Rochester NY Cemetery Databases

     Now that temperate weather has returned, cemetery research can resume here in the northeast.  There are several very useful online grave finding aids in Rochester, New York.  The best site is maintained by the Rochester library and covers Mount Hope and Riverside cemeteries  https://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=3310   This searchable database features actual images of the cemetery books replete with the decedent’s name, age, cause of death, address and burial location.  To use the search function, simply type in the first 2 letters of the surname.  A page will appear with links to surnames beginning with those two letters listed alphabetically and by year range.  Select the appropriate link to view the page in the book where you will find the forenames grouped roughly alphabetically.

Mount Hope Cemetery book

     Mount Hope is an interesting place to visit even if you don’t have family there.  Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony are two of the many famous people who rest in Mount Hope, and the funereal architecture is beautiful.  There are walking tours of the cemetery, and self guided tours also; I would recommend May when the forget me nots are in bloom.  It’s not known who first planted that wee flower of remembrance on the grounds, but today they wend their way among the 200 year old oaks and glacial ridges and ravines, enveloping the markers and mausoleums in a sea of pale blue—stunning.

     Mount Hope and Riverside are non-denominational cemeteries.  The Catholics are across town at Holy Sepulchre, which also has a database, but one which is not as informative. 

http://www.holysepulchre.org/locate/search      At this site you will find a name, age and the location of the grave, but these are transcriptions.  No book image and no cause of death.  To ascertain a cause, you can view microfilm of Holy Sepulchre cemetery books at the Rochester library which I did to find my Great, Great Aunt Julia Sullivan and her husband Dennis.  Dennis died of nephritis, but the filmed books ended a year before Julia’s death in 1917.  Now what; spend $22 to order a death certificate from New York State?  Not if I can help it.

     What I did is call the cemetery hoping they could tell me where to find the information.  The woman who answered the phone was very friendly, told me yes they had the more recent books there in the office basement, and no, I could not look at them.  However, she volunteered to check them for me and promised to call back within a few hours.  In less than half an hour she returned my call with the information that Julia had passed away from consumption.  Moral?  Never be afraid to ask, the worst they can do is say no.  And don't skip the local library when seeking death records, they may have just what you need.

Treasure Chest Thursday / Finding Maggie's Fork

     Maggie Power was my great grandmother.   She was born in Farmington, New York five days before Christmas of 1883.  She died a brief 25 years later.  Her father Philip Power, born at Cullencastle, County Waterford, had come to America as a young man.  Her mother, Mary Gunn, of Ballygologue, County Kerry also immigrated as a young woman.  (More about Mary Gunn--  Was Great, Great Grandma a She Devil? ) Mary and Philip met here in New York and were married at the Catholic Church in Palmyra.  Margaret, or Maggie as she was always known, was their first child.

    In 1902, Maggie married a local boy named Carlton Warner.  Their son, Lloyd arrived the following year.  Maggie gave birth to another son named Carl in May of 1906.  Little Carl was not healthy and failed to thrive, living only six months.  Maggie probably didn't know it, but at the time of Carl’s death she was already pregnant with another son.  Lawrence Warner was born June 10, 1907.  Tragedy struck again three months later when Lloyd contracted scarlet fever.  The child died from a weakened heart caused by the disease just a year after his brother Carl had died.  In less than a year and a half Maggie would be gone too.

     The newspapers are silent as to how she contracted the blood poisoning that would result in her death, but after battling the disease for two weeks she lost her struggle, leaving 18 month old Lawrence motherless and Carlton a widower.  Her funeral was held from the same church she was married in, her burial is open to question.  

      Her husband Carlton was a Protestant son of English immigrants, and I get the feeling there was some trouble on that score.  Her obituary in one newspaper says she was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Clifton Springs, another names the Catholic cemetery in Palmyra.  Maggie’s death certificate states she was buried in Brookside cemetery in Shortsville, which was not a Catholic cemetery.  Her headstone, next to Carlton's, is indeed in Brookside, though it bears a telling inscription; Erected by Philip & Mary Power --Margaret Power wife of Carlton Warner -- Died Feb. 20, 1909 -- Aged 25 years.  Granted, it is common in Ireland to word an inscription in this manner and I may be reading too much into it, but I would love to have been a fly on the wall when that marriage was announced.

     After Maggie's death, Carlton and Lawrence moved to his parent’s home. Carlton remarried, but Lawrence never lived with

Maggie's fork

his father again, remaining with his grandparents; he never had a photograph of his mother or any mementos. That changed in 1978.  That year Maggie’s youngest brother Philip Jr. passed away and the property where he and Maggie and their siblings had grown up was to be sold.  In the attic of the old house was found a silver spoon, engraved on it was the name Maggie.  As you can imagine, my grandfather Lawrence cherished it, and on his passing it came to me.  As the post title says, it’s a treasure.

April 24, 1916

Easter Monday--Dublin  The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by Patrick Pearse takes over the GPO and proclaims a free Ireland.  Patrick and the Irish soldiers fighting with him

Patrick Pearse's mother at his grave

are  captured and he is  executed by the British.

     From a letter to his mother--
You must not grieve for all of this.  We have preserved Ireland's honour and our own.   Our deeds of last week are the most splendid in Ireland's history.  People will say hard things of us now, but we shall be remembered by posterity and blessed by unborn generations.  You too will be blessed because you were my mother.

Update -- Duffy's Cut on PBS

  PBS has announced the episode titled Death on the Railroad will air on May 8th at 10pm.  See my earlier post for the story behind the film.  John Ruddy Finally Goes Home

Graveyards of Ireland

  Tourism has been and is a large part of the Irish economy.  The growing interest in genealogy has proven a boon to that industry, with “heritage tourism” alone reaping over 1 billion euros each year for Ireland.  The benefits of encouraging genealogists stateside and around the world to visit the homeland of their ancestors are finally being recognized on the island.  One manifestation of that realization is Ireland Reaching Out, which attempts to connect the Irish diaspora with people currently living in their ancestral communities.  Another is a project called Historic Graves, an initiative to record historic (naturally) graveyards in Ireland.  http://historicgraves.com/

     At this site you will find beautiful aerial photos of the graveyards and churches along with pictures of the stones up close and stories about some of the people buried there.  On the home page are tabs for EXPLORE, with a list of graveyards, stories, maps and a blog- SEARCH tab is self explanatory- ENGAGE invites you to participate in the project and finally there is an ABOUT tab describing the project and its goals.

     Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary graveyards are well represented and there are other counties just getting started with the recording and transcribing.  This is an ongoing project and worth checking out and bookmarking.