Mount Jerome Cemetery

Elizabetha

Hi all,
This is of no value to anyone research wise but just thought I would share it.... I went to Mount Jerome Cemetery today on the hunt for two ancestors. I had no idea of where to find the graves or what to expect, long shots really as I wasnt even sure if they were burried here. I went into the office and gave the names and the year of death and last known address and to my delight I'm told that they are burried here. Off I go with my little map and x marks the grave.... I find the first one, so sad as its a 'common grave' no headstone just a slab on the ground, the nice lad in the office had told me that there were 10 other people burried there too. After a little while I go on to try find the next grave, again I know its a 'common grave' on the way I notice a man sitting on one of the old graves reading a newspaper, his little dog running around beside him. 'gravedhunting? he asks me 'yes' I say 'bit of a maze though'. with that he hops up asks to see my map and continues to lead me to the exact grave, (they have numbers on them if you know where you are and what you are doing) He goes on to tell me that he used to be a grave digger in the graveyard so was pretty used to the layout and where to find the graves. He had lots of stories and info about Mount Jerome and without his help I would still be there toinght searching! On a different note, such a sad feeling standing over unmarked common graves..... our ancestors lives were not at all easy with so many sad storires and after grave hunting today and discoveing just a little bit more about where I have come from I cant help but give a smile of gratitude in their direction........

Jellybaby1

That's both a sad and happy story Elisabetha. The last time I went to Mt Jerome and tried to use their map and I went badly wrong. Tried to follow the map but brought me to the wrong place. I knew the grave had a stone so I gave up following the map and followed my nose instead, then I found the right grave. Lucky you met that nice chap to help you out though. I expect my next visit will be to a common grave too so not looking forward to that.

chughes

My parents and other ancestors are buried in Mount Jerome and, like the OP, my most recent find is a great aunt who is in a common grave. Including my parents, there are three other graves that I can visit that have headstones so, although I had got the grave details of the great aunt from the microfilm records in the Pearse St Library, I couldn't find it when I visited the cemetery.

The guy in the office was most helpful and told me that the grave I was looking for was a common grave and therefore unmarked. He told me the location in relation to other marked graves so I was then able to locate the exact spot.

You do have a sense of sadness that this ancestor is buried anonomously and what were the circumstances that led to her being interred here. I'm just glad that I found it and it is now on my list of graves to visit when I'm in Mount Jerome.

RGM

Elizabetha wrote: »

On a different note, such a sad feeling standing over unmarked common graves.....

I've come to expect not to see a stone when I visit family graves, but it's still disappointing when the moment comes. None of my family over here are in "common" graves, they are all buried with family, but most of the old lots are still unmarked. Just a couple weeks ago I went to an old cemetery in Philadelphia to look up three graves for three different lines... no stones.

If money were no object, I'd love to put something up.

It does make me appreciate the ones that do have markers, and especially the ones over in Ireland that are still looked over by family.

Elizabetha

I have to admit RGM, that when I saw the unmarked graves on Saturday the first thing that entered my mind was that maybe I should do something about it, but if I did that for one grave I would most likely end up getting headstones made up for all my ansesters in unmarked graves and I have a feeling that there will be quite a few!

P. Breathnach

Elizabetha wrote: »

... This is of no value to anyone research wise ...

I hope that you don't mind my disagreeing with you: this perspective is important to many people, including me. Genealogy for me is about actual people, not merely names on an ancestry chart.

Personally, I think it matters little that a grave is unmarked. It matters more to me that the person who occupies the plot is recognised as having in some way contributed to the history of the following generations.

Elizabetha

P. Breathnach wrote: »

I hope that you don't mind my disagreeing with you: this perspective is important to many people, including me. Genealogy for me is about actual people, not merely names on an ancestry chart.

Personally, I think it matters little that a grave is unmarked. It matters more to me that the person who occupies the plot is recognised as having in some way contributed to the history of the following generations.

Sorry PBreathnach, I didn't mean to offfend anyone by saying "This is of no research value to anyone" I said it simply because I knew that my day spent in Mt Jerome was really only exciting to me and didnt expect anyone else to take too much notice of what I put up on the forum..... I totally agree with you as I have done before with some of your posts that it is about discovering our ancestors and learning a liitle about how they may have lived and indeed admiring them. I have discovered a lot about my ancestors, no skeletons yet! Just ordinary, everyday people who were just trying to make their way in the world with their own little stories and that's thats good enough for me as I find it all fascinating. Sorry again if I offended you........

chughes

I mentioned in an earlier post that my perents are buried in Mount Jerome. They have been dead for some time now and about 7 or 8 years ago I arranged for the grave to be "serviced", if that's the right word. Basically they were to repaint the lettering in the gravestone and also to fill in parts of the grave that had subsided and also straighten up the grave surround.

