Presentation - Cemetery Quick Finds

We can learn so many beautiful things about our ancestors when we include a visit to the cemetery in our research. Not only do we see dates and names, but you might also find information about their career or even an organization they belonged to.

Sunday Cemetery - Missing Cemetery Deed

Published the 14^th of June in 1904 in the Sun out of Baltimore, MD

HAD TO POSTPONE FUNERAL

Family of Mrs. M. E. Curley Could Not Find Cemetery Lot Deed.

     The funeral of Mrs Mary Elizabeth Curley, who was instantly killed Wednesday by being caught in the machinery in a mill at Elizabethport, N.J. where she had called to visit her husband had to be postponed yesterday because the deed to the family lot in Mt Alphenaus Cemetery could not be found. That the deed was missing was not discovered until a few hours before the time set for the funeral service.

     Mr. John Curley, her husband, and numerous friends and relatives of the deceased had gathered at the home of Mr. Chas Hoddinott, SN Waipert avenue, Waverly, whence they were to go to the cemetery.

     Mr Curley immediately sent his son, Jas Curley , to Elizabethport to search among Mrs Curley’s effects for the missing document. Meanwhile the body is lying in a vault at the cemetery. If the deed is found the funeral will be held today; otherwise it may be again postponed.

     Mrs Curley was born in Baltimore 58 years ago and was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Fuchaberger. Thirty-one years ago she was married to Mr Curley and for the last 21 years they had been living in Elizabethport.

The family has been particularity unfortunate. Four of the children have died and a brother of Mrs Curley was drowned. The husband and one son survive. 
                                          (*above article found on Genealogy Bank website)

Sunday Cemetery - Floating Coffins

Published the 24^th of September in ?? in the Philadelphia Inquirer out of Philadelphia, PA

FRENCH TOWNS INUMDATED

A Cemetery Undermined and Coffins Float Down the River

     PARIS, Sept. 23 – The floods in the Department of Grad have caused much damage to property. On Sunday the river Rhone rose nineteen feet and the town of Beaucaire was flooded. At Vallerangue, on the Herabit, 39 miles northwest of Nimes, the river overflowed its banks and undermined a portion of a cemetery. A number of coffins were washed out, and together with their contents floated down the river.

     The Ardeche river is greatly swollen. At Aubenas a dike collapsed and the surrounding country was flooded. Houses were undermined by the waters and fell and the vineyards throughout the district were devastated. Three persons were killed.

     The Gardon River, in the Department of Gard has also overflowed its banks. The country along the river with its standing crops is an immense swamp. The Mousae bridge has been destroyed and the railroad and telegraphic services have been stopped. 
                                         (*above article found on Genealogy Bank website)

Sunday Cemetery - Veterans Cemetery Assignments

Published on the 1^st of May in 1904 in the Philadelphia Inquires out of Philadelphia, PA

NEWS OF INTEREST TO THE VETERANS

CEMETERY ASSIGNMENTS FOR LOCAL POSTS ON MEMORIAL DAY ARE ANNOUNCED

GENERAL OSTERHAUS TO BE GIVEN RECERTION BY THE DEPARTMENT COMMANDER

     The commanders of the Philadelphia Grand Army posts announce the following assignments to cemeteries for Memorial Day: George G. Meade Post, No. 1, is assigned to North, South and Central Laurel Hill; Post 2 will hold services at Monument Cemetery. General U. S. Grant Post, No. 5, will visit All Saints’, the Philadelphia side of Mount Moriah, and St. James’, the Old Swedes, Burial Ground at Sixty-ninth and Woodland avenue. Ellis Post, No. 6, will decorate the graves of comrades buried in the cemeteries of Germantown and the Chelten Hills. Camp No. 9, of the Sons of Veterans, will assist them at Holy Sepulchre and Ivy Hill Cemeteries. Captain Walter S. Newhall Post, No. 8, will visit the Palmer and Hanover Cemeteries, and decorate the W. S. Newhall Monument. Glenwood Cemetery will be visited by General E. D. Baker Post, No. 8.

