Unexpected Cemetery Discovery

A while ago my husband and I paid a visit to Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh to visit the graves of his family.  We know the location of the Mumford graves but always get lost going from those graves to the graves of his grandparents.  So we stopped in the office to pick up a map.  The man working there was very nice and asked us the names on the graves so he could mark it on the map for us.

As we were leaving he said the name Mumford was not that common and asked if we knew there was another Mumford grave in a completely different section.  This caught us by surprise since we knew of no other family buried in this cemetery.  He marked this "new" grave on the map for us.

Armed with the map and list of new possible ancestors we headed to the graves.  Fortunately there were markers on the "new" graves.

I suspected Mary Mumford might be my husbands great, great "step' grandmother which was a fantastic find since I had not been able to generate any information on her previously.  Ondoff was a totally new name to us.  Later in the day we paid my mother-in-law a visit and asked about the name Ondoff.  To our surprise she recognized it and gave us the first names on the above tombstones without.  Margaret Ondoff is a half sister to my husband's great grandfather.  I was then able to trace them in the census.

A big thank you to the man in the cemetery office!  We never would have found these ancestors without them. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Thomas Harris Civil War Vet

This is Thomas Harris in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh PA.  He is my 2nd great grand uncle. Thomas died in the Civil War.  Sadly his stone is too worn for me to be able to read it.  But here is what I know about him.

Born 1839 in New York.  He was mustered in the PA Regiment 46, Company F infantry in September of 1861.  He died April 7 1862 in Winchester, VA at age 23.  The cause of death listed in the cemetery records is "Fighting for his country against the rebels".

Thank you Thomas for making the ultimate sacrifice and your service to our country.

Tombstone Tuesday - Joseph Lammay

Joseph Lammay was my great, great grandfather.  I discovered his place of burial, Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge, PA, many years ago.  I finally was able to visit his grave this past Fall.  He was a rather interesting person.  He is the father of my biggest brick wall Eugene Lammay.  While I have had a hard time finding information on Eugene, I know quite a bit about his father Joseph.

He was born in Chester County, PA.  His first wife was Mary Ann Putnam with who he had about 7 or 8 children.  He served in the Civil War.  At the end of the war he took off with my great, great grandmother Anna McKim Chalfant Lammay and moved to Huntington County PA abandoning Mary Ann and their children.  By 1870 he and Anna were living in Brackenridge Allegheny County PA and eventually had 7 children.  I believe they originally went to Huntington County because Anna's father lived there.  But what motivated them to come to Allehgeny County is still a mystery to me.  He died in 1912 at the age of 82.

Tombstone Tuesday: Tommy

 I found this old small tombstone at Prospect Cemetery at Brackenridge, PA.  It is located in the Public Graves Section.  I was there to visit the grave of my grandmother's sister (see my post Cemetery Trip to Visit Lizzy).

There are no dates no last name and it looks like there is a lamb on top of the stone, the head has been broken off.  There are few makers in this section.  Many of the stones that are there belong to children.  I am assuming this is a baby or small child because of the lamb.  This stone looked rather sad and lonely but also very peaceful and pretty in the Fall leaves. 

Trip To Prospect Cemetery To Visit Lizzy

A few weeks ago I finally got to go to Prospect Cemetery.  I had been there once many years ago and located most of the ancestors I was looking to find.  But since that trip I learned my grandmother's sister, Lizzy, was also buried there.

I had been searching for Lizzy since I started genealogy which is a long time ago.  She was born in 1886 and died at the age of 10 in January of 1897.  She was not on any records because she was born and died in between census years (with the 1890 census being destroyed).  There are no birth or death records during that time period for where she lived.  All I had was my grandmother's memories.  She did not remember Lizzy because my grandmother was just a baby when she died.  But she remembered stories of her sister that died at age 10 of pneumonia.  I really had no way to confirm if Lizzy really had existed.

Then one day on a random search of Find a Grave there she was thanks to a Find A Grave member who has documented most of Prospect Cemetery.  When I called the cemetery to find the exact location of her grave I was rather disheartened.  Lizzy was buried in the "Public Graves" section.  She had no stone and because it was the Public Graves section they could not even tell me the exact location of her grave.  It made me sad to think of little Lizzy lost and forgotten with no marker and I could not even visit her exact place of burial.

We visited the cemetery on a beautiful Fall day.  I went to the graves of my other ancestors there.  I was again rather saddened by how the tombstones of two sets of great, great grandparents had deteriorated in the 20 + years since I had last visited.  I remember being able to clearly read the inscriptions during my first visit.  Now they are almost totally unreadable and one of the stones is broken.

We then located the Public Graves section.  My spirits were definitely lifted.  There were only a handful of markers in this section (mostly children and some hand made ones) but it was such a pretty area.  It runs along a line of trees which were beautiful.  The ground was covered with such pretty colors of fall leaves. 

Public Graves Section at Prospect Cemetery

I sat on the ground for awhile and got such a peaceful feeling.  It is a very pretty and peaceful place to be buried.  The cemetery was able to give me her exact birth and death date which I did not have, as well as location of death in Millvale.  Which gave me some clues to my elusive Lammay's.  I never new they lived in Millvale at one time. 

Even though her grave is not marked Lizzy is definitely remembered.  I am so glad I visited and hope maybe Lizzy knows there is still someone who thinks about her.

Tombstone Tuesday: Daisy Lammay Linn

This tombstone is in Mount Royal Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA.  Daisy Lammay Linn was my grandmother's cousin.  Every trip to Mount Royal I would visit Daisy's parents who are buried next to her.  I never knew Daisy was here because her tombstone faces "backward".  Oddly I never walked around to the back of the stones near my Lammay relatives.  It appears the stone may have fallen down at some point and was set back up--just facing the opposite way.  I most certainly check the back of all tombstones now!

Daisy was just 24 years old when she died and left a small child.  Her husband and daughter lived with Daisy's parents--I assume they helped raise her daughter.  Tomorrow will be the 94th anniversary of her death.

Tombstone Tuesday: Lillian Russell Moore

Lillian Russell Moore was a famous New York actress back in the early 1900's.  She is one of many "famous" people buried in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA.  Her mausoleum is quite beautiful.  The inscription over the door reads "The World Is Better For Her Having Lived".

Here is a close up of the inscription.

She is buried with her fourth husband, Alexander Penn Moore, a Pittsburgh newspaper publisher.  This mausoleum is in the section known as Millionaire's Alley in the cemetery.

Lillian Russell Moore 1861-1922