Our Brooklyn Crowns - RIP

I last visited the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn in January of 2010. At that time, I was just beginning to learn about my Crown grandmother's family, and I thought it was a miracle to find the family grave of my g-grandfather, John J. Crown, and 8 other Crown and Connors relations. Awesome.

But alot has happened since then, and I have learned a great deal more about the previous generation of Crowns, the ones who emigrated to New York around 1870 from County Leitrim, Ireland. Patrick Crown and Ann Clancy had five children in Ireland before emigrating, and four more after that. What happened to them all?

Well, as time marches on, the Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Brooklyn have now listed their burials online. It turns out that Patrick and Ann, and five of their children are also buried at Holy Cross - I just didn't know to look for them back in 2010! We should also remember four of their children buried in the same plot who did not survive to adulthood: Catherine, John, Manus, and Margaret. The interment date for all these children is October 11, 1888, which is a puzzlement to me because I have death records for Catherine and John shortly after arrival in 1870. (In fact, my g-grandfather, John J. Crown, was probably named for his brother, John, who died shortly before my g-grandfather's birth). It's true that 1888 was a hard year for Brooklyn with over 1400 deaths from typhoid fever as well as a small pox epidemic going around. When our gg-grandmother died in July 1888, it seems possible that one or both of the other younger children, Manus and Margaret, also perished, and Patrick decided to buy a bigger plot at Holy Cross. My guess is that he moved the graves of his other children and they were all interred with their mother at the Holy Cross family grave. Patrick would join them there in 1903.

So now we know where our Irish emigrant ancestors are buried. Between these two graves at Holy Cross, we have accounted for both the gg-grandparents as well as their nine children, including the spouses of the two children who married, as well as three of their grandchildren (one being Richard J. Crown who died in childhood and for whom my father was named). All these people who traveled so far to build a new way while also facing so many struggles and so much suffering - it was not easy. May they be remembered by us and may they rest in peace.

And with all that said, now that we have a database to look at, I can't help but notice there are a number of other Crowns buried at Holy Cross, several with much earlier burial dates. Were these Crowns related to us? Is it possible that when Patrick came to New York, he already had other family there? Well, it's alot to ponder, and while I'll always be curious, I'm at the moment feeling satisfied with learning what we have in the last few years about our remarkable Crown family.