People in the Illinois Valley may be familiar with the story of the LaSalle Mission, the early Catholic burial ground at 24th and Chartres streets—also known as Wenzel and Airport roads. If so, they may also be aware of the eventual removal of remains from that cemetery to St. Vincent Cemetery during the second half of the nineteenth century.
An important account of these events appears in Rev. Thomas A. Shaw’s Story of the LaSalle Mission, published in 1908. Shaw describes the problem from the Church’s perspective: the old burial ground was no longer suitable, a better location was needed, and families had to be persuaded to move the remains of their loved ones to the new cemetery.
A letter recently discovered among local probate records tells the story from a very different perspective—that of a grieving family entrusted with carrying out the difficult task.
Dated 9 May 1861, the letter was written by Bridget Halligan to the Honorable Judge Champlain. Bridget appears to have been responding to accusations made by her stepson, Thomas Halligan, including a claim that she had not paid for her late husband Patrick’s coffin. In defending her handling of the estate, Bridget described how she fulfilled her husband’s wishes by moving the remains of several family members from the old burial ground to the new cemetery.
The following passage from the letter retains Bridget’s original spelling, capitalization, and punctuation:
Dear Sir if you will please look over my accounts rendered to court you will find that not alone paying for this, but I have complied with my Husbands directions in all things, namely removeing the remains of my Husbands Brother and our two little Children Frances & Anna from old Burying—ground to new Cemetry, and provisions to my—doing so I informed Thomas that I intended to have this done and requested him to be present at the disinterment of his Uncle Roger Halligan and his little brother & Sister, he replied that he would decline doing so but would give his sanction to my having the thing done—now my own health was very poorly just then but I thought it would be very disrespectful to the memory of my Husband and Brotherinlaw if Thomas or I did not personally superintend the disinterment of our dear relatives, so accompanied by my two oldest daughters, in the absence of my own oldest boy who was off at College, I performed this sad duty. and as you will perceive by referring to my account_I paid all the persons who were engaged in assisting us on this occasion…
Bridget’s account transforms the transfer of remains from an administrative event into something intimate and painful. Despite being in poor health, she believed it would be disrespectful if neither she nor Thomas personally attended the disinterments. Accompanied by her two oldest daughters, she went to the old burial ground and “performed this sad duty.”
The letter also preserves family relationships that may not have been recorded anywhere else. Previous research into the Halligan family had not identified Patrick and Bridget’s two children, Frances and Anna, whose remains were moved that day. The letter also establishes that Roger Halligan was Patrick’s brother.
Yet Bridget was carrying more than grief and the burden of settling her husband’s estate. Elsewhere in the letter, she revealed the fears of a mother whose oldest son had recently volunteered to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
In laying out her side of the story, Bridget Halligan has left a remarkable first account of someone who made the transfer of remains from the old cemetery to the new.
Below is a copy of the listing of expenses related to not only Patrick Halligan’s own burial and funeral but also those of his two children and brother who were moved from the old cemetery to the new. These costs were incurred by Patrick Halligan’s estate. Spelling in the original document is preserved with clarifications in brackets.
| 1859 | Expense | Cost |
| Decr. 31 | To cash paid Hugh Farrelly for digging grave | $5.00 |
| — | “ James Finnern for putting earth on do [grave] | $1.00 |
| — | “ Stone & Bartlett livery bill for funeral | $3.00 |
| — | “ John Burke do …. [same as above] | $3.00 |
| — | “ W. B. Chapman two carriges [carriages] for funeral | $6.00 |
| — | “ Richard Condon for services at funeral | $2.00 |
| — | “ Mrs. Shaughnessy do “ “ [same as above] | $2.00 |
| — | “ Amt to Barber $1.50, and coal, $2.50 | $4.00 |
| — | “ “ [Amt] for shroud | $8.00 |
| 1860 | ||
| July 10 | “ Post Office act and 3 act books for Estate | $2.10 |
| “ 13 | “ Amt paid Doctor J Gillett | $5.00 |
| “ 18 | “ “ “ for advertiseing death in Boton Pilot [Boston Pilot] | $2.00 |
| — | “ “ Paid N. Duncan for removing uncle Rogers remains and remains of two children from old to New Cemetery | $5.50 |
| — | “ “ P. Cating for assisting at same | $1.00 |
| — | “ “ Philip Conlin for lumber for encasing said remains | $1.60 |
| — | “ “ James Murphy for assisting at removing remains and half a day pulling wood in yard | $1.50 |
| — | “ “ Richard Condon for making boxes for remains and making trapdoor (fixing lock to) for St Charles | $5.00 |
| — | “ “ Mr Barrett for Newspapers containing notice of death | $0.85 |
| — | “ “ Stone & Bartlett for a carryage to convey witnesses to Ottawa to prove will, and other expenses attending same | $8.00 |
| — | “ “ Paid for scrubbing house in rear of St Charles | $0.75 |
| — | “ “ John McKell for removing obstruction at Tremont | $5.00 |
| — | “ “ Hugh Farrelly for digging & sodding graves for the children and Uncle R. | $5.00 |
| — | “ “ Funeral mourning | $14.75 |
| — | “ “ L. Eiel & Co—gloves for funeral | $0.95 |
| — | “ “ Cleaning barn at St Charles, and removing contents | $8.00 |
| — | “ “ County orders & script to T.P. Halligan | $34.46 |
| — | “ “ Paid J. Lynch for candles | $2.90 |
| — | “ “ Repairing chimney on house back of St Charles | $2.50 |
| — | “ “ Jas [James] Finnern removing rubbish at Tremont | $3.50 |
| — | “ “ Edward Noonan, 100 bricks for house back of St Charles | $0.50 |
| — | “ “ Paid for collecting rent of D. Flynn (Tom OBrian) | $2.50 |
| — | “ “ H. H. Brown, insurance on goods | $12.50 |
Below is the top portion of the image from which this listing is transcribed:
Sources:
Unless noted above, the sources for this article were the files in Patrick Halligan’s probate “box” stored at the LaSalle County Genealogy Guild.
