Father Duffy at St. Raymond's in the Bronx

This article from the Daily News gives an overview of the life of Father Duffy, who is best known for the statue of him standing beneath a Celtic Cross in Times Square.

This is the excerpt from the article about the famous priest's internment in St. Raymond's: The service was moved from Holy Cross to St. Patrick's Cathedral, on the ground that Duffy belonged to the larger Catholic community, not just his own parish.

The flag-draped coffin was placed on an artillery caisson, which rolled slowly along the route from Holy Cross to St. Patrick's, and behind the two-wheeled ammunition wagon marched every able-bodied member of the 165th Infantry, with Fighting 69th banners flying.

Along the route, more than 50,000 stood in silence, many dropping to their knees on the sidewalk to pray.

After the service, Duffy was taken to the family plot in St. Raymond's Cemetery, in the Bronx, and interred beneath a tall cross with a grapevine motif and the simple words "Father Duffy."

His Times Square statue was unveiled in 1937.

This is the scene in 1937 when his statue was being unveiled:

Old Irish Recordings Available Online

Here's another site with Old Irish Recordings from the 78s era: Ted McGraw's Traditional Irish Music Archive. Also, check out this article by the same Ted McGraw on the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Traditional Music Archives.

Irish Monuments at Saint Raymond's

The Irish Pieta at Saint Raymond's.


Irish names on elaborate monuments.


Kelly's Grave and Corcoran's.


A highly wrought Celtic cross in the ancient style at Saint Raymond's.


Another view of the Celtic cross.


Yet another row of High Celtic Crosses in the ancient style of the Gaelic Order in Ireland.


Irish flag marks a grave at Saint Raymond's.


Three noble Celtic crosses at Ray's.


Also the Irish built the Saint Raymond's Roman Catholic Church.
The genesis of St. Raymond's Parish began in 1842 when Reverend John Hughes obtained property and converted an old wooden barn into a temporary church. Construction of the new Church began in 1843, and it became the first Catholic Church in the Bronx. It was dedicated on the feast of St. Raymond Nonnatus, on August 31, 1845, thus getting its name. In the beginning there was a strong prejudice against the Catholic Church. However, as many Irish immigrants moved into the Bronx in the 1850's, the Church quickly expanded. The original Church could not hold the 2,000 parishioners and at Masses many parishioners had to stand because it was over capacity. On August 4, 1897, ground was broken for the new Church, which could accommodate all parishioners. It was dedicated on October 23, 1898 and still stands today as the current Church of St. Raymond.

Irish Graves at Saint Raymond's Cemetery

Irish Graves to visit at Saint Raymond's
Eugene Daly from, Titanic suvivor
Julia Smyth from Kilcoghy County Cavan (Cill ,Cabháin), Titanic survivor
Bridget O'Driscoll from Ballydehob County Cork (Béal an Dá Cháb, Corcaigh, Mouth of Two River Fords), Titanic survivor
Mary Mallon, Typhoid sufferer. (More on Typhoid Mary here.)

Some of the great men and women of old Irish New York are memorialized in the St. Raymond's cemetery in the Bronx. It's located just off the Whitestone Bridge and Lafayette st.

Michael Coleman master of the Irish fiddle
Patsy Touhy master of the uilleann pipes
Paddy Killoran fiddle master
Packie Dolan fiddle master who died in an explosion on his way to work
Jim "the Professor" Morrison
Johnny Cronin, the box-player from Curragh House, Aghadoe, Killarney, Kerry.
Andy McGann The highly influential Irish American fiddle player.
Billie Holiday Lady Day aka Eleanora Fagan Gough, famous jazz singer with an Irish grandfather.
James E. Kelly sculptor, his unmarked grave received a monument in 2005.
James Kerrigan, a US Congressman, Civil War veteran, briefly alcalde of a Nicaraguan city, and gun runner for the Fenian invasion of Canada and the Irish wars of independence.
Mary Mallon caricaturized in the New York tabloids as Typhoid Mary.
John McGeehan justice of the New York State Supreme Court.
Angela Martin the entertainer.
and many Civil War heroes, such as John J. Nolan and Christopher Nugent.
And Father Frank Duffy of the Fighting 69th regiment is buried there.

