Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday: Male Cully (d.1902) & (d.1910) So They Rest On!!

Adopted Maternal Ancestry



Photo Taken by Mary Depew
One of the markers for the Infant Graves
New Hope Cemetery
Worcester, MA


Last week I posted about Wednesday's Child: Male Cully - Can I Name Him Joseph?  If you haven't read it check it out. In that post, I made a request on find-a-grave for a photo of the headstone of Male Cully still-born in 1910. Male Cully had an older brother who was stillborn in 1902.  It was my recollection that the lady in the cemetery office stated that the area in which my great uncles were buried had been a grave where other babies were buried together.  It is possible that they all were buried in separate graves...It was just an area where many babies had been buried.  When I was in Worcester, I was not able to find the gravesite area as it was a very cold and rainy day in April 2010.


Infant Cully Burial Card
Copy from April 2010
New Hope Cemetery

Well, my request for a photo of the headstone was claimed right away by Mary Depew.  We connected immediately through e-mail.  It appears that Mary and I have quite-a-bit in common.  Our Great Uncle's were musicians and lived and socialized within the same musical circles in Worcester & Clinton, Massachusetts & our uncles moved to NYC in the same year.  As Mary was being helpful to me, I also became helpful to her.  Call it Serendipity!!  I must call it The Ancestors are Speaking...I believe everything happens in its right time.

So, Mary went to Hope Cemetery in Worcester, Ma, something she likes to do on occasion for her own family research.  I let her know that the babies were listed as "Scully" which was incorrect, and should have said "Cully"

This is what Mary wrote me:


I could not exactly locate the 2 Scully infants graves.  I did find the area where some babies are laid to rest and there are some unreadable stones in the area BUT I do not believe there is a stone for them at this time.  I was able to locate some lot numbers that would border the area well enough to reasonably say the Lot #5395 would be within the area of 4 readable lot number markers.  So if you follow me - I found 4 markers that are about the four corners of the area so it leads me to believe 5395 would be in the middle of that area somewhere.  There were very few markers and there was even a pile of loose markers piled together in a heap and sucken in so that I could not even loosen them to read the numbers and return them.  Anyway - I am sending just the Scully pics in this email. 
My thoughts:  I wonder if the pile of loose markers piled together in a heap was a mass grave.  I guess It is possible that the markers became loose over the past 100 years and they were just piled together because no one knew where they went...Not sure..Just a thought.

So here are the wonderful photos that were sent to me.  All photos taken for me by Mary Depew.



Lot # 5149

Lot #5660

Lot #5429

Location where Infant Cully's are buried

Area outlining the area where Infant Cully's are buried.
 I am so grateful for the photos sent to me.  When I have an opportunity to fly back to Worcester, MA, I will see what I can do to make sure that the Cully infants gravesites are marked.  You would think that two little infants might be forgotten...I hope this never happens...Life was not lived but they still have a place in history...or at least in my family history.  I am pretty sure that these two small lives affected my Great Grandparents Ambrose & Nora Cully's lives.  I am sure that my Grandmother Agnes and Grand Uncle Osborne were wondering about their baby brother born in 1910.  It was told to me that they thought that there mother got sick when the doctor came with the black bag.


6 comments:

  1. This is so sad. The deaths of babies, stillborn or several months or years old, I'm sure they affected the family in many ways.

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  2. that's why when my Mom lost her child and I found her before she passed. She taught us the lesson how she couldn't see her baby back in the 50's. That's what encouraged us all when babies pass Mom said to hold them and spend time with them before they have to take them. love this........

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  3. I am going to Tennessee to visit my great grandmother's grave. One of her kids is missing and there is no record for him after age 10. I hope to find more about him because no child should be forgotten. I have to agree that these children held a place in the hearts of their families.

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    1. Ann, Please let me know how your journey goes into Tennessee. I wish you the best.

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