Cemetery Research Tip from Bill McEvoy

Still from Bill McEvoy’s Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery.

If you’re watching Bill McEvoy’s Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery, you may notice that the person being featured doesn’t match the names on the grave. Bill McEvoy assured me that this is a common problem when researching cemeteries as many people can be buried in one plot. But, the head stone often doesn’t reflect all the individuals laid to rest in the grave.

Here’s Bill’s explanation for this phenomenon at the Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery in Watertown:

“The lots were usually purchased instant to a death of a family member and they did not have the money to place a marker. Much later, a person could be buried with another name – either a relative, neighbor or someone from the old country – someone who would have had the means to purchase a marker.

When I review the names of those buried in the lot, I find the name of the most recent person, whose name is on the marker, as well as any names related the purchaser. 

There are 5,055, 4 person lots and 266, 8 person lots in the Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery.  Not all of lots are filled to capacity and many of the 4 person lots exceed capacity. I have seen 7 or 8 people buried in a 4 person lot – often infants and children mixed with a few adults.”

Advertisement

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.

Tonight! The Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery

Genealogy Workshop Series – No Registration Required
April 26
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
William A. McEvoy, Jr., Local Historian “The Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery”
Location:  Community Room

William 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 most recent project, documenting those buried at the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery in East Watertown, was the result of a four-year, 7,000+ hour, in-depth study of the 23,000+ people buried there, the vast majority of whom were Irish fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s.  McEvoy will present his findings, including a complete statistical analysis of those buried at the cemetery. No Registration required.

Genealogy Workshop Series: The Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery

Genealogy Workshop Series
April 26
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
William A. McEvoy, Jr., Local Historian “The Forgotten Irish of Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery”
Location:  Community Room

William 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 most recent project, documenting those buried at the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery in East Watertown, was the result of a four-year, 7,000+ hour, in-depth study of the 23,000+ people buried there, the vast majority of whom were Irish fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s.  McEvoy will present his findings, including a complete statistical analysis of those buried at the cemetery. No Registration required.