Proving Sarah Gilbride’s Burial

Sunlight filters through the trees and headstones at St. Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts.

 

Last summer, I wrote about my third great-granduncle and Civil War veteran Michael Gilbride. I detailed his complicated life timeline which began in Ireland and ended in Sacramento, California. Along the way, he married Sarah Ruddy in Honesdale, Wayne, Pennsylvania, but he abandoned her and their family in about 1872. His wife Sarah and their children later relocated to Lowell, Massachusetts.

As I researched the family in Lowell and searched for their final resting places, I had difficulty finding where Sarah Gilbride was buried. Over time, using both direct and indirect evidence—and with the help of knowledgeable local folks—I discovered where Sarah was buried. Here's how.

Documenting Sarah and Michael’s marriage and children was a first step in putting the puzzle pieces together: 

• Sarah Ruddy married Michael Kilbride (Gilbride), in Honesdale, Wayne, Pennsylvania in 1850.¹
• Sarah and Michael Gilbride had the following children: John, Michael, Mary, Sarah, James, and Rose.²

I then added the evidence supporting the family’s move to Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts. My original clue to this move was a letter from Michael’s son John inquiring about his father found in Michael’s Civil War pension file. John’s letter bore a Lowell address.³

Searching in Lowell, I found the following:

• Sarah Ruddy Gilbride died on 16 March 1875, in Lowell. No cemetery was listed in her death record, however, the grave location “Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5, Grave 5” was shown.⁴
• Sarah and Michael’s son John Gilbride moved to Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts, no later than 1879, where he married Elizabeth Morgan.⁵
• John’s siblings Mary, Michael, James, Sarah, and Rose moved to Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts no later than 1880.⁶
• Sarah and Michael Gilbride’s daughter Sarah married Anthony Towle in Lowell on 1 August 1901.⁷

Focusing then on other family members’ deaths and burials, I discovered the following:

• Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Lowell operated Saint Patrick Cemetery at the time the Gilbride family lived there. They were Roman Catholic, so it makes sense that this would be the cemetery they chose.
• Sarah Gilbride Towle and her husband Anthony Towle died in 1926 and 1925, respectively. Both are buried in Saint Patrick Cemetery in Yard 4, Range 47 and Grave 5.⁸
• John Gilbride died in 1926 and is buried with his wife Elizabeth Morgan Gilbride in Yard 6, Lot 25, Range 3, Grave 1A at Saint Patrick Cemetery.⁹

Local Lowell historian Walter Hickey and the City of Lowell Parks & Cemeteries Department assistant Jade Oxton provided me with information on the cemetery. The Saint Patrick Cemetery staff did not create any burial records prior to 1895. However, there were documents created during a 1926 cemetery re-grading project which included grave inspections, notations on lot owners, and other details. A lot owner book created at that time showed that John Gilbride’s purchased a plot in Range 47, Yard 4, Lot 5 on 16 March 1875—the same date that his mother Sarah died.¹⁰ Post-1895 burials were included in a database on the Saint Patrick Cemetery website.¹¹

Though Sarah Ruddy Gilbride’s death record did not indicate her burial at Saint Patrick Cemetery, the location information is identical to later entries for her daughter and son-in-law’s burials, except for the grave number.

• Sarah Ruddy Gilbride - Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5, Grave 5
• Anthony Towle - Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5, Grave 1A
• Sarah Gilbride Towle - Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5, Grave 1A

So, Sarah Gilbride who died in 1875 was the first to be buried in the plot, followed later by her son-in-law Anthony and daughter Sarah. 

Sarah's grave number adds another clue: According to cemetery staff, lots of the time could hold up to six burials, stacked “double depth” or like bunk beds. This was possible since burial vaults were not required.¹² Since Sarah’s grave was noted as number 5, there likely were six spots total. It is possible that there may have been room for Sarah’s other children who died in the mid-late 1880s.

• Daughter Mary A. Gilbride died 29 Nov. 1886. Her death record states, "Range 5, Lot 5" in the "Cath. Cem” as her burial place. Saint Patrick Cemetery was the only Catholic cemetery in use at the time, and the lot number is the same as Sarah's. Local historian Walter Hickey believes that a clerical error by the undertaker may account for the range being noted as 5, not 4, and that Mary is also buried in the same plot as her family members.¹³
• Sons James Gilbride and Michael J. Gilbride died in 1887 and 1888, respectively. Their death records note burials in the “Cath.” cemetery, but no grave locations.¹⁴ It is possible that they too, are in the same plot, though there is no documentation to account for it.
• All combined, six Gilbride family members who perished between 1875-1927 could all be buried in the same plot which had space for six burials.

