CATHOLIC BURIAL GROUND.
In giving publicity to the following communication we beg it may be distinctly understood that we express no opinion of our own upon the subject. The writer has left his name with the editor of this paper, and our columns are open to any correspondent who may feel disposed to do the same:
“To the Editor of the Truth Teller:
“New York, March 24, 1829.
“Sir: The subject of procuring a suitable place for a general Catholic burial ground in this city has, for a long time, excited a deep interest among us. I beg leave, therefore, to suggest a few remarks on the best method to be adopted for the accomplishment of so desirable an object, before any definite measures are taken for a permanent location.
“It appears by a hand-bill circulated a few days ago, that the trustees of St. Patrick’s Church, without consulting the Catholics of this city, have bought a tract of land opposite the Botanic Garden, a distance of between four and five miles from the city hall; that the nature of the soil is entirely unfit for the said purpose; and that this place has been actually appropriated by them for a general Catholic burial ground.
“Query? Have the trustees of that church or any of the other Catholic churches in this city the right to act definitely upon this general subject without previously ascertaining the opinion and obtaining the consent of the heads of families belonging to this Catholic community?
CAPT. MARTIN L. CRIMMINS.
Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, formerly of the Nineteenth Infantry.
MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY.
A Son of the Hon. John D. Crimmins, New York City.
“This question ought to be fairly discussed before any final decision is made on the location of the contemplated cemetery; and I hope the columns of your widely circulated paper will be always open for the discussion of this point of general interest.
“This affair, in the humble opinion of the writer, ought to be managed by a separate board, composed of the Right Rev. Bishop of the diocese and two members from each congregation, duly elected by the pewholders of the several Catholic churches of this city, with power to select the ground, the location, to make regulations, etc., etc. This suggestion is made with the view of ascertaining the sense of the Catholics of this city (who have very liberally contributed to the support of their several churches and charitable institutions) respecting this interesting question which agitates their minds.
“Very respectfully, your obt. serv’t,
“A Subscriber.
“And a Catholic resident of the city of New York.”
At the meeting of the trustees on March 6, 1833, every member present pledged himself to use his utmost endeavor “in finding and prosecuting the invaders of the vault out of town,” which seems to indicate that the opposition to the up-town movement had taken a very radical turn. Previous to this, however, the idea of locating the graveyard there was abandoned, and on August 29, 1832, a committee of five trustees appointed to provide “a good and convenient location for a new graveyard,” paid $37,050 to Alderman Charles Henry Hall for the block bounded by East Eleventh and Twelfth streets, First Avenue and Avenue A.
It is related that Mr. Hall soon after repented of his bargain and offered to pay $50,000 if the block were deeded back to him. The offer was refused, but 100 feet in depth on three sides of the plot was sold to lighten the debt and the rest of the land, 413x206 feet, was devoted to cemetery purposes. Permission for the first interment was given on March 13, 1833, and from that date until the old Eleventh Street burial ground was officially closed in August, 1848, the total number of interments made in its limits was 41,016. As has been stated, the interments in St. Patrick’s graveyard, from May 25, 1813, to March, 1833, were 32,153, so that in these two old downtown graveyards in thirty-five years, a total of 73,169 Catholics were buried. These figures are taken from Archbishop Corrigan’s paper on “The Catholic Cemeteries of New York” and are therefore official. The Avenue A end of the Eleventh Street plot was originally a hollow and had to be filled in about eighteen feet above the level at the time of its purchase.
There was a wooden fence around the property at first and this was replaced by the iron railing that now encloses it. The high brick wall around St. Patrick’s was put up just before the anti-Catholic excitement of 1836 and served as a protection to the old church that largely helped, when manned by stout defenders, to awe the mob that assembled to plunder and destroy it. In the same year, June 5, 1836, it was determined to rebuild St. Peter’s Church in Barclay Street. The graves in the little space about the church were opened and most of the remains reinterred in St. Patrick’s graveyard. Some of the pioneers were left undisturbed and still repose under the walls of the new church built over the old site.
