Return to Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City

On Saturday June 14, the Hudson County Historical and Genealogical Society had a cemetery tour scheduled.  The tour included St. Peter's Cemetery and Holy Name Cemetery.  Unfortunately, due to bad timing and road work on Exit 14 C on the NJ Turnpike, I didn't get there in time for the St. Peter's portion of the show.  But I did get to Holy Name early to look for a few plots and headstones.

Let me back up for a minute.  Before going to the tour, I decided to do a little research to see if I could find out if my Cavanaghs are buried at Holy Name.  In case you don't remember, my great grandfather William "Pop" Bergen had two sisters: Catherine (Kate) who married Bernard Cavanagh, and Mary, who married Timothy Kennedy.  I had previously found that the Kennedys are buried at Holy Name, and I planned on looking for the headstone.  So now I called Holy Name to inquire about Bernard Cavanagh.  Just so you know, I have talked about the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark website before and how you can look up burials.  The Kennedys were not listed on the website, so I figured I would check Cavanagh.  When I called, I was told that he is buried in Block B, Section 12, grave D.  There are several others buried there with him, including Catherine Cavanagh in 1940, Charles Cavanagh, aged 10, buried in 1928 (I believe he is the son of Bernard and Catherine's son, Charles), Edward Cavanagh in 1954, and lastly, Mary Cavanagh in 1989.  So the night before the tour, I checked to get the plot number for Kennedy.  I realized that it was the same plot.  So the Kennedys buried there are Timothy Sr, Mary (Bergen), and Timothy Jr.

Fast forward to Saturday, and I get the the cemetery office and ask where the plot is located.  The woman gives me a little map and off I go.  Within about 15 minutes I came across this headstone:

Typical one word epitaph, story of my life (or at least my research).  No list of occupants with dates of birth and death.  There is not even a mention of Kennedy - Oh well.

So what do I do while waiting for the tour?  You probably don't remember, but I had found someone on my dad's side who is buried here too.  My great grandfather "Big Mike "O'Dea had a sister Mary, who I wrote about before.  She married John Sterling and had several children, one of them was Margaret (Maggie), born in May of 1872 in Sanford, NY.  In 1899, she married a man named Thomas Keogh, and they had a child, Ellen.  They lived with John and Mary in Jersey City, but in June of 1900, Margaret died and I found her buried in Holy Name cemetery.  I discovered this about 2 and a Half years ago.  At the time, I was told that there was no marker on the grave.  We'll since I'm here and have the time I decided to check.  The office told me where she is buried and off I went in search of disappointment at finding no marker.  That's when a funny thing happened.

                                  

Would ya look at that.  A flat marker with names and dates listed, go figure.  And how about those dates, quite a time frame between the first and second burials - like 104 years YIKES.  So who are the Zarembas?  Not a clue, but you can bet that I am going to try to find out.

On my way out, after this great success, I decided to check for one more stone.  My mom's parents: Edward L and Catherine L Bergen.  I found them right where I had found them before.  So I will wrap this up with another success:

                                 

So all in all it was a good day.  By the way, I did meet up with the tour and it was given by a very knowledgable member of the society.  He talked about the history of the cemetery and of some of the famous burials there.  One of the biggies was Mayor Frank "I am the law" Hague, who ruled the city for decades.  It was very interesting, and I am sorry that I missed St. Peter's.

Now I can start looking for the Zarembas and their family connection.  I also have some more stuff to get from the Archives.

Happy Anniversary - June 12, 1948

Yes, this is when it all started for my generation of Bradys.  This date may not live in infamy for the rest of the world, but it's a biggie for us, this is my parent's wedding day.  They were married on this day at OLV. Every self-respecting Irish Catholic resident of Jersey City knows what these initials stand for - Our Lady of Victories!!

Here is the marriage certificate:

                                                  

Witnesses were dad's brother Frank and mom's cousin Florence Markey AKA my Aunt Florence and resident McConville and Bergen expert.  Speaking of Aunt Florence, she identified a number of people in a picture from my parents' wedding.  The reception was held at the Swiss Town House, 3312 Hudson Ave, Union City, NJ at 12:00 noon on the same day.