     Lieutenant John T. Greble Post, No. 10, is assigned to St. Paul’s and Lafayette Cemeteries. Hetty A. Jones Post, No. 12, of Roxborough, will visit the Leverington, St. Timothy’s and the Presbyterian, Lutheran and also the Hetty Jones monument. Colonel Ulric Dahlgren Post, No. 14, is assigned to Greenmount, Laurel Hill, St. Michael’s and New Cathedral Cemeteries, and the grave of Colonel Dahlgren. General G. K. Warren Post, No. 15, Manayunk, will decorate the graves of comrades at the German Reformed, St. David’s, St. John’s, German Catholic and the Presbyterian Cemetery, at Manayunk. Colonel W. L. Curry Post, No. 18, will observe the day at the south side of Fernwood Cemetery, and at Colonel W. L. Curry’s grave; South Laurel Hill. The services at the Od Fellows’ Cemetery will be in charge of Colonel Fred Taylor Post, No. 19. Courtland Saunders Post, No. 21, is assigned to Woodland and Cathedral, the Quaker Cemetery, at Darby, and the Baptist, at Blockley.

     The Hebrew cemetery at Eleventh and Federal streets will be visited by Admiral Dupont Post, No. 24. John W Jackson Post, No. 27, will attend services at Merion Cemetery. The Cavalry Post, No. 35, is assigned to West Laurel Hill Cemetery and the McClellan monument. Colonel Gus W. Town Post, No. 46, will decorate graves at Ronaldson, Philanthropic, St. Peter’s, at Third and Pine streets, and the Old Pine Street Church burial grounds. Captain Philp R. Schuyler Post, No. 51, is assigned to Franklin, St. Ann’s, Belleview, St. Peter’s and Holy Redeemer Cemeteries. General Phil Kearney Post, NO. 55, will decorate graves at St. Joachim’s, Cedar Hill. North Cedar Hill, Cheltenham, Oxford Church, Pennypack, Bridesburg, Magnolia and Bustieton Cemeteries. The graves of comrade in the west side of Mt. Moriah and also at Graceland Cemetery will be decorated by Colonel John W. Moore Post, No. 56. General D. R. Birney Post, No. 63, will visit Oakland and Knights of Pythias Cemeteries, and also the grave of General D. B. Birney. General John F. Reynolds Post, No. 71 is assigned to Old Swedes, Union, Mutual and Whatron Street Cemeteries, and to the Reynolds monument. Post 77 will go to Olney. The graves of Union soldiers at Wilmot and Bethel Cemeteries will be decorated by Robert Bryan Post, No. 80. The observance of the day at American Mechanics’ Cemetery will be in charge of Anna M. Ross Post, No. 94. Olive Cemetery will be visited by Charles Summer Post, No. 103. Winfield Scott Post, No. 114, will visit Mt. Vernon and St. James the Less Cemeteries. General John A. Logan Post, No. 115, is assigned to the Baptist Cemetery at Broad street and Passyunk avenue, and also at Trinity Lutheran. General Hector Tyndale Post, No. 160, will decorate graves at Mt. Peace Cemetery and also the grave of General Tyndale at North Laurel Hill. Pennsylvania Reserves Post, No. 191, is assigned to Fifth and Arch streets, Fernwood, Christ Church Cemeteries, and also the tomb of Robert Morris. John A. Koltes Post, No. 228, will visit the German Lutheran Cemetery and grave of Colonel Koltes at Glenwood. General Robert Patterson Post, No. 273, is assigned to St. Mary’s and to the Philadelphia Cemeteries and to General Paterson’s grave at Laurel Hill. Lieutenant Edward W. Gay Post, No. 312, will visit Northwood, Milestown, Baptist and Methodist Cemeteries and the grave of Lieutenant Gay. Colonel James Ashworth Post, No. 334, of Frankford, will decorate graves at the Methodist, Presbyterian, Mt. Smai, Hedge Street, Holmesburg, All Saints’, Collegeville, German Hill and Torresdale Cemeteries, and also the grave of Colonel Ashworth at Cedar Hill, as well as Section 6 at that cemetery. The services at the National Cemetery at Germantown will be in charge of General T. C. Donovan Post, No. 363. Naval Post, No. 400, will visit the Mt. Moriah Naval Plot and St. Mary’s Fourth and Spruce streets.

