Tombstone Tuesday - Asa Thorp

Asa Thorp (aka Thorpe or Tharp) is the father of last week's Tombstone Tuesday children, Roswell and Eunice Tharp.  He is buried with them in the Old Center Cemetery at North Haven, New Haven, Connecticut.  According to Ancient Families of New Haven, Asa was born about 1768 to Jacob and Eunice (Bishop) Thorpe and married Lydia Pardee.

Copyright 2010-2013.

In

Memory of

ASA THORP.

who died

Dec. 10 1849

AE 81.

Tombstone Tuesday - Roswell and Eunice Tharp

Stones like this one always both intrigue and sadden me.  It is the stone of two young siblings, Roswell and Eunice Thorpe (aka Thorp or Tharp), and is located in the Old Center Cemetery of North Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.  According to Families of Ancient New Haven by Donald Lines Jacobus, they were the children of Asa Thorpe and Lydia Pardee.  Based on the information in that series, Asa Thorpe I believe was a first cousin to my 5th great-grandmother, Mabel (Thorpe) Alling.

Photograph Copyright 2010-2013

Roswell Tharp died Octo 13th

1794 In the 4th Year of his Age.

Eunice Tharp died March 23d

1794 In the 1st Year of her Age.

Children of Asa &

Lydia Tharp.

Tombstone Tuesday - A McTiernan Family

In October, I took a trip to Saint Bernard's Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.  It's a very old cemetery that contains, among other types, many late 19th century headstones for Irish families.  What's so special about these Irish headstones?  Many if not most of them include both the county and parish of birth back in Ireland of at least one of the family members.  Sadly, the cemetery is also suffering from severe vandalism, and this wealth of information may be lost in a matter of several more decades.

While at Saint Bernard's I took the following photographs of a McTiernan family from Drumreilly, county Leitrim, Ireland.  They are not my ancestors, but I do have McTiernan ancestry from either Leitrim or Roscommon that settled in New Haven.  Therefore, I may share common ancestry with this family.  Sometimes it's important to look at collateral relatives or potential cousins to connect the dots and find your own past.

My camera was malfunctioning, so I was unable to get a photograph of the bottom portion of the back side of the obelisk, which contains information on Margaret McTiernan, most likely the wife of Patrick Brady.

Main face of the McTiernan stone.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

 In memory of

JOHN McTIERNAN

WHO DIED

Oct. 3, 1866.

AE 51.

He was born in 

Ballanaglaragh,

Parish of

Drumreilly,

Co. Leitrim, Ireland

May he rest in peace

amen.

ERECTED BY

his affectionate Sister

ROSE.

Right side of the stone. Presumably John's sister.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

 IN MEMORY OF

ROSE McTIERNAN

WIFE OF

PATRICK DOLAN

DIED

NOV. 14, 1880[?].

AE. 72.

BORN IN THE PARISH

OF DRUMREILLY,

CO. LEITRIM, IRELAND

MAY SHE REST IN

PEACE.

IN MEMORY OF

MARK NEARY

Born Aug 10, 1865

Died April 20, 1889

May his soul rest in

peace, Amen.

Back side of the headstone.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

In Memory of

PATRICK E. BRADY

Born.

Jan. 13, 1844

Died.

March 29, 1882

MARGARET McTIERNAN

[...]

New Haven Dead Rises...Literally

Just before Halloween, and as a result of Frankenstorm Sandy, an old skeleton was discovered on the New Haven, Connecticut town green after partially "rising."

Probably thousands of remains are buried under the New Haven Green, which was used as a cemetery until the early 19th century.  The headstones were all relocated to New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery, but the bodies were not.  Sandy's strong winds apparently caused an old oak tree to fall over on the green, revealing  parts of a skeleton that the tree had been planted over.

You can read more about the finding (as well as see photos!) and the New Haven Green's history at the following sites:

1. http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/sandy-stirs-up-skeleton-in-new-haven
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/skeleton-new-haven-tree-hurricane-sandy_n_2049768.html
3. http://articles.courant.com/2012-10-30/community/hc-sandy-skeleton-1031-20121030_1_burial-ground-oak-tree-human-skeleton

Happy Halloween!!

(Belated) Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Cody & Bridget Hennessy

I know it's a few days late, but this headstone photo could not wait until next week!

