Month: April 2023

I kept running into “So Cath Cem” as a burial location in a death register for Fall River, Massachusetts. I spent way too much time trying to figure out where this cemetery was, or if it was even still in existence.

I tried searching FindAGrave for a bunch of the people buried there. I was hoping that if I could find just one, it would tell me the current name of the cemetery. I didn’t get any hits.

I scoured old city directories for Fall River. Often they have useful things like lists of parks and their locations, old city maps containing streets that are no longer in existence, and names and addresses of cemeteries. No luck.

I was starting to think maybe the land had been repurposed, which would have been sadcakes.

Oh, and Google was no help at all. Totally useless.

But then it occurred to me that I should search old Fall River newspapers. I was thinking, if the cemetery had been paved over, moved, or renamed, there might be an article in the paper. I hit the jackpot. I found a funeral notice for a priest buried there, and he has a FindAGrave memorial in St. Marys Cemetery. Another article mentioned South Catholic Cemetery being next to McMahon Street. McMahon Street runs along the west edge of St. Marys Cemetery.

I emailed FindAGrave this morning and requested they add an AKA, so that other people don’t spend hours chasing around in circles. They were fast! It’s already been added.

Tiny victories, y’all.