Ingersoll Potter’s Field Project honoured with Provincial Excellence in Conservation award

The Potter’s Field Project has been given a provincial honour for its storytelling efforts. CTV London’s Gerry Dewan reports.

A team of researchers and community partners has received a prestigious Excellence in Conservation award from the Ontario Heritage Trust and the province’s Lieutenant Governor.

The award was for their work in identifying individuals buried in the Potter’s Field section of the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery. The honour celebrates the project’s success in uncovering and sharing the stories of hundreds of marginalized community members who had long rested in unmarked graves.

The 15-member team, led by Western University history professor Cody Groat, collaborated with the cemetery board and local municipal governments to bring recognition to those interred in the field. Their meticulous research, which employed advanced imaging techniques like ground-penetrating radar, culminated in the unveiling of a monument in June of last year.

This monument now lists the identities of approximately 400 people whose final resting places were previously unacknowledged.

“Our goal has always been to recognize these community members who, for most of their legacy after they died, were not recognized or memorialized,” Professor Groat stated.

“We always wanted to center the individual.”

The majority of individuals buried in the Potter’s Field section faced significant social challenges, including poverty, racism, and addiction. The research team was able to identify individuals subject to policies like the Chinese head tax, as well as those who escaped slavery and Jim Crow policies in the U.S. Some family members travelled from as far as Chicago, Illinois, to attend the monument’s unveiling.

Debbie Johnston, former chair of the cemetery board, expressed her satisfaction with the outcome.

“I’m happy that we have been able to raise this monument and acknowledge all of these people,” she told CTV News.

Professor Groat highlighted the enduring relevance of these unearthed histories, drawing parallels between past struggles and contemporary societal issues.

“When we give public presentations about the potter’s field and those buried there, we talk about struggles with addiction or homelessness,” he explained.

“But we really do contextualize it with what we’re experiencing in town now as well. Struggles with lack of transitional housing. We have encampments where community members don’t have safe and reliable housing to this day.”

The Ingersoll Rural Cemetery project was one of several recognized by the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards, now in its 20th year. These awards celebrate outstanding Ontarians and projects that safeguard heritage, enrich communities, and ensure diverse stories are preserved and shared.

The Potter’s Field project specifically falls under the category of recovering and sharing stories that have too often been excluded from the broader narrative of Ontario’s past. The awards were presented at a ceremony on April 17 at the Legislative Assembly in Toronto.

Johnston expressed hope that the Ingersoll initiative will inspire other cemeteries across the province to undertake similar efforts, ensuring that forgotten individuals receive the recognition they deserve.