On Sunday, I took a trip with my father to Saint Lawrence Cemetery in West Haven, New Haven county, Connecticut.  I found it interesting how sections of the cemetery were clearly segregated into Italian and Irish family names.  The cemetery was actually quite "busy" with people, but we were able to locate my great-great grandparents' headstone.  My dad had seen it a very long time ago and vaguely remembered its location in the vast cemetery, so it didn't take too long to find.  Also, the cemetery office is closed Sundays, so we would've been out of luck if we needed directions to the headstone.  I was really impressed by the size and style of the headstone.  Hopefully it will stick around for many more years to come.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

CODY

Charles Cody

1867 - 1953

Bridget M. Hennessy

His Wife

1868 - 1936

Both Charles John Cody and Bridget Mary Hennessy (sometimes spelled Hennessey) were born in Ireland.  They came to Connecticut and spent most of their lives in New Haven.  Various records indicate Charles arrived in 1885 or 1890, while Bridget arrived in 1886 or 1892.  They had 5 children together of whom I'm aware, 4 daughters and 1 son, all born in New Haven I suspect.  I have photos of their son in WWI attire and one of a daughter in high school.  I've been told by family that the symbol between Charles' birth and death years is the symbol of the company where he worked for many years.  I haven't done as much research into this family branch as I intended yet because the relatively recent immigration from Ireland feels like an early brick wall, but seeing this stone was just the inspiration I needed.

Tombstone Tuesday - Odile Lessard

Photograph Copyright 2012.

Widow ODILE LESSARD

Died March 15, 1954

at the age of 78 years

A. L'HEUREUX

Odile Lessard was the sister-in-law of my second great-grandfather, Théophile L'Heureux, and the mother of Rosario L'Heureux from my earlier Tombstone Tuesday post.  She was born about 1876 to Louis Octave Lessard and Marie Odile Bilodeau, probably in Saint-Ferréol, Québec, Canada.  On November 3, 1896, she married Alfred L'Heureux (1867-1936), whose name appears on the bottom of this stone.  They had about 15 children together, but only about 5 of those children tops lived to reach 2 years of age.  The first to not die in his infancy was Rosario, who was their sixth child to my knowledge.  Odile Lessard, according to this headstone, died on March 15, 1954, probably in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, where she is buried.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary/Frances/Ellen Downey

Mary Downey was born on September 4, 1875 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts to John Francis Downey (1854-1885) and Mary E. Showler (1857-1914).  She died on July 17, 1876 in Springfield and was buried with her maternal grandparents in Saint Michael's Cemetery in Springfield.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

Mary is the given name of baby Downey on her headstone, as shown above.  However, her birth record in Springfield lists her as "Frances Downey," and her death record lists her as "Ellen Downey."  Baby Downey was a single not multiple birth.  Her death records lists her as 10 months and 13 days old as of the date of her death, which, if you count backwards, matches the date of birth on her birth record.  Mary/Frances/Ellen Downey is a prime example of the age-old "What's his/her name?!" problem in genenalogy.  I've personally favored Mary as her first name because I assume her headstone would be engraved with the name her family called her, even if it isn't her legal name.

Tombstone Tuesday - Rosario L'Heureux

In August, I went to visit some family in Québec city.  I looked up the locations of certain ancestors' hometowns, hoping I could take a side trip to a town cemetery and find them.  A number of my ancestors and their overwhelmingly-large extended family came from a small town called Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, just outside of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and only about a half hour drive from Québec.

Information on the town's one, small cemetery was scarce online, and it took quite a bit of time googling the town and looking at one of its main roads on Google satellite to determine the precise location.

Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges is still a relatively small town, but with a significant number of new condo complexes being built up to accommodate the growing ski industry from Mont Sainte-Anne.  When I arrived at the cemetery, I was surprised to see that despite how "new" many of the stones were, it was still, in terms of cemeteries, pretty small and manageable.  I was also pleasantly surprised to open the car door and see that I had parked right alongside a stone engraved with a familiar name, Rosario L'Heureux.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

Rosario L'Heureux is one of my great-grandmother's many first cousins.  He was born in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges on May 7, 1903 to Alfred L'Heureux (1867-1936) and Odile Lessard (1876-1954).  Although I don't have a death or burial record for Rosario, I learned from this stone that he died, presumably in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, on March 22, 1971.  

What struck me about this stone in particular is all of the blank space!  Entire families spanning multiple generations are frequently buried together in Québec plots, with each plot having only one stone naming all those buried in that spot.  Was Rosario's wife buried elsewhere?  Are she and any possible children still alive?  What about his siblings or in-laws?  These are all questions that will have to remain unanswered for now.

(Rosario's wife was born in 1914, which would make her about 98 years old if she's still living, which is quite possible.  I omit her name because I have a general policy of not publicly publishing information in my genealogy research about anyone born within the past 100 years to help protect those individuals' privacy.)