Boland

I finally located the burial records of John and Ellen Doherty Boland, maternal grandparents of my grandmother Anna Marie McCaffery Gallagher.

Folk lore suggested that they were interred at St. John the Baptist's church grave-yard in Manayunk. However, after several trips over to St. John's and numerous hours searching through their records, I never found any records suggesting they even had a funeral mass at this church let alone were buried in their church-yard.

It also did not make sense to me that a plot was purchased by John Boland at Holy Sepulchre for his daughter, my great grandmother, Bridget McCaffery when she died in 1915. The question that always remained in my mind was why would the parents be buried upon their own deaths at St. John's when their child was interred at Holy Sepulchre.

Then I discovered another Boland sister, Aunt Kate was also interred at Holy Sepulchre along with her husband, Daniel.

Last week, I discovered two more Boland families at Holy Sepulchre, my great great grandparents and their son, wife and two young daughters.

I also discovered that Ellen Boland did not die as thought when my grandmother was 7 yrs old but when grandmom was 14 yrs old. So the question remains, how old was grandmom when she went to live with Aunt Kate? The answer is somewhere between 1920 (after the 1920 census were taken) and 1926. I may never really ever know.

On April 6th, 1923, John Boland Jr. purchased a family plot for 75 dollars when his 3 yr old daughter, Mary died. She was interred on April 7th, 1923 in Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #1. Address at time of death was 1941 Bonitz Street. (Nicetown)

Ellen Boland (great great grandmother) was interred on June 26th, 1926 in Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #4. Address at time of death was 4807 Ridge Avenue. Age at time of death was 65 yrs old. (East Falls) Funeral was probably from St. Bridget's Church.

Theresa Boland (another daughter od John Boland Jr.) was interred on March 28th, 1928 at age 18 months old. Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #1. Address at time of death was 1 Laboratory Hill. (East Falls)

John Boland (great great grandfather) was interred on January 6th, 1934. Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #4. He was listed as being 71 yrs old and address was 1 Laboratory Hill. (East Falls)

John Boland Jr. was interred on September 9th, 1964. Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #2. He was listed as being 69 yrs old and lived at 723 E. Price Street. (Germantown)

Margaret Boland (John Boland Jr.'s wife) was interred on April 16th, 1970. Section Z, Range 2, Lot 33, Grave #2. She was listed as being 75 yrs old and lived at #6 River Birch Road in Turnerville, N.J.