The dead who sleep about the walls of old St. Patrick’s made up the very flower of the pioneer families, mainly Irish, who built up the church in New York. Among the long list are the first pastors and their assistants, Fathers Michael O’Gorman, Richard Bulger, Charles Brennan and Peter Malou—who was a general in the Belgium army and then a Jesuit. One of his sons became a bishop in his native land—Fathers Luke Berry, of St. Mary’s; Gregory B. Pardow, an uncle of the Jesuit of our day; James Neale, Carberry J. Byrne, Thomas C. Levins, John N. Smith of St. James’ and Dr. John Power, V. G. The remains of the bishops of the See, except the first, were transferred from old St. Patrick’s to the crypt of the Fifth Avenue Cathedral after it was opened.
The parents of Cardinal McCloskey were buried in old St. Patrick’s and so were a son of the famous French general, Moreau, Capt. Pierre Laudais, of the navy, who fought with Paul Jones in the Revolution; Thomas, the father of the great lawyer, Charles O’Conor; Thomas S. Brady, father of James T. and Judge John R. Brady; Capt. James McKeon, of the army in 1812 and father of John McKeon; Andrew Morris, Stephen Jumel, Dominick Lynch and his numerous children; John B. Lasala, the Denmans, the Hargous, Binsse, Coughlan, Brandegee, De Londe, Shea, O’Brien and other prominent old New York families.
In the Eleventh Street graveyard the 41,016 dead are of a later period, but include many names of special local interest on the old stones, such as the Murphy, Lynch, Carroll, Hanly, Sweeney, Bradley, Davey, McMahon, Holahan, and other families. A local character, who died September 26, 1838, and was buried here, was an Italian named Joseph Bonfanti, who kept what might be called the first “department store” in New York. It was located at 297 Broadway, and it was his boast that no one could go into his store and ask for anything in fancy articles he could not produce for sale. He advertised in rhymes and some of the efforts in this direction are wonderful productions. Local fame had it that he kept poets on salary to supply his needs in this direction. His tombstone told that he was born in Monticello, December 9, 1798, was “universally esteemed as an affectionate husband, a kind father and a sincere friend,” and that,—
“Cheerful he journeyed through life’s chequered wild,
Honest, sincere, benevolent, mild.
As husband, father, friend, fulfilled his part,
Affection’s smile the sunshine of his heart.”
Capt. John McMahon had a monument erected to him by the Montgomery Guards, of whom he was commander. He was a native of Limerick, Ireland, and died aged 37 years on April 17, 1849.
Another epitaph was as follows:
“This tomb was erected by Rosanna, widow of John Connolly, Jr., carpenter, of Gargin, parish of Killaly, County of Galway, Ireland, in memory of the most affectionate of husbands, who died in New York on the 6th day of March, 1841, aged —— years; as also her daughter Mary, who died on the 10th of August, 18—, aged —— months, as also her son, Michael, who died on the 1st of August, 1840, aged —— months.
“This stone has been sent her by her father-in-law as a token of respect for her and love for his son John, her husband. May their souls rest in peace.
“Dated Galway, Ireland, 1846. This stone has been sent her by her father-in-law, Michael Connolly.”
The stone to the memory of James, son of Denis and Winifred Hanley, who died November 28, 1839, gave this advice:
“Weep not for me, my parents dear,
I am not dead but sleepeth here.
As I am now so you will be;
Prepare for death and follow me.”
On October 29, 1845, the Alsop farm of about 115 acres in Newtown, Long Island, was purchased for a new place of burial, and at a special meeting of the trustees of St. Patrick’s on July 31, 1848, it was ordered that “the cemetery at Newtown Creek, recently consecrated in part should be called Calvary, and placed at the disposal of the public; that after August 2 the Eleventh Street burial ground as well as the free vault at Fiftieth Street, should be permanently closed.” Calvary Cemetery began to be used August 4, 1848, when the first interment, that of Esther Ennis, was made. Subsequent purchases of land made the territory consecrated to the burial of the dead more than 300 acres. From August, 1848, to January, 1898, there were 644,761 interments there.
From January, 1898, to the present, there have been about 200,000 interments, thus making in round numbers 850,000 interments in all so far at Calvary Cemetery.