The company based near the gate did this job and I seem to recollect a conversation I had with them where they said that they provided a free grave surround for unmarked graves if asked. It was only a very low, simple, fence-like thing. The next time I'm in Mount Jerome I must go in and ask them if my recollection is correct and if it is, does this also mean that common graves can be marked like this.

Elizabetha

Thats good to know chughes, I must ask next time Im around, something as simple as a surround would at least mark the grave of one of my ancestors in particular which just looks like a mucky patch between two well kept graves. It wouldnt even be noticed unless you knew it was supposed to be there. A simple surround would be a perfect touch...

HellFireClub

Elizabetha wrote: »

I notice a man sitting on one of the old graves reading a newspaper, his little dog running around beside him. 'gravedhunting? he asks me 'yes' I say 'bit of a maze though'. with that he hops up asks to see my map and continues to lead me to the exact grave, (they have numbers on them if you know where you are and what you are doing) He goes on to tell me that he used to be a grave digger in the graveyard so was pretty used to the layout and where to find the graves. He had lots of stories and info about Mount Jerome and without his help I would still be there toinght searching!

That old man with the Jack Russell dog is a well known character around Mt. Jerome Cemetery, he'd often have an open can of beer tucked away in his bag or in his jacket pocket. He is awful helpful but you do get the impression from him that if he helps you find a grave, that he'd expect a bit of a tip from you! In fairness he knows the place inside out and would save you hours rummaging around the place looking for a particular grave, I know he got a 20 Euro out of my auld lad once for all his help!

Jellybaby1

I plan to get to Mt.Jerome soon but if I meet yr man I won't be plying him with beer money I'm afraid. I'm not mean, just skint!

Elizabetha

It did cross my mind about tipping him but then I thought I might offend him... ah well!!

HellFireClub

Elizabetha wrote: »

It did cross my mind about tipping him but then I thought I might offend him... ah well!!

Haha he'd take the hand off ya! I was a whole weekend up there looking for my great great great grandmothers grave, I hadn't a hope of finding it because there was no headstone on it and she died & was buried back in 1916, but I had a map & a grave reference. Your man walked me straight to where the grave was, and told me to start digging a bit at the foot of the grave, and just under the muck, there was this old stone with the grant number of the grave I was looking for (the grant number chiseled into the stone that was buried under a few inches of muck, matched with the grant number that I had obtained from the grave reference in the research library in Pearse Street in Dublin..

Elizabetha

HellFireClub wrote: »

Haha he'd take the hand off ya! I was a whole weekend up there looking for my great great great grandmothers grave, I hadn't a hope of finding it because there was no headstone on it and she died & was buried back in 1916, but I had a map & a grave reference. Your man walked me straight to where the grave was, and told me to start digging a bit at the foot of the grave, and just under the muck, there was this old stone with the grant number of the grave I was looking for (the grant number chiseled into the stone that was buried under a few inches of muck, matched with the grant number that I had obtained from the grave reference in the research library in Pearse Street in Dublin..

haha!! well at least he knows what hes doing!

Jellybaby1

I wonder why it is so difficult to find the plot even though you might have a map and reference. Are the maps inaccurate? Or are they too difficult to follow?

RGM

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I wonder why it is so difficult to find the plot even though you might have a map and reference. Are the maps inaccurate? Or are they too difficult to follow?

Don't mean to be snide, but you don't see how finding a plot without a visible marker could be difficult?

In my limited experience, the biggest problem locating plots at old cemeteries is a lack of landmarks. I recently visited a large cemetery where entire rows were without stones and not all of the stones that did exist had reference numbers.

Jellybaby1

RGM wrote: »

Don't mean to be snide, but you don't see how finding a plot without a visible marker could be difficult?

In my limited experience, the biggest problem locating plots at old cemeteries is a lack of landmarks. I recently visited a large cemetery where entire rows were without stones and not all of the stones that did exist had reference numbers.

Well I won't take it as snide as you don't really mean to be. Apologies, yes, I did forget that those graves didn't have markers. I thought I had seen some form of numbering on the plots in some graveyards though, but maybe Mt.J don't have that.

Elizabetha

The lad in the office who gave me the map didnt explain to me about numbers on the graves, he most likely thought I had done this before. The numbers on the plots are well weathered too and you have to scrape the muck from them. But when you are shown once like I was by that oul' lad with the jack russel it should make it easier for me the next time Im grave hunting. Its like everything else it get easier the more times you do it.

