Tatnuck Cemetery

[worcmik]

I am always looking for the details of the lives of persons once buried in Tatnuck. And always willing to share what I know about the 1,000 of so names from a "home-made" list of the Tatnuck dead.

[merski]

I went to the WPL yesterday for an hour to look at the Naturalizations transcribed in the Massog of Irish people from worcester county.  Do you know if more were done than the two sets I saw?  How easy would it be to continue with that project?  Does anyone know???

[mary]

Hi; Where would you find a list of people buried at Tatnuck? I'm looking for a burial site for "Philip Laverty" 1825-1863. supposed to be buried in st. john's, but they don't have a listing for him. so i thought maybe he was buried at tatnuck. 

[kmcclosk]

Would you tell me if you have anyone by the names of McCloskey or Madaus on you list?

[worcmik]

Sorry no McCloskys in Tatnuck (As far as I know). 8 year-old Thomas McClosky died on 11/17/1862. He was born (and died) in Millbury, the son of Peter & Mary McClosky, but he was buried in St. John's as was Margret McClosky, 37 years, born in Ireland and died in Boston on this day; May 19, 1858.

[worcmik]

a Patrick McClosky witnessed a marriage on Nov. 12 1846. He may be the Patrick McClosky that married Nancy Nolan on Feb. 11, 1847, (Margret Mclosky was a witness to that). That couple seems to be in the 1860 Worc. census, given the ages in the census they would have been 27 and 24 respectively, when they married,
Nothing on the other name, anything click?

[kmcclosk]

Peter(1829-1870 and Mary (1829-1891) McCloskey are who I am looking for.  Family interviews have them buried in St. John's.  However, the cemetery has no records of their internment.  So, someone recommended the Tatnuck Cemetery.  Can you give me any more clues on Peter and Mary McCloskey?

[worcmik]

Many, many interments at St. John's Cemetery were not recorded, or the records of them were lost. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why the existing records include some and not others. For a long time the sexton was Thomas Magennis (1798-1881), he was in charge of the records. The Catholic church in this area was carefull not to share too much marriage info with the civil authorities, and it seems that was true of the death records too.
As for Peter and Mary McClosky did you know about their son Thomas, have you asked the cemetery for info on him or on plots sold on or shortly after the date of his death? Did you know they were in Millbury? Have you checked the vitals out there? There may be other, earlier, deaths in the family, and the plot may have been purchased then. The cemetery is large,but knowing when they first needed a plot would narrow down a walking search. look forward to your next post, J

[loreto]

Hi,
Any chance you would have a record for a Michael Cronin  born 1842  here in Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland.  According to family interviews was alive in Worcester, MA in 1911.  No knowledge if he died in Worcester, MA.  Any help would be great

[worcmik]

Over 900. That is what my son and I came up with when looking for the 2000 names that should make up a full list of the people that were buried in Tatnuck. There are >100 that have no location of internment. Guesses can be made but I included them all in the database. With another group it is hard to tell what was ment by the notation in the "place of internment" column, they are all there too. I would say there are 850 people positivly identified as Tatnuck dead. This is 10 times the number that O'Flynn recorded. A good start for some future history buff. John

[worcmik]

Folks,
   Somewhere in a posting or an email, I wrote that Arcadia Publishing's books contain many old photos that supplement text on a historical subject. I commented that new photos of old "Tatnuck" stones might attract their interest, but that it would be difficult to tract them down. There were about 80 stones still standing in Tatnuck in 1876, according to Richard O'Flynn's transcriptions. Some of them now stand (or lay) at St. John's, others may have been moved to other cemeteries. In fact, some have found their way to St. Bridget's Cemetery in Millbury. Today I looked a one? some? (It was an unplanned, cold visit, so I did not take notes.) Position and age of the monuments indicate there are several that were at Tatnuck. An epitaphs confirm at least one was.
    I have entered an active phase of this hobby (longer days? up-comming St. Pat's day?) and I will be looking at other cemeteries in the future. I would love to see this search become a group effort. Interested people could investigate a particular Catholic cemetery that was around in 1907, find out if records exist on the placement of stones, learn if there was an initial sale of plots at the establishment of the cemetery, look for the old stones (They might be paired with an other on one plot, or oddly placed between rows, or bear an epitaph that notes a date of death that pre-dates the establishment of the cemetery.) take notes and even the photos. Photos and other work would be credited to the individuals that contribute. The exact form the end product will take is not assured. Book publishing costs money, and there is little intrest in this subject, but if nothing else a work book could be created, or a webpage... whatever.
    I am also looking to create a poster with the known Tatnuck monuments pictured, again not of wide interest, but a much more manageable project. That is to say, I can handle that much work (if I don't try to be all-inclusive), a larger project would require other "volunteers."
    If you can only help by posting the name and est. date of the Catholic Cemetery in your little part of Worc. County that would be a start. Post any "replies" to this post for now, if this thing grows we can start a new subject Tatnuck Cemetery Project, or some such thing.
   I don't have any ancestors involved in the move, but the 100th anniversary of the removal of 2000 of the area's early Catholic settlers is next year, and I would like to see something ready by then. Then I can put this subject away for awhile, take-on another task.
John

