Register for the Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery

Date & Time:
April 29, 2021
12:00pm – 1:00pm
REGISTER HERE

Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery
Join us for a presentation by cemetery historian Bill McEvoy, Jr. on the obscure Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery in Watertown.  Discover the stories of some of the 23,000 individuals buried there, the vast majority of whom were Irish, fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s.  Learn about what it was like to be an immigrant in 19th Century Boston – where they lived, how they died, and why they were buried in Watertown in a Catholic-only cemetery.

This project was the result of a four-year, 7,000+ hour, in-depth study of the 23,000+ people buried there.  McEvoy has embarked on several ambitious research projects involving local cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn Cemetery and the cemetery at Rainsford Island in Boston Harbor.  His book, Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery, East Watertown, MA., is available as a free download.

Bill McEvoy, Jr. is a US Army Veteran and retired Massachusetts District Court Magistrate.  Since his retirement in 2009, McEvoy has conducted large-scale cemetery research projects, including several at Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Cemetery as well as a four-year study on the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown.  His most recent work uncovering the story of Rainsford Island, an off-shore hospital for Boston’s unwanted, led him to write about Alice North Towne Lincoln, who was instrumental in shutting down the island.

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Genealogy and Local History Workshops at the Cambridge Public Library

Please join us for virtual Lunchtime Lectures from the Cambridge Room, happening every Thursday from 12-1 pm.  Click on the links below for more information and to register.

April 1: Who’s Little Joe:  Photo Detecting 101

April 8: Linked Descendants:  African American Genealogy Prior to 1870

April 29: The Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery

May 6: Preserve Your Family Treasures

May 13: American Treasures from the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections

May 20: Buns, Beards, Bodices and Bustles:  Understanding Ancestors Through Clothing

June 3:  Getting Started in Irish Family Research

June 10:  Interview Techniques to Tell Your Family’s History

June 17:  Healing the Historical Trauma of Slavery through Genealogical Research

Calling all Genealogists and Family Historians Needing to Brush Up on Research Skills

The Massachusetts Genealogical Council is sponsoring an educational seminar on April 16th and 17th on genealogy and family history research.  The conference is at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Marlborough, Mass.  Read more here.

Cambridge City Directories Now Available Online

From the 1873 Cambridge City Directory, page 33 advertisements.

The Cambridge Room is pleased to announce that the Cambridge City Directories between 1848 and 1910 have been digitized and are freely available on the Internet Archive, one of the world’s largest online resources for historical materials.  The collection is accessible here.

The database is easy to use.  Users can keyword search within books or browse the online collection.  Use the Directories to search Cambridge people, places, and businesses.

Tip for Researchers: The Genealogy Guys Podcast

The Genealogy Guys, Drew Smith and George G. Morgan.

Drew Smith and George G. Morgan of the Genealogy Guys host the longest-running, regularly produced genealogy podcasts.  To date, there are 218 free podcasts, sponsored by Ancestry.com, on a variety of subjects from social networking for genealogists to Jewish genealogy and from practical search techniques to the online tools available to help genealogists create family trees.

Drew, a  nationally recognized genealogical author and lecturer, is the Information Literacy Librarian at the University of South Florida in Tampa.  His most recent book, Social Networking for Genealogists, published in April of 2009  is a bestseller.

George, an internationally-recognized genealogy expert, author, and lecturer, has published eight books and hundreds of magazine articles on genealogy.  His two most recent books are How to Do Everything: Genealogy and The Official Guide to Ancestry.com.

Download the Genealogy Guys podcasts here.