Showing posts with label st. john cleveland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label st. john cleveland. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Buried at sea

O'DONNELL
JOHN O'DONNELL
BORN IN NEWPORT, IRELAND - 1778
DIED IN CLEVELAND - 1874
HIS WIFE
MARY MULLEN
BURIED AT SEA
1884 CHARLES R O'DONNELL D.D.S. 1976

What an interesting stone. One in seeing a stone, must consider that, those memorialised are not necessarily there, nor is the stone necessarily contemporary to an internment.

This stone tells of three people; one explicitly never reached Ohio. So many people died in the crossing to America. Her, and notice her maiden name is used, husband died a very old man. The third person never saw the first two. He, or someone, thought it proper to remember the long departed. This speaks fondly on familial unity.

Newport is in County Mayo. It is a village on the main island by Clew Bay. Nearby Achill Island, is where many early Cleveland Irish originated from, as other spots in the far west of Ireland. These people were quite poor, even for the Irish. John came to Cleveland in 1836 with eight children. We see, one descendent became a doctor of dentistry.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cement weathers

It may may been cheaper than solid stone.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

St. John's Cemetery, Cleveland

St. John's had been the cathedral's parish graveyard. It is across the street from the City of Cleveland's Woodland Cemetery. There is a speed camera on the road between them, west of E.71st.

The first resident priest, John Dillon†1836 is buried at St. John's now (he had been first buried at Erie Street Cemetery, then in the cathedral), he shares a plot and stone with a Fr. James Conlan†1875. They were both born in County Leitrim, Ireland.

In the mid-XIXth century cemeteries were created outside towns. The city limits had been at what is now called East 55th, and then Willson Avenue. In 1906 many streets were renamed, so that police, firemen, postmen and others could find addresses more easily. This was one of the many reforms of Mayor Tom Johnson. Most streets that ran north-south were given numbers and designated as 'streets', whether east or west of Public Square's Ontario Street. Many streets that run west-east are designated 'avenues'. There are anomalies from old usages. East 9th Street used to be Erie Street. That is why Erie Street Cemetery is on 9th Street, and
Willet Street Cemetery is on Fulton Road.
Maher Mausoleum 1876, entrance cement blocked up. Grass freshly mowed. Small forest and pasture growing on the walls, and roof.
In a previous essay, i wrote: “It was very important, and very promoted for Catholics to be buried only in hallowed grounds, which usually meant Catholic cemeteries.Cleveland's Catholic cemeteries are not discount operations, and over the years there has been financial irregularities in the management of funds. It also a great place to hide stuff.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

pro patria mori

To be born in one land, and to die in another. On a gravestone, it is not a novel inscribed; but in a few characters a story is limned. An historian, an antiquarian, or some sort of researcher may be able to uncover more details. One could search for relatives to interview. Often, after the passage of a certain number of years, no one knows more than the marks inscribed. Yet, those marks have some instructive value. St. John's Cemetery, Cleveland. Sargeant James Kelly. Company B, 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Wounded at Gettysburg. July 3, 1863. Born in Ireland March 3, 1836. Died July 7, 1863. May his soul rest in peace.
Kelly was an immigrant to America [when did he arrive?]. He died four days after being wounded in the most famous of that war's many, many battles — Gettysburg. The name is Irish. The stone has the clover, the Irish will have you know, is the shamrock. The stone also has a cross, and sits in a Catholic cemetery. It was very important, and very promoted for Catholics to be buried only in hallowed grounds, which usually meant Catholic cemeteries.
Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland. 7th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. War for the Union 1861-1865.
Woodland Cemetery was the City of Cleveland's most important public cemetery in the XIXth century. It opened in 1853, and was conveniently available for the war dead. Near the main entrance there are two large monuments for two regiments [23rd, 7th] of infantry. The one for the 23rd was dedicated on August 1, 1865, just a few months after the end of combat. The names of the war dead are written on all four sides, of the lower portion, of the monument. The number is almost evenly divided by those who died in action, and those that died by disease. Remember, the four horseman are war, famine, death, and pestilence.

The other [1872] is harder to read, for the engraving in the color of stone. Raised lettering is easy to read. It has four freshly restored, union painted, rifled cannons [West Point Foundry] defending it. The regiment was infantry.

That war had many names, but in Cleveland, at that time, it was called 'War for the Union'. The Republicans were successful politically. There were no Republicans in the South. To-day, things have changed. The South is full of Republicans, and no Republicans would use the term—'War for the Union'.

Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland. Alfred J. Straka. Born July 5, 1895. Died May 26, 1914 at Vera Cruz Mexico in the service of United States Navy.
I heard Woodrow Wilson's guns
I heard Maria calling
Saying, "Veracruz is dying
And Cuernavaca's falling"
Veracruz. Warren Zevon and Jorge Calderon
That Battle of Vera Cruz took place 21-24 April 1914. The Mexicans were having a civil war. The US occupied Vera Cruz to 23 November. Twenty two American servicemen were listed as dead. This fellow, presumably, was one.
Lake View Cemetery. John S. Allen 1893-1918. Private, Company M 18th Infantry American Expeditionary Force. Died from wounds received in action Argonne France.
The Battle for the Argonne Forest was the last offensive of the War to end all wars. It began 26 September 1918. It was the largest American engagement in the war. It was the only engagement for most Americans. It was the deadliest battle that Americans ever engaged in. America does not remember this one. This was the big one. The American Expeditionary Force (an honest name), fought along side the 4th and 5th French Armies, against the German Fifth. The Allied Forces were more than twice the size of the Germans, and suffered more casualties. The Americans were of a larger population than the Germans, and this was the first of their troops. The Germans agreed to an Armistice.

The only surviving veteran of World War I is an English waitress, that signed up in 1918. She is 110 years old, Florence Beatrice Green (née Patterson, born 19 February 1901).