     Department Commander Walton and his staff will tender a reception to Major General Osterhaus, who is now visiting America for the first time since the Civil War, at the German Society Hall, Seventh and Spring Garden streets, Tuesday evening. All veterans are requested to attend the affair in Grand Army uniform.

Cemetery Quick Find Presentation

I’m sitting here preparing for tomorrow evenings presentation. This looks to be the perfect time of month to be presenting on cemeteries and what you can find while doing your research.  I will be discussing the different types of cemeteries you can include in your research.  The symbols that can be found on some headstones, there meaning and the story they can hold about the loved on buried.  I will also review some of the “Tombstone Tuesday” blog postings and how walking through the cemetery helped to find out more about those families.

I will be the guest speaker at the Middletown Historical Society on the 20th of October, tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM here in Middletown, Delaware.  You don’t have to be a member to attend the meetings so if you are in the area please stop by.   

Sunday Cemetery Harris Free Cemetery

Published the 11^th of December in 1882 in the Patriot out of Harrisburg, PA

READ WITH HORROR

THE HARRIS FREE CEMETERY ARTICLE CAUSES MUCH COMMENT

A Belief That the Expose Will Aid in Remedying the Evil – Additional Facts in Relation to It – A Meeting of the Board of Trustees Called for Tuesday Night.

     The facts laid before the public by the PATRIOT on Saturday, relative to the horrible condition of the Harris Free Cemetery, caused much talk throughout the city. Although the charges were horrible and almost next to impossible, yet it was admitted on all hands that the facts were presented in such a plain and unvarnished manner as to leave no reason doubt of their truth. Among the colored people it created must comment. Yet there were none willing to dispute the terrible condition of affairs. The general opinion seemed to be that it would prove beneficial to the cemetery association in aiding them to procure necessary relief. A number of additional facts in connection with it have been gathered by PATRIOT reporters. One of these (the names of the parties for the present being with-held), is that a body was taken out to the cemetery one evening, and because no tools were at hand to dig a grave, it was placed without covering in a corner an allowed to so remain until it was necessary on account of the stench to have it interred.

     A PATRIOT reporter called ou Prof. W. Howard Day yesterday. “What in your opinion is the general feeling among the colored people in regard to the PATRIOT expose of the condition of the Harris Free Cemetery?” was asked.

     “The people as far as I have learned are satisfied that it is vastly true – too true – and that they had no reason to disbelieve even the most horrible portions of it. They have lamented the condition of the cemetery for some time but every effort to raise money and place the grounds in a respectable condition has for some reason or other failed. The old board of managers had no money and the new board is not an improvement on the old in that regard. The old board empowered a committee of women to raise funds for the purpose of constructing a new bridge over the stream to the south of the graveyard. In this they succeeded and expended about seventy dollars on a culvert at this point, but a flood afterwards washed it away.”

     “Who do you regard accountable for the state of affairs in and about the cemetery?”

     “Well, the white people are largely entitled to blame in this matter and in a double sense. The soldiers in 1877 broke down the fences, gates and tool house, and destroyed or lost the tools belonging to the cemetery, thus doing damage to the amount of nearly $200. Again, public sentiment has largely brought about this terrible shame. The doors of other cemeteries are closed to the blacks, and the only alternative left them is to bury in this miserable cow pasture. This I regard as all wrong. Death blanches alike the black and the white, and demands for all a common grave. Several efforts have been made to secure lots in the Harrisburg cemetery by respectable colored people, but they have been barred and double barred. I regard as a significant fact that the black and the white cannot lie together in “God’s acre’ even in death. The exposure will no doubt be instrumental in remedying the evil. There is no question but that the cemetery has been receptacle for the bodies of infanticide.”

     After a chat of a few minutes with the professor, Major Simpson, secretary of the board of manages, was called on. The major said: “The sunken graves have been noticed, but there was no revenue to repair them or the fences. There are rules for the government of the cemetery, but they cannot be carried out. Some people come for a permit and other bury without it. One man came to me stating that his mother-in-law had been dead three or four days and that he had no money with which to furnish a coffin or to pay for grave digging. He went away and did not again return. It is to be presumed that he buried without permit or coffin. No record has been kept of the burials by permit ant it is impossible to give correct data in this respect. The burials by permit would average about thirty-five to forty per year, but since the Lincoln cemetery was opened there are not so many.” Mr. Simpson says that a meeting of the board of managers had been in contemplation for some time, but that the PATRIOT’S expose has hurried them up, a meeting being called for Tuesday evening when steps towards remedying the evil may be looked for.

