Halloween in the Acre - 1950s

The best rite of Fall was Halloween itself. I don't remember buying a costume. I think I was a hobo from ages 5 to 11. When I turned 12, I revolted and was a vampire. I thought I was cool with a cape and blood dripping from my mouth. That's when I learned not to use red Magic Marker as fake blood. It was also a let down when a friend pointed at me and said vampires never wore glasses. So I took them off, and then looked like a blind vampire tripping on stairs and walking into doors. That was my last year of trick or treating.

What I remember most is getting my paper, orange, trick or treat bag from Greens in downtown Lowell. I think it cost a nickel. It was nothing more than an orange paper shopping bag, but by night's end it would hold a bounty of cavity producing treats. My Dad was often given the chore of walking with us. It often became a history of the Acre lesson. Being an Acre Boy himself, he'd tell me this is where he helped light the gas lanterns when he was a kid. Or this is where the Keyes sisters lived and he'd run errands for them. We'd walk by Lovejoy's mansion where UMass is now. Everyone knew it was haunted, and I'd walk a little closer to him. He'd pretend to see ghosts in the broken windows. One year right in front of Lovejoy's it started raining, hard, and my little trick or treat bag got soaking wet and broke. I was in a panic. Do I stop and pick up my candy, or do I let the ghosts drag us in to Lovejoy's basement and my mother would never see us again? I did what any 6 year old would do. I cried. My father said another prayer to Jesus Christ Almighty, put as much candy into my little hobo hands as could fit, picked me up, and walked me home.

St Patrick Cemetery Tour, Saturday, Oct. 3rd 2015 @ 10 am

Today's team.

Join us for our annual cemetery tour this coming Saturday.  The tour starts at the cemetery office and lasts about 90 minutes.  For the last few weeks the volunteers have been cleaning the slate stones that record the early history of Lowell's Irish pioneers.  This may be your last chance to see the 21 shamrock stones that make St Pat's unique as something not done in other early Irish cemeteries.  After this year they will no longer be uncovered.  Hear the stories Stephen Castles shooting his gun into an unruly crowd, or Rev, McDermott being locked out of his church, and the sad story of David Roche marrying his sweetheart and dying shortly after at Gettysburg.

Today was our last cleaning day.  It was devoted to the Sisters from different orders who taught in Lowell.  Our trusty team of volunteers was able to complete the the first group of stones from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who came to Lowell in 1852 and opened St Patrick's and Notre Dame Academy.  The order still teaches are both schools today.  We also did all the stones for the Sisters of St Mary of Namur who operated Sacred Heart School.  Unfortunately that leaves many of the Sisters of Charity and the second lot belonging to the SNDs undone.

A little shout out to today's volunteers.  Many, many years ago when we first began cleaning and recording the stones 2 of the first volunteers were Jim McNamara and his daughter Mary.  Jim passed a number of years ago, but Mary came to close out the final year of stone cleaning.  We were also joined by folks we met on this summer's Lowell Walks.  Katie and Bonnie showed up with tools in hand and learned stone cleaning 101.  I don't know why, but Brenda has not tired of me bringing her week after week.  We're both frustrated archaeologists deep inside.  Lastly, guest blogger Rosemary Nunally drove an hour to help out. Rosemary even stayed after the rest left to try to get more stones cleaned.   We got a lot done today and it couldn't have been done without their help.  Of course if you do drive into the cemetery on a given weekend this fall, you just might see Walter and Karen cleaning off just one more stone. 

One Chapter Closes

Old photo

New photo

Dr. Eileen Murphy, Queen’s University (Belfast), joined us this week in completing this phase of our cemetery research.  Passersby may have taken a second look as Eileen, Brenda, Walter, and I walked about Yard One of St. Pat’s, Old English, and School St. Cemeteries.  Using the technique stone conservator, Paul Butterworth, taught us, we reshot dozens of stones as a permanent record of our slates before we allow them to be covered over once gain preserving them for the next generation of researchers.  We walked about the cemetery with large cardboard boxes to provide shade and with mirrors to aim sunlight at angles on the slate stones.  The result was amazing!  Comparing the photos we had from a few tears ago and using this technique really shows the difference.  Unfortunately we were able to do a few dozen stones when we know there are dozens of dozens that could be done.  

