NEW LOWELL IRISH GENEALOGY INFORMATION NOW ONLINE

After months of preparation LowellIrish is very proud to announce that thousands of new pieces of information on 19th century deaths and burials can now be found online at LowellIrish.com .  Previous to the LowellIrish website this information could only be found by going to the cemetery office and obtaining the several large binders to search through.  Now technology allows you to search at home.  Follow the tab on the website to the Genealogy page.  There you will find a drop down menu which will give you 3 different data files. 

The first choice is the inscription list from the old marble and slates from Yards 1, 2, & 3.  These are Lowell's earliest Irish pioneers and often tell place of birth, other relatives, or cause of death, fascinating reading on its own.

The next listings are the Hanavor books.  These are the only internment records that exist from the mid to late 19th century and are not part of the regular cemetery database.  Be very careful trying to read this file since the original spelling has been maintained and can be quite confusing.  Very often a simple name such as Mary could be recorded as Marry, Mari, Mery, etc.

The last listings are the burials from St Peter's Cemetery.  This private cemetery once ran along Spencer Ave and Boston Road.  Eventually it was encompassed into St Patrick's Cemetery.

Please be respectful that this information is for personal use only and cannot be published in any form or used on other websites.  

A giant note of thanks has to go to Ruth Evans who volunteered to make the data fit the parameters of the website.  I met Ruth on one of Dick Howe's summer walks and she has really given of her time and effort to work on our site.  Another note of thanks must go out to all the volunteers who have cleaned stones and recorded data since we started this project back in 1995.  I wish I could recall all your names.  A giant thanks must go to Walter and Karen Hickey who have been part of this project and included their own research over time.

Today is just the beginning.  There are many more files that will be uploaded in the future.  Next will be our over 1200 Civil War veterans interred at St. Pat's. 

HELP WANTED - Cemetery Clean Up Days

Each Fall we offer a free tour of St. Patrick Cemetery sharing the story of the Irish pioneers who settled our city.  This year's tour is Saturday, October 3rd at 10 am.  In order to get ready there's a lot of work to be done.  Namely we have to clean the previous year's growth of sod and clippings off the oldest slate and marble stones.  It's not easy work, and if it wasn't for a few trusty volunteers these stones would disappear.  On top of this Dr Murphy from Belfast, N. Ireland will be visiting to photograph our stones for a book she will be publishing.  In order to prepare for the tour and Dr Murphy, we will have 3 cleaning dates; Saturday September 5 and 12.  We'll meet about 9 am (it gets very sunny later in the day).  If you can, please bring plastic scrapers and brushes.  Be sure to wear a hat and sunscreen.  Don't forget your water!

This year we have another special cleaning date; Saturday, September 26.  We're calling that Alumni Day.  Walter and Karen Hickey have found dozens and dozens of graves belonging to the different order of nuns who taught school in Lowell, including St Patrick's, Immaculate Conception, and Sacred Heart.  When Karen and Walter found the stones they were sunken and almost invisible.  They have put hours in using probes to locate the stones that have sunk into the ground.  We thought it appropriate to call on those who were taught by these women to give a little time to reclaim their places of rest.  If you saw the condition of the Sisters' lots, your heart would be moved.  If you can come on any of the dates, we sure could use your help to clean off the markers.  "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."

If you think you can sign up for any of the dates just let us know on our FB page.  Thank you.

BUT don't forget Dick Howe's tour dates of the Lowell Cemetery: Friday, September 25, 2015 at 1 pm, Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 10 am, Friday, October 16, 2015 at 1 pm, Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 10 am.