In 2004, Acadian descendants visited Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. Our ancestors had been deported from their lands in 1755. Many of our ancestors who lived here were also buried here. Sitting near the old willows planted by our ancestors and reflecting on their lives, a cool breeze suddenly blew through the willows. At that moment we felt the spirit of our ancestors. This blog is dedicated to their memory.


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Holy Cross Cemetery, Londonderry, New Hampshire - May 5, 1924 Death Record for Napoleon Dumais aka Goodrich


Napoleon Dumais aka William Goodrich 
died 05 May 1925 in Pembroke, New Hampshire.
No one knew when or where Napoleon had died.
What was known is that a few years earlier, his wife
Raquel Del Castillo left for Cuba with their five children.
I had been searching in Massachusetts to find his death record.
I went to familysearch.org and did not enter a state.
Immediately Napoleon's death record appeared.
He was at the Pembroke Sanatorium having died from tuberculosis.
This has put to rest an old family tale that attributed his death to something
other tuberlosis and the belief that he had died three years earlier.

The record states that he is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire.
Holy Cross Cemetery is actually located in Londonderry, New Hampshire but it is quite
possible that at one time the whole area was simply called Derry.  

All Rights Reserved
Whispers Through The Willows
Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
2011 - Present


4 comments:

Barbara Poole said...

Lucie, we are both finding great records on FamilySearch this week. I bet at some point Heather will be able to tell you something about the cemetery and original location, and before long (when the snow melts), one of you will go there to take pictures.

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino said...

I have the location of the cemetery and plan to go when the snow is all gone. The Sanatorium is gone but I found a great photo of it sitting high up on a hill. A friend from Manchester remembers it when she was a little girl.

I actually found this record a week ago Saturday afternoon. I could not believe it and immediately notified the Goodrich cousins.

Lucie

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

It is possible that in 1925 St. Thomas Aquinas church in Derry handled the burial, because at that time the only Catholic church in Londonderry was St. Jude's (way up north near the airport). Today St. Jude's is on Mammoth Road just north of Litchfield Road, and there is St. Mark's nearer to Holy Cross Cemetery (built in the 1980s). Holy Cross is not far from Rt. 93, on the Londonderry side, not the Derry side. Many of the older graves here are Derry residents, and St. Jude's parish members are mostly buried in Manchester.

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino said...

Hi Heather,

I believe he would have been buried from St. Thomas Aquinas since he had two sisters, and their families, living in Derry and they all attended St. Thomas Aquinas. I believe he went to the area when he was sick because of them.

I have found a Holy Cross aerial view and plan to visit the cemetery when the good weather comes around. There is perhaps no tombstone but that's okay. That someone go there to pay their respects is long overdue. I'll take photos of the cemetery to send to the Goodrich cousins.

Thanks for you input.

Lucie