Other evidence which lends insight are a headstone and notes from the lot owner book.

• A modest stone marks the gravesite. It reads “Towle – Gilbride.”¹⁵ If money were an object in purchasing a headstone—as it might have been to the Irish working poor—one might theorize that the family eventually purchased a smaller stone that they could afford, though it meant that there was no room for all the names and birth/death dates for those buried there. Inscribing the surnames Towle and Gilbride may have provided a simple solution to this predicament. 

 

Grave marker over the Gilbride/Towle plot. (Photo by Gary Walls)

• The lot owner book included a note that “no monument is to be allow on lot unless the name Gilbride appears.”¹⁶ It is unclear who issued this direction, but if mainly Gilbride family members were buried in the plot, then the instruction makes sense.

• The lot owner notes also show that the lot contact was a “Mrs. Fred Billingsley, 15 Sturgis, Worcester, Mass.” This woman was John and Elizabeth Gilbride’s niece, Ellen Morgan Billingsley. In fact, John and Elizabeth Gilbride shared a cemetery plot with Ellen and her husband Frederick in Saint Patrick Cemetery.¹⁷

Together, this evidence shows that Saint Patrick Cemetery in Lowell was the choice for Catholic burials of the time, and the obvious cemetery choice for the Gilbride/Towle family members. In addition, at least three—and possibly six—Gilbride and Towle family members are buried in Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5. And the first was Sarah Ruddy Gilbride.

Until next time…

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A Researcher’s Aside

Thank goodness for the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine! Since I did this research last year, Saint Patrick Cemetery was taken over by the local Catholic Cemeteries Association (CCA), and the website, with its terrific database, historical info, maps, and photos, was taken down. The burials were added to the CCA’s own database. Fortunately, the Saint Patrick Cemetery website is still accessible on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, though it cannot be updated any longer.

If you have Lowell ancestors and need access to this site, click here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210617175948fw_/http://stpatrickcemetery.com/index.htm

And support the Internet Archive when asked to donate! It is an invaluable resource.

This post is a Friday Family History Find.

 

IMAGE: Bernie Ongewe, Sun rays in St Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, MA, 31 May 2014; Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_rays_in_St_Patrick_Cemetery,_Lowell,_MA.jpg : 19 September 2023). This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

NOTES

¹ Barbara Spellman Shuta, Dickson City, Pa. [e-address for private use,] to Nancy Gilbride Casey, email, 31 August 2022, “Fwd. Marriage Record”; St. John the Evangelist Church, Honesdale, Wayne, Pennsylvania, Marriage Book 1, entry 96, marriage of Michael Kilbride and Sarah Ruddy, 29 December 1850; digital image obtained from Dorothy Kieff, church staff, 20 August 2022. Kilbride is a known surname variation for Gilbride.

² 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Jenkins Twp., p. 176 (penned), 213 (stamped), dwelling 1369, family 1389, Michael Gilbride, age 32, Sarah Gilbride, age 30, John Gilbride, age 8, Sarah Gilbride, age 1; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBSH-FG : 14 October 2022); FHL film 005171134, image 8; citing NARA microfilm publication M653, Washington, D.C. Also, 1870 United States Federal Census, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Pittston Twp., p., 25 (penned), dwelling 169, family 191, household of Michael Gilbride (40); database/image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4278598_00684 : 25 October 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, Washington, D.C.

³ John A. Gilbride, letter to Commissioner of Pensions, 7 December 1901; combined with Michael Gilbride (Pvt., Co. H, 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Civil War), Invalid Application file, I.O. 523.651; Case Files of Approved Pension Applications; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Record Group 15; Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

⁴ Samuel A. McPherties, Deaths, Vol. G., City of Lowell, Massachusetts, p. 84, #190, Sarah Gilbride, 16 March 1875; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Q1-L3SM?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=9NXY-7KH : 14 October 2022); citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL film 004282177, image 310.

⁵ City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Marriage, vol. G, 1860-1867, p. 205, #283, marriage of John A. Gilbride to Elizabeth A. Morgan, 12 May 1879; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997M-3RY9 : 18 September 2022); citing FHL film 004282179, image 664.

