Verifying What is Written in Stone III - William Barry (1883-1884)

 

This is part three of my series to see if the information on this headstone can be verified by the records.

The third burial in this plot was William Barry (1883-1884). William was the son of William Barry (abt. 1833-1902) and Winifred Coughlin, and the brother of Mary Ann from Part I. The headstone says that William died on August 24, 1884 at the age of 1 year, 4 months.

William's birth is recorded in the baptismal register from Immaculate Conception church as March 4, 1883, just three days before he was baptized. This is the only birth record I have found for William.  Searches of the NYC birth records have come up empty using so many search combinations, I thought I would fill a notebook. In fact, I have only found certificate information for two of William and Winifred's five children.

A municipal death record does exist, but lists William's date of death as July 24, 1880; one month off from the headstone. A parish burial record may exist, but as of now, according to the website for the Archdiocese of New York Archives and Records Management, burial and cemetery records are still maintained by the individual parishes or cemeteries. I take this to mean that they are not part of the records being digitized by Find My Past, at least not for now.

So, by these accounts, William's death date and age are slightly off on the headstone. At some point I will order at least some of the birth records for Donald's indirect ancestors and contact individual parishes for assistance with burial records, but I would like to have as complete a list as possible of all the records I am seeking before I make contact.

In the meantime, it appears that the information on the stone is slightly off again. Just another reminder that written in stone only makes the information permanent, not correct!