Eileen & Walter at work

Dr. Murphy’s work goes beyond taking photos.  She went about measuring stones to compare children’s   She is also looking for patterns such as who had shamrock stones?  Were they from the same region?  Did the same carver make all the stones?  Were Yankee stones any different than their Irish counterparts?  We also started analyzing the data in the Hanavor (burial) books.  What patterns do we see here?  Causes of death?  Ages?  By far children are listed in the books.  Cause of death is often listed as teething.  Women’s deaths were by consumption of during childbirth.

stones with adults’.

If you’re available this Saturday, it will be out last cleaning day before the tour.  We will be cleaning and recording data from the stones of the Sisters who served at St. Patrick’s, Notre Dame Academy (Lowell), Immaculate Conception, and Sacred Heart.  (The other orders who taught at different Catholic schools in Lowell had their own community grounds at other cemeteries.)  Any help, even for ½ hour would be appreciated.

Providence Lends a Hand

Cleaning Day 2-  The weather was perfect.  Having completed the 21 shamrocks last week, it was time to tackle the stones of some of the heroes (and villains) of our upcoming tour (Saturday, October 3^rd).  The trusty team of four set about the task and once again. We uncovered the grave of Sam Murray, victualer and constable.  He was a friend of Hugh Cummiskey and one can imagine Hugh visiting the grave of the young man who may have been like a son to him.  Then there’s the massive, almost 4 foot stone of James Sacnnell who died on 1848.  No record could be found of his life but he obviously had money to afford a white marble marker of that size inscribed with the symbol of the Agnus Dei, cross, and angels.  One can imagine the gleaming, white marble standing tall amidst the grey slates in the morning light.  Mr.  Scannell wanted to be remembered.  John Sinett was another of those whose graves fill Yard 1.   The city directory lists him as a laborer.  His marker says he died at age 44.  A little more investigating found he “died from a fall.”  His young widow probably spent more than she should to have a granite marker (why not slate like his contemporaries and less expensive) put upon his grave.  And what happens to Mary after his passing?   She is listed as widow for a brief time, and then disappears from any records.  As the team uncovers each stone we ask questions like this.  

Paul at work

Today Providence paid us a visit.  Paul Butterworth called to say he was on his way.  Paul has been on the cemetery and Acre tours a number of times.  My memory, being what it is, forgets names easily.  Then it hit a bell.  I had contacted Paul a number of years ago when we sought permission from the cemetery officials in Boston to repair some of the broken stones.  Paul is a professional stone conservator and was willing to save  We had raised the money to do the work, but Boston denied us permission.  Let me note that was a decision made by Boston, not the cemetery office.  Today Paul arrived ready to work; many of his own family rest in St. Pat’s.  But I had other ideas.  Paul was kind enough to walk the cemetery with Walt and myself.  He saw the damage done to the stones, and I asked the question.  What do we do?  Paul noted that we have uncovered hundreds of stones, recorded their info, and done what we could to photograph them for posterity.  Our work is done.

some of our treasured shamrock and other historic stones.

For years we have had some wonderful volunteers who have given of their time and labor to preserve the history of our Irish forebears.  We thank you in their name most sincerely.  Even though they may not have been your own family graves, you have paid homage to their lives.  With all the help we’ve been given, and again we could not have done it without each one of you, even if you just did one stone, it is time to end our yearly cleaning.  The four regulars, Walter, Karen, Brenda, and I can do no more.  We are all at the point where we help each other stand up after kneeling for hours.  We have to admit that doing this for almost 20 years has taken its toll.  We are going to allow the slates to be covered over with grass clippings and sink back into the ground becoming shadows once again.  We have done our job and maybe someone in the next generation will pick up where we left off.  

If you haven’t seen the shamrock stones, this year’s tour will be your last chance.  We may continue doing tours after this, but we will be focusing on the standing monuments.  Change is good.   After saying all this, a reminder we still have alumni day on Saturday, September 26 at 9 am.  We will clean the stones of the Sisters who served in Lowell’s Catholic schools. 