⁶ 1880 United States Census, Middlesex, Massachusetts, population schedule, E.D. 451, Lowell, p. 82B, line 34, house number 22, family 105, Mary A. Gilbride (22) in the household of Michael Curran; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241772-00458 : 21 November 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication T9, roll 544, Washington, D.C. Also, City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1888-1892, p. 32, #1391, James H. Gilbride, 6 October 1888; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-1WWD?i=37&cc=2061550 : 18 October 2022); FHL film 004282181, image 38; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Also, 1880 United States Census, Middlesex, Massachusetts, population schedule, E.D. 465, Lowell, p. 50B, lines 29-30, house number 16, family 78, Sarah Gilbride (20) and Rose Gilbride (19), in the household of W.K. Marshall; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241773-00414 : 21 November 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication T9, roll 544, Washington, D.C. Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1876-1884, p. 119, no number, Michael Gilbride, 1 August 1880; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-LSLZ : 14 November 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 454; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

⁷ City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Marriages 1898 to 1901, p. 231, #735, marriage of Anthony Towle and Sarah E. Gilbride, 1 August 1901; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G979-DCXX : 14 October 2022); citing FHL film 007011245, image 470.

⁸ St. Patrick Cemetery (Lowell, Mass.), "Genealogy Burial Listings from 1895 thru 2011," Internet Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20210617175948fw_/http://stpatrickcemetery.com/index.htm : 14 October 2022), letter T, p. 21, Anthony Towle (d. 10/12/1925) and Sarah Towle (d. 2/4/1926), both buried in Yard 4, Range 47, Lot 5, Grave 1A; list last updated 9/26/2012.

⁹ St. Patrick Cemetery (Lowell, Mass.), "Genealogy Burial Listings from 1895 thru 2011," Internet Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20210617175948fw_/http://stpatrickcemetery.com/index.htm : 18 September 2023), letter G, p. 27, Elizabeth Gilbride (d. 16 Feb 1937) and p. 28, John A. Gilbride (d. 3/1/1926), both buried in Yard 6, Range 3, Lot 25; list last updated 9/26/2012.

¹⁰ St. Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts, Lot Owner List, 16 March [no year], John Gilbride, Range 47, Lot 5; image supplied by City of Lowell, Parks and Cemeteries.  

¹¹ St. Patrick Cemetery, Internet Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20210617175948fw_/http://stpatrickcemetery.com/index.htm : 18 September 2023), “Genealogy.”

¹² Devin Visconti, Catholic Cemeteries Association, [e-address for private use,] to Nancy Gilbride Casey, email, 19 October 2022, “Burial Record addition,” author’s private files, Tioga, Texas.

¹³ City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1884-1887, p. 97, #1362, Mary A. Gilbride, 29 Nov. 1886; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Q1-L9PJ : 18 October 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 667; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Walter Hickey, Lowell, Ma., [e-address for private use,] to Nancy Gilbride Casey, email, 15 November 2022, “Gilbride burials,” author’s private files, Tioga, Texas.

¹⁴ City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1888-1892, p. 32, #1391, James N. Gilbride, 6 October 1888; database and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-1WWD?i=37&cc=2061550 : 18 September 2023); citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Also: City of Lowell, Massachusetts, Deaths, 1876-1884, p. 119, no number, Michael Gilbride, 1 August 1880; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q1-LSLZ : 14 November 2022); FHL film 004282177, image 454; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

¹⁵ Ancestry, Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138879562/sarah-etta-towle : 30 November 2022), memorial 138879562, Sarah Etta Gilbride Towle (unknown-1926), Saint Patrick Cemetery, Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Gravestone photo by Gary Walls, 18 October 2022.

¹⁶ Jade Oxton, City of Lowell Parks & Cemeteries, Ma., [e-address for private use,] to Nancy Gilbride Casey, email, 14 October 2022, “Burial info”; digital image of Lot Owner Book, circa 1926, np, John Gilbride, range 47, lot 5. Also noted Mrs. Fred Billingsley, lot heir. Also: Walter Hickey, Lowell, Ma., [e-address for private use] to Nancy Gilbride Casey, email, 14 October 2022, “Burial Info.” “The sheet I gave Jade for you is from the Lot Owners' Book for Yard 4. Beginning in 1926, there was a massive Regrading Project which involved inspecting each lot. Billingsley was the contact person for that lot in the 1930's. We only became aware of it a couple of years ago. Because it is arranged in grave order by range, we have been able to locate many sunken markers and even unmarked graves.”

¹⁷ Ibid. Also: St. Patrick Cemetery (Lowell, Mass.), "Genealogy Burial Listings from 1895 thru 2011," Internet Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20210617175948fw_/http://stpatrickcemetery.com/index.htm : 18 September 2023), letter B, p. 27, Ellen Billinsley (d. 27 Feb. 1942) and Fred Billinsgley (d. 15 May 1935) both buried in Yard 6, Range 3, Lot 25; list last updated 9/26/2012.