Tombstone Tuesday - Donald's Barry and Coughlin Lines

Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NY, 1 July 2019

This headstone is located at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, NY which has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States according to Wikipedia. I'm 99% sure that I could lead you straight to any headstone in my family that I have personally visited but I am also 100% sure that I could not find this stone again without help. The size of this cemetery is breathtaking.

I don't remember exactly when I first saw a photo of this stone, but I do remember seeing it in person two years ago and being flabbergasted at the size of it. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, I mean how would you get all of that information on a "standard" headstone? That said, I'm sharing this particular photo with Donald standing next the stone so that you can get a good idea of its' size; Donald is 5'9".

This is one of my favorite headstones. It records 11 burials, three surnames, some family relationships, the purchasers of the stone, a home parish across the ocean, civil war service, the heartbreaking loss of young children, and it contains some great headstone symbols. It also reminds us never to assume that something "written in stone" is correct since Donald's 2nd great-grandmother's name is recorded three times with two different spellings.

The draped urn at the top of the stone is fairly common, representing the death of the flesh and the veil between the living and the dead. Interestingly, there are many interpretations of the IHS monogram and there is no way to know which motivated Winifred and Ann's choice. A blog post on this symbol can be found here. Between the two columns of names on the stone is a stem of ivy, which symbolizes long lasting connections, very appropriate for this plot. I assume the flourishes were just decorative and haven't found anything to tell me otherwise, but if do, I'll try to remember to update this post.

One of the goals of my current research on this part of Donald's family is to match the information found here to other records. Hopefully, I'll be able to share that soon.