Cemetery Clean UP - Day 1

Little did the superintendent of St Patrick's Cemetery realize what future generations would think of his idea.  In order to modernize the cemetery he quite literally snapped hundreds of slate and marble markers and laid them flat.  Over time they were covered by clippings and have sunk into the ground. It wouldn't be until 1995 that a team of volunteers resurrected (excuse the pun) the stones so their inscriptions could be recorded for future generations.  That has had its good points and bad.  While the data has given local historians and genealogists a wealth of information never known before; it has exposed them to the elements and modern technology (giant lawn mowers being driven over them).

For the past 20 years we've given tours of the cemetery.  It seems there's great interest in hearing the stories of the first generation Irish pioneers and deciphering the iconography on the stones.  Why do many of the oldest stones use Yankee symbols?  Why does the Cusack stone have pagan-like designs?  Why do some of the stones have shamrocks and not others?   Are any written in Irish? Folks ask all kinds of questions.  Some we know; some we're still finding out.

One drawback of doing all this is that each year we have to go to cemetery weeks before the tour and

remove the clippings and sod from the previous year.  Many stones are almost invisible to the naked eye because of a year's growth of crabgrass.  This year was THE banner year for crabgrass!

The treasure of St Pat's are our shamrock stones, all 21.  Today's work was to clean and record all 21 stones.  It's imperative that this be done.  Damage to the stones increases every year.  They sink deeper and deeper and that makes mowing more difficult and hazardous to the stone.  So this year we recorded the location of each stone, cleaned each using soft brushes and plastic utensils, and photographed each as best we could.  Yard 1 is full sun all day making photography difficult (and hot).  Each stone was photographed dry and then with a mist of water to highlight lettering.  When I got home I found the 200 photos we took rather poor so waited until late afternoon and returned to photograph in the shade.

Caitlin

Donagh

Today's volunteers were Brenda and Donagh McKean, my wife and daughter.  No, I did not force them to volunteer (too much).  Donagh even came back for trip #2.  Of course Karen and Walter Hickey were there so early they already finished a stone before anyone else got there.  Though Walter is our senior member, he worked nonstop.  A new volunteer who arrived was Caitlin, a blog reader, who heard the call.  I hope we have not scared her off, but seriously thank her for the help.  Every stone counts.

Next week's (Saturday, Sept 12) cleaning will be shorter and focus on some historic personages. We'll have 10-15 stones to do.  Saturday, September 29 will be alumni day where we ask those who attended St. Pat's, Notre Dame Academy, Sacred Heart, or Immaculate to come and even clean one stone of a Sister who worked in Lowell and is buried at St. Pat's. 

Walt

One last thought, as we finished up Walt and I thought that the cleaning and photographing was especially important this year.  This may be the last time we're able to take on such a task, which means we need to think about doing future tours.  (Of course we say that each year.)

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.

What is it???

If you’ve walked or driven down Suffolk Street you’ve probably passed right by it without a second glance.  Yet it’s probably one of the oldest artifacts in the Acre.  When Dr. McGarry, pastor of St. Pat’s in the 1920s, decided to build a new rectory he wanted to keep a few “relics” from the old rectory.  The diary of Bishop Fenwick in 1832, stated that the Catholics of Lowell raised funds to erect a rectory for the priests.  There are no records what it looked like or exactly where it was.  By the 1920s the rectory that was on Suffolk Street had seen better days.  (This probably was not the same rectory that Fr. Mahoney built.  Another entry says the rectory standing in the 1920s was about 60 years old.)

Dr. McGarry removed the bell, which called the priests to dinner, and had it installed on a small stand in the rectory hall.  (There is still a bell there today.)  The other relic he kept was a boot scraper.  He had it removed from the old rectory and installed on the steps of the present rectory.  Of course horse and carriage was the means of transport of the day and many streets were still hard-packed dirt.  Who know whose boots used this scraper?  Surely priest like Timothy, John, Michael, and William O’Brien were daily users.  Maybe the great temperance advocate, Theobold Mathew.  America’s first prelate William Cardinal O’Connell.  The Know Nothing Smelling Committee from the 1850s that investigated the goings-on in the convent.  Lowell’s first Irish mayor, John Donovan.  Eamon de Valera future president of Ireland, on his visit to Lowell.   Patrick Gilmore, composer of When Johnny Comes Marching Home, when he was married at St. Pat’s.  Or just as importantly maybe your grandfather or great grandfather or great-great.  What stories it could tell!

