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Visiting History: James Stephen's Texas Land Grant

Last month, the Hubs and I took a camping trip in south central Texas. We stayed in LaGrange and that put us just a short drive to where his fourth great-grandfather owned land back in the 1830s. Field trip time! James Stephen (abt. 1795-1857) received a Spanish land grant in 1831 after settling in the area in 1829. He was granted a league of land ( 4,428.4 acres),  on the Caney Creek in Washington County by the Coahuila y Tejas government on 8 March 1831. 1   James Stevens (sic) land shown on a 1976 map. 2 At the time of Stephen's settlement, witness Samuel M. Williams, swore that Stephen was, "...married and a man of very good habits, much honesty and industriousness." 3 This endorsement met all the criteria of Stephen F. Austin's conditions for settlers, demonstrating that Stephen had "the most unequivocal and satisfactory evidence of unblemished character, good morals, sobriety, and industrious habits..." and "...sufficient means to pay for their l...
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GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - Burial or Cemetery Record


GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021

Burial or Cemetery Record - January 8th entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.

by Nancy Gilbride Casey


Headstones don't always tell the whole story at a cemetery. Cemetery records can provide important clues to family relationships. 

For example, the headstone at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton for my 2x great grandfather Michael Gilbride, listed several other names—some which made sense and others which did not. It was clearly a family plot, a fact borne out by the cemetery record shown above.1

The individuals named on the stone include:

Michael Gilbride - Father, noted as born 1853 and died 1908. 

Mary Gilbride - Mother, whose maiden name was Gallagher, was Michael's second wife. Her death year is not engraved on the stone, though her burial is noted as 22 June 1944. 

Anna Gilbride - Michael and Mary's second daughter, tragically died at age 19 after a surgery.

Gerard Gilbride - Michael and Mary's 2-year old grandson who died of convulsions due to toxemia, was the child of their son William Gilbride and his wife Rose McCormick.

Thomas Hart - Mary's second husband, whom she married in 1909 after Michael's death.


Michael and Mary had eight children together, and Mary was essentially a mother to my great grandfather John Joseph Gilbride; his mother Catherine Ryan Gilbride had died in 1881. Four of Michael and Mary's other children are buried in this family plot according to the cemetery record, however, three are not recorded on the stone at all:

  • Joseph Gilbride - born 1891, died 1938
  • Rose Gilbride - born 1886, died 1939
  • Michael Gilbride, Jr. - Born in 1888, Michael was a WWI veteran, and died in 1932. He has a separate headstone, in the same plot, with a military marker. 

 

The cemetery record also reveals an interesting clue which may need follow up:  

The name Gerard - Could Gerard be what the middle initial
of my 4x great grandfather James G. Gilbride stands for? Gerard is not a name that is typical in this family, where Roses, Williams, Annas and Josephs abound.

Various charges for plot, interments and maintenance for the Gilbride family plot, Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton.

 

 NEXT UP: Marriage Record

1 Cathedral Cemetery Office (Scranton, Pennsylvania), plot card for deed 2012, Lot 52, S-C, B-1, Mrs. (Mary M. ) Michael Gilbride, June 1908.


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