On September 12, 1861, Peter and Mary Greenen suffered the death of their six year old daughter, Ella (Ellen) probably due to a childhood illness.

Click on the picture to see it full size

Two days later, on September 14, Peter received a deed to a plot in the Oakdale Cemetery in Urbana; obviously for the purpose of Ella's burial.  A (rather poor) copy of the deed is shown below.  The plot was 128 square feet which is a plot sufficient for three graves.  It is defined as Lot 3 in Section 65... an area of the cemetery which came to be known as "Irish Row."
 

Click on the photo to see it full size Shown above is a transcript of the Peter Greenen's deed to the burial plot in Oakdale cemetery.

Click on the photo to see it in full size  The photo above shows Jamie Graham-Hayes (great great granddaughter of Peter & Mary Greenen) during our visit to "Irish Row" during November of 2000.

The row of graves along the road and behind Jamie is known as "Irish Row."

Click on the photo to see it in full size.

As of our visit in November of 2000, the cemetery still has a very good record of the Peter Greenen cemetery plot.  The photo at left clearly shows the lot designation as the last entry of the log book page shown... spelled Greenon.  In addition, the entry shows clearly on the cemetery blue print.

It is interesting to see the "row" of Irish names which gave this section of the cemetery its name.  Most interesting is the observation that there were Quinns and Kains in the parish.  It is recalled that both these names appeared as baptismal sponsors for Peter and Mary's children born in Ireland; and one wonders whether these Quinn's and Kains had connections with the Greenens in Ireland; and perhaps were drawn to Urbana by the same incentives and mechanisms.

The mystery surrounding this gravesite and burial centers on the question of whether it was ever used; for it is known that "Little Ella" also has a gravesite in Indianapolis, which was ultimately the home of her parents and most of her siblings.   At first glance, the cemetery entry in Indianapolis (Holy Cross, Section 7-C, Lot 128) would appear to be the site of her original burial in 1861.  [One reading of this assumption is that it might be "absurd" to think the family would purchase a gravesite in Urbana two days after her burial was recorded in Indianapolis.]  Research is now underway to try to resolve this "mystery."   The research has thus far yielded some problems:

• The actual burial logs and records at Oakdale in Urbana between 1856 and 1886 were all destroyed by a fire; so we are left with NO helpful information.
• The parish records at St. Mary's apparently have no death and or burial records for those early years.  [The parish was founded in 1856, but was a "mission" of St. Raphael's in Springfield for the first few years.  The St. Raphael records need to be studied.
• The keepers of the records at Holy Cross acknowledge that there is NOT certainty whether the date given in their record for Ella (September 12, 1861) is actually the date of interment.  The way records were kept then, the entry could simply represent a recitation of her date of death.
• It appears that Lot 128 was NOT PURCHASED by the Greenen family till 1873... which was the date of death of their son Thomas in a railroad accident.  We are seeking verification of this; and I have a hunch that (if confirmed) it would verify whether Ella was initially buried in Urbana and moved later to Indianapolis.

TO RETURN TO THE MAIN PETER GREENEN PAGE, CLICK ON YOUR "BACK" BUTTON... OR CLICK HERE.