Showing posts with label Allegheny Cemetery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allegheny Cemetery. Show all posts

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Anna Maria, Wife of Nicholas, Which One Art Thou?

     Hans Jacob Berlin married Anna Margarita Euler.  He is buried in Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania.  She is not buried with Jacob.  His son, Nicholas married Anna Maria _____.  He died and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.  Nicholas had a daughter Anna Maria, named after her mother.   Nicholas' son Daniel married Mary Ann Negley.  Daniel's second wife is Margaret Kuhns.  Daniel Berlin and John Nicholas Berlin are buried in the same lot in Allegheny Cemetery along with four females as shown below.    
What is the relationship between these women? Who is who?  
     Since Nicholas' mother, Anna Margarita Euler Berlin was probably born about 1720 it is unlike that she is buried here.  She probably died before 1810.  Some researchers claim she died between 1804 and 1810 (although without sources).  She probably came west with her son, Nicholas and may have died in Westmoreland County.  
     It is thought that Daniel's first wife died in 1829 near the birth and death of a child.  There is also a George N. who died in March 1829 who is buried here.  That would mean that #4 Mary A was Daniel's first wife.
     It is also believed that Anna Maria, the wife of Nicholas died after 1836.   She was born around 1750.  This would probably mean that #5 was the wife of Nicholas and then #3 could have been his daughter.   
     So is #1 an unknown daughter or does it indicate that some record about Daniel's second wife is incorrectly transcribed?  
     Knowing that middle names were often switched with first names and sometime names were anglicized could Anna Maria be Mary Ann?  Only time and more research will tell.  This cemetery record while wonderful to have creates more questions than answers.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Nicholas Berlin: Interred 39 Years After Death

   The last few blog entries have focused on Elisha Gates because we are celebrating the Bicentennial of the Battle of Lake Eire and the Battle of the Thames in which he participated.
    But on a recent journey east, my cousin Rick Platt (actually first cousin once-removed) and I made a side trip to Pennsylvania.  My goal was to visit the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.  Based upon  Allegheny Cemetery online records, I knew that I had several ancestors interred there.
   John Nicholas Berlin (my 4G-Grandfather on my mother's side) died 12 Aug 1821.  But he refers to himself as Nicholas in his will.  On these cemetery records he is John N. Berlin.  The Allegheny Cemetery website directed us to Section 25 Lot 31.  Unfortunately, there was no stone for Nicholas Berlin.  Whether or not there ever was is not known.  The lot is on a fairly steep hillside and could easily be covered by dirt.   Lot 31 is between the top of the Hampton-Miller Crypt and the tree above the crypt.
     The cemetery records that I obtained at the Allegheny Cemetery Office gave a little more information about Nicholas Berlin.  He was interred thirty-nine years after he died.  What!  It turns out that of the seven people buried in this lot six were transferred here on 20 September 1860.  The only one not buried here on that date is Nicholas' son Daniel.  Daniel and John N. are listed as owners of the lot.  Were they buried elsewhere in this cemetery or at some other cemetery?  
      The first burials in Allegheny cemetery took place in the middle portion of the nineteenth century.  So this cemetery was not in existence when Nicholas was first buried. There is a reference on the Internet about the fact that Nicholas and his wife, Anna were first buried in the Lutheran Church Cemetery but moved when the church was enlarged.  This information was unsourced but could certainly account for the fact that six bodies were interred here on the dame day.