Schedule Update "Cemetery Quick Finds"

Angela Rodesky with ARodesky Genealogy will be the guest speaker in October at the Middletown Historical Society meeting. She will be presenting on her “Cemetery Quick Finds” from our local cemeteries here in Middletown, Delaware.  Members and non-members are encouraged to attend this informative and fun presentation at 7:30 on the 20^th of October at the Old Academy Building, 216 N. Broad Street here in Middletown.

Sunday Cemetery - Allegheny Cemetery

Published the 16^th of July in 1869 in the Philadelphia Inquirer out of Philadelphia, PA

STORM AT PITTSBURGH

A Cloudburst Does Nearly a Million Dollars’ Worth of Damage

CAR LINES BLOCKADED

The Water Reached the Second Stories in Same Secitons

SEWERS WASHED AWAY

Part of Allegheny Cemetery Wall Has Been Destroyed and Nearly Two Miles of Track Torn Up. No Loss of Life.

     PITTSBURG, July 13. – A heavy storm to-night, which was practically a cloudburst, did great damage throughout this city and Allegheny Estimates made from reports coming from outlying portions indicate a loss of nearly a million dollars. All street car lines have been stopped.  

     At Forty-eight street water is in the second story of the houses, caused washed away, and nearly two miles by the bursting of a large sewer. Part of Allegheny Cemetery wall has been of the Citizens’ Street Railway is torn up.

     Tones of earth and stone have been washed out to the Fifth Avenue and Duquesne Traction Company’s lines at Soho.

The sewers in Butcher Run and Woods Run, in Allegheny, are reported as having given way, flooding those sections.

No loss of life as yet reported.

     In Allegheny, Perrysville avenue was flooded from one end to the other, undermining the new street railway, rendering it an almost total loss. Seven miles of Saw Mill Run plank road is destroyed, the planks being carried away and the roadbed ruined. The water came rushing down Madison avenue and east streets for feet deep, when the sewer on Compromise street gave way. It plowed its way right through houses in its track and deposited boulders and gravel in front of the Twelfth ward school house eight feet high. 

     The soap factory of George Harley & Son, on Madison avenue, has three feet of gravel on ground floor and $6000 worth of soap was destroyed. The house of John Mueller, on Spring Hill, near Royal Street, was washed down the hill with three children in it. All were rescued, however by brave work of neighbors.

     A landslide on Toboggan street carried with it into the streets below 1000 tons of earth, rock and gravel. All the cellars on Howard street were flooded. This section is in the famous Butchers’ Run district, which was so disastrously flooded on July 26, 1874.

Sunday Cemetery - Coffins in Flood

Published the 9^th of April in 1904 in the Philadelphia Inquirer out of Philadelphia, PA

SHIFTED COFFINS IN FLOODED VAULT

BLUE-COATED MEMBER OF RITTENHOUSE FAMILY MOVED BODIES OF WIFE AND CHILD

     Conditions at the flooded Mennonite Cemetery, at Germantown, are growing worse. Yesterday the flow of water from whatever source it may come increased, and exceeded all efforts of the Water Bureau employes to divert it to the street.

It rose to the top level of the famous Rittenhouse family vault, and was overflowing form that and other vaults and graves into the cellars of near-by houses. The occupants of the latter have become alarmed lest the water, probably having come in contact with the bodies of the dead, may spread disease.

     They have accordingly circulated a petition to be sent to the health authorities, asking that immediate steps be taken to check the flood, as they fear an epidemic of disease may result. Some of the residents, whose houses have been flooded, are: Charles Reiner, E. J. Armstrong, Mrs. Roop, Mrs. D. M. Hicks and Harry S. Rahn.