HellFireClub

Elizabetha wrote: »

The lad in the office who gave me the map didnt explain to me about numbers on the graves, he most likely thought I had done this before. The numbers on the plots are well weathered too and you have to scrape the muck from them. But when you are shown once like I was by that oul' lad with the jack russel it should make it easier for me the next time Im grave hunting. Its like everything else it get easier the more times you do it.

That lad is well worth a 20 quid to help you out, I'd never have found the grave I was looking for without his help.

The grave I was looking for was the same as your own, a common grave with loads of people stuffed into it, it's sad to see your GGG Grandfather in there without as much as a headstone to give the family name but this has been the case for all my ancestors in Mt. Jerome, I think some of them ended up in the South Dublin Union as well, there was TB in the family as well, lived in tenements in Dublin, very sad when ye look back and see the poverty they lived in.

Elizabetha

It is sad Hellfireclub but it also makes you appreciate the fact that they were strong people, we wouldnt be here otherwise!

HellFireClub

Elizabetha wrote: »

It is sad Hellfireclub but it also makes you appreciate the fact that they were strong people, we wouldnt be here otherwise!

Me doing my family tree has inadvertently delivered something of a mid-life crisis for me! I've been lucky enough to be able to go back to the late 1700's in terms of my direct paternal line, and as I was sitting down looking at the paperwork, I couldn't help but notice two separate things:

(1) In terms of the last 7-8 generations of that line going back 250 years, me representing the most recent addition to the lineage, I'm probably the one who has the longest life expecancy, the best standard of living, the one in the least poverty, basically I suppose, the one who has never had it so good! If my ancestors could see how I, (and the rest of us for that matter!), live in 1012, with all the mod con's that we have and the standard of living that is still there, notwithstanding recessionary times, etc, we will never see the kind of hardship that our ancestors had to plough through.

(2) The fact that over the last 8 generations in my family line of forefathers (on the direct paternal line, meaning my father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc, etc, etc), I'm the ONLY ONE who has not been well married and with a few children at the age of 36.

Trying to reconcile (1) and (2), has really taken up a lot of headspace this year I have to say, when I look at the poverty and hardship that our ancestors (or at least my ancestors), had to just plough through, but then my generation have never had things better, and this is true generationally if you look back 200-300 years, you'd have to scratch your auld head and wonder what is going on these days....

Elizabetha

Yes, our generation have seen a totally different world to our ancestors. My maternal ancestors are a long line of labourers. As well as what I have found about what my ancestors everyday life seemed to be like through a course I am taking I have read a few books which really paint a picture of how Ireland would have been llike back then, not easy at all!

RGM

HellFireClub wrote: »

Me doing my family tree has inadvertently delivered something of a mid-life crisis for me! I've been lucky enough to be able to go back to the late 1700's in terms of my direct paternal line, and as I was sitting down looking at the paperwork, I couldn't help but notice two separate things:

(1) In terms of the last 7-8 generations of that line going back 250 years, me representing the most recent addition to the lineage, I'm probably the one who has the longest life expecancy, the best standard of living, the one in the least poverty, basically I suppose, the one who has never had it so good! If my ancestors could see how I, (and the rest of us for that matter!), live in 1012, with all the mod con's that we have and the standard of living that is still there, notwithstanding recessionary times, etc, we will never see the kind of hardship that our ancestors had to plough through.

(2) The fact that over the last 8 generations in my family line of forefathers (on the direct paternal line, meaning my father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc, etc, etc), I'm the ONLY ONE who has not been well married and with a few children at the age of 36.

Trying to reconcile (1) and (2), has really taken up a lot of headspace this year I have to say, when I look at the poverty and hardship that our ancestors (or at least my ancestors), had to just plough through, but then my generation have never had things better, and this is true generationally if you look back 200-300 years, you'd have to scratch your auld head and wonder what is going on these days....

I understand completely. I definitely feel the weight of past generations sometimes when I step back and wonder what exactly I'm accomplishing with my life!

I've been reading up on the famine recently. Almost all of my ancestors would have experienced it, and about half were in Ireland for the duration, not emigrating until many years later. Hard to fathom that they all made it through when 1 in 5 died, especially considering they were all Catholic and mostly farmers.

No wonder I had to go on a massive diet last year, my ancestors have been cheering me on at every meal!

Elizabetha

LOL! Us Irish eat potatoes like they are going out of fashion! Im reading a really eye opening book at the moment "The Great Famine" Irelands agony by Ciaran O Murchadha.

noelreilly

I too have a grandmother buried in a common paupers grave. Is it possible to buy a marker at the cemetery, or an engraved stone etc ?
Thanks

pinkypinky

Please don't reopen very old threads. I'd contact Mount Jerome directly to ask if you can do that. It will depend on whether the grave has been resold.