Gravesites

Monday we attended the funeral for one of Tom’s Cousins.

I figured this would be an opportunity to do some preliminary cemetery legwork prior to an outing with my sister and brother yet to be scheduled. So I prepared a spreadsheet with names, birth/death dates, cemetery and a space for gravesite info. When I was done I had 45 names on the list.

By the time the luncheon was over it was about 3 p.m. This did not leave us much time to get from Hodgkins, Illinois, where the luncheon was held, to Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside and do the look-ups.  I knew there was a kiosk at Queen of Heaven with a database of internments.

I did find a few relatives in the time I had, however, it is what I did not find that was the problem.  You see it was my understanding that the kiosk had burials from all Cemeteries in the Diocese of Chicago, however, it seems the database is incomplete.  I don’t know if the office staff there have additional information or not.  I may be able to find spouses if they are buried in the same or adjacent graves but if they are not then what. I don’t know how many graves are in Queen of Heaven and neighboring Mt. Carmel but searching randomly is not an option.

We have tentatively scheduled a visit to Queen of Heaven and Mt. Carmel later this month.  I hope to located as many gravesites as possible and photograph them to post here.