Grave Concerns

Our objective today (Monday July 25th) was to visit the graves of our relatives. This is part of my overall objective at cementing family heritage.  Holy Cross Cemetery in Cleveland is where my father and maternal grandparents are buried (along with an infant cousin or two). My mom was going to accompany us but the temperature outside was in the 90s and very humid. So she decided to stay home and and try to rest and keep cool.

I also wanted to vist the grave of my father's god father, Uncle Frank. My mom told me that both sets of her grandparents are also buried at the same cemetery, St. Mary's Cemetery on West 41st Street. In my research this morning, I discovered that the office at Holy Cross has the records for St. Mary's.

For some reason, I have trouble finding my Dad's grave. We were walking up & down the rows in the hot sun looking for his stone. Just as we were about to give up, I found it. Turns out I had parked the car almost directly in front of it but the grass had slightly obscured the last name. After clearing away the encroaching grass and saying a prayer, we proceeded to my grandparents grave. Finding that was a bit easier but we also did some land scaping with our hands. I think my father would've been pleased we got our hands dirty.

We stopped in to the office and they very kindly gave us the details on the graves at St. Mary's, down to the exact plots.  This cemetery is located in an old neighborhood that is home to many poor immigrants.  The picture of the cemetery I had in my mind was surprisingly accurate. We quickly found the Uncle Frank's stone and said a prayer. Then we found plots for both of my maternal great grandparents, took pictures of each, said a prayer and got out of there.

We wanted to stop at the Monroe Street Cemetery but it was locked up because the Gatehouse is falling apart. I have paternal relatives buried there. Since we visited this cemetery during a previous visit, we decided it would not risk going inside the fence.

Rick (standing on mezzanine) - interior of West Side Market.

Being in the area, we stopped in to check out the West Side Market. I'm pretty sure that both my paternal and maternal ancestors worked here. Lynn was not impressed with the meaty aroma and food safety practices she observed. We decided not to buy anything here. But the architecture is fantastic and if you like these kinds of markets, this is the place.

We then hurried home to check on my mom and to get ready to go to this evening's Indians game.