Hi, Mr. Meador,
I was looking up information on the first wife of Peter Connelly, my mother-in-law's 2nd great-uncle (great-grandfather's brother). Her name was (Mary) Cornelia Davy, who, according to author William Elsey Connelly (in "War with Mexico, 1846-1847: Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California"), was the daughter of a Colonel Davy of Independence, Missouri.
A few years ago, I had found a census record with Peter and Cornelia's youngest (surviving) daughter, (Mary) Gertrude Connelly, listed in the household of an aunt and uncle, Allen J and Elizabeth W Overton in Pleasant Hill Cass County, MO (ED 88; Pg 149-B; Family 178). (Cornelia's second child with Peter, a daughter named Clarita, died shortly after birth).
Peter and their son, Henry W, were together on the census in Kansas City, MO (ED 14; Pg 399-A; Family 286), but Peter was listed as a widower. All of the children were born, however, in Kansas. I'm not sure where (Kansas or Missouri) Cornelia died or was buried; although I believe she may have been buried in the same cemetery as her father for reasons listed below.
I only just found Cornelia's christening record online, and it shows her parents to be (Col.) Cornelius/Cornelious Davy and Sarah Haskins Wakefield Davy. So I was looking up to see if I could find any information on them - in addition to other christening records (in Iowa) for 3 of their children and one for a grandchild thru Elizabeth Overton.
Apparently, Colonel Davy was born about 1792 in County Galway, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States, winding up in Kentucky, where I believe he married Sarah Haskins Wakefield. Several children (at least 3) were born in Kentucky before the family moved to Jackson County, Missouri about 1835. Col. Davy was a very prosperous merchant, who frequented the Santa Fe Trail (thus probably how the Davy family knew the Connelly family since Dr. Henry Connelly was a prosperous, Kentucky-reared merchant who lived many years in Chihuahua and Santa Fe, NM, and who became Territorial Governor of New Mexico). The Davy family is located on the 1840 Census in Jackson County (Pg 82; Line 5) and on the 1850 Census (without Sarah, who perhaps had already died) in Blue Township of Jackson County (Pgs 283-284; Family 744).
From Google Books I found the following information on Col. Davy:
Excerpt, page 134, from "Missouri Irish: Kansas City, St. Louis & Trails West"
Author: Michael C. O'Laughlin
"Arriving in Independence after an eleven day ferry ride [Father Bernard] Donnelly took up residence at the Mansion of Colonel Cornelius Davy, a native of County Galway. ..."
My Google search also produced the following information:
from "Nineteenth-Century Independence and Moore's Addition, Part 2, Chapter 7"
via National Park Service website
[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parkmgmt/upload/07_chapter-2.pdf]
page 117
"In 1836, Cornelius and Sarah Haskins Davy bought this parcel from Jones and Clara Flournoy (who acquired dower rights to this land), along with other lands totaling 101.50 acres for $2,000 (Deed Book D, p. 446). Born in Ireland around 1792, Cornelius Davy and his wife came from Kentucky to Independence around 1835 when Davy was in his mid-forties. (A son, Thomas, had been born in Kentucky in 1834, according to the 1850 census of Jackson County.) Davy became a prosperous merchant in Independence. (Footnote 17) It is likely that both Flournoy and Davy may have used most of the land on and around the Noland house site for agricultural purposes, reserving only a small parcel of the total for any structures. ..."
[Note that the author/researcher did not mention the other 2 (at least) children born in Kentucky.]
Also via Google books -"Journal of the Senate of the State of Missouri at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly ..., Volume 10," pp 367-368
"February 13th, 1839
"To the Hon.: The Senate of Missouri:
"Gentlemen,
"I nominate the following gentlemen to the office of Director of the Board of Internal Improvement for the State of Missouri, to wit:
"... Cornelius Davy Esq. of Jackson county ...
"And repectfully request your advice and consent to their appointment.
"Most respectfully,
"Your obt. servt.
"Lillburn W. Boggs"
[p 368]
"The question occurring on the nomination of Cornelius Davy and Hugh A. Meredith,
"Was decided affirmatively by the following vote: ..."
According to "A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, Past and Present of Bates County, Missouri" [Web Ads: http://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/batesco.html], Cornelius also was named in 1841 as one of the commissioners charged with locating a permanent seat of justice in Bates County.
In addition to another search citation which listed him and his wife as buyers and sellers of land in Cumberland County, Kentucky, there was the following citation, which has lead me to believe that his daughter Cornelia (and perhaps other children - and wife Sarah?) was likely buried in the same cemetery:
"Catholic Cemeteries : tell stories of faith and community," by Marty Denzer
via The Catholic Key: Newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph (online)
"Father Donnelly was ordained and the parish of Holy Cross/St. Mary was formally organized in 1845. Father Donnelly was named pastor of the new parish and arrived in Independence that same year. For a time, until he was able to rent the building that was to be half sleeping quarters and half church, he lived with Colonel Cornelius Davy, a Santa Fe freighter who was a member of the parish, and his family.