I also found a picture of some of the guests at the wedding in an old photo album.  I got Aunt Florence to identify some of the folks in the picture - because I had no clue.  Luckily this particular table was a group of mom's family.  So I labeled the people who Aunt Florence identified and here is the picture:

Wow, how's that?  Not too shabby.  So, let's start from left to right in the front row.  The man at the far left is Vinnie Fox.  I am told that he used to date Florence at one time - matter of fact, his sister Kathy married my mom's brother Ed.  Next is the lady to his right, who I do not know.  Then we have the Riedenger brothers -  Arthur, Jackie and Eddie.  You may remember that I did a blog post about Arthur Riedenger when I found his burial in Ocean County - surprisingly close to my home.  Next is Ferdie Parrot - I gotta admit that I remember him and his wife "Queenie" - but I'm a little foggy on Queenie's real name.  I also know that she is somehow related to "Cookie" - Queenie and Cookie always confused me for some reason. 

I have to interrupt with a quick story.  I recall the family going to Uncle Ferdie and Queenie's home for a party.  We were in canoes on the lake (Lake Hopatcong?), and Aunt Ruth tipped her canoe.  My brother Jimmy, who was just a kid at the time, jumped out of his boat and swam over to rescue Aunt Ruth from drowning (in the waist deep water).  In all fairness, he had no idea that the water was shallow and he still swam to her rescue.  His bravery was rewarded by Aunt Ruth with a crisp $100.00 bill.  We almost had to revive him.  That is my main memory of Uncle Ferdie and Queenie.  Back to the photo.

Next is Arthur Riedenger, Sr - Yes father to the Riedenger brothers (he looks like another brother), unfortunately I don't know much about the Riedengers.  Next in line is Peter McConville.  He is the brother to my great grandfather Edward McConville, unfortunately Peter would die in 48 days on July 30, 1948.  I remember talking to mom about him at one time and she said that he used to manage an apartment building in Brooklyn.  She also said that he used to have this concoction that he used to snort up his nose to clean his sinuses - no not cocaine - more like a saline rinse or netty pot.  She said he was never sick a day in his life (until July 30, 1948 I guess), he made his own toothpaste and had all his own teeth!!!  Sounds like quite a catch.  But seriously she said they all used the saline solution and were very rarely sick.  The other thing about Peter McConville is that he was the first McConville of this clan to be born on American soil, in 1869.  His siblings were all born in Manchester, England.  Next is mom's brother Bill, he had walked mom down the aisle that day.  Uncle Bill would later live in Cranford, NJ and he was the entertainer in the group.  He would sing in a Barbershop Quartet.  Matter of fact, when I was a cop, I was working outside the Ocean Grove Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ and they were having a big Barbershop Quartet concert.  As I was patrolling outside - who walked up and said hello but my Uncle Bill.  I don't know which one of us was more surprised - but it was probably me, cause I had no idea that he was singing there that night.

Now we will take the back row from right to left, starting with Alice McConville, who is kinda hidden behind Peter McConville (her uncle).  I think I told you about Alice in previous posts so we will move on to Florence McConville Markey, Alice's sister.  Florence - or Aunt Florrie, as we called her - is mother to Florence Armstrong.  Next to her is another sister, Edna, who is the mother of the Riedenger boys.  I remember Alice, Florence and Edna from when I was a kid. We saw them occasionally when they would visit us or we would take the drive up north to visit them.  Next is Aunt Gertie (Gertrude Rothchild) who married Uncle John McConville (who is next in line).  I was only 8 when Uncle John passed away, but I remember Aunt Gertie, cause she lived in Ocean Grove for awhile - I think on Franklin Ave, and she died in 1976.  Uncle John served in WWI (I think) and returned home.  He was Catholic and Gertie was Methodist - so the Catholic Church said he could not marry her.  But I am told that they married anyway shortly before he passed away - but I wish I knew the whole story.  Next are two more women who I don't know, and then we come to Lucy McConville.  She married James "Matt" McConville, (brother to John, Florence, Edna, and Alice).  The little girl next to her is their daughter (Alice, maybe), and Matt is not in the picture. 

That about wraps it up, we made it around the table with assistance from Aunt Florence and only a few unidentified guests.  I think there is a picture of dad's side of the family in the album somewhere - but the Bradys were not real big photo takers.  Besides I don't have anyone around from Dad's side to ID the Brady guests.

I enjoyed that, I remember some of these folks and have fond memories of them.  Most of them - as usual - are funny ones.  If it wasn't for this wedding, my siblings and I would not be here, neither would our children or their children, etc..  My daughter was married this past September, my brother's daughter is getting married this July, and my sister's son is getting married in October.  So there are going to be plenty more wedding photos soon, with new generations at the receptions.  So hopefully someone will still be around and do what Aunt Florence did for me, and identify old family members for some future genealogist in the family.  I hope so.