Thursday, June 21, 2012

Ice Skates for Christmas

"There were two boys, Stephen (named for Anne's brother) and John born between 1860 and 1865. They had been given ice skates for Christmas and John fell in the pond while trying them out for the first time. Stephen tried to rescue him and when they were pulled out, they were tightly wrapped in each others arms ."

I have tried to find more detail on this accident and death  - I found an entry in Manhattan Bodies in Transit -- for a John Nolan -  who was reported drowned on March 8, 1869.  His death was reported by John Nolan.  According to this coroner's report, John is buried in Calvary Cemetery.      My grandmother's story notes that a baby who died - Thomas  - is also buried in Calvary.

Stephen's body was not registered; I am wondering if this means that they did not find his body after all?

I found an entry in the March 11 1869 Daily Item (Port Chester's newspaper) mentioning the death of John Nolan;  John drowned on Ben Holloday’s farm (Ophir) now the site of Manhattanville College. 



3 comments :

  1. What a sad story about the boys, and such a puzzle about the lack of records. I've been researching NYC area, too, and for your sake as far as the research task goes, hope the event happened in White Plains. Individuals just get swallowed up in the humanity of large cities like New York.

    I was glad to have found your blog today courtesy of GeneaBloggers.

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  2. Such a tragic story about those two young boys! Hope you are able to track down this elusive family.

    Welcome to GeneaBloggers, by the way!

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  3. You might be able to find something about this tragic event in state & local newspaper archives.
    Regards,
    Theresa (Tangled Trees)

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