It's All in My Head

I was recently reminded of the critical need to write up one's research. At issue is my ability to place a marker on the grave of Catherine Ryan Gilbride, my second great-grandmother, in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.

It seemed like a simple enough task: Have a marker made, and pay the cemetery to place it. I already knew where Catherine was buried based on previous research.

Imagine my surprise then when the monument company staff who was working with the cemetery told me that the cemetery was not exactly sure Catherine was buried there. What??

After I took a few breaths and began to compose my reply to the monument company, I realized an important fact: The cemetery did not know what I know.

The only piece of information that the cemetery had was a plot card under the name of Catherine's husband—Michael Gilbride. It includes the plot location and size, the purchase date and price, and record of payment for perpetual care on the site. The record had clearly been transcribed from another ledger of some kind at a past date as it was on an index card and recorded in a combination of handwriting and type. The kicker: Catherine's name is nowhere on the card.

This record, transcribed from an earlier ledger perhaps, showed Michael Gilbride purchased a plot on 21 January 1881 for $8 at Cathedral Cemetery.

 

So, how did I come to the conclusion that Catherine is buried at Cathedral Cemetery? 

I have uncovered quite a bit of information over the past several years that has informed this conclusion.   

• Catherine's Scranton-issued death record indicates her burial at "Hyde Park Cemetery," now known as Cathedral Cemetery.¹
• Her patient record from Danville Asylum where she was committed in 1877 states her death date, married name, and shows that the Directors of the Poor of Providence (later the Scranton Poor Board) paid for her expenses at Danville. Both these points link the Danville Catherine Gilbride to the Scranton locality.²
• Catherine's Danville accounts ledger shows a payment for "coffin and burial" on 20 January 1881.³ 
  
• The plot card found by the cemetery a few years ago showed Michael Gilbride purchased a plot on 21 January 1881—perfectly placed between Catherine's 17 January 1881 death date and her 28 January 1881 burial, and one day after the Danville account ledger shows the $15 payment for a coffin and burial.⁴
  

Catharine Gilbride's Scranton-issued death certificate.

 

But how was the cemetery to know what I had pieced together? The entire argument that I was asking them to accept was all in my head.

So, I set about to clarify my conclusion to the cemetery. 

Here's what I provided to them:

• Catherine Ryan and Michael Gilbride married at Holy Rosary Parish in Feb. 1875. They had one son (my great-grandfather) John, in February 1876.⁵
• In 1877 Catherine suffered a stillbirth and declined into mental illness.⁶
• At the same time, she and Michael Gilbride were receiving poor relief from the Directors of the Poor of Providence.⁷
• The Directors had the power to commit her to an asylum for her mental illness, which they did in April 1877. They sent her to Danville Asylum in Montour County, Pennsylvania. The Directors of the Poor paid all her expenses there until she died on 17 January 1881.⁸
• Her Scranton-issued death record states she was buried at "Hyde Park" Cemetery in Scranton. D.D. Jones was the undertaker.⁹
  
• The plot card shows that Michael Gilbride purchased the plot on 21 January 1881, just days after Catherine died. It probably took a few days for him to get the funds from either the asylum or the Poor Directors to bury her.¹⁰
• Catherine was buried on 28 January 1881, a few days after the plot purchase, according to her death certificate.  The delay was likely due to the fact that her body had to be brought seventy or so miles from Danville to Scranton.¹¹
• The lack of a marker on Catherine's grave could be due to Michael's financial circumstances, or that there was stigma attached to her mental illness, or perhaps both.
  

After sending this information to the cemetery along with Catherine's death certificate and the plot card image, the cemetery staff wrote that often the person being buried was not mentioned on these old burial records. Further, that if Michael Gilbride purchased a plot, a burial was imminent. They accepted my conclusion, and said they would note Catherine's name on the plot card and proceed with the marker placement.¹²

How many times do we as family historians come to conclusions without ever writing up our thinking? I find I do it far too many times. But this is a vital step, particularly when we are correlating various strands of evidence in support of one conclusion. A side benefit is that writing it up not only clarifies the evidence in our own minds, but may point out holes in our logic. And, writing up conclusions fulfills part of the GPS—the Genealogy Proof Standard.

Though it caused a moment of panic, this experience has motivated me to make sure I attach this argument to my Ancestry family tree (PDF upload to the Gallery), and to upload it to Catherine's FamilySearch Family Tree profile (PDF upload into the Memories section). 

And, I'll be on the lookout for other unexplained conclusions that I need to write up to get them "out of my head."

Until next time... 

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

NOTES

¹ "Return of a Death to the Board of Health of the City of Scranton, PA." certificate for Catharine Gilbride, 17 Jan 1881; imaged in "Record of deaths, 1878-1905, in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania," FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YG-R95K-X : accessed 8 July 2024); citing Bureau of Health, Scranton; FHL film 007700813, image 1411.

² Danville State Hospital, Female Case Books, Book A, p. 81, Catharine Gilbride, No. 676, admitted 14 April 1877; Record Group 23: Records of the Department of Public Welfare, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg. Also, Danville State Hospital, Patient Ledger, Vol. B, p. 383 and Vol. c, p. 614, "for Kate Gilbride,"; Record Group 23: Records of the Department of Public Welfare, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.

³ Danville State Hospital, Patient Ledger, Vol. C, p. 614, "for Kate Gilbride," $15 coffin and burial notation, 20 January 1881; Record Group 23: Records of the Department of Public Welfare, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.

⁴ Cathedral Cemetery Office (Scranton, Pennsylvania), plot card citing Michael Gilbride as purchaser of plot, Lot 19, Section 81, Div. 3, purchase date 21 Jan 1881. The grave site (viewed by author, 2019) is unmarked.

⁵ Holy Rosary Church, (Scranton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania), Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Marriages 1860-87, p. 212, marriage of Michael Gilbride & Catherine Ryan (2 Feb. 1875); digital image, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, supplied to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX.

⁶ Danville State Hospital, Female Case Books, Book A, p. 81, Catharine Gilbride, No. 676.

⁷ Danville State Hospital, Patient Ledger, Vol. B, p. 383, "Directors of the Poor of Providence for Kate Gilbride"; citing Record Group 23: Records of the Department of Public Welfare, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.

⁸ Board of Public Charities of Pennsylvania, Compilation of the Laws of Pennsylvania Relating to the Insane. (Harrisburg: B.F. Myers, 1875), 37; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/66540350R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n5/mode/1up?view=theater : accessed 15 March 2022). Also, Danville State Hospital, Patient Ledger, Vol. B, p. 383, "Directors of the Poor of Providence for Kate Gilbride."

⁹ "Return of a Death to the Board of Health of the City of Scranton, PA." certificate for Catharine Gilbride, 17 Jan 1881.

¹⁰ Cathedral Cemetery Office (Scranton, Pennsylvania), plot card citing Michael Gilbride as purchaser of plot, Lot 19, Section 81, Div. 3, purchase date 21 Jan 1881.

¹¹ "Return of a Death to the Board of Health of the City of Scranton, PA." certificate for Catharine Gilbride, 17 Jan 1881.

¹² Kevin Beck, Scranton, Pennsylvania, [(e-address for private use),] to Nancy Casey, e-mail, 17 June 2024, "Catherine Ryan Gilbride burial,"; Catherine Grave email folder; privately held by Casey [(e-address) and street address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2024.