Saturday, August 5, 2000
Well, the Catholic Cemetery Commission came through with a very interesting list. Page 11 of the Calvary Cemetery Burial List has a number of Brandis buried in the same location, including my great grandfather. The portion of the page dealing with Brandis reads as follows:
| Name | Age | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandi, Anthonia | 41 | 11/14/1926 | Sec N Lot 130 |
| Brandi, Maria | 78 | 05/24/???? | Sec N Lot 130 |
| Brandi, Philip A. | 6 1/2 | 04/21/1898 | Sec N Lot 130 |
| Brandi, Vincent | 09/04/1913 | Sec N Lot 130 | |
| Brandi, Vincenzo | 70 | 06/12/1917 | Sec N Lot 130 |
| Brandi, Ralph Albert Sr. | 88 | 12/26/1959 | Sec N Lot 130 |
This is, of course, a wealth of information. Now I can send away for death certificates for Vincenzo, Anthonia (Antonina), and Maria, and maybe for the others eventually. It’s not clear if the dates given are burial dates or death dates. For Ralph Sr., I know that the date is his death date, but for Philip, the date is probably his burial date, as his death record gives the date of his death as April 18, 1898. Anyway, given that I now have a rough idea of when everyone died, it shouldn’t be hard for the state of Michigan to find the appropriate certificates.
The commission also sent the following note about the cemetery:
Calvary Cemetery
Calvary Cemetery, the first Catholic cemetery in the Saginaw area, was established by Father van der Bom in 1868 with a burial tract of four acres located east of Hoyt Park. In 1881 an additional three and a half acres were added. With the eventual sale of all its lots and the impossibility of acquiring more land, it became necessary to acquire the present Mt. Olivet Cemetery property.
With its ancient monuments and ten-foot wide "horse and buggy" roads, Calvary remains a peaceful and picturesque place secluded from the din and stir of modern life.
In this cemetery are buried some of the early prominent names relating to Saginaw. Burials, from tombstones, date from 1861.
Posted at 11:44:50 PM
