Family History Compass Follow-Up: Digging for More Gold in a Cemetery Plot by Juliana Smith In last week's column, "Digging for Gold in a Cemetery Plot," I shared some leads I've been pursuing from a list of interments for a cemetery plot registered to the "Estate of James Kelly." James Kelly is my fourth-great-grandfather. In response, I received some really nice and interesting e-mails, so I thought I'd pursue the topic further, answering some questions I received and sharing some of the tips that also came in. Without further ado, let's dig in. (I promise that is the last really lame pun I'll use--for this article anyway.) How Did You Get the List of Interments? The majority of the people who wrote inquired as to how I got the list of interments, so we'll start there. The request was simply in the form of correspondence typed to the cemetery. We learned from The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian's Guide to New York City Cemeteries, by Carolee Inskeep, that "burial records are available for a fee. You must know the date of death or burial, since Calvary's records are arranged by date. There are no records for the years 1848-1852." (The complete listing for Calvary from this book is available online at Ancestry.com.) We had the death and burial dates for siblings James and Elizabeth Kelly from their death certificates. These death certificates also listed Calvary Cemetery as the site for the burials and we included that information in our letter. Death and burial dates can also be found in obituaries or on funeral cards that may be in the possession of family members. Information requirements and fees will vary from cemetery to cemetery. You'll want to be certain you are receiving the correct record (not the record of someone with a similar name), as these requests can be quite costly. We initially requested the plot location for these two individuals and the names of any other people buried in that same plot and sent a check for $40. (We learned of the initial cost on a RootsWeb mailing list for the area--another good place to check for information on cemeteries in a particular area.) We received the location and were told that it would cost an additional $16 for information on the others buried there. In my world, $56 is a whole lot of money for just one record. It will buy a whole year's worth of census or some other subscription, or a CD with data that could be mined for much more than one family, and still have lunch money left over. However, since we are not close enough to visit the cemetery ourselves, we didn't have much choice. It was either ante up or sit tight on our brick wall until we either had a chance to visit ourselves, or found some other way to get the information. The $56 price tag still beats the cost of a trip to New York, and the information we received will keep us going for now with our research. We also received a letter from the cemetery informing us that James Kelly's 1864 estate owes nearly $9,000 in maintenance fees and that for a grand total of $18,000 plus change we could pay the outstanding balance for him and also provide for "Perpetual Care" for the graveholding. (And I thought the $56 fee was steep!) I'm afraid this is one bill I'm going to have to pass back to James Kelly. After all, even though I enjoy learning about this family, we're not that close. He never calls or writes. Locating Cemetery and Contact Information Your search for information on the cemetery of your ancestors may be as simple as a Google search (www.google.com) for the cemetery name. If the cemetery name is a common one, you'll also want to include the location (e.g., "Holy Cross Cemetery" "Brooklyn New York"). Some cemeteries maintain websites with varying degrees of information. The website for Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago includes location and contact information, along with a brief history of each cemetery (www.cathcemchgo.org/Locations.htm). The City of Tampa, Florida, maintains four cemeteries and their website includes a database that can be searched by surname for death dates and grave locations. The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, (www.green-wood.com) also provides a database, with options to search by first and last name or last name and burial date. I've had lots of fun with this puppy! There are also a number of websites that serve as directories of cemeteries and of cemetery data online. Many of them are listed on Cyndi's List at www.cyndislist.com/cemetery.htm. Online directories like www.switchboard.com will also provide you with contact information, and a quick call to the cemetery office can help you determine what information and fees are required. In some cases, they may even be willing to assist you over the phone. Other E-Mails I Received I received a number of other e-mails on the subject, including messages from William Grohoski and Fran Neuvirth, who both reminded me that in regard to the four interments that listed the same burial date, they may have all been deaths that occurred over winter when the ground was frozen. Often, in northern climes, cemeteries had vaults where they would store these bodies until the ground was thawed enough to bury them. This is indeed something we considered, and to get a feel for when burials resumed, I scanned the obituaries in the "New York Times" from January through April 1865. During the winter months, you typically don't see any mention of a final resting place, with the exception of those bodies that were being transported to another town or state. Around the first week in April, I started finding obituaries that included something like, "Remains to be taken to Greenwood for interment," which would seem to indicate that burials had resumed. While it's still possible that the four Kelly interments were moved that late, I would imagine that once the ground started to thaw they'd want to get those winter corpses buried pretty quick, but as of yet I don't have a feel for how long that might have taken so I'll keep this possibility open in the back of my mind. As I delve into this problem further, I can try to find more information by contacting local libraries, historical societies, or cemeteries. Jane Kuck pointed out "the possibility of family tragedies such as diphtheria, cholera, or other rampant disease, a fire in the home, or even a criminal act. Perhaps a bit of reading through issues of the local newspaper for a few days both before and after the date in question could shed some light on the reason for multiple family burials." In fact I have been going through the papers around the time they were buried, which was 26 April 1865. While I haven't found anything related to my family, the newspapers were full of news items, declarations and memorials, as the nation mourned the passing of its beloved President Lincoln. The pages that weren't devoted to his obsequies were largely filled with news of the final events of the Civil War. Despite not finding anything about my Kelly ancestors, it is a fascinating peek into the times. Because the papers were so full of these national events, editors may have had to leave out some local news items that might otherwise have been included. All of these possibilities need to be kept in mind when researching interment lists with multiple burials on the same date. We still have hopes that the information on the grave marker will also give us some answers. As we save our pennies for either a trip to see it in person or to hire a researcher to photograph it, we'll also follow up in every other record we can get our hands on from here. Here's hoping you dig up some gold in your cemetery searches too! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at [email protected], but she regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. Copyright 2004, MyFamily.com.