Just an fyi on early graves-- many of them were term graves. Families buried more than one person because they already paid for the plot. I am sure your ancestors were as frugal as mine. Mary On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 5:43 AM, <mich0222@aol.com> wrote: > > > Cher,   I think I did ask about the 2 bodies in the grave >  and I know the lady told me there was no way to know which > body was which.  You have a good point about the date - > earlier death is on the bottom.  She told me that there is > not even a marker of any sort on the plot. I think that there >  were a lot of deaths & murders in Chicago during that time of the > Black Hand murders and rise of organized crime there.  Even > though I know there is no marker on the grave I have this > interest in actually seeing the spot if I ever get to Chicago. > > My Mom's twin sister died at 6 years old and that was back in > 1925.  Things were very different then.  My Mom's biggest memory > about her sister was the fact that the wake/viewing was right in > their house.  I'm not sure if that was the custom back then or because > of the cost, but it was pretty traumatic for my Mom at 6 years old > to see her own image lay dead right in the living room for a few days. > However, the headstone on her grave is quite elaborate and beautiful > and they spared no cost for the headstone. >  I bet that your family didn't talk mugh about the little girl that > died in your family because it was so traumatic for the family.  I > never heard of 3 people stacked in a single grave.  That must be a really > deep grave. > Michelle O'Keefe > >  ------------- > > > > > > > > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:13:45 -0800 (PST) > From: Cheryl <genealogygroups@yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [IL-COOK-CHICAGO] Mt. Carmel Cemetary > To: il-cook-chicago@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <6983.68066.qm@web45704.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hi Michelle, > > I, too, have had excellent info via phone from Mt Carmel Cemetery as well as > Good Shepherd, the new cemetery here. Those office workers go above and beyond > to help us. > > You've raised a point I had never thought of, simply because I would never have > enough money to move a family member! Assuming a relative received a charity > grave and was buried with others that were not related, how could that body be > identified? It is my understanding, from seeing this on caskets for family > members that when the undertaker closed the casket, a seal was placed. I know > the seals had identifiable numbers. Why wouldn't the cemetery, knowing a body > was in a particular grave, be able to identify which body was which by that > seal? They also have a copy of a burial permit which is dated. While they can't > tell just from the burial cards they keep in the office, once in the grave I > think they can tell. > > Also, in my family, three are buried on top of each other in one grave at Mt > Olivet. Little Katie was first, (age 5), and she is at the bottom; her dad died > next and is in the middle, with Sarah, the mom being on top. I had never heard > of this before and was totally freaked out to look for one and find them all at > once! Little Katie was a twin I knew nothing about, though my mom states she > "had heard a child died". This twin child was the sister of my mom's mom, and > the family was so closeknit.  Yet no stories exist about her. > > Curious and curiouser! > > Cher > > > --- On Tue, 2/24/09, mich0222@aol.com <mich0222@aol.com> wrote: > >  From: mich0222@aol.com <mich0222@aol.com> >  Subject: Re: [IL-COOK-CHICAGO] Mt. Carmel Cemetary >  Since the grave  I was looking for turned out to  be in the charity section of > unmarked graves, there was no marke > r or  headstone.  FYI - In that case, they > put 2 unrelated bodies in the same grave & so  now there is not really a way to > tell if his body is the  top or bottom - she > mentioned that in case I was claiming the body & wanted to move it > somewhere - which I did not ! >  Michelle O'Keefe > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IL-COOK-CHICAGO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >