I recently received copies of the Lot cards from Green Mount Cemetery. As is usually the case, the new information is mostly helpful but also presents new questions!
ANDERSONS
[my great-great grandparents]
[my great-great grandparents]
Lot No. 4. Area: Rosemary
[interment date/Name ]
[typed on the card]
Oct. 11, 1858 Wm. Anderson child. S.B. [stillborn?]
May 20, 1861 E. J. Anderson 16 mo.*
Jan. 19, 1891 William Anderson [Sr.] 64*
Jan. 11, 1899 Thersa Maria McCormick 1 month**
Mar. 8, 1900 Elizabeth J. Anderson 67*
Aug. 23, 1905 Letitia S. Anderson 43*
[the last 2 lines handwritten on the card]
46946 Jan 26 - 1918 John Backus Anderson (Plan 10.00) 48-*
54691 May 8 - 1939 Minnie Anderson (Plan 20.00) [order?] 81*
- * these ages were handwritten at the end of each line. According to Green Mount, some researchers in the past wrote in pencil on the Lot cards, which resulted in the cemetery forbidding any further on-site research. [Instead, the cemetery will perform searches for a fee.]
- ** the age of "Thersa" Maria McCormick was provided via email from Green Mount
- stillborn child - name unknown. This child fits within the time frame of William and Elizabeth Anderson's children; this would have been their 3rd child
- E. J. Anderson was listed as Elizabeth in the 1860 census; evidently she died the following year at the age of 16 mos. She was probably named for her mother, Elizabeth Jane.
- William Anderson, husband of Elizabeth Jane Spence, died in 1891. From every census he appeared in, his date of birth computed to 1824-1825. Thus his age at date of death should have been 66 or 67.
- "Thersa" Maria McCormick, died Jan 1899 - this was the name of one of William and Elizabeth Anderson's married daughters [actually spelled Theresa!]. However, she was still living in Baltimore at 1918, when she was named in her brother John's obituary, then moved to California by the 1920 census, so she couldn't have been interred in 1899! Thankfully, the cemetery was willing to answer my email questions and told me this was a child who had died at the age of 1 month. Theresa [Anderson] McCormick had 2 sons, William b. 1877-78 and Charles b. 1883. Since Charles would only have been 16 yrs of age in 1899, I assume this was William's first child who died so very young.
- Elizabeth J. Anderson was the wife of William Anderson. She died on her birthday, the 5th of March, 1900. Her age was understated throughout most of the federal censuses; her age at date of death should have been 75 rather than 67.
- Letitia S. Anderson - this was a surprise. Aunt Elizabeth [actually my great-aunt, grandaughter of William Anderson listed above] had told me of her father's sister named either Letitia or Lillie [she used the names interchangeably]. In the censuses, only a sister named Lillie was listed. Letitia's age at date of interment [43] puts her date of birth at approximately 1862, which matches the calculated year of birth for the Lillie Anderson in the censuses. This year of death also matches the year Aunt Elizabeth recalled going with her father to visit his sister, who was ill and died not long afterwards. This sister lived in a large brick building not far from a corner pharmacy and a park [perhaps Druid Hill Park?]. Aunt E. recalls being sent to the pharmacy on the corner [at the approx. age of 5 to 7] to pick up medicine for her aunt.
Evidently Letitia/Lillie never married. So far I cannot locate her in the 1900 federal census. I don't know if the Andersons owned their home on Eutaw Street or not, but they resided on that street for many years [per censuses and City Directories]. I don't know if Letitia/Lillie remained in the home after her mother's death [March 1900], if she perhaps inherited the house, or if she moved. - John Backus Anderson - this information matches his obituary and death certificate extracts.
- Minnie Anderson - another surprise, and some supposition here. "Minnie" seems to have been a commonly used nickname for Mary in more than one generation of this family. I assume this is William and Elizabeth Anderson's 2nd child, Marianna/ Mary Anna Anderson, born 1854-1855. [If she was age 81 when she died in 1939, her approximate year of birth would have been 1858--but a 3 yr discrepancy was not uncommon in the stated age of females back then !]. I didn't know she'd never married. However, Aunt Elizabeth seemed to have no recollection of any paternal relatives, which now makes sense considering of the 7 Anderson children, 3 never married, 1 married and moved to California between 1918-1920, 2 died young, and 1 was her father, who moved his family to New York City between 1900-1910.
Here is one of my major "brickwalls": According to Aunt Elizabeth, her mother's only sister married a Patrick Mullen [Mullin], and one of her father's sisters married a Frank Barker. Aunt Elizabeth's father William Anderson [Jr.], however, had 5 sisters. Only one sister's marriage is known, Theresa's to Mr. McCormick. Of the two other sisters who lived to adulthood, both are listed on the Anderson Lot Card under their maiden names - which I take to mean they never married. So - WHO married Mr. Barker??
The other major puzzle with the Andersons is Aunt Elizabeth's recollection that both her parents' families consisted of 1 boy and 2 girls. This was true of the McKenneys, but not of the Andersons - unless she was speaking of her grandfather William [Sr.], listed on the above Lot card. And in his case, although I am not 100% positive I have found his family in the early censuses, I believe he had more than 2 siblings, although it is possible that only 3 survived to adulthood.
The other major puzzle with the Andersons is Aunt Elizabeth's recollection that both her parents' families consisted of 1 boy and 2 girls. This was true of the McKenneys, but not of the Andersons - unless she was speaking of her grandfather William [Sr.], listed on the above Lot card. And in his case, although I am not 100% positive I have found his family in the early censuses, I believe he had more than 2 siblings, although it is possible that only 3 survived to adulthood.
