HICUZ 102

HI CUZ Blog 102

Copyright 1990 et seq, Donald Rowe

Reminder, your acceptance of this newsletter signifies that you will not use its contents to alter, and thus disrespect in any form or way, the historical religious beliefs, no matter what they were – or were not – of family members mentioned herein. This reminder specifically refers to performing LDS ordinances using any of the data in this or other HICUZ newsletters or blog posts.

 

An Irish B&B near where my Mom was born referred to a “White Strand” beach.

Source: Welcome to Castlecove Heights Bed & Breakfast Family run B&B with a very personal touch AND FREE WiFi! Skehanagh, Castlecove/Caherdaniel, County Kerry, Ireland  +353 87 2867674 castlecoveheights@gmail.com This is not a commercial endorsement, but merely a reference to a link describing a beach which has O’Connor/Rowe family significance. My parents named the Log Cabin my father built in Cape Elizabeth, Maine as “White Strand” at my mother’s request to remember a beach by that name near her birthplace in County Kerry, Ireland. I believe the reference in the B&B ad above is that beach.

Excuse my mental sloppiness if I included some of the following before. It notes the costs of burials in England, and the fact that due to limited burial sites several people were buried in the same grave ... as in much of Europe.

MLFHS: Catholic Burials
For those who are not so familiar with the Burial Acts, it may be useful to explain the background.

City burial grounds were becoming overcrowded and unsanitary in the 19th century and eventually, after a 10 year struggle by reformers, a series of Acts was passed to regulate city burials. The first of these covered London and by 1854 the same rules were extended to other cities. The main features were:

Closure of the worst graveyards
Restrictions on the remaining ones
Authorisation of municipal authorities to establish public cemeteries.

The restrictions could include deferred closure, restriction on the number of bodies in a single grave, special conditions for interments in vaults and minimum depth for the final burial in a grave.

The Acts named no names and it was left to the Home Office to issue 'Orders in Council' which identified the individual burial grounds and specified the closures and restrictions. It is the first of these which was the subject of the newspaper article.

Looking at the individual cases:

St Mary, Mulberry Street
This had possibly been closed nearly 20 years by the time of the Acts. There are surviving registers and the last burial recorded was in 1837. If it had still been open this burial ground under the church would certainly have been immediately closed.

St Augustine
When this was cleared, it was found that the coffins were crammed into almost every available inch - with as many as 10 or more layers and infant coffins filling the gaps between adult ones.

St Wilfrid
The registers seem to have been lost, but it was clearly well used. Lawrence reminded me of a case where there was to be an exhumation and the records were so bad that the grave could not be found.

St Patrick
The burial registers survive and were indexed by CFHS. This is probably the best record of early Catholic burials in Manchester

St Chad
Almost nothing seems to be available concerning burials - if it were not mentioned in the Order in Council it could be missed as a burial place!

Immaculate Conception
These notes are very interesting. 20 a day would contribute significantly to the numbers looking for burial, though would be still barely a third of the total. I had not heard of irregularities, but these would not be surprising, particularly if they were under pressure to take a large number of burials. Almost every cemetery seems to have attracted suggestions of breaking the rules. St Patrick’s was one case where a one-per-grave restriction was bent to the point of breaking. All the private cemeteries found ways to cheat and even Philips Park municipal cemetery was subject to an inquiry into irregularities.

MLFHS: Catholic Burials
I discussed this issue with Fr Lannon last week and today he has provided me with some information that may shed light on the issue.

He showed me a print-out from Pro-Quest Historic Newspapers, The Manchester
Guardian (1828 - 1900) Mar 25 1854"Burial Grounds and Cemeteries in Manchester"

This gives details of the restrictions placed on burial grounds and cemeteries at that time and the closure dates in 1855.  It lists all the graveyards affected, the RC ones being

The Burial Ground of St Chad's RC Chapel, York Street, Cheetham (York St

became Cheetham Hill Road).
The Burial Ground of St Patrick's RC Chapel, Livesey St
The Burial Ground of St Augustine's RC Chapel, Granby Row, and the vaults

under the chapel
The Burial Ground of St Wilfrid's RC Chapel, Bedford Street

this shows that St Augustine's, Granby Row, did not only have vaults under the church, but had a graveyard.   Similarly, the reference to St Chad's shows that there was a graveyard there.  The absense of St Mary, Mulberry Street, shows that burials there had already ceased.

There was another note from the Manchester Guardian about the same time stating that work on the foundations of a new school for St Augustine's. Granby Row, was disturbing the graveyard and that remains were to be seen lying on the surface -further confirmation of St Augustine's graveyard.

