Digging for Gold in a Cemetery Plot - Juliana Smith No, I'm not a grave robber as the title might imply. With an extra day before this column was due, I was feeling rather uninspired. Since I was a bit ahead with my work (something of a minor miracle), I decided to see if my ancestors would inspire me a bit. They didn't let me down. In fact, I think I may have pulled something doing "the dance." A couple months ago, Mom and I received a list of interments from Calvary Cemetery. The plot was recorded in the name "Estate of James Kelly." James Kelly is my fourth-great-grandfather and patriarch of my elusive Kelly family. The letter listed name, burial date, age at death, and place of birth for James and sixteen other relatives. It was like winning the genealogical lotto! With a little time on my hands, I figured it was time to cash that ticket. It was easy to pick out the familiar names listed in the plot, and there were also a few new players. I wasn't sure how they fit in, but it was going to be fun figuring it out. Enter the Data Since I am certain that we have the right family, I began entering the information into my database, careful to enter the burial date in that field and not in the date of death field. Eager to milk each record for as much as possible, I also estimated the year of birth using the date of death and age listed. I included sources for both dates and was thrilled to see all those blank fields filling up. (What can I say, I'm easily entertained.) Four Burials in One Day? The list of interments included four with the date 26 April 1865. Four deaths in the same family at the same time? Possible, but not probable. These burials were probably relocated from another grave or cemetery, so the burial dates probably won't be as much help here. It is possible that one of the individuals was buried on that date and that the others were moved to that location at the same time. There is a family story that a son of one uncle was killed in the Civil War. The first two entries list a James (age 25) and a Cornelius (age 22) so it's possible that one of these gentlemen is the one whose story has been passed down. It will take more research to pin this one down so I set them aside. Filling in More Fields There must be more I can do here. Noting the blank "death date" field, I started thinking about how I could fill it too, when it came to me--obituaries. There are several options available to me. The Ancestry.com Historical Newspaper Collection has the New York Times and the New York Herald available for some years. (I am anxious to find one of my ancestors in the Herald as I've noted many of the entries include town or county of origin with Irish-born individuals.) The Brooklyn Eagle is also available online through the Brooklyn Public Library. I had already found a couple of Kelly obituaries in the New York Times images and since many of the deaths occurred in earlier years and most of the family seemed to congregate in New York City at that time, it was my first choice. Searching for Kelly in the newspaper collection is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but since I had the date, it should be easy to find any obituaries for these folks by browsing through the newspapers for the dates in question. I started with a cousin of my second-great-grandmother's, Kate Doherty. While there was no obituary for her, I found her in a section that followed the obituaries headed "Deaths Reported April 17, Manhattan and Bronx." (There was also a section for deaths reported in Brooklyn. This section appears to have been available from late 1896 to 1900 and I made a note to go back and search it for some of my Brooklyn ancestors that died during that period.) Her listing was typical of the rest: DOHERTY, Kate A., 100 W. 38th St. Two columns followed with her age (47) and the date in April that she had died (16). While this wasn't as full of information as some of the lengthier obituaries, the address and date of death were helpful. Kewl! Another field to fill in. Anne M. J. Kelly, Mystery Woman One of the entries on the cemetery list was for: Anne M. J. Kelly, buried 23 August 1867, age 30, born in New York I had no idea who she was, so I tried the same strategy with her and was rewarded with one of the biggest breakthroughs I've had on this line in some time. I found her obituary in the "New York Times" for 23 August 1867, which read: KELLY.--On Wednesday, Aug. 21, Miss Anna Maria Josepha Kelly, daughter of James and Margaret Kelly. Her remains will be taken from her late residence, No. 740 6th av., to the Church of St. Francis Xavier at 9 o'clock A. M. thence to Calvary Cemetery. For years I've been trying to find a way to distinguish this James Kelly from the gazillions of other James Kellys in the census, but since his immediate family pre-deceased him, there is no mention of them in his probate. I didn't even know his wife's name, much less the names of his children. He adopted his niece--my great-great-grandmother--late in life and she lived with him until his death. Now I not only had his wife's name, but a daughter. In addition, I had an address for his single daughter (where he quite possibly lived as well) and the name of the church. I now had several more blank fields to fill in. The Birth of a New Wish List Because I already had the burial dates of these ancestors, I might have been tempted to overlook the obituaries, but because I sought them out, I have a much fuller family tree. Of course, every new find leads to more things to add to my wish list. I will also go after death certificates and probates wherever they are available, and a photo of the grave. With estimated birth dates and death dates for most of the people on the list, I now have a clearer picture of what census enumerations I should be seeking out for them. Addresses found in the obituaries may make it easier to track these down in some cases. The location of the parish will also be helpful. Sixth Avenue runs north-south through a number of wards. I did a search for the Church of St. Francis Xavier and found a history on its website. The history of the church gave its location on "10 lots on West 15th and 16th Streets" at the time of Anna's death. Since these streets run east-west, I will start my census searches in the wards closest to the parish. The long-awaited release of the every-name index to the 1860 census for New York, expected to be completed next month, will also be helpful. (The 1850 will begin right on its heels.) Since I have found record of other family members in that area of the city, and the family is known to have close ties to the Catholic Church, I will want to consult church records as well. By gathering as many records as possible, and combining the information found within them, you can fill the blank spaces in your family tree too. Wishing you the best of luck! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 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.