Coffins Were Shifted

     Before the water reached the top of the Rittenhouse vault yesterday morning, Samuel Rittenhouse, foremen of Fire Engine Company, No. 19, of Germantown, a member of the distinguished family whose name he bears, climbed into the cavern to move the coffins of his wife and child who had lain there for about two years. Standing in the icy water waist deep, he shifted the coffins to shelves on a high level which had not yet been touched by the flood. But a few hours later the water again reached them.

      Meanwhile the Water Bureau employes were working several pumps to reduce the level of water.

     In strange contrast to the gruesome environments of the grave was a relic which came up through the pumps. It was a plain band wedding ring. Whose it was or what joyous union it had helped to bind in the forgotten years is unknown. It was turned over to members of the Rittenhouse family.

     The city employes engaged in trying to trace the source of the water flow have so far been baffled. Notwithstanding previous investigations, they are not inclined again to think the water comes from a broken main. The water has been shut off from most of the mains in the locality to determine it possible form where it flows into the cemetery.  

September Presentation - "Cemetery Quick Finds"

Angela Rodesky with ARodesky Genealogy will be the guest speaker this month at the Middletown Historical Society meeting. She will be presenting on her “Cemetery Quick Finds” from our local cemeteries here in Middletown, Delaware.  Members and non-members are encouraged to attend this informative and fun presentation at 7:30 on the 15^th of September at the Old Academy Building, 216 N. Broad Street here in Middletown.

Sunday Cemetery - Five Children Now Orphans

Published on the 9^th of October in 1907 in the Baltimore American out of Baltimore, MD

FIEDLER IS BURIED WITHOUT SERVICE

Murderer Taken to Cemetery Just Before Dark – Wife to Be Buried Today

With no friends or relatives present, the body of Albert Fiedler, who murdered his wife and committed suicide last Sunday afternoon, was lowered into a grave dug in unconsecrated ground shortly before dark yesterday afternoon in Holy Redeemer Cemetery on the Belair road. The time of the burial of the murderer and suicide was kept secret by the undertaker. It was stated in East Baltimore yesterday that the burial of Fielder would take place in Holy Redeemer Cemetery in the afternoon, and scores of persons, mostly women, went to the cemetery and waited several hours for the appearance of the wagon. When the shades of evening began to fall the crowd, which had gathered at the cemetery, left the graveyard and returned to their homes thinking that the funeral of the suicide would take place this morning.

Funeral Director Wendell Dippel had made arrangements with the official at the cemetery for the interment to take place as late in the afternoon as possible, and at 5:30 o’clock the undertaker’s wagon passed through the entrance of the cemetery. The wagon was driven to the part of the cemetery which is unconsecrated, where solitary grave had been dug. The grave is surrounded by the graves of suicides and christened persons, and when the wagon drove up the grave digger laid the ropes across the opening and in the presence of the two men the remains of Albert Fiedler were covered with earth. There were no mourners and no flowers of a religious ritual over all that was mortal of the man who had made five happy children orphans in the space of a few minutes. When the grave was filled the shades of night had enveloped the cemetery.

The funeral of Mrs. Fiedler will take place this morning at 8 o’clock from St. Michael’s Church. Wolfe and Lombard streets. Interment will be in Holy Redeemer Cemetery, but the grave will be nowhere near that of the man who was once her husband. 

Sunday Cemetery - Mine Swallowing Cemetery

Published on the 1^st of February in 1907 in the Wilkes-Barre Times out of Wilkes-Barre, PA

To Save a Cemetery

Residents of Duryea fear the total destruction of Marcy cemetery by mine caves. A portion of the iron fencing surrounding the cemetery has been carried down.

The recent cave-ins occurred on the Foot street side of the cemetery, and there is fear felt for the safety of the entire grounds. It is believed the bodies will be carried into the mine. 

Sunday Cemetery -Hood's Cemetery

Published the 12^th of May in 1902 in the Philadelphia Inquires out of Philadelphia, PA

THE CITY’S OLDEST

BURYING GROUND

Interesting Historic Memories Cluster About Hood’s Cemetery, in the Heart of Germantown’s Business District

     It is somewhat of a surprise to the chance visitor to discover a burying ground right in the heart of the business part of Germantown, on valuable property along the main street, with stores on either side. The fact that it must ever continue a cemetery, and that the bodies cannot be removed to give opportunity for building operations lends special interest to the spot, for the old deeds state that it must “continue a burying ground forever.” Since the handsome marble wall and entrance gate have been erected the place had been known as Hood’s Cemetery, after the giver of the find inclosure, but it is still popularly known as the “Old Lower Burying Ground,” in contrast to the “Old Upper Burying Ground,” another rare old historic cemetery in the upper part of Germantown. 

