Burial Records at St. John the Baptist Church

St John the Baptist Catholic Church & Cemetery in 1907
(located center of this photo)



Family History Update
June 14th, 2005


I recently traveled over to St John’s and reviewed once again in great detail the church’s burial records. Listed below are some details of our family burial records that are currently recorded in St John’s books.

Grace R Silverthorn
Died March 20th, 1930
Buried March 24th, 1930 and interred in St John the Baptist Churchyard
Age at Death “49”
Grace Silverthorn was the daughter of Patrick and Hannah Gallagher, the sister of William Gallagher I and the wife of James Silverthorn.

Charles E Silverthorn
Died October 8th, 1954
Buried October 12th, 1954 and interred in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Age at Death “19”
Cause of Death “Leukemia”
Address at Time of Death was 646 Wagner Ave Lafayette Hills, PA.

Raymond J Silverthorn
Died December 22nd, 1966
Buried December 27th, 1966 and interred in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Age at Death “64”
Cause of Death “Cardiac Arrest”
Address at Time of Death was 4333 Pechin Street, Philadelphia PA.
Raymond Silverthorn was the son of James and Grace Silverthorn.

Mary Silverthorn
Died October 22nd, 1970
Buried October 26th, 1970 and interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Age at Death “64”
Address at Time of Death was 4333 Pechin Street, Philadelphia PA.
Mary Silverthorn was the wife of Raymond Silverthorn.


As you know the Silverthorns were not only related to the Gallaghers but were good friends with the Gallagher family so it is no surprise that one such Silverthorn would stand as godparent to a Gallagher baby. Raymond Silverthorn was the son of James Silverthorn and Grace Gallagher. He was also a very good friend of William Gallagher II. Therefore, when William and Anna Gallagher’s third child was born, Raymond Silverthorn stood as godfather to that child who was known as Colum Eugene Gallagher. (Uncle Gene)

There were a few other burial records I came across in the books of St John’s that also may be of interest to those of us who love family history. I came across Katherine E Malervy’s burial record and that of her son in law Mahlon Nicholson. They are as followed.

Katherine E Malervy
Died September 17th, 1959
Buried September 22nd, 1959 and interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Age at Death “69”
Cause of Death “Heart Failure”
Address at Time of Death was 3827 Terrace Street, Philadelphia PA.

Katherine E Malervy was the daughter of John and Ella Boland, the sister of Agnes McCaffery, aunt of Anna Marie Gallagher, wife of Daniel Malervy and mother of Helen Nicholson.

Mahlon Nicholson
Died November 10th, 1972
Buried November 14th, 1972 and interred at Westminster Cemetery
Age at Death “58”
Cause of Death “Cancer”
Address at Time of Death was 3871 Manayunk AVE, Philadelphia PA.

Mahlon Nicholson was the husband of Helen Nicholson and father of Helen and Regina Nicholson.


Another burial record I came across at St John’s was of John G Keller. John was the son of John and Elisabeth Keller and the husband of Sally Gallagher Keller. Sally was the youngest of Patrick and Hannah Gallagher’s four children.

John G Keller
Died May 29th, 1947
Buried June 2nd, 1947 and interred at St John the Baptist Churchyard
Age at Death “65”
Cause of Death “Heart Disease”
Address at Time of Death was 3799 Cresson Street, Philadelphia PA


For those of you who are from the Weleski/Schroeder sides of the family, there were several burial records I came across at St John’s also.

Eva Bednarski
Died October 12th, 1945
Buried October 17th, 1945 and interred at Westminster Cemetery
Age at Death “64”
Cause of Death “Cerebral Hemorrhage”
Address at Time of Death was 136 East Street, Philadelphia PA


Peter Bednarski
Died December 12th, 1945
Buried December 17th, 1945 and interred at Westminster Cemetery
Age at Death “60”
Cause of Death “Heart Disease”
Address at Time of Death was 3763 Cresson Street, Philadelphia PA

Mary Lowry
Died February 14th, 1968
Buried February 17th, 1968 and interred at Westminster Cemetery
Age at Death “66”
Address at Time of Death was 4334 Boone Street, Philadelphia PA


It is difficult to locate individual family members buried at St John the Baptist Churchyard for two reasons; St John’s cemetery records only list the Family Name and the Name of the Lot Holder. The records give the location of the graves and indicate whether or not a Headstone was placed upon the grave but the records do not list who may be in those graves. This fact can really frustrate a family genealogist. For example, when Mary Keller Gallagher purchased the lot to bury her brother John Keller, the cemetery record listed Mary as the Lot holder and Keller as the family name on the grave. However, no where does it list who may be in that grave. If the person buried in that churchyard happened to be a member of that church and had a funeral mass then the burial records would list where they were interred whether it would be St John’s or any other cemetery. The problem occurs when the person interred in St John’s was from another parish.

Family stories and legends passed down through the generations may be the only clues to where some of our family is interred. Keller may be the family name listed on the grave at St John’s but who is in that grave? We know John G Keller is interred in that grave because the lot was purchased when he died. What about his wife? Is Sally Gallagher Keller really interred in that grave with her husband? What about the nephew who died when he was 18 months old and was interred with them? Do we really know for a fact that Buddy McCaffery’s infant son was interred in the grave of John and Sally Keller as legend tells us? John and Sally Keller spent their lives praying for a child of their own but fate did not grant them that dream so the story passed down from our family tells of a little boy not yet two years old who comes down with a deadly virus and dies. The child is buried with his Great Uncle and Aunt in the church’s cemetery and the legend tells us that what John and Sally never had in life they were granted in death.

In the case of John and Ella Boland, legend has it they too are interred at St John’s. But there are no records of their burial there. However, that does not mean they are not there. There is a lot holder by the name Malervy that lists two lots were purchased but the records do not list who is in the grave. Malervy is the married name of Katherine, John and Ella Boland’s daughter. I believe the only way I will ever find out where John and Ella Boland are interred is by the process of elimination. If they are not listed in the graves of Daniel and Katherine Malervy in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery then it is very possible that they are indeed interred at St John’s. I reviewed Westminster Cemetery records in the past and although there is a John Boland interred there, the name Ella was not. The question I asked myself is why St John’s and not Holy Sepulchre in the first place. We already know John and Ella Boland’s other daughter is interred in Holy Sepulchre and those records indicate John Boland purchased the grave. Agnes Boland McCaffery died in 1915. Ella Boland died four years later.

My next family history stop is St Bridget’s Church in the East Falls section of Philadelphia and Holy Family Church in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia. I will also make a point to go out to Holy Sepulchre one more time to locate the cemetery records of the Malervy family. Hopefully, I will get more answers to these questions.