Less notable Irish buried there include Bridget Collins, mother of nine Irish Americans: Peter Edward Reynolds, b. 06 Mar 1866, New Jersey, d. 03 Oct 1942, Bronx, Bronx Co.; James Reynolds, b. 04 Apr 1857, Rockaway, Morris Co., NJ, d. 19 Jan 1908, New York, New York Co., NY; Francis Reynolds, b. Abt 1861, d. UNKNOWN,;
Annie Reynolds, b. 24 Jan 1862, Rockaway, Morris Co., NJ d. Abt Oct 1922, Larchmont, Westchester Co., NY; Mary Agnes Reynolds, b. 04 Apr 1865, New Jersey d. UNKNOWN,;
Elizabeth Reynolds, b. 21 Feb 1870, New Jersey d. 10 Nov 1899,; John Reynolds, b. 26 Mar 1872, d. 16 Jun 1924,; Thomas Reynolds, b. Abt 1877, d. 22 Oct 1916,; Alace Reynolds, b. 16 Feb 1875, d. UNKNOWN.

Bridget died at the age of 77 in 1905 in a tenement at 2380 8th Avenue in Manhattan from asthma. She was a widow to Patrick Reynolds who had died in 1880, twenty years before her. Today her apartment address would be 2380 Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem.

Bridget's grave is number 58.

Logistics of Visiting Saint Raymond's Cemetery

St. Raymond's Cemetery is adjacent to Route 95 (or better known as the Cross Bronx Expressway) through the Bronx. It is easy to access if you are planning to visit the New York area.

You may wish to contact them regarding information on the burials. However, don't expect to receive much information. The office at St. Raymond's only has information on the dates of burial (not death) for those interred in their cemetery.



You need to go to the Office. They give out maps with all the famous people there. It will make your life simplier. A map like this one:

You can also look on this aerial map of the graveyard.

This is Billie Holliday's Grave:

It is located at the:
St Paul Section
Range 56
Plot 29

Titanic Survivors among the Forgotten Irish Buried at Saint Raymond's

Titanic survivors Julia Smyth and Eugene Daly and Bridget O'Driscoll are buried in unmarked (?) graves at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

Miss Julia Smyth, 20, of Kilcoghy, Co Cavan, boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 335432, £7 14s 8d). Her destination was New York City.

Julia Smyth was rescued, probably in lifeboat 13.

Miss Smyth made New York City her home following the Titanic disaster. She married Thomas White and lived in New York.

She was one of the many survivors who attended the 1958 New York premiere of the film A Night to Remember. At this reunion, Mrs White was reunited with fellow Irish survivors Margaret Devaney O'Neill and Katherine Gilnagh Manning.

Julia White (née Smyth) died 27 April 1977. Like Eugene Daly, there is no gravestone for Mrs White who was buried at the same cemetery as him (St. Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, New York)

Miss Bridget O'Driscoll (1), 24, from Ballydehob, County Cork, Ireland, boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 14311, £7 15s). She was on her way to New York City.

Bridget was rescued in Collapsible D.

When Bridget Driscoll died, she was buried in same cemetery as Julia Smyth and Eugene Daly. Her name is often given as "Driscoll".

Recollections of Trips to Saint Raymond's Cemetery

KEVIN BURKE:
One cold, miserable day, I tried to find Michael Coleman's grave in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. I was used to churchyards in Ireland, where you could cover the whole thing in about 10 minutes. But this place was huge, acres and acres, and I finally gave up. Just as I was leaving, though, I saw Paddy Killoran's headstone. Here I had come to find Coleman, and I found Killoran instead, which was an ironic twist, I thought.

