U.S. Roman Catholic Cemetery Publications I

The information on cemetery grave markers can sometimes provide an Irish county or civil parish of origin for the deceased. If a grave marker exists, efforts should be made to consult it, either in person or online via sites such as findagrave.com or interment.net. Another great source for such information is the many books of transcribed grave marker inscriptions that have been created over the years by dedicated individuals and local genealogy organizations. 

One of the great advantages of these books is that they can act as a sort of time machine for research. For example, a book may have been compiled in the 1990s when the inscriptions on a grave marker was legible but in poor condition. A researcher in 2016 looking at that same grave marker may find that the inscription is now completely worn away, but they have the book to consult.

Below you will find the first half of a list of published grave marker inscriptions from Roman Catholic cemeteries in the United States that I have come across over the last few years. Some of the titles, such as those from cemeteries in Connecticut, specifically mention that an Irish place of origin is mentioned on some of the grave markers in the book.

Please add a comment if you know of publications for states Alabama through Massachusetts that are not on this list.

North America

Author Unknown. ‘Gravestone Inscriptions of Irish Interest in Canada and the USA.’ Genealogical & Historical Guild Newsletter. Vol. 1. No. 9. 1983.

Alabama

Connick, Lucille Mallon. Ed. Tombstone inscriptions, Catholic Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama. Mobile, AL: Mobile Genealogical Society. 1986.

California

Brennan, Jenny. ‘Burials of Irish people in the Mission Dolores cemetery in San Francisco.’ North Irish Roots. Vol. 5. No. 2. 1994.

Connecticut

Author Unknown. Irish Place Names on Tombstones in Cemeteries in Southwestern Connecticut. Publisher Unknown. 2011.

Barnes, Carol. 'Irish Place Names from St. Mary's Cemetery, Norwalk, and St. Mary's Cemetery, Greenwich, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 1. August 2009.

Bohan, Ellen, Patricia Heslin, Paul Keroack, Bernard Singer, Rosanne Singer, eds. with Neil Hogan, Robert O. Larkin, and Jamie Longley. Early New Haven Irish and Their Final Resting Places: The Old Catholic and Saint Bernard Cemeteries. Hamden, CT: Connecticut Irish American Historical Society. 2013.

Galvin, Nora, Harlan Jessup, and Paul Keroack. 'Irish Place Names from St. James and St. Augustine Cemeteries, Bridgeport, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 4. May 2010.

Carroll Catalano, Susan and Nora Galvin. 'Irish Place Names from St. Thomas Cemetery, Fairfield, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Galvin, Nora and Harlan Jessup. 'Irish Place Names from St. Michael's Cemetery, Bridgeport and Stratford, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Galvin, Nora and Susan Carroll Catalano. 'Irish Place Names from Assumption Cemetery, Kings Highway, Westport, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Jessup, Harlan. 'Place Names in St. Mary Cemetery, Ridgefield.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Keroack, Paul. 'St. John Cemetery, Darien CT - Headstones with Irish Place Names.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 53. No 3. February 2011.

Keroack, Paul. More Irish Place Names from St. Mary's Cemetery, Norwalk.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 3. February 2010.

Maki, Mary and Harlan Jessup. 'Irish Place Names on Tombstones in Old (and New) St. Peter Cemetery, Danbury, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 1. August 2009.

Maki, Mary. Place 'Names on Irish Tombstones: St. Rose Cemetery, Sandy Hook, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 48. No 2. November 2005.

Georgia

Author Unknown. ‘Transcripts of Irish Interest in Cemeteries at Augusta, Georgia, USA.’ Ulster Genealogical & Historical Guild Newsletter. Vol. 1. No. 10. 1984.

Catholic Church, Diocese of Savannah. Savannah's Catholic Cemetery, Chatham County, Georgia, Volumes I, II and III. Savannah, GA: Savannah Catholic Cemetery Preservation Society. 2005.

Illinois

Knox County Genealogical Society. Catholic Cemeteries, Knox County, Illinois. Galesburg, IL: Knox County Genealogical Society. 1983.

Hann. V. Saint John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery, Somonauk, Illinois Tombstone Inscriptions and Recorded Burials. Somonauk, IL: Self-published. 1983.

Lundberg, Gertrude W. St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois. Skokie, IL: Self-published. 1966.

Indiana

Mohr, Linda. St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery, gravestone inscriptions, Shelbyville, Indiana. Shelbyville, IA: Self-published. 1986.

Iowa

Emmet County Genealogical Society. Emmet County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Armstrong Grove Cemetery, Mt. Calvary Cemetery, St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. Estherville, IA: Emmet County Genealogical Society. Year Unknown.

 Available online at: https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE52270 (opens as pdf)

Kentucky

Adams, Kathleen Carmichael. Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Cemetery, Cold Spring, Kentucky: Researched From Original Records. Cold Spring, KY: K.C. Adams. 1994.

Chandler, Ora. St. Louis Cemetery, Catholic, Located South Green Street, U.S. 41A and U.S. 60, Henderson County, Henderson, Kentucky. Evansville, IN. 1965.

Louisiana

Joseph, Essie. History of Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church and Cemetery Inscriptions, Ascension Parish, Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Houma, LA: Terrebonne Genealogical Society. 1999.

Maryland

Arthur, Edward P. St. Mary's Govans Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland: Baptisms, 1850–1882, Marriages 1850–1912, Cemetery Records. Lewes, Md: Colonial Roots. 2012.

Arthur, Edward P. St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Baptisms, 1853–1882. Lewes, DE: Colonial Roots. 2010.

Massachusetts

Author Unknown. ‘St Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell, Mass., USA.’ Directory of Irish Family History Research. No. 22. 1999.

Author Unknown. ‘St. Mary's Cemetery, Lee, Mass, USA.’ Irish Family History. No. 3. 1987.

Author Unknown. ‘Some Tombstone Inscriptions of Irish Interest in Massachusetts USA.’ Irish Family History. No. 1. 1985.

Daly, Mary E. Gravestone Inscriptions from Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery, Watertown, Massachussetts. Waltham, MA: Self-published. 1983.

Doherty, Paul M.  'Tombstones of Some Irish Immigrants in the Catholic Cemetery at Andover, Massachusetts.' Irish Ancestor. Vol. 4. No. 1. 1972. pp. 23-26.

Pierce, Andrew. The Stones Speak: Irish Place Names From Inscriptions in Boston’s Mount Calvary Cemetery. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society. 2000.