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.