Cornelius Lennon Looks for Gold!

Rosemary K. Nunnally has been a guest blogger on several occasions.  Her entry tells the interesting story of Cornelius Lennon.  Great reading!

Chilkoot Trail  “Golden Staircase”

Gold was discovered in the Yukon region of Canada in 1896.  It wasn’t until the following year, 1897, that pieces of this gold made it by ship to Seattle.  Then the news spread throughout the United States and the world.  One hundred thousand people rushed toward the Klondike region between 1896 and 1899.  Out of the 100,000 people who started out, about 30,000 – 40,000 actually made it to the gold fields.  Out of this group of gold miners, only 4,000 found gold.  Cornelius Lennon, an Irish man from Lowell, was one of the lucky ones.

Cornelius arrived in the U.S. about 1879.  He was born in Ireland, possibly County Leitrim as that is where his sister Katherine died on a visit back to Ireland.  He married Mary Lynch of Tewksbury on March 4, 1889.

Cornelius caught the gold fever early. He may have seen the special pages in the Lowell Sun with the headline “Seeking Golden Treasure in Far Alaska”.  Cornelius left Lowell on August 1, 1897.  He left his job as a contractor on the construction of roads.  He also left behind his wife and three children.  They continued to live on Schaffer St. in Lowell while he was away.

Getting to the Klondike was not an easy task.  Clothing, tools, food and other supplies were needed for the journey.  Cornelius had to have had some savings to be able to undertake this trip.  He probably traveled to New York and then took a train to Seattle.  A boat would have brought him to Juneau and then the trek across Alaska to the Klondike commenced.   He may have walked with hundreds of other men and women on the Chilkoot Trail, climbing the “golden stairs”, 1500 steps cut into the snow and ice.  Cornelius had to bring food for a year, a requirement enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 

Dawson City was the center of the Klondike gold rush.  When Cornelius arrived there, he found a lively place with concert halls, dancing halls and music at every hour of the night.  He said there were many schemes to try to take your money.  He also said that it was almost impossible to obtain food.  A dinner

Lowell Sun, 1897

would cost him as high as $25.00, a bag of flour $30.00.  Cornelius immediately started prospecting.  The Canadian government would allow him to stake off 500 feet along a stream.  In return, the government would take about half of the gold Cornelius discovered.

Cornelius returned home to Lowell and his family in the summer of 1899.  He came back with bags of gold.  The Lowell Sun published an interview with Mr. Lennon on July 27, 1899.  The reporter said that Cornelius was a “modest and unassuming man, reluctant to talk about his experiences”.  He did recount some of his observations. He felt that the climate was healthier than Lowell’s as he was never sick the whole time he was there.  He advised young men against going to the Klondike.  He said staying home and saving your money would be better than enduring uncertainties and privations.

Mr. Lennon showed the reporter a bag of pure gold nuggets along with another canvas bag which contained gold.  The reporter stated that “his modesty would not allow him to tell the exact amount that he had received from his venture.  Judging from the amount of gold the reporter saw, he might easily be counted among the lucky miners and surely the most successful one to return to Lowell”.

In his interview, Cornelius Lennon said he was pleased to be home with his wife and family.  He continued to live modestly on Schaffer St., working as a foreman in construction. His wife died in 1906 and his sisters-in-law, Margaret and Annie Lynch, helped him care for his children. By 1930 he was aged 77 years and living with his sister Margaret and her husband Thomas M. Donohoe.  In the Lowell Sun of December 20, 1933 it was reported that Cornelius Lennon had retired as a laborer in the street department at a yearly rate of $552.20.  It does not appear that Cornelius ever used his gold to live an extravagant life.

Cornelius Lennon died in September of 1940 at the home of his son James on Aberdeen Street in Lowell.  His funeral was at St. Michael’s Church.  Cornelius was buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.  The flat marker on his grave is no longer visible.