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Prospect Cemetery - Glasnevin


[Burgess]

This is the Christopher Burgess's grave as I eventually found it. [BA 57 South]

It was difficult to find for two reasons. Although I had an old family photo taken shortly after 1923, which showed O'Connell's tower, and a precise reference to the grave, trees had meanwhile grown and there was no proper guide to how the grid system operated.

I have since figured this out and will share this precious knowledge for a price!
It was also overgrown with some very stubborn ivy which I had to remove with my nails and rub the remaining clay off with my fingers. Next time I'll come prepared.
I eventually revealed the inscription which was as follows:

ERECTED
BY

CHRISTOPHER BURGESS
45 JAMES'S STREET
IN LOVING MEMORY OF HIS DEAR WIFE
SARAH
WHO DIED 5TH OCTOBER 1906
AGED 54 YEARS
QUEEN OF THE HOLY ROSARY PRAY FOR HER
ALSO OF HIS SON IN LAW
ANDREW DUFFY
WHO DIED 23RD MAY 1923
HERE ALSO RESTS THE ABOVE NAMED

CHRISTOPHER BURGESS
WHO DIED 11TH DECEMBER 1928
AGED 87 YEARS

RIP



The only strange aspect of this is the inclusion of Christopher's son in law Andy Duffy, who was married to his daughter Lil who survived him until 1957.
But there was more to come. The side of the stone named the others who were buried here subsequently:

AND HIS DAUGHTERS
MARGARET BURGESS
DIED 16TH JUNE 1948
CATHERINE BURGESS
DIED 8TH SEPTEMBER 1948
ELIZABETH DUFFY
DIED 11 NOVEMBER 1957
CHRISTINA BURGESS
DIED 20TH JULY 1972


These were his unmarried daughters (at least most of them, and with the exception of Lil who was joining her husband Andy Duffy)
This is John Burgess's grave. [AI 110 St. Patrick's]

John was Christopher's eldest son and also a bootmaker.

The inscription reads:

In Loving Memory
of

JOHN BURGESS
DIED 10TH JANUARY 1953
HIS WIFE
TERESA
DIED 24TH OCTOBER 1968
AND THEIR SON

MATTHEW
DIED 12TH OCTOBER 1985
ALSO THEIR DAUGHTER

SARAH
DIED 9TH MARCH 1996
R.I.P.
This is the unmarked grave of two sisters,
BRIDGET and JULIA BURGESS, [ID 21 St. Paul's.]

They both died of nephritis and both were married to Nicholas Fleming.

Bridget was married in 1906 and died in 1918.

Julia was married in 1921 and died in 1923.


[Mortimer]

This is Joseph Mortimer's grave [SE 206 Garden].

It dates from 1861 when his first newborn was buried.

It is unmarked.

Current occupants are:

Newborn - 1861
William Thomas (1yr 2mths) - 1865
John (1yr 3 mths) - 1873
Joseph (55yrs) - 1875
Mary Anne (57yrs) - 1900
William (32yrs) - 1902
This is Patrick Mortimer's grave. [TD 35 St. Paul's]

The inscription reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
PATRICK MORTIMER
DIED 11TH JUNE 1918
HIS WIFE

SARA
DIED 7TH JULY 1958
AND THEIR DAUGHTER

MARY
DIED 25 JULY 1921
RIP
This is Ellen Mortimer's grave. [KL 274.5 St Patrick's]

Ellen was the sister of Patrick Mortimer (My grandfather).

She is the sole occupant of the grave which has not been purchased.

The grave is unmarked.

She died at 11 Mountpleasant Place, Rathmines, on 23/11/1928 of tubercular laryngitis and congestion of the lungs.

Cemetery records record her age as 60. The death cert records 64 (reported by next-door neighbour).

She was born on 28 October 1862 so she was actually 66. [Thanks to Michael Campion for this.]
This is Francis Mortimer's grave [CG 49]

It is unmarked.

The occupants are Francis, brother of my grandfather Patrick, and his aunt Eliza, sister of Patrick's mother Mary Anne Conneely.

The grave is owned by Mary Anne.

This is a strange one for a number of reasons.

Mary Anne herself died in 1900 and the first burial here is her sister Eliza who died on 20 March 1918. So was the grave bought in anticipation of Eliza's death some 20 years at least before it happened? Did Mary Anne expect to be buried here herself as there were already four occupants in her husband's grave?