[worcmik]

        The attempt to find the grave stones that once stood at Tatnuck Burial Ground is... well, it's not going well. I compaired the 83 or so transcriptions from O'Flynn's 1876 trips to Merski, et al.'s 2004 St. John's Placenames Transcription project. O'Flynn has 28 stones bearing the 'native of...' info, none of them were spotted by the  2004 team. So, were some just that much more worn, or were some located outside the 2004 search area?
        Wouldn't we expect some of those stones to have been relocated to St. John's. I know that there were families that used Tatnuck when that was the only place nearby and bought a plot at St. John's Cemetery on Sept. 19, 1847, the day of the plot lottery, the first day plots were for sale, months before the supposed first burials there. Some of them or others must have moved the stones early on. Before O'Flynn 1876. Some may have paid for reinterrment of the loved ones By the end of the century, others like the relitives of the 83 or so must have known about the impending move to St. John's, and, even if they chose not to  claim the remains and bring them to St. John's,  claimed the stone, you would think.
        But no. Not any indication of that, yet.
       There are a few old dates (pre-the establishment of St. John's Cemetery) on Stones that now stand in St. John's, but they appear to have been etched into the existing stone as a memorial to the loved-one, the dates may have come from an old damaged stone (now gone?), as sometimes the date is off from what O'Flynn saw. Just the year of the date, and the epitaths are different.
      It is possible that the stone in St. Brigid's Cemetery, in Millbury, is also a memorial to someone that was never under that stone.
      I will let this all sink in, keep an eye out, but I think there is another project I should start. It might contribute some info that will make the Tatnuck List project grow. That might make the Tatnuck Headstones project easier.
      And I was so eager to find all these Tatnuck stones just days ago,       John

[merski]

I'm thinking that families may have updated their burial plot with a new stone.  I know for a fact there were one or two I came across that had new stones that gave no info about earlier burials, but found the transcription from O'Flynn that has earlier burials.  Imagine a family who had a stone that was all worn out because it was marble or limestone that was worn away from the elements...they might not have even known who was in the grave.   The other approach is that they might replace the stone because "we know great grandma Nellie Sullivan is there and that's enough"

[worcmik]

I agree with you Merski, taking it a step further, I would guess that many of the old stones were disposed of. O'Flynn wrote of one of the finest stones was six feet tall, marble, etc., but most were probably not works of art. It's likely that they looked like the two that are on the St. John's Plot that holds the 2000 or so Tatnuck remains. Kinda thin, flat rectangles; most were probably more broken than Hugh Cown's and Charles Dailey's.
       I was a bit slow to recognize the "new" stones as new, now I can see that my couple of most-likely candidates for being Tatnuck stones, are in fact, not.
       What of the nicest of them? Would a chunk of cut marble be re-worked? Even re-sold? O'Flynn claims it was the Flemming monument that was the finest in Tatnuck in 1876. He described the stone as having a  lamb, laying down, with a cross on its right shoulder. The Fogerty monument at St. John's seems to fit the description. I am willing to write it off as a mistake on O'Flynn's part(not the first one found), but ... the matter  should be researched. If it was the Fogerty monument all along, we have found a Tatnuck stone (and another O'Flynn mistake). If it is the same stone, with new epitaphs and base, when/how did it become a Fogerty stone? (and we have found a Tatnuck stone). If it is not the same piece of marble, where is the monument described by O'Flynn? Does anyone really care?
      These are the questions that keep me up at night,
                                                                           John

[worcmik]

Another reply from Worcmic, this time to get the word out that the anniversary of the Tatnuck Burial Ground move is next year. There is talk of some ceremony. If the subject interests you, reply to this post and offer to help in some way, even if it is just to say you will  try  to attend something if something is planned.
I know it is only summer '06 but things move slowly on this board.