Sometimes You Win...Sometimes You Lose

 

I have two updates this week, both concerning marking ancestral burial places. 

First, the win. In my post, "It's All in My Head," I wrote about working with a Scranton, Pennsylvania, cemetery to mark the grave of my great-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan Gilbride. The difficulty was that they did not have her in their information, or so they thought! I wrote up all my research on how I had determined that she was buried at Cathedral Cemetery—even though there was not one cemetery document that stated her name. Everything was in her husband Michael Gilbride's name. Showing the power of indirect evidence and careful documentation, the cemetery management agreed, and we proceeded with the marker.

This month the stone was set, and the monument company sent a photo of Catherine's marker. It was placed on 6 August 2024, some 140+ years after her death at age 26. I hope that someday I will get back to Scranton to pay my respects and lay flowers on the site. Rest in peace, Catherine.

And now, the (temporary) loss! Back in May, I wrote "Gilbride or Gallagher: Which Michael is Buried in Sacramento?" about my quest to memorialize my third-great-granduncle Michael Gilbride with a Civil War marker, as he fought for the 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry from 1864-65. He died and was buried in Sacramento in 1886. 

But first, I needed to attempt to correct the cemetery's information on him. They have his entry as Michael Gallagher, not Michael Gilbride, dying on the very same date. The conflict is between the city's death register and the cemetery's interment records.

Again, I sent a well-documented report showing that my ancestor was the only man in Sacramento of that name in the city's death register, and no Michael Gallagher died during September 1886 in Sacramento. The only other Michael Gallagher living in Sacramento at that time, as shown in the voter rolls, was still living after my ancestor died, was younger than my ancestor, and was born in Louisiana, not Ireland.

I got word this week that the cemetery committee which reviewed my report and documentation could not definitively agree with me that a mistake had been made. The names Gilbride and Gallagher were different enough that they couldn't attribute it to a simple spelling error. And they could not determine if a mistake had been made by the city in their death register, or the cemetery sexton in his burial record. They were hesitant to change the database entry for Michael Gallagher, and erase him from their records, without more proof.

Although I am disappointed, I feel I have lost the battle, but not the war! The committee said they would reconsider if I can find further evidence that Michael Gallagher died later or elsewhere. I plan to continue to flesh out Michael Gallagher's profile and have begun to build a private tree for him to collect more evidence. I am following him in the voter rolls and looking for him in census and vital records. 

Though the sacramental records for the Diocese of Sacramento are closed to genealogical research—and I had hoped to find a Catholic burial record—I might see if the diocese might do a search for me and communicate directly with the cemetery instead of me. Another avenue might be looking for diaries or records of the physician who certified Michael Gilbride's death, funeral home records, etc. Just a little brainstorming for different approaches to pursue. 

(Hivemind: Will graciously accept advice on how to prove this!)

Until next time...

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

 

IMAGE: "Win Some, Lose Some." by bjornmeansbear is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.