     The Old Lower Burying Ground or Hood’s Cemetery crowns the summit of the hill leading form Wayne Junction along Germantown avenue to Logan street. Though only five acres in extent, this diminutive city of the dead – according to a local historian – possesses a history which, bit by bit, links the present to the period when Germantown avenue was an Indian trail, and the city of Philadelphia itself a collection of about one hundred houses, lying for the most part east of Second street. Peculiar interest is attached to the cemetery from the fact that the Lower Burying Ground antedates any cemetery in this city. The history of this little graveyard begins with the incorporation of the borough of Germantown. The lot at the corner of Main street and Fisher’s lane was selected as a suitable site for a burying ground I 1690, a few months after the borough’s organization.

     The plot was secured by gift form Jan Streepers, of Holland, probably one of the Moravian emigrants who came to Germantown with Pastorius. The first authentic record of a conveyance is a deed dated February 12, 1692, in which one Leonard Arets granted the land to Paul Wolff, his heirs and assigns, for no other use than a burying place forever. The ground mentioned in this transfer measured one-half acre, of a square form, laying along the eastern side of Main street, or Germantown avenue. By subsequent purchases the premises were enlarged to their present dimensions. The frontage on Germantown avenue is one hundred and eighty feet, with a depth along Logan street, on Fisher’s lane, of three hundred and fifty feet, the whole lot containing about five acres.

     In March, 1847, William Hood, a rich but eccentric Germantown merchant, made a proposition to the trustees, that, in consideration of allowing him to build a vault in the doorway near the front gate, he would erect a marble gateway and entrance. This offer was accepted, and Mr. Hood built a beautiful entrance gate of Pennsylvania marble, with a handsome arch, the canopy supported by Corinthian columns. He also put a marble wall and handsome railing along the whole front. Mr. Hood died in Paris in 1850 and his instructions regarding the wall were carried out by his nephew, William H. Stewart. 

Sunday Cemetery - Shamokinites

Published the 26^th of May in 1911 in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader out of Wilkes-Barre, PA

OLDEST CEMETERY IN THE STATE

     Numidia, Columbia County, has an old cemetery, which will become an object of interest when the soldiers’ graves are decorated on May 30. The cemetery is one of the oldest in that section of state. Bodies were interred there way back in 1770. Numerous slabs which were placed there 118 years ago still stand, and the inscriptions are very interesting. A number of Shamokinites are buried in this cemetery. 

Slave Cemetery in New Jersey

Published the 29^th of September in 1934 in the National Labor Tribune out of Pittsburgh, PA

To Restore First Slave Cemetery in New Jersey

Mays Landing, N.J. – Historical societies plan to clear the debris form historical Shore Road cemetery, the first slave burying ground in New Jersey. The only identification now on the grounds is a plain marble slab bearing the inscription “Angelina Taylor, died September 5, 1833, aged eight-three years.” Historical writings frequently referred to the cemetery, which marked the first foothold of slavery in the state.

A high percentage of Quakers among the early settlers in this vicinity prevented great numbers of slaves at any times. At one time there were 12,000 slaves in the state, however, mostly in the northern portion. 

Sunday Cemetery - Cemetery Wedding

Published November 1916 in the Idaho Statesman out of Bois, ID 

CEMETERY JUST THE PLACE

FOR SECRET MARRIAGE SAYS

 UNDERTAKER WHO TRIED IT

ABILENE, Kan. – “We’ll make it a quiet wedding,” agreed E.K. Elcholtz, an undertaker of this city, and Miss Ruth Marion, also of Abilene, when they decided to married last July.

Mr. Elcholtz reflected upon the problem long a diligently. At last an inspiration came to him.

“I’ve got the idea,” he told his prospective bride. “The only wonder is I didn’t think of it before.”