Why is Francis buried here but not his wife. Francis died on 19 December 1926 in the Work House. Had his wife Mary written him off and consigned him to the Mortimers for burial. He is shown as late of 168 Parnell St. which is where Mary was living up to about 1940.

This is Mary Mortimer's grave [St. Patrick's MK 221.5]

Mary Alicia Finn was the wife of Francis Mortimer. Francis (see above) died in 1926 and Mary died on 25/01/1947 aged 78. She stayed on in the family house at 168 Parnell St. after Francis's death and until around 1940 and then appears to have moved around a number of houses. She died in St Kevin's Institution and her last previous address was 6 O'Brien's Place. Cause of death was senility.

She is buried with her own family, the Finns, as Francis is buried with his, the Mortimers.

The other occupants of the grave are:

Mary's brother John (d. 11/06/1941 aged 72)
John's wife Sarah (d. 6/11/1937 aged 75)
Mary's brother Thomas (d. 12/01/1951 aged 76)

The gravestone simply records Sarah's death.

See the previous generation of Finn's below.




This is the grave of Thomas Mortimer [CD 73 St. Pauls]

Thomas died on 13 April 1955 aged 60.

Assuming that Thomas Mortimer, son of Francis, was buried in Glasnevin, this has to be him. And the age does tally.

There are, however, two oddities.

I had assumed that his wife was Josephine on the basis of the Voters Register and the wife here is Mary (died 28 August 1976, aged 78).

Thomas was listed in the 1911 census, at age 15, as an apprentice book maker (I don't know if that was books or bets). Did he subsequently change course and become a mechanic.

So for the moment I am taking it that this is our Thomas and I will be out there looking for other clues.

There is one other occupant of the grave, John Francis Connell, of Bride St. He died in 1920 and does not appear related. The grave was not bought when Thomas died, but a son of Mary, Patrick J Mortimer, seems to have bought it before or at the mother's death.




[Dwyer]



This is Uncle Mick and Aunt Agnes's grave [qj 199 :all-200]. Graves are normally half a number wide. This appears to be two numbers wide, the width of four normal graves.

The inscription reads:

In loving memory of
MICHAEL F. DWYER
7, Iona Drive, Glasnevin
died 18th January 1976
his wife
AGNES
died 7th February 1991

RIP

There is also a supplementary plaque, at bottom of photo, which reads:

Erected by
his brothers and sister
IN LOVING MEMORY
of


The supplementary plaque caused us a bit of headscratching at the time. We took it initially to apply to Michael senior but this did not make sense as, when Michael died in 1976 the only siblings still alive were Bridget (Bea - d. 5 July 1977), Willie (d. 11 January 1986) and Mollie (d. 1 August 1987). On closer inspection of the photo, it appears that it may apply to Michael junior who died a few years ago. Then it would make sense in referring to his brothers (Billy, Brian and Desmond) and sister (Miriam). We'll have to look under the pebbles next time we're up there.



[Fleming]

This is Old Nick Fleming's grave. [DG 76 Garden]

There is no gravestone.

The grave area is effectively the bottom right hand quarter of the photo.

The following are buried there:

PETER FLEMING            d. 31/12/1847   aged 34
CATHERINE FLEMING    d. 27/1/1848    aged    6
MARY GALE                     d. 9/10/1858    aged 80
[all of Blackhall Row]

MARY FLEMING               d. 10/6/1877    aged 57
[of 3 Geraldine Tce., Cork St.]

NICHOLAS FLEMING        d. 2/12/1912    aged 66
[of 21 Phoenix St., Inchicore]


[Finn]

This is the grave of Patrick Finn [FA 58.5]

It is unmarked and Patrick is the owner.

Patrick Finn was Francis Mortimer's father in law.

He died on 5/11/1931 at his residence and pooulterer's shop,
54 Lower Dorset St., Dublin, aged 90.

The only other occupant of the grave is Patrick's wife Jane, who died on 5/1/1892, aged 52.





[Kelly]

This is Aunt Nora and Uncle Tom's grave [oj 225½].

The inscription reads:

In loving memory of
NORA KELLY
died 2nd December 1955
also her loving husband
THOMAS KELLY
died 5th November 1962


The gravestone was inaugurated at a small family gathering on 28 October 2012 in the year of the 50th anniversary of Tom's death.




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