Gardens of Stone --- A Cemetery Blog by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca

Florence Scannell was a New York City Councilman and opponent of Tammany Hall politics. In December of 1869, he was shot in a barroom brawl by Thomas Donahue, a day before being elected Alderman, a position he never assumed. From the time of the shooting until he died on July 10, 1870, Scanell lay “hovering on the edge of life.” At Scannell’s funeral mass, which took place at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, Rev. Father Henry told the congregants that they should not mourn for his departure, for there was reason to believe he was now “in a better world.” At the conclusion of the religious service, Scannell’s wood casket was opened and several hundred mourners passed by to say a final goodbye. The casket was then loaded onto a funeral coach, borne by six gray horses, for the ride to Calvary Cemetery in Queens. This exquisite statue, which marks Scannell’s grave was dedicated by his brother, John J. Scannell, as is noted on the stone. Several months after his broth...

Yesterday, I attended a wonderful lecture about Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Cold Spring Harbor Library in Long Island. Although I researched Louis Comfort and his father, Charles Lewis, the famed jeweler, I learned a number of things about the family and took a new look at their modest gravestones in Green-Wood Cemetery. It seems that Louis C. Tiffany was quite the party animal, throwing lavish parties—sometimes for 1,000 people—-at Laurelton Hall, his 100-room estate set on 580 acres in Oyster Bay, LI. The invitations were proffered by scrolls, often written in hieroglyphics, and guests were—-more often than not—-requested to attend in costume. Louis Comfort Tiffany died in 1933, but Laurelton Hall lived on, serving as a haven for artists per Tiffany’s wishes. Sadly, in 1957, the mansion burned down in a mysterious fire, the origin of which has never been discovered. Much of the contents of Tiffany’s home were destroyed. One of these, (seen above) was Tiffany's prized work ...

Johnny Torrio, who was once considered to be America's top public enemy, died in 1957. However, his death went largely unnoticed by the media and the public. Torrio suffered a heart attack while sitting in a barber's chair on April 15th and later died in Brooklyn's now-defunct Cumberland Hospital.   It wasn't until three weeks after his death that a small news item was published in the New York Times, referring to Torrio as "the man who put Al Capone in business." Later that year, Albert Anastasia, a rival mobster, was also killed while getting a shave in a barber's chair.

When I’m in a cemetery --be it for work or leisure --a monument or mausoleum will catch my eye and I’ll want to learn more about the story behind the family name. Such was the case with the Charles Engert mausoleum in St. John Cemetery. I’ve seen this mausoleum numerous times as it is prominently located across the road from Charles Lucania, and on the way to the Cloister. This week, I stopped to really look. From the look of the structure I felt fairly certain that the family was prominent and one of means. These assumptions were borne out, along with the tragedy which prompted the construction of this mausoleum. Here’s what I learned: Charles Engert was a Brooklyn-born builder and realtor. Prosperous and well-known, he was a founding member of the Hanover Club. In April of 1899, his only child,16 year old daughter M.J. Henrietta (known as Hattie) died at her school-- Mt. St. Vincent Academy on the Hudson --from spinal meningitis. Hattie had recently returned to school after Easter ...

The Wagner name was well-known in New York politics. Three generations of Wagner men –-all named Robert Ferdinand--served the state and city. The family patriarch, Robert F. Wagner, Sr., served as U.S. Senator from 1927 to 1949. He died in 1953. Wagner’s son, Robert F. Wagner, Jr., was New York City’s 102nd mayor and one of the city’s most popular. Elected to three terms –his tenure was from 1954 to 1965---as mayor, the Yale graduate previously served as Manhattan’s Borough President before winning the mayoral race at 43.  Wagner died at the age of 80, on February 12, 1991, from bladder cancer. His funeral took place four days later. At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 700 mourners, including Governor Mario Cuomo, Mayor David Dinkins, and former Mayors Lindsay and Koch, listened to a sermon by Cardinal O’Connor. Opera singer Robert Merrill serenaded the congregation with his rendition of Ave Maria, and Wagner’s son, Robert F. Wagner III, gave a eulogy. In it, he shared with the audience so...

The Johnston family mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery is not to be missed. In fact, one would be hard pressed to do so as the structure is massive and prominently situated. Fans of The Godfather may recall seeing it in the funeral scene of Don Corleone. In the 19th Century, the Johnston brothers --John, Charles & Robert – were the proprietors of the J & C Johnston Dry Goods Store on Broadway in Manhattan. An 1874 article in the New York Times, entitled ‘The Christmas Holidays: At The Dry-Goods Store’ encapsulated the various offerings from NYC merchants. The entry for the J & C Johnston Co. noted that it had “…one of the most extensive silk departments in the city.”

A starkly beautiful sunset at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.

On a recent visit to Calvary Cemetery in Queens , I saw the Halloran mausoleum  (top photo)  for the first time. Surprisingly, in all my years as a funeral director, I’ve never seen it before. Probably, because I almost never enter the cemetery on Greenpoint Avenue. In any case, I was immediately struck by the similarity to the Mackay family mausoleum, my favorite in Green-Wood. I'm attempting to find out additional information about this structure. In particular, I'm interested in knowing which mausoleum was built first and did they share an architect. If anyone knows, please post here.

Major Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Edith. In 1917, when the United States entered WWI, Quentin --who had trained as a pilot on a Long Island airfield --dropped out of Harvard and joined the 1st Reserve Aero Squadron, the nation's first air reserve. A year later, on July 14, 1918 (Bastille Day), his plane was shot down outside of Chamery, France by a German pilot. Quentin was twenty years old. He was buried at the site beneath a makeshift wooden cross. Later, a wooden enclosure was added to the gravesite that had become a shrine to American soldiers and aviators. Because of the significance of the site, President and Mrs. Roosevelt decided not to bring their son back to the US for burial.    Already weak from an Amazon expedition and brokenhearted by Quentin's death, Theodore Roosevelt died six months later. In 1955, Quentin's remains were moved to the World War II American Cemetery in Collesville-sur-Mer , France, an...

In honor of tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Rowland H. Macy is today's subject.  Born to a Quaker family in New England, Macy found success --and made retail history-- with R.H. Macy & Co., which opened in 1858 in lower Manhattan. First-day sales amounted to $11.06. Macy died in Paris in 1877, just a few weeks after traveling to Europe with his family for some much-needed rest on the advice of his doctors. According to a New York Times article that announced his death, "Laborious work during his best years brought him, at the age of 56, to a sick bed, suffering from Bright's disease of the kidneys, of which he died." However, his funeral was not held until June 29th. After a religious service in New York City's Church of the Holy Trinity, with family and friends and 300 of Macy's employees, Macy's body was taken by special train to the Bronx for burial in Woodlawn Cemetery. In his will, Macy left the bulk of his estate to his wife and daughter,...