Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Reburying the Ancestors

In researching John Frazee's death, I come across a little discrepancy.  His obituary appeared in the New York Times on 5 March 1852.  His wife sued to collect moneys owed to him for his designs, as detailed in this post, and a date of death of 26 February 1852 was given in the case, Lydia Frazee v. United States.  Some of his papers, now available online through the Smithsonian, provide a beautiful and unusual record of death and burial at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  (I don't know who drew the picture.  Obviously not John Frazee himself.)



The burial records for Green-wood Cemetery are online.  A search for John Frazee turns up some family members in the plot given in the drawing, 19577.  According to this online index, John Frazee was not buried here until 1870.



I found a picture of the grave at findagrave.com.  Always check here for graves, even if your person of interest was not famous.  I expected to find John Frazee at findagrave because he is a little famous, though not as famous as the buildings he designed.

So now more questions:  is the John Frazee buried at Green-wood Cemetery in 1870 the same John Frazee who died in 1852?  If so, where was John originally buried, and why was he moved?  More researching needed.

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