I visited that Edward's grave today up at Calvary Cemetery, which is a place I should be spending more time in. Bridget is there, too, buried in 1904, but she doesn't have her own headstone, or even a mark on his. Ah well. It was worth a shot. This one doesn't even say where he was born, or give me any birthdate except the "aged 58" which puts him in 1828. That's more than I had before.
He's the suicide--"Rough on Rats" if you remember. Arsenic. He was a bartender/saloon owner in East St. Louis. Left his kids with his in-laws and he and Bridget ran off to start a bar. Or so it seems.
5 comments:
I have a suicide in my family too -- carbolic acid, as it were; my father's grandfather (my father's dad was only 9 at the time) did himself away at a bar with 5 young children at home. My dad's cousins have the newspaper article and the death record to boot. Can't remember where he's buried, but somewhere on the south side.
All my mom's side is up in Calvary - both sets. It's an invaluable resource.
In spite of the potential for interesting stories, I think tracing one's genealogy is not for me. I would find it hard to keep the names straight.
Gravestones fascinate me.
I didn't know where to post this, but since this is the first entry that came up at your blog when searching for "Blake" I thought I'd post it here. This is about a comment you made last August at http://nancy.cc about the name Blake. You mentioned that you would've liked to use it for a boy but was hesitant because you've heard of some girls with it. I think if by some chance you have another son in the future you should re-consider it. The name doesn't even rank in the top 1000 for girls and I tell people who shy away from a boy's name because it's also being used for girls that they're half of the problem of boy's names becoming too feminine (if they'd continue to use such names for boys they'd stay at least somewhat masculine). And this is coming from a guy who has a unisex name himself!
funny. I have an uncle Kelly as well...
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