Providence, RI question for Marilyn

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:47 am

Thanks Marilyn,

I'll give it a shot and see what I come up with!

Carol

Post by **marilyn morning** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:13 am

Hi Carol,

You're welcome.

Let me know how you are coming along. It should take about three weeks to get those documents.

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **marilyn morning** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:44 pm

Hi Carol,

I made a quick dash to the RI Archives on my lunch today and did the look up for George. Send me a pm with your e-mail address and I'll scan the document to you later tonight. Yes, there is a cemetery listed so I'll try to find out if there's a marker soon. But for now, I have to get back to work.

George Cleriher 9months DOD 22 Feb 1915 at "City Hospital" (never heard of this hospital before now) he had Meningitis. Pocasset Cemetery is his final resting place. The attending Physician was Dr. Morrissey and Cometook was the undertaker.

There wasn't an entry for the stillborn baby.

Regards
Marilyn

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:31 pm

Thanks again Marilyn,

If I'm ever in Providence, I'll buy you lunch!!!

I've never heard of a cemetery office with those hours, but this isn't something that I have a lot of experience with.

I'm also not sure what the protocol was for stillborn babies. On the Rhode Island deaths list, this first baby is just listed as "s" Clerihew. At first, I thought that meant son, but it probably was for stillborn. As to where it would be buried, I don't know, but there was one cemetery near my home town that had a section called "Babyland". I remember someone saying that was for stillborns and "other" babies. Not sure what that meant, but even in the 50's and 60's illegitimate babies were not look upon kindly.

Carol

Post by **marilyn morning** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:02 am

Carol wrote

Thanks again Marilyn, You're Welcome!!

If I'm ever in Providence, I'll buy you lunch!!! It's a date...I'll take you to the Federal Hill area of Providence , lots of expensive restaurants

Hi Carol,

By the sound of it, Pocasset cemetery is most likely a family owned private cemetery. This cemetery could be full and closed, I've never noticed a mention of this cemetery, in any obituary here in RI, in my lifetime anyway. The recorded message that I heard when I phoned today, was the voice of an elderly women, who had retired many moons ago. Hopefully, the burial records have survived?

This reminds me of an experience of mine which happened when I had been searching for the gravesite of my gg aunt Mary Dixon Nelson, who was buried in Oaklawn cemetery in Providence. After calling the cemetery
numerous times and not receiving a return call back from the caretaker, I took measures into my own hands.

What happened next is priceless, to me anyways.

A short while after my giving up on a return phone call, I noticed an obituary for a person being buried in Oaklawn cemetery, so naturally I called the Funeral Director listed in the obit. He wasn't one bit surprised that the owner hadn't bothered to return my phone calls, because he didn't return the FD's calls either!! "Well how do you make the arrangements to bury someone in Oaklawn?" I asked. "Oh, I know where he lives and I drive over there to get him to open the ground"

was his reply.

At that point I just drove over there with my dog for protection and walked around until I found her stone

The Rhode Island Death Index that I found George's DC was for the years of 1910-1915, but I'll double check soon.

Regards
Marilyn

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:18 am

Federal Hill sounds wonderful, but by the time SP gets done with me, Golden Arches will be more likely!

I Googled Pocasset and found a website that was something like "darknecropolis". It did have some history and a bunch of pictures of gravestones, but a thunderstorm moved in and I had to disconnect. The power grid is not the best here and I own a eMac with a blown modem to show for it! Will get back there later.

SP is giving me fits, but I emailed them and got a confirmation that they will investigate. Ancestry is also acting up. The only way I can get there is to Google. My favorites list entry doesn't go through so I'm guessing that the real problem is either the MSN server or Windows Vista. Love my computer--when it works!

Love your story about the cemetery, too!

In 1972, my parents decided that they would be buried in upper Michigan which is where they planned to retire. This was my mother home area and one of their neighbors up there told my parents that they should check into cemetery plots right away because the township was planning to raise the price. They ended up buying two plots with four graves each--for $16. per plot. Can't remember what the price increase was!

Carol

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:58 am

Hi Carol,

According to Ken the stillborn births were never Indexed in the Death Registers. They're recorded at the end of the month's of the child's death.
Do you have an exact date for this stillborn's death, if not Ken said good luck finding the entry. Its not impossible, but more time consuming.

I also called Pocasset cemetery and spoke with Toni this morning. She's going to drive over to the single gravesite of George to see if there's a gravemarker? I didn't ask, but maybe the stillborn baby was buried in this plot first and then George followed? I'm not sure if that would have been allowed? But my nephew is buried at the foot of my father and the cemetery didn't consider the baby's burial as taking up two plots.

I'll be in touch
Marilyn

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:11 pm

Good Morning Morning (Marilyn)!

Thanks for contacting Ken and if you talk to Toni again, thank her for my sister and I.

Baby Clerihew's birth and death date are both Dec. 13, 1912.

I Googled Pocasset Cemetery again and the website I found says that Pocasset started out as the family plot of Charles Dyer who had a nursery at that location. It was incorporated as a cemetery in 1874. Someone named James Arnold recorded the cemetery Nov. 13, 1892 (Vol. 4, Pgs 1-571) but it doesn't say Vol.4 of what book? It does say that 390 stones pre-date the incorporation possibly indicating that several cemeteries moved to this location. There are pictures of some very interesting gravestones on the website.

Carol

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:30 pm

Good Morning Morning

Hi Carol,

Hello sunshine, wake up sleepy day! See what you started, I'll be singing that song all day now.

Ken should be able to find the baby's dc now, I'll get you a copy. Were you able to open those other files, I sent? Of course, I'll thank Toni or maybe you could drop her a note of thanks yourself. Certainly you must have the address of the cemetery, with all that googling you've been doing.

Now you opened my eyes to some local history. Pocasset Cemetery's address is 417 Dyer Avenue.

Post the link if you've saved it.

Regards
Marilyn

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:52 pm

The cemetery website is: www.darknecropolis/pocasset cemetery

It's kinda funky looking, but seems harmless. At least, I haven't had any problems with it.

What's Toni's last name?

Got the other files openned and can read them on the computer but when I try to print them out, they are too large. The far right column gets left off even when I print in landscape instead of portrait. Haven't had time to play with them, but that's ok. I was able to print out almost everything except the doctor's names and I can write those in.

Carol