Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA

   I know that I just told you about Calvary and Mt. Olivet Cemeteries in New York, so now the plan is to tell you about my Bradys, who are buried in the other big city - Scranton, PA, and my Bradley's from Schuylkill County.  Last weekend was Halloween, and I decided to get out of Dodge, and travel to Scranton via Pottsville (the county seat for Schuylkill County) and check for property records for my Bradley ancestors.  Turns out they must not have owned property, cause I could not find any.  

I did, however, find a will for my Great grandmother (Madge Bradley's) brother James.  The executor was his brother Joseph.  The estate consisted of money deposited in the bank and no property.  I thought he had a tidy sum put away, but by the time the bills were paid, the funeral was paid for, and the headstone, there was only a couple of hundred dollars left.  

Then I drove to Ashland to check out St. Joseph's cemetery where I think my Great grandfather James is buried.  But I found nothing of interest.  So I drove to the Ashland Area Historical Society, but it was closed.  There was a sign in the window that said they are open by appointment only, with a phone number.  I called the number, but no one answered.  So much for Ashland.

Then I was off to my sister's house for the night, and a gourmet meal prepared by my brother-in-law.  On my way out in the morning, my sister offered to go to Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton to look up two Brady plots that I recently found thanks to the Pennsylvania Death Certificates database on ancestry.com.  That's all I needed.  We called and a man was in the office and said he would be there until we got there.  When we got there, he gave us a map ,and direction to two plots.  He even copied the file card for us that lists who is buried there and the dates.  I have to say that the folks at Cathedral Cemetery have been consistently the most helpful people - as cemeteries go.

Anyway, we found this headstone first:

                              

This is for James Brady and his wife, Alberta Wenis, with DATES!!  Also buried here are Jacob and Elizabeth Wenis, parents of Alberta.  Alberta and James also had a son, Joseph, who died at 7 years old.  His death certificate says he is buried at Cathedral, but the cemetery has no record of him.  I bet he is also buried here with his parents.

The next plot we located had this headstone:

                               

How do you like this?  Names and dates, looks like these Bradys didn't get the memo either - you know, the one about secrecy and not giving up information so easily.  This is the grave of John Brady (my great grandfather James' brother) and his wife Annie Butler.  I posted their obits not too long ago.  Also here are their daughter Agnes Brady and her husband Edward Sipple.  If you look closely, there are two more names etched on the base beneath the headstone.  On the right is Mary Goetz, (daughter of Edward and Agnes) and on the left is her husband Darrel J. Goetz.  

I actually met Mary when I started this venture in about 2005.  I had written a letter to every Brady I could find in the Scranton phone book.  One day, I got a call from a woman named Peggy Brady, who lived in Scranton and had gotten my letter.  She said to me "I haven't figured out quite how, but I think we're cousins".  We arranged to meet in Long Branch, that August because she and her cousin Mary were going on a retreat with the church, and it was in Long Branch - about 15 minutes from my house.  We met and talked family, and took a picture.  They were both very nice and I have spoken to Peggy since then, but not too recently.  I did not know that Mary had passed away.  I enjoyed meeting my newly found cousins, and will talk with Peggy again.

So it turned into a productive trip, thanks to some relatives who were willing to break the code of silence and list names and dates on headstones - not to mention very helpful employees at Cathedral Cemetery.