Searching at Greensburg Catholic Cemetery

My wait was finally over! I have been looking at Greensburg Catholic Cemetery online for over a year now. Every time I work on my Kuth line, I would go back and search the cemeteries to see if I could find anything. I kept looking at this cemetery and thinking- the family I was searching lived somewhat close to this cemetery, so they might be buried there. Then of course getting there was a whole other situation.

Finally back in June I decided this had to be the cemetery I needed to go and search at. There is not an online transcription for this cemetery anywhere that I could find.

With the price of gas I could not convince my family to make the road trip to a cemetery in another state. Other than the actual cost of the trip; it did seem reasonable to me to go to this cemetery that was 5 hours away. (Stop laughing, sometimes hunches work out.) Oh and my family is less than happy to stop at cemeteries, in case you were wondering. Me, I can stay for hours and search. My guys on the other hand get bored and just want to go. They will humor for a short time if they must. It is always better to agree to a cemetery than to a place that has books or film to look at.

I actually went to the cemetery on my way home from Pittsburgh, it was a bit further than I expected but with the GPS and an about address I got almost there. I really think the GPS units should have a whole section for cemetery addresses. They list the library, the mall, every gas station anywhere, plus a lot of other useless addresses- so why not the useful ones? I did have to call home and have Michael look up some information about the location of the cemetery. As I was saying, on my way home which was Friday (you know, before the Labor Day weekend). I arrived at the cemetery at 3:43 PM. (Did you see the sign below?) That is right, I watched all the employees leave the office building and go home. I knew going and asking even one question would be bad. So I proceeded to drive around the cemetery until I found what I was looking for. This is a large cemetery by the way.

As I drove around the cemetery I looked for anything that might be familiar. I found several tombstones that had the Bell family name on them. The Bell family name was the main family I was looking for at this cemetery. My great-great-grandmother was Mary Ann Bell. Mary's family lived in the Greensburg area and they were Catholic. Mary Ann Bell was married to Anthony Kuth. I know Anthony is buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. He is buried with his second wife, Mary Arabella Grubb and two of his sons (Andrew and Clarence Florian). I do not know where Mary Ann Bell is buried, yet.

I did find Mary's parents. I was in total shock and absolutely thrilled!!! I also have to admit I even started crying. I went to this cemetery on a hunch and I really thought I was right. To add to that the fact that I just drove around looking to see what I could find, the fact that I found anything at all was terrific.

Mary's father was George Bell, he was born 4 June 1821 in Saarbrucken, Germany. George immigrated with his family in the early 1850's. He was a coal miner. He died 14 May 1900 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

These tombstones had writing on both sides, so I took pictures of both sides. This side was hard to read. This was the side that was visible from the road.

This side was much clearer.

Mary's mother was Barbara DeTemple Bell, she was born 25 February 1825 in Saarbrucken, Germany. She immigrated with her husband and family in the early 1850's. When she immigrated, she also brought her mother with her.

Her mother was Margaretha Knauber DeTemple. I do not know much about Margaretha as her information varies too much. I have found her in the 1860 Census as 70 years old, the 1870 Census as 95 years old, and last in the 1880 Census as 85 yeard old. I do realize she was probably quite old and I would guess spoke with a heavy German accent. This might have made it difficult or impossible to obtain information from her.

Barbara DeTemple Bell died 4 December 1900 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

I have some other Bell tombstones that I took pictures of. I am not listing them here as I have not gone through and verified the information as of yet. I know that I found at least one child of
George and Barbara while I was there at the cemetery.

I did not find Mary Ann Bell Kuth. Mary was born 22 September 1848 in Fischback, Prussia and died 25 November 1896 in Newton Township, Pennsylvania. So she died prior to her parents and is not buried in the same cemetery as her husband. I tried to obtain a death certificate, hence the startled expressions of those that have looked at my book and saw the letter about Mary Kuth, but the state says there is no death certificate for her. She could still be buried in Greensburg Catholic Cemetery, but I did not find her on this trip.

I will be posting my cemetery findings on Find a Grave. I am also working on getting pictures on this website for cemetery information I have already posted.

If you can add any information about the Bell family, please let me know. I have had a hard time finding information but I am not giving up. I do not have any photos of this family, but I would love to find some.

Grave Searching at St. Mary's Cemetery

During my recent visit to Pittsburgh I journeyed out to St. Mary's Cemetery on Mt. Troy Road. The distinction of it being on Mt. Troy Road is somewhat important as there are other cemeteries called St. Mary's in the Pittsburgh area.

