Hi Joseph - I heard of a similar story just this past summer when I was trying to obtain some information from the cemetery where many of my Catholic French Canadian ancestors are buried. We were talking about the space limitations in the cemetery, when the cem. employee casually mentioned that there was a book listing all of the names of the people who were originally buried in the non-blessed of the cemetery. She said that they were mostly babies who had died before being baptised, and therefore could not be buried within the blessed area of the cemetery. These burials occurred about 1880- 1900's, but in recent times, all of the bodies had been relocated within the cemetery proper. As far as I know, none of them have headstones. Also, I never asked if a priest performed the burial service. This particular cemetery is called Notre Dame in Pawtucket, RI It is associated with the Notre Dame church in Central Falls RI. You should try contacting the church historian of the diocese that covers the area your cemetery is located in. He may be able to tell you about the practices back then pertaining to people who did not *meet all the requirements* to be buried in a Catholic cemetery. I think that the name *devil's corner* pretty well sums up the attitude toward *lapsed catholics* by the practicing church members of that era. You might also try some funeral homes in the area. Someone there may know about that practice, even if they can't help you with your particular ancestor. For what it's worth, there was a discussion on the Northeast list about 6 months ago on employing the technique of dowsing to locate graves. Best of luck in locating your ancestor's burial location. Lisa [email protected] researching GABORIAULT DIT LAPALME On Sun, 15 Nov 1998 11:13:55 -0600 Martha Meyer <[email protected]> writes >I ahve an ancestor who apparently quit attending the catholic church >he was brought up in and when he died it has been said he was buried >without a coffin and in the late afternoon or early evening by some >of his neighbors some of them were not catholic in what was then called >the devils corner of the catholic cemetery, Since the priest did not >perform the burial there were no records in his book, also no records kept of >that part of cemetery, the church does not agree that such a spot >existed but old timers said it did, this was in early 1900s to 1940s, >how many others have experienced this problem and how does one locate >such a grave to place a marker on it? > >Joseph meyer ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]