List,
I will try to cobble together a post from the emails I have been exchanging with a new member of the board.
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me: It is possipal that the sextons records that date back many years were in the possession of Murry Bros. If someone else bought the business the records may still be around. [What have you got...]
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K.: Here is what I know.
Murray Undertaker was started in 1894 by John F Murray. In 1897 Henry J Murray became his associate thus the name change to Murray Brothers. In 1898 Frank E Murray joined after he completed his course at Champion School of Embalmers in Boston.
They started at 46 Park Street Worcester MA. The street name was changed Franklin Street. They were at this location for 12 years. When the building was sold they moved to Green St for 3 years. Then moved to 62 Franklin Street.
Their last location was 206 Main Street in 1924. After that I don't find them in the Worcester Directories. John F died in 1892. Henry died in 1944. Frank E died in 1938. In Frank's obituary it says he retired 13 years ago. Making it 1925. Could be they closed at that time.
I did check with St John's Cemetery. They called Rice & Kelly Funeral homes. They had no records from Murray Brothers. I also check with Worcester City Hall. They said try the Library or Cemetery. The Library said check the City Directories. that was in 2004.
I don't know about the Sexton records. Have you checked with St John's Church on Temple Street?
Here is information I have on Sexton's.
Henry Murray came to America from Ireland in 1832. He was a carpenter and built a number of churches in the county. He settled in Worcester. He was the First Sexton at St John's Church. When he died in 1873 his son John F Murray replaced him as Sexton. When John died in 1892 his son Frank E Murray took over as Sexton. In Frank's obituary his services were at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. So when he left St John's I don't know. Or who took over as Sexton after him.
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Me: I will look for newspaper articles from 1924-1926 for info on the closing of Murry Brothers. If you haven't already. ...hate to duplicate your research...I am looking for the Sexton records, and info on Thomas McGinnis, .... [Tatnuck Burial Ground]... closed, the bodies removed and reinterred in St. John's Cemetery. Murry Brothers were hired to move 'em in 1907. There are people that have seen some church records pertaining to the move but no one has claimed to have seen any record from the Funeral Home. I hope to find out if the business was sold and the records went with the new owners, or if they remained with the family, or if we will never know.
There is a website that has a Worcester Irish geneaology section. It is Worcestertalk.com, .... You will recognize me as Worcmic on that webpage. John
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K.: Henry Murray was my... [ancestor]The information about the first Sexton is from a book.
Historic Homes and institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County Massachusetts. Prepared under the editorial supervision of Ellery Bicknell Crane. Vol IV. Pages 114 & 115. Listed under Frank Edward Murray.
I happened to find these books ( 4 ) at the ...library and started looking up family names. I was surprised to find the Murray family history there. ...
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Me: Thank you for the email, I am glad you will be part of Worcestertalk. ...We (you or I first) will post info there on the Murrys.
Have you looked for Henry Murry in the plot he bought on Sept. 19th 1847: Sec. E 3/1?
Is the John you refer to John F. the husband of Mary? They buried a daughter in Tatnuck, and a child in 1847 and 1848.
I will wait untill I have read the stuff you sent, then start a post ...
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K.: I have been away. I just mailed out to you the information we talked about that I had. Strange as it seems I was on Ancestry and found a Murray relative. I have been in touch and am waiting for more information from her.
She is [Henry'sdecendent]. ...She has the family bible. I have been trying to find out why St John's Cemetery has no record of the burials of John F Murray on 7-Oct-1892 and Henry Murray around 16-Aug-1873. Their death certificates say they were buried there. Where they are in unknown to me.
...I am looking for the marriage date of John F Murray & Julia M O'Brien around 1853-1857. I checked with City hall and NEGHS and have found nothing.
I did check out Worcester Talk. Very interesting. I am now listed under Kathleen on that site.
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Me: Those plot cards (therefore St. John's Cemetery records) are notoriously incomplete. I have not figured out why, or when things got better. Thomas McGinnis's plot card is empty. It seemed to me that he kept himself out of the records. But, I never asked about any other plots the McGinnis might have owned. The deaths from that family, the ones that were recorded, might have been recorded on another plot card....
It might sound like conspiracy theory, I don't buy the 'sloppy sexton' claim made by some historian. (I don't remember where I read it at the moment, but somewhere someone blamed the incomplete records on one of the sextons, but not by name) I think that they didn't want too much written down. The church had to keep certain records, but death records wasn't one of them. This was a place they could "neglect" to write some things down.
Why?
o "'Cause it's none of anybody's business?" .... could that be it? They just didn't record much on themselves and those they wanted to 'protect'? But...Worcester's death records says that an unrelated woman died in 1852 and was buried in St John's. She is not listed on any plot card, that I can find.
o To protect the small and scattered Catholic population from anti-Catholics, 'Know-nothings,' and the like? Maybe early on...but John F. died in 1892, and the woman in 1852 lived in Worcester.
Maybe they did write them down....
o Lost volumes? But ...the missing burial records (i.e., there is a Worcester record of death but they don't appear in St. John's Cemetery records) are mixed-in, chronologically, with others that are recorded. Nothing exists by way of Tatnuck records and the town of Worcester wasn't recording many (enough?) Catholis deaths in the 1830s. The town got their death info from sextons back then, so it seems he wasn't sharing. ... In any event, I don't doubt the Henry is right there in his plot, E row 3 Lot 1, ....
K.: I have a copy of the lot card. Sec E Row 3 Lot 1. Buried there are Henry J died 1944 -son, Catherine died 1956- daughter-inlaw, and Margaret died 1889 my Henry's wife, but no Henry who died in 1873.
...John F was married to Julia. I know they had one child Henry who died in 1850. I know Henry and Margaret had 3 children who died. Francis 1840, Mary 1846, and George 1848
I have a copy of lot card again under Henry Murray purchased 7/21/1853. Sec E Row 3 Lot 2. Buried there are Julia died 1917;John F's wife. Margaret, died 1901 his daughter, but no John F who died in1892.
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Me: I did not know about Francis son of Henry and Margaret Murry (always excuse my spelling, sometimes it is not my misspelling, other times it is thiis keyboard.) Francis died in 1840 this means the family had a plot at Tatnuck earlier than I knew. I don't see him on the plot card. Did you find his death in the town of Worcester death records?
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K.: Interesting theory. Here's one. What if because Henry & John both had been sextons. Someone at St John's forgot to record where they were buried. Or could St John's Church have a special place where they buried priest and sexton's. Or
they are buried in the plots and St John's cemetery didn't record them.
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Me: I am guessing that this is the case. I wonder when the sexton stopped being "St. John's Cemetery," or if that was never really the case.
Did Murry and McGinnis both serve as sextons simultaneously? I seem to find sources that would suggest that?