When I arrived at the cemetery I found that the office was of course closed. I could not find a map for the cemetery, except the online map. The online map will not print for me, so I did not have an actual physical copy of it with me. I did try to access it online using my phone, have you seen the size of the screen on my phone? I did have some information from the internet with sections of where I might find the graves; but of course the sections were not clearly marked at the cemetery. So that was very little help.

I did finally find the graves I was looking for, well 2 out of 3 of the graves I was searching for. If you check out the online map (click on it) the graves for Bertha Kerchenske and Florence Kuth are both located in section #3 in the Special Singles graves.

This is a picture of the chapel that is located at the cemetery.


Bertha Kerchenske is my great-grandmother. I was not really sure until I found the tombstone that she actually had one (the same for Florence). Bertha is the daughter of James and Emma Jane (Lane) Malone. She was the wife to Andrew Kuth, Robert McClure, and Clifford Kerchenske. She was the mother to Edward, Kathleen, Genevieve and Florence Kuth; she was also the mother of Robert, John, Richard, Helen, Mary, and Patrica McClure.

Bertha was born 22 June 1896 in Pennsylvania; she died 6 October 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Florence Kuth was daughter of Andrew and Bertha (Malone) Kuth. Florence was born probably 4 months after the death of Andrew Kuth. The only record of Andrew I have obtained is from the cemetery, the old records were very hard to read.

Florence was born 23 June 1924 in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, she died 25 May 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In the same section that Bertha and Florence are buried in, I found this tombstone. This could be the son of Bertha, but I have no proof of that at this time. If someone knows for sure, please tell me. Otherwise I will look for some information to see if this is a relative.

Finally, while at the cemetery I was able to watch the horses at the farm located behind the cemetery. This little one was curious and kept watching me. Probably wondering why I kept walking back and forth actually....

Comments and Questions

Both are great! If you have comments, please leave them here on the blog. If you have questions, use the comment field to ask or you can send me an email. If it is something you would like to see on here, let me know and I will try to accommodate your request. I am happy to post information and pictures.

I have tried to spread out and search many lines of our families. So I may have gathered some information and stored it away. Sometimes I also get sidetracked with either life or a different line that calls out to me. So if there is something you are interested in reading about, let me know.

I am currently doing research in the following areas (yes, I know I am really spread out):

• Kuth Family
• Allegheny County, Pennsylvania cemeteries
• Hardin County, Kentucky- mostly land records and vital records
• Lewis Family- yes they are still hanging around
• Jefferson County, Pennsylvania- mostly vital records for now
• Roose or Rose Family (I think it is just Roose Family, sorry)
• Day Family

Later this month I will be in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and I will be working on some genealogy. I have been gathering maps and other information to facilitate the research. I have a few cemeteries picked out to visit, I have no idea if what I want is there but I sure am going to look. I am also hoping to get to the library while I am there. If you know of something else for me to check out, let me know. I will have a day or two on my own and I will have some time to work on this.

I am also getting some information ready to go to the Family History Libary in Salt Lake City. I am excited to go there, it is like going to Disney World for me. I already have so much stuff that I want to research, I am just hoping to have enough time to get it all done. I do not have nearly the list I had when I went with Donna last year, but I sure am working on it. If you want to see some information about the FHL, click on the link and you will go to the website. If you right click on it, you can open the link in a new tab or window (right click does not work on a laptop, unless you have a mouse). If you want to see what they have in the library, you can go to the tab at the top that says Library, then go to the Library Catalog. You will find everything they have in the library and also films that you can order at your local FHC. If you need help finding this, let me know and I can walk you through it over the phone. You can also ask Zach, he should be able to walk you through that as well.

If by some chance you are thinking you would like to go along to do some research with me, I always welcome the help. I am glutton for punishment, I even take the unwilling to help and put them to work too. I have been to both of these places before and I will hope to go to these places again, so I will not be putting in such long hours. (Grin?) Long hours like I have in the past anyway. If I go on my own, it will be long hours I am sure though. So if I am supposed to be somewhere after I do research, this is your official warning to call and remind me to leave where I am doing research. I do tend to lose track of time (and meals) and/or try to get just one more thing done.

I hope you all enjoy these tidbits about the family.

Byrnes Family

Again this is a picture of a picture, I am not sure who has possession of this photograph.

This is a picture of the Byrnes Family. I am told that this is the only picture that has been found to include the whole family, all 10 family members are in this picture.

As some of these family members are still living today, I will not label all of the people in this picture. If you would like to know who they are, email me privately.

I will say who a few of them are though. Standing in the back row is my great-grandmother Mabel (McMurray), to her left is her husband John. In the front row the second person from the left is my grandmother Mabel Byrnes Kuth.