Cape Breton Post Obituaries Index 

Currently this index contains obituaries as they appeared in the Cape Breton Post between 16 July 1956 (first issue as Cape Breton Post) and 31 December 1968. Some pages are missing on the microfilm while others are illegible so not all obituaries are included. In some cases I was only able to find a funeral notice or funeral service. I have included a column for notes in the index where I mention this and I have also indicated any veterans of World War I or World War II. There are currently 19,142 obituaries in the index, represented by 16,784 scanned images. This update also includes a complete review of the site and I have found many missing entries as well as a number of typos which I have corrected. As time goes on I will probably find more. If any one else finds mistakes please let me know.

The index is divided alphabetically into separate pages because of the number of entries. The actual scanned images  of each obituary, funeral notice (if not indicated in the obituary) and funeral service (where available) are included in a series of monthly files on the following page:

https://sites.google.com/view/capebretonpostobituaries/home

The index includes a number of columns in addition to those which specify the individual. There is a column headed Pub[lication] Date which is the date of the newspaper where the majority of the information is found. This would normally be the obituary itself but if the obituary is not available or couldn't be found it may be a funeral notice or funeral service. The next column headed Also contains subsequent entries associated with the main entry, which could be the funeral notice if that information is not included in the obituary, a second obituary notice, a description of the funeral or even a report of a coroner's inquest. Both of these columns are in a date format plus page number. The next two columns are the files associated with the first two columns, Ref. 1 column with the Pub. Date column and Ref. 2 column for the Also column. An explanation of the file naming format can be found on the obituaries page. 

Originally, obituaries were not printed together in the newspaper as they are today but were scattered throughout each issue, appearing on specific community pages such as Sydney, Glace Bay, New Waterford and Northside. Funeral notices and funeral service articles could also appear on different pages to the obituaries. As obituaries did not always carry funeral information, these articles would be necessary to get all the available information. Because of this, instead of having only one or two pages containing obituary information, there could be up to ten pages, and, with the quality of microfilm a factor, making it more difficult to collect the information. The result has been a much slower process in preparing the index. As of October 1966, a dedicated obituary page for all obituaries and a dedicated funeral page for all funeral and notices has started. There is still occasionally an obituary on a community page or page 1 for accidental deaths or prominent people. As of the end of 1966, I only have to scan no more than two-four pages each issue.  Hopefully the next installments will be available in a shorter time period. I will try to keep adding to the index for as long as I can.

I hope everyone will find some information in the index and associated files that they can add to their family history files and I wish you all happy hunting!

Wayne Macvicar

wamacvicar@seaside.ns.ca

Updated 8 August 2025