PAUL KEATING ON THE FUNERAL OF ANDY MCGANN:
The funeral mass in the beautiful Upper East Side church of Our Lady of Good
Counsel was enhanced by the fiddlers playing in unison especially with Conway's rendering of the slow airs that touch the very heart and soul of the Irish
everywhere, The Coolin (Cúilfhionn) and Róisín Dubh.

The burial at St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx was even more amazing as it
emphasized a theme that was with me all week up in East Durham.

Not only was East Durham a musical crossroads but it was the very circle of
life as well as we buried the late Joe Banjo Burke, welcomed the newly married
Michael Rooney and June McCormack (surely a match made in heaven) and shared
the news of Andy McGann’s death as a true community.

But as McGann’s cousin, Fr. Hugh Ronan sermonized at the mass on Monday, the
seed must die if life is to come from it, and looking at the quintet of young
fiddlers (Maeve Flanagan, Erin Loughran, Cleek Schrey, Patrick Mangan and
Colin Lindsey) who joined the veterans like Conway, John Daly from Chicago and Don
Meade throughout the day, it was clear that the seeds laid by Andy McGann
were bearing fruit.

Once McGann’s remains were respectfully saluted with a few tunes, a musical
meandering to the graves of fellow fiddlers Johnny Cronin from Kerry and Sligo’
s Michael Coleman was in order. It was both comical and symbolic as the search
aided by a cemetery database sent us on twists and turns in the sprawling
Throggs Neck Cemetery. The musicians played a few reels at my request over my own
father’s grave, ironically just a few rows from Andy’s final resting spot,
because my own household was where I first heard his music on an old LP that my
Dad had purchased and wore out with delight.

Those seeds and the Circle of Life are intertwined with the love of
traditional music and support the bonds that hold fast friends and followers of it
wherever they gather. It allows the Irish to be happy and sad at the same time,
which suits our character. Our heartfelt condolences to his wife Pat, sons Mark,
Kieran, Neal and daughter Megan on the loss of the truly fine gentleman, Andy
McGann.

Thinking About St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx

I was doing as the above title says I was doing and I googled the song composed below by Bill Black.

Composer's note: St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx section of New York City is the resting place for three of the finest musicians that ever graced the tradition: Michael Coleman, James Morrison, and Johnny Cronin. This song is dedicated to them and to all of the musicians of bygone days who rest in Saint Raymond's.

(1) There is a place that I know well
A city in a city
Where sleep so many people
With names that few recall
And in this place so vast and sad
Three stones you would not notice
No different from the others
Not grand or proud or tall
But they mark the final resting place
And the final bars of music
From fiddles that were magic
And hands that held the keys
And as you stand and listen there
You think to hear them playing
And shiver in the restless wind
That stirs the brittle trees

(CHORUS) So softly falls the midnight snow
To chill the silent angels
And kiss the grass before it melts

(after v.1) on Michael Coleman's grave
(after v.2) on Johnny Cronin's grave
(after v.3) on Jamesy Morrison's grave

(2) Where are the halls whose noisy crowds
Fell silent as they listened
To Coleman's gifted fingers
Lift diamonds out of steel?
Who laughed at Cronin's comedy
Up in the old Bunratty? -
Five-thirty in the morning
Still time for one more reel
You could not find those places now
Or friends so long departed
But few here would remember
And fewer still be sad
Where names are only chisel marks
And hearts are only ashes
And passion a forgotten thing
No longer good nor bad

(chorus) (3) The iron gates will turn to rust
And marble angels crumble:
And granite melt to flowers
When memories are no more
But music fills eternity
And fiddles sound in
Heaven And Coleman plays a hornpipe
Cronin's never heard before -
So stand awhile and and hear, and hear
The wind that shakes the branches
And listen now more closely
For the tune that has no name
And say a prayer for all their souls
The great and the forgotten
Who brightened all around them
With music's gentle flame

Words and music:
Bill Black
c 1996
Sunphone Ltd.