"Col. Davy was killed on the Santa Fe Trail in 1853. Davy left money to be used for the purchase of land for a Catholic cemetery with the stipulation that a mausoleum be erected for him and his family.
"In 1855, Father Donnelly purchased six acres from James Cogswell adjoining the city cemetery, an old slave cemetery and a potter's field on what is now Noland Road. The cemetery was named St. Mary's. (The original name of the parish, Holy Cross, was formally changed to St. Mary sometime between 1852 and 1864.) Catholics who had been buried next to the church or in private family cemeteries were moved to the new Catholic cemetery.
"In 1922, the city of Independence renamed the city cemetery 'Woodlawn,' and encompassed the old slave burial ground and potter's field. The Catholic cemetery, as part of an arrangement with the city, became part of Woodlawn, but the records and administration of the cemetery remained under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Parish.
"The Davy family mausoleum has vanished, but monuments memorializing Father Fitzgerald, a beloved successor to Father Donnelly, many members of the Sisters of Mercy of Independence community, the Bundschu and Bolger families and many other civic leaders, both from the early days of Independence and from more modern times. The cemetery is still in use."
[I have requested permission from The Catholic Key to publish the information about the cemetery on F/G's cemetery description but am still waiting to hear back from them.]
Please feel free to add any of the above information to your memorial for Cornelius. Although my mother-in-law is not a descendant of Col. Davy's, he was a prominent man of his time and likely has a number of decendents (however, not through Cornelia and Peter Connelly since their son Henry Wood Connelly married but had no children and Gertrude Connelly never married).
D. Robertson aka TexasLass (#47392335)
I was looking up information on the first wife of Peter Connelly, my mother-in-law's 2nd great-uncle (great-grandfather's brother). Her name was (Mary) Cornelia Davy, who, according to author William Elsey Connelly (in "War with Mexico, 1846-1847: Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California"), was the daughter of a Colonel Davy of Independence, Missouri.
A few years ago, I had found a census record with Peter and Cornelia's youngest (surviving) daughter, (Mary) Gertrude Connelly, listed in the household of an aunt and uncle, Allen J and Elizabeth W Overton in Pleasant Hill Cass County, MO (ED 88; Pg 149-B; Family 178). (Cornelia's second child with Peter, a daughter named Clarita, died shortly after birth).
Peter and their son, Henry W, were together on the census in Kansas City, MO (ED 14; Pg 399-A; Family 286), but Peter was listed as a widower. All of the children were born, however, in Kansas. I'm not sure where (Kansas or Missouri) Cornelia died or was buried; although I believe she may have been buried in the same cemetery as her father for reasons listed below.
I only just found Cornelia's christening record online, and it shows her parents to be (Col.) Cornelius/Cornelious Davy and Sarah Haskins Wakefield Davy. So I was looking up to see if I could find any information on them - in addition to other christening records (in Iowa) for 3 of their children and one for a grandchild thru Elizabeth Overton.
Apparently, Colonel Davy was born about 1792 in County Galway, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States, winding up in Kentucky, where I believe he married Sarah Haskins Wakefield. Several children (at least 3) were born in Kentucky before the family moved to Jackson County, Missouri about 1835. Col. Davy was a very prosperous merchant, who frequented the Santa Fe Trail (thus probably how the Davy family knew the Connelly family since Dr. Henry Connelly was a prosperous, Kentucky-reared merchant who lived many years in Chihuahua and Santa Fe, NM, and who became Territorial Governor of New Mexico). The Davy family is located on the 1840 Census in Jackson County (Pg 82; Line 5) and on the 1850 Census (without Sarah, who perhaps had already died) in Blue Township of Jackson County (Pgs 283-284; Family 744).
From Google Books I found the following information on Col. Davy:
Excerpt, page 134, from "Missouri Irish: Kansas City, St. Louis & Trails West"
Author: Michael C. O'Laughlin
"Arriving in Independence after an eleven day ferry ride [Father Bernard] Donnelly took up residence at the Mansion of Colonel Cornelius Davy, a native of County Galway. ..."
My Google search also produced the following information:
from "Nineteenth-Century Independence and Moore's Addition, Part 2, Chapter 7"
via National Park Service website
[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parkmgmt/upload/07_chapter-2.pdf]
page 117
"In 1836, Cornelius and Sarah Haskins Davy bought this parcel from Jones and Clara Flournoy (who acquired dower rights to this land), along with other lands totaling 101.50 acres for $2,000 (Deed