Debbi, They were Catholic. One of my grandmother's cousins was a priest. And when I visited them as a young girl I always went to mass with my great aunt. This was still in the 30's. The family came to the states in 1852 and settled in the Collinsville, Alton, Godfry area. It depends upon the family and/or the time frame. But the Delmar address was lived in from 1875 to well into the 1970's. If you live in the area you may have heard of the Nicolas Zerwas family. By the by--Vikki is my daughter. I use her computer since we live together. I am, Deone Ferry Wiley ----- Original Message ----- From: Debbi Geer Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 5:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ILMADISO-L] CATHOLIC CEMETERIES Vicki Depends on the time period for 224 West Delmar. I would say in the old days the address was within the Sts Peter and Paul parish area. It probably still is today, but St Ambrose is only a couple of blocks over and when St Ambrose parish was created. I would say that prior to St Ambrose's existence that those in Godfrey were members of Sts Peter and Paul. With the creation the parish area was changed but where the line was drawn I don't know. Just because you're closer to one church than another doesn't mean that your residence is within the parish of the closer one. Also there's also reason to believe that some older members may have refused to go to the church when the parish area was changed. Where I go to now there are even younger families staying with our parish and driving through several other parishes to go to our church and associate within the various groups of our parish. In conclusion I would start with Sts Peter and Paul and if records can't be found there then go to St Mary's. If records aren't in either then there's a possibility that they didn't go to church and wasn't buried in a Catholic cemetery especially in the old days when you had to be Catholic in order to be buried in a Catholic cemetery which was considered sacred grounds. Of course, now a days things have changed. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com ==== ILMADISO Mailing List ==== Cyndi's List of Genealogy Links-Lots of helpful links for your research. http://www.cyndislist.com/

Deone I don't recognize Nicholas Zerwas but I do recognize the Zerwas name. My dad's paternal grandmother came from a Catholic family and they all use St. Joseph's Cemetery. I believe that's where I've seen the name. I've got a copy of the burial records of St. Joseph's Cemetery (it helps to know the right connections) and if I can locate it I'll look up the Zerwas burials. The listing was sent to me several years by the sexton for the Madison County Genealogical Society. I retyped all the entries into a special database. After that I was able to print it two ways - alphabetical and by grave. Even unmarked burials are included although not marked as you just have to go to the lot and look at it. The Society was given permission to place it in their holdings at the Edwardsville Public Library. As cemetery chairperson I kept a copy so that if the one disappeared. If I can get my other computer (Apple Mac) to come up I can go into the files that way too. I've been having problems with getting it started after letting it set for so long. Hopefully I can get it up and going so I can transfer the other files over to the computer I use (a Gateway). I got 75% of the files transferred and thought the other 25% would transfer without problems but it took me a while to figure why they didn't and now that I know what to do it will be a piece of pie. Check in with me periodically (once every 2 weeks or so) to see if I located the book or got into the other computer. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com

Deone Forgot to tell you something you might be interested in. My dad's father was raised in Alton. He was one of 12 children born to John and Rosa Boschert Girth. The Boschert's were associated with St. Mary's Church and of course burials in St. Joseph's Cemetery. You may recognize the Boschert and/or Girth family. My grandparents lived in several places in Alton before they moved to Bunker Hill in 1936. My dad and his twin were born in 1922 on Washington Avenue just a few blocks up from Broadway. His youngest sister was born in 1934 on Virginia Avenue which is a one block street next to St. Anthony's Hospital over by St. Joseph's Cemetery. His middle sister was born on Delmar. I'd have to get her birth certificate out but I believe the address was in the 200 block. Don't know if it was west or east. She was born in 1930. So you may have made contact with them while visiting. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com

Deone You probably already have this, but I looked up the Zerwas family in 1880. Found the following 2 entries - Fred Zerwas and his wife lived on Danforth. Danforth is off of State Street. One of the key landmarks is the Alton Catholic Children's Home which I is operated by the Diocese of Springfield. Danforth is next to the area which is referred to as "Fairmount Addition". Fairmount is probably the richest part of Alton. When I was taking piano lessons from a teacher who lived less than 2 blocks from the entrance of Fairmount, a school friend and I would take walks in Fairmount. No one bothered us even though it was supposed to be guarded at that time. I guess he came to know us pretty good and didn't say anything as we didn't bother anyone. Now you can't get by that easy. The former Olin Mansion is back there too and a person could get lost in that place alone. I had the privilege to see the blueprints of the layout of the mansion and what a person could do if they had the money especially if they needed lots of room for genealogical purposes. The entire 4th floor was the children's play area plus the Nanny's bedroom and bathroom. Nicholas Zervas (notice spelling) and his family was living in North Alton as you have said. It doesn't give street addresses but that part of Delmar where they lived is what is referred to as North Alton. Fred most likely was a member of Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church. Nicholas probably was too but that area in Alton has some strange dividing lines. My great-uncle and great-aunt lived a few blocks from State Street and went to St Mary's Church. I don't know if they just continued to associate with St. Mary's as that's where the rest of the Girth's went or if their house was actually in St Mary's parish area even though it was closer to Sts Peter and Paul. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com