“I knew you’d get it,” said Miss Marion, with the sublime confidence of prospective brides. “Where will we have it?”

“In the cemetery,” responded Mr. Elcholtz, triumphantly.

Miss Marion ventured so far as to point out that a graveyard was not the gayest place in the world.

“Why,” said Mr. Elcholtz, “I’ve spent some of the happiest days of my life in cemeteries.”

In the end Miss Marion abandoned whatever objections she had and the wedding was held. As they wanted to keep it secret it had to take place at night. Mr. Elcholtz was in favor of having it at midnight, but Miss Marion said she’d have to draw the line somewhere and positively refused to consider any hour after 9:30 o’clock in the evening. Mr. Elcholtz was rather disappointed. He said it always seem to him that midnight was the cheerfulest possible time around a cemetery. But Miss Marion was firm and 9:30 it was.

The ceremony was performed by an Abilene minister, and the couple was successful in keeping it secret until now. It came out through Mr. Elcholtz himself when he and his bride registered at the Hotel Grund, on the Kansas side.

“Yes,” said Mr. Elcholtz, “It was a great ceremony. Mrs. Elcholtz wasn’t scared, or at least if she was I couldn’t notice it. And it was solemn – why you couldn’t imagine anything more impressive. It was as good as a funeral.”

Sunday Cemetery - Comanche Cemetery

Published in April 1913 in the Daily Oklahoma out of Oklahoma City, OK

VANDALS VISIT THE COMANCHE CEMETERY

 Comanche, Okla, April 13 – (Special.) – Comanche was thrown into a fit of feverish excitement and indignation was intense when the fact became known vandals had visited the cemetery and proceeded to smash and tip from their foundations the monuments over thirty-one graves. The reason for the act cannot be accounted for unless it was the work of some demented person. Large and small monument in the path of the vandal were served alike, many of the smaller ones being broken when tipped over, and where many of the stones were more securely fastened than others, the base and all were toppled over. The officers have thus far been unable to find a clue to the guilty party or parties.

Sunday Cemetery - Vandals at Greenwood Cemetery

Published August 1978 in the Dallas Mom…News out of  Dallas, TX
Found while searching Genealogybank.com

Vandals hit 104-year-old city cemetery twice in week

By STEVE KENNY

Vandals caused an estimated $60,000 damage in two incidents this week at the 104-year-old Greenwood Cemetery, the second oldest in the city and the burial place for some Dallas County pioneers, police said.

The vandals, who struck Wednesday and Thursday nights, overturned 83 headstones at the cemetery, 3020 Oak Grove Ave., officers said.

POLICE SAID cemetery officials did not report the first incidence of vandalism on Wednesday night, when 10 tombstones where overturned and three were broken, because they feared news accounts could result in more vandalism. The cemetery gates were not locked when the Wednesday night incident occurred, police said.

Vandals struck again Thursday night, police, said, despite locked gates and a German shepherd guard dog which was left loose to patrol the grounds. Officers said the vandals apparently scaled a 10-foot wrought iron fence near the gatehouse on Oak Grove Avenue, then overturned tombstones along a path leading toward the cemetery’s McKinney Avenue boundary

A total 73 tombstones were damaged in Thursday night’s incident, police said, with “several” of the stones broken into several pieces.

CEMETERY OFFICALS said 39 tombstones received major damage and 44 received minor damage. However, cemetery grounds manager Raymond Bouksa refused to say if any of the damaged tombstones were irreplaceable or to specify which stones are damaged.

Police said Bouksa gave them a damage estimate of $60,000.

The cemetery – bounded by Hall Street, Clyde Lane, McKinney Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue – is the burial place for ancestors of many famous Dallas families including Akards, Fields, Bryans, Rosses, Lemmons and Cockrells.

Greenwood was the second Dallas cemetery when it was opened in 1874 by W.H. Gaston. The first bodies were buried there in 1875.

        

Sunday's Cemetery -Cemetery Accident

Published in November during 1928 in the Dallas Morning News out of Dallas, TX
located on Genealogybank.com

Girl’s Leg Is Broken By Falling Tombstone

Special to The News.

     SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Nov. 4. – A falling tombstone resulted in a broken leg for a 10-year-old girl.

