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From: "Bill & Cathy McGrath" <>
Subject: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] St. Joseph's Cemetery - O'Connor Name
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:47:45 -0400


Yesterday was the first time I looked at the St. Joseph's Cemetery photographs put on line by Pat Connors. They are fantastic. What a wonderful help to genealogy researchers outside the Troy Area.

A. I have the following comments on my O'Connor monument photographs:

1. INDEX 6-306 - This photo shows the extremely large O'Connor monument which I assume was erected by my grandfather, WILLIAM O'CONNOR, when his son, JOSEPH O'CONNOR, was hit by a car at age 8 in front of the family home at 739 Burden Avenue, Troy. My grandmother, MARY ELIZABETH CARROLL, who at that time was 9 months pregnant with son FRANCIS O'CONNOR, was sitting on the front porch and witnessed the accident.

2. INDEX 6-307 - Picture shows two small curved stones with raised name of JOSEPH on one and FRANCIS on the other. Both JOSEPH and FRANCIS were brothers of my mother, MARY ELIZABETH O'CONNOR McGRATH. Joseph O'Connor was born in Troy on January 21, 1910 and died November 16, 1918. Francis O'Connor was born in Troy on December 3, 1918 and died October 7, 1920.

The photograph shows only part of the inscription on the bottom of Joseph's stone. Full inscription is:

A precious one from us has gone
A voice we loved is stilled
A place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled

Is this an old Irish prayer? In the biography of MICHAEL COLLINS, by Tim Pat Coogan, there is a photograph of a prayer card for DENIS O'NEIL who died June 5, 1950 which has an almost identical prayer:

A light is from our household gone
A voice we loved is stilled
A place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled.

DENIS O'NEIL, by the way was from Nenagh, Tipperary which is where my O'Connor's came from.

There is no inscription on the stone for Francis except the dates 1918-1920. However, the Troy Times for October 7, 1920 had the following poem in the obituary write-up:

A bud the gardener gave us,
A pure and lovely child;
He gave it to our keeping.
To cherish, love and guide,
Just as the bud was open
To the glory of the day,
Down came our Heavenly Father
And took our flower away.

3. INDEX 6-308 - Small curved stone with raised name FATHER. This stone is for my grandfather, WILLIAM O'CONNOR, born in Troy on November 24, 1880 and died October 10, 1941.

4. INDEX 6-309 - Small curved stone with raised name MOTHER. This stone is for my grandmother, MARY ELIZABETH CARROLL, born in Hurley, NY on February 7, 1872 or 1873 and died September 17, 1960. Stone shows birthdate of 1876 which is not correct. My grandmother seemed to get younger and younger in every census.

5. INDEX 6-310 - Another view of the large O'CONNOR stone which is in beautiful condition.

B. Additional comments on the O'CONNOR gravesite.

1. Also buried at this site without a stone, is my brother WILLIAM McGRATH, born in Troy on May 9, 1924 and died May 18, 1924. To distinguish me from this first William, I was named WILLIAM O'CONNOR McGRATH at birth.

2. A new small curved stone with the raised letters DAUGHTER has been placed to the right of the MOTHER stone. This is for my aunt, AGNES THERESA O'CONNOR, born in Troy on April 19, 1912 and died October 12, 2002. Stone when placed after the pictures were taken by Pat.

3. In front of the O'CONNOR gravesite and slightly to the right, are two small stones in the ground labeled MOTHER and FATHER. These are for my great grandparents, TIMOTHY JOSEPH O'CONNOR, born in Nenagh, Tipperary on December 1836 and died August 8, 1912 and CATHERINE McCORMICK O'CONNOR, born in Dunbin, Louth in March 1850 and died May 18, 1923. These stones were not photographed.

4. Also, buried in this plot with no stone markings were the following children of my great grandparents:

PATRICK HENRY O'CONNOR, born in Troy February 6, 1888 and died February 18, 1917.
GRACE FLORENCE O'CONNOR POST, born in Troy February 3, 1893 and died April 25, 1924.
MARY CATHERINE O'CONNOR, born in Troy July 20, 1875 and died October 12, 1963.
CHARLES O'CONNOR, born in Troy October 30, 1890 and died April 9 1964.

A nephew and godson of MARY CATHERINE O'CONNOR, however, recently had a large stone erected in memory of MARY and her brother CHARLES O'CONNOR. Stone was placed after Pat took her pictures. Mary O'Connor, by the way, was a co-owner of DAVE'S GRILL in South Troy which is mentioned in the story on Dave's Grill in the Local History Section of the TIGS website: www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/

Regards,

Bill McGrath
Clifton Park, NY



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