ones like the Wilson mausoleum wich is more under ground and not typically considered a mausoleum. Here are the questions that we came up with to help focus our research: Does the position of a mausoleum in the Ross Bay landscape proved any information regarding the individual’s religious affiliation? And, In the Ross Bay cemetery, was mausoleum use favoured by (or limited to) a certain social group or social class?

Answers:

1. In a sense yes, the positions of the mausoleums did provide some information regarding a religious affiliation. The Rosso Mausoleum is a prime example of this because of the crucifix on the front, above the gate of the mausoleum and is in the Roman Catholic section (Old Cemetery Society of British Columbia). Other examples would include the Mackenzie and the Helmcken mausoleums, which were in the Anglican section, and the families were of Anglican faith (Old Cemetery Society of British Columbia). On the other hand, we did notice that some of the mausoleums were not in their correct ‘area’ for religious affiliation. Our guess for this was because the cemetery had run out of space in the correct ‘areas’ for the religious specific mausoleums and had to place them in the general section, expanded pre-existing ones to make room, or after the mausoleum was built, the family (or the individual) changed religions during their life, but still chose to be buried with the rest of their family. But, on a whole, the mausoleums did not show a lot of religious symbols and we had to use the BC Archives and a website called 'Victoria's Victoria' to help us decipher the religious histories of the families in question.

2. Of the mausoleums, the Rithet mausoleum one stood out the most with expansive marble work and the overall grandeur of the structure itself. Through our research we found that the Rithet family was a very influential family during their period, as they owned much of Victoria at the time. From our searches at the BC Archives we found that R.P. Rithet was very involved with the premier about the British Pacific Railway by means of personal correspondence and was invited to a ball with the wealthy Vanderbilt family of the United States, along with many other businesses and companies. With the help of the Old Cemetery Society, we had access to Victoria’s Victoria website that had numerous newspaper articles and journals about the families of the Mausoleums. Such as the story of how Victoria Jane Wilson left all of her money to her parrot, Louis. And that the Wilson and the Rithet families were connected by marriage: Mrs. R.P. Rithet (née. Elizabeth Munro) who was the sister of Mrs. J. Keith Wilson (née. Mary Munro).

So to conclude, no, there wasn’t really a correlation between the social status and the use of a mausoleum as a final resting place. It was really if you had the money, you could have one. Which is the case for the Mackenzie mausoleum as it looks to be simply built on the inside, but made of beautiful stone on the outside, which could show that the family wanted to show that they had high status in the community, but could not afford a mausoleum like the Rithet family.


Here is a link to our map:
 http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210630812341427334305.0004b7c446c9d63b9b5d9

Leona Taylor and Dorothy Mindenhall, “Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers,” Victoria’s Victoria, http://www.victoriasvictoria.ca/, 2007.

Old Cemetery Society of Victoria. (2012). Ross Bay Cemetery . Available: http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_rb.htm. Last accessed February 16, 2012.