     Santas Rames went with her mother to San Fernando Cemetery to visit the grave of her grandmother. As the girl sat at the grave the tombstone toppled over on her. The mother extricated her and accompanied her to a hospital, where it was found her leg had been fractured above the knee. 

Sunday's Cemetery - Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Published in June of 1895 in the Plain Dealer out of Cleveland, OH

ALL IS SILENCE.

A Description of the Great Cemeteries of Paris.

Customs Which Appear Strange

After Ten Years the Graves  Are Re-Dug Unless a “Concession a Perpetuiti” is Purchased – Many of the Graves are Several Stories Deep – Some of the Celebrities Who Are Buried There.

(Special Correspondence)

     Paris, May 18. – The cemetery of Pere Lachaise is the largest and by far the most interesting in Paris. It differs so entirely from our American burial places that I think a description of it cannot fail to be interesting to those who have not visited it. It is situated on a hill in the northeastern part of the city and is a pleasant drive from our hotel. The ground that it occupies used to be the country seat of Lachaise (after whom it is named), the Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV.

     It covers about 100 acres and is the burial place of all inhabitants of the northeastern part of the city, and the strangest part of all is that after ten years the graves are redug unless what they call a “concession a perpetuiti” is purchased. The spaces are very small, being about twenty-two square feet only and cost $150, and each square miter additional cost $400.  For a “concession temporaire” one has to pay only $89, or half that for a child’s grave.

     The graves are dug very strangely, being several stories deep – six to eight usually – one coffin being placed directly over the other to within a few feet of the surface. These are the common graves, but the more wealthy people have little chapels with places on each side below the floor like shelves or berths in the steerage on our steamers. They are fitted up often very elaborately with an altar and candles in tall silver candlesticks and photographs of the deceased and huge, ugly glass bead wreaths of flowers.

     It seems strange that in this land of flowers, where huge bouquets can be purchased for a few centimes, so few real flowers are seen in the cemeteries. They are usually made of beads or china and the wreaths often measure two or three feet in diameter.

     We started, as visitors usually do, first to see the tomb of Abelard and Heloise. It is very hard to find, being back among others, and we were about to give it up when we stumbled upon it. It is built from the fragments of their original tomb brought from the convent in Paracht, which Abelard had founded.

     Their sad story seems to touch the hearts of the French people, for the tomb is usually decorated with fresh flowers and wreaths. The graves of many celebrated people may be found here, among others Raspail, Gambetta, Massena, M. Balzac, Chopin, Lafontaine, Molière, Bellini, Rossini, Beausnarchais and Casimir Perier.

     Some few tombs are very beautiful especially those in memory of artists, with bronze and marble angels in attitudes of grief leaning over or about their graves.

     From the entrance the main avenue ascends to what is called the Grand Round, in the center of which is broken column created to the memory of the soldiers who fell in the late war between France and Prussia, heaped with huge wreaths. Here a very fine view of the city may be obtained.

     While we were wandering about among some of the old graves we met a funeral procession and followed it to the grave. The mourners were all on foot, following the coffin, which was carried in a very strange hearse drawn by four black horses.

     They were met at the tomb (it was one of the better class) by a priest and little altar boy carrying a crucifix. The prayers were read and then each of the family and friends made the sign of the cross over the casket with holy water. Then the family stood in a line, as we do at receptions, and each of the friends said something in sympathy to the mourners and quietly withdrew. After that the coffin was lowered, but not without great difficulty, as it proved too large for the sepulcher. Finally it was settled into the final resting place and one of the mourners, a middle aged man, stepped forward and dropped a few flowers into the open grave. After this the sad little procession moved sorrowfully away.

     Just back of the cemetery is a large crematory, where bodies are burned daily and the ashes placed in nitches in a high wall. On some of the tablets were very tender inscriptions, but a few were left blank. I suppose what could have been said was better left unsaid. One was marked only with “Regrets.”

     Besides Pere Lachaise there are twenty-two other burial grounds in Paris, the next two in importance being Mont Marte and Mont Parnasse.

     Our All Souls’ day or Jour des Morts, as they call it, these cemeteries are visited by great crowds of people who bring flowers and mourn and pray for the rest of their souls.   JANE GRAVES