52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 17: Cemetery–Finding Clementine’s Final Resting Place-MTIP

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

On a recent trip to New York City to visit my youngest daughter, my husband and I took a side trip to Brooklyn via the subway to visit Holy Cross Cemetery. The walk from the subway stop wasn’t too far, perhaps 6-8 blocks.

We reached the entrance to the cemetery at 3620 Tilden Avenue and found the cemetery office nearby. The staff inside were very helpful, telling us where we would find Clementine Hork’s grave site.

 What we didn’t consider was the long walk we would have to get there. Holy Cross Cemetery is huge! It has ninety-six acres.[1]

Clementine is buried in the center of St. Michael

Clementine is buried in the St. Michael section, in row 32, plot 19. So we took off quickly for the site by foot because the cemetery would be closing in about an hour.

Now when we got to what we thought was the site, I realized that since she had no marker, I wouldn’t be able to find the spot. I called the office, asking for who she was buried next to. I was on the wrong row so the kind lady helped me get to where she was.

She is in this empty spot

Clementine was the sister of my great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork. She was born 9 August 1851 in Oberhundem, Westfalen.[2] She came to America in 1891 with her brother, Johan Albert Hork, who was a Roman Catholic priest.[3] However, Clementine lived all alone in New York City, working as a dressmaker until she lived her final years in the Home for the Aged in Brooklyn, run by Catholic nuns, dying 5 September 1928.[4]

It’s very sad seeing no stone marking her final resting place. I’ll have to investigate how to purchase one for her so she is not forgotten.  

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[1] “Holy Cross Cemetery,” http://www.ccbklyn.org/our-cemeteries/holy-cross-cemetery/.

[2] Baptism of Maria Clementina Horoch, FHL Intl 1257843, Taufen 1848-1878, pg 16, 1851.

[3] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945, manifest, S.S. Belgenland, 9 Nov 1891, Miss Cl Hork, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Dec 2010).

[4] Clementine Hork, death certificate 18531 (1928), City of New York Municipal Archives, New York City, New York.

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