Cemeteries - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy Week #9

Week 9 – Cemeteries: Genealogists understand the full value of cemeteries and appreciate them in ways most others can’t see. Share a cemetery or cemetery experience for which you are most thankful. What makes this place special? What does it mean to you and your family history?

The St Mary's Catholic Cemetery associated with the Immaculate Conception Catholic church in Celina, OH is special since the majority of my Dad's family is buried there. Some of the family members buried there are his mother, grandparents, great-grandparents and many others from the Creeden, Pulskamp, Niehaus, and Gast families. The first burial in the cemetery was on March 9, 1866 and the cemetery was originally 2 acres in size. The present cemetery covers approximately 8 acres.

Timothy Creeden and Mary Ann Matson grave

A member of the Mercer County Genealogy Society took this picture of my great-great-grandparent's grave for me and we were surprised to find that it was such a large monument. The grave is in the Northeast Section, Row 13 of the cemetery. Timothy was born in 1846 in County Cork, Ireland and Mary was born in Clinton County, OH. The inscriptions read:

Timothy
Creeden
Died
Dec 14, 1899
Aged
53Y 8M 19D

Mary A.
1851 - 1925

CREEDEN

From probate records, it appears that Mary purchased the lot and monument after Timothy's death. More pictures are at: Find a Grave.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.