Fr Lannon also had some notes about the establishment of Our Lady, Failsworth.  This mission was established by a religious order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, hence the alternative name of the church.  Initially, four of these priests came to east Manchester around 1846 to serve the area of Moston and Newton Heath.  They established themselves in Fairfield. In 1849, they obtained land on Mill Lane where they transformed some cottages into a chapel and school.  They obtained more land on which they proposed a magnificent church.  The head of the order laid the foundation stone in 1850 bur progress was very slow. In the mid 1850s, the Catholic graveyards in the city were closed and Fr Daly was induced to offer his site as a Catholic burial ground for the city.  The notes state that as many as 20 burials took place each day - there is also a suggestion that burials even took place on a Sunday.  Eventually, this graveyard was closed by order of the Home Secretary because of 'alleged' abuses in the laying out of
graves.  The notes do not indicate when this happened but Gandy ("Catholic Missions and Registers 1700 - 1880, Volume 5, North West England" compiled and published by M. Gandy, 2nd Edition, 1998 (ISBN 0 9528879 2 4) states that St Mary's was the main place for Catholic burials until St Joseph's Cemetery, Moston opened in 1875.

MLFHS: Catholic Burials

Thanks for these prices. This confirms the differential in prices between residents and non-residents as well as providing another marker in terms of overall prices.

Their prices are a little lower than Southern's (though the prices I have are for 1880 so not really comparable) but their premium for non-residents is somewhat smaller - 50% on an adult public burial as opposed to 60% and 50% on a stillborn as opposed to 100%.

These prices are particularly useful as they show the pricing at the opening of the cemetery.

Another MLFHS member response
I spotted the following in the M/c Courier of 12th Sept  1857:

Fees  for private graves at Eccles New Rd cemetery: Salford Borough residents First Class- £3  3s 0 Second class- £2 2s 0 This class £1 1s 0   Others 1st- £4 4s 0 2nd- £3 3s 0 3rd- £1  11s 6d  Single interments in public graves for Salford residents  16 yrs of
age & over- 8s 7 yrs of age -16yrs - 6s under 7- 5s still-born infants- 2s 6d   Others 16+- 12s 7-16 yrs- 9s under 7- 7s 6d still- born- 3s 9d   Headstone inscriptions - 5s   

Another MLFHS member response
My information on burial charges is quite patchy and so even isolated figures such as this one provide some markers.

 ?3 in 1900 was not expensive to purchase a grave. Prices seem to vary between about £2 and £6 according to cemetery and class of grave. £1 for an interment seems also in line with Southern's prices.

Another MLFHS member response

I can't give you the fees for the 1889 burial in the RC section at Weaste that I mentioned.  However I can give you the cost of two burials which took place within six weeks of each other in 1900. The first was my gt.granddmother (the other one!) on 16th
April. Undertakers bill (Fyans & Gordon of Mcr):  £12-2-6 of which £3.3.0 was the cost of the new grave and £1 for "opening". The second was my grandmother on 26th May. Same undertaker £9-1-6 which included an unspecified amount for reopening the grave.

Another MLFHS member response
Thanks for this. Weaste would probably have been closer for his funeral than Philips Park, even though the latter would have been open for 3 years before his death. It was only recently I came across the discrimination in fees for non-residents and so I am not sure how widespread it was. There was a lot of friction between Manchester and Chorlton (before the latter was incorporated into Manchester) as Southern Cemetery was on their turf but their residents were required to pay 21 shillings for burial of an adult in a public grave as opposed to 13 shillings for a Manchester resident. They negotiated the premium down over about 20 years and eventually it disappeared when the borough was incorporated.

 If  26th can come up with a list of fees for Weaste or Philips Park I would certainly be interested.

Another MLFHS member response
 With regard to your paragraph re Weaste, my husband's ancestor was buried there in 1869 in the RC section in a common grave.  I doubt very much that they had money as he was living at a wharf in Castlefield at the time he died and there's no trace of money anywhere else in the family.  So perhaps Weaste were not so strict re non residents of Salford.  I've no idea why Weaste was chosen for this burial as no-one else in the family has been found there - yet.

Apologies for the trailing messages but as they are relevant for anyone coming into this topic late I have decided to leave them there.

Another MLFHS member response
Thanks for this additional information. The dates would be interesting. It is the period c1854 to 1866 which is of particular interest.

Before 1854, I think that the most likely reason why a Catholic would be buried in a CofE churchyard would be because they were paupers who the parish was required to bury. Geoff's  point about St Wilfred caused me to look again at the London Gazette and this  shows at http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/21875/pages/1540  a new Order in  Council in 1 April 1856 which lifted the previous closures of St Patrick and St  Wilfred and permitted further burials in existing walled graves subject to  conditions and in new graves subject to a limit of one per grave (a condition  applied to other burial grounds but which was eased in 1860 to allow up to four  in a grave).

Elaine's mention of Weaste is also, I am sure, relevant. I know nothing of Weaste's terms of business, but am sure it would have been open to non-residents of Salford. However, Southern Cemetery charged a premium price for outsiders (about 80% on the purchase of graves and 50% on interment) and the same may have applied at Weaste, which would have been a disincentive for the less well off.

St Wilfred was finally closed in 1865 (London Gazette 10 Oct 1865 page 4786). The lack of registers makes it difficult to know how many burials were accommodated in these latter years.

I have not yet found the Order in Council closing St Patrick’s but the end of burials in 1858 shown by the  registers makes it pretty clear that it would have been published around this  time.

 The restrictions on burials from 1856 are difficult to with the large numbers of burials recorded at St Patrick’s and the Manchester Courier 23  Jan 1858 has a report on infringements of the one-per- grave limitation and this refers to previous complaints by local residents.

     Brother Dan passed along these memories verbally, while Den wrote them.

WWII notes - from my brother Dan - March 2013

He related about some childhood friends, Fiddy and Buddy Barrett, neighbors of my older bothers. The Barrett family had four boys and one girl and lived nearby on Mitchell Road in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Both parents worked at the shipyard during WWII, building Liberty ships of about 10,000 tons. There were two shipyards (East and west) with about four ways each, where Liberty ships were churned out at a rate of one per four weeks (after learning curve). Dan said it was a welder’s paradise because of all the jobs welding. The Barrett boys had a huge comic book collection, several hundred books, and Dan, Dave and Den went over to read them.  Among those mentioned were “Green Hornet”, Blue Beetle.”

WWII Ration cards - from my brother Dan - March 2013

There were apparently several categories of ration cards. Dad as a Doctor had those allowing him greater access to tires and gasoline. Dan recalled that Cards A, B, C and D existed.  An A card let you receive up to 6 gallons of gas a month, while B got more and so on.  “Dad had all three.” Butter, eggs, bacon and everything else was rationed for the War effort – fats were collected to use in manufacturing explosive compounds. Our family had up to 150 chickens by the barn and a huge garden to grow vegetables. Dan said the Harriman’s, a neighborhood family, had up to 150 pigs. He recalled that local bakeries brought their rotting products to Mr. Harriman for his pigs, but that Dan, Dave and Den would steal some of the rotting pies, skim off the mold on top and eat them anyway.  He also confessed to helping Dave and Den throw rotten eggs at the pigs.

From my brother Den on WWII gasoline rationing - March 2013

Den recalled that one neighbor came up with a way to get around the rationing of gasoline. He would get a little gasoline in the fuel line to the carburetor, but fill the tank with kerosene (not rationed). After he started the car with the gasoline it would run, but smoke horribly as it ran on kerosene.

Racing on Higgins Beach – 1949 from my brother Dan - March 2013

Dan, Dave and Den and first cousin Buddy LaPolice from Stamford, CT decided to take a spin. It was either late fall, or early spring and the scene was Higgins Beach, with the tide out and the hard sand exposed. Dan said they raced three or four others cars. Beaches along Maine’s coast had been used for years by adventurous aviators for takeoffs.  Anyway, as the race ended the Ford they were in (1946 four door sedan) flipped on its side and Dave or Den’s head went through a side window.  Evidently there were no injuries and my brothers and Buddy tipped the car right side up, and raced again … until the local police showed up and ran them off.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 Dad had many patients, many of whom couldn’t pay in cash for medical care. Dad as the shipyard Doctor had to examine and verify each worker was fit and up to the rigors of hard physical work.

After the war one of Dad’s patients gave him a four door 1946 Ford sedan as payment. At the time gasoline cost just $.18 a gallon.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 Dan worked at the shipyard one summer after the war. This would have been after a year at Villanova University. Dad was really upset about Dan’s flunking out and the next year sent him off to St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Dan possibly got the job because the company’s owner, Mr. Walsh, was a friend. The shipyard had a contract to fabricate a new form of bomb, roughly 800 to 1,000 pounders, which were used in Korea and probably in Vietnam. The Walsh Construction company won the contract, which involved cutting long segments of 18 inch diameter steel pipe as the feeder stock. Dan explained the fabrication process as follows.

The pipe was cut into four to five foot lengths with huge cutting wheels, then the lengths  were put on carriages with rollers and heated in a furnace. After heating the segments they were removed, moved to a stamping machine, and pounded on/beat with huge presses to reshape the end into a point or cone. The ends were machined to allow insertion of fuzes of various sorts. Dan made $1.50 an hour, which was a large amount in that day. This would have been about 1951 or 1952.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 Catholic Diocese of Portland’s Youth Summer Camp – Camp Gregory. Dan went, or was sent perhaps, there one summer. The youth stayed in tents with open sides, six or eight youth to a tent with an adult counselor in the center.  As a member of the Cheverus High football team Dan had been to Camp Gregory before, with Coach Bill Curran and other football team members for pre-season conditioning.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 The Tryon sisters – They lived nearly across the street from the “Yellow House” on Shore Road. Dan said they were like 140 years old and owned about thirty acres, with a hill behind their home where the boys used to slide or ski in the winter.

The boys (Dan, Dave and Den) found a stray dog somewhere and brought it home, but one of the Tryon sisters said they shouldn’t have a dog. Dan said this “pissed them off” especially after Mom said “Tut … Tut … Tut!”

Dan said their barn was filled with “stuff” which included a 1927 sedan. Dan said the boys tried to buy it but they wouldn’t sell. (This was an era when licenses, car insurance, and highway safety were perhaps in their infancy.) Dan said they also wanted to mow her lawn, but that was turned down also.

Den separately said that the boys cut down (stole) Christmas trees from the Tryon’s farm and were selling them until one of the sisters came over to see Mom and demand the trees back.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 Dan said that the boys got their buggy, at least the one they used to collect WWII scrap metal, from the Lydon family. Mr. Lydon had a son John who was a friend of Dan, Dave and Den. The Lydons gave the boys one of the three buggies they owned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dan said Dad bought the 32 acre Mitchell House Road home …“The Farm” for roughly $6,000.00. It included the home, a barn and about three to four acres of cleared land.

From my brother Dan - March 2013 Skating on Mrs. Beyer’s pond – The entrance was along shore Road, opposite a cove as I recall. The pond formed at a small dam and the boys and others used to skate there in the winter. On one occasion Dan, Dave and Den were out on the ice on bikes and Dan went through. It took the others a half hour to get him out of the water. The bike was later retrieved, cleaned up and was “eminently usable.”

Ice Bicycling … By brother Dennis Rowe … 3/19/2013 “Here’s another one you asked for – keep the requests coming. 

No one ever called it that – back when we did it – or even thought of it in those terms. But ice bicycling it was and we immersed (no pun intended) ourselves in it.

Here’s how to ice bicycle – our version. In the middle of the winter when it’s really cold, cold like it got in Maine, and water in the local pond is frozen over, you set out.

After the streets (actually, Mitchell Road which ran by the farm) had been plowed and the small amount of traffic had hard packed whatever remained of the snow on the road, we’d venture forth.

Bundled up against the cold, we’d make our way half a mile up the road to Conelly’s pond across from the Plantation Stables.

Now Conelly’s pond came out almost to the road so it was just a matter of up & over the plowed snow to get to the frozen ice.

Then we’d cautiously proceed – the boldest and the biggest first – (Dan, the oldest, was the biggest while Dave and I were younger and smaller) on to the edge.

Conelly’s pond was maybe half a mile long and in places a third of that wide – but not everywhere. And you had to find spots where bushes parted enough for entry onto and exit from the ice’s surface. We always looked for choice spots where the openings faced one another.

The thing was, even though it was cold as hell out, you never knew just how thick and supportive the ice was. And three small kids on bicycles weren’t all that heavy.

So someone would always “go first.”  And, invariably, as that first rider rode across, you’d hear the sharp snap of the ice’s thin surface cracking.  It would crack through then progressibly radiate into larger cracks.  Sometimes you could almost notice the surface rippling.

But, because whoever ** (** whomever) was ice bicycling across the ice didn’t stop or go too slowly, he managed to get across. We never tried it over the length of the pond – just across. And we rode fast enough it didn’t seem to matter. Talk about tempting fate.

Unconsciously we must have all known what was inevitable – crash through! And then, sure enough the unlucky rider would end up crashing through the ice into the frigid water – I know, it was me one time.  And we thought the air was cold.

Luckily, the pond was only about waist deep at its deepest so there was no chance of drowning.  But the bicycle would fall over and disappear. Being kids we didn’t know how to retrieve a bike but a dried up pond next summer would help.

The cruelest part of ice bicycling was the unlucky rider having to get peddled home on your brothers’ bike while soaked through, you just shivered uncontrollably.

Were we back at it the following year?  You bet. And we dedicated ice bicyclists would’ve gone right out then if we thought the ice somehow might be thicker – and we had three bikes. (And if, Mom, the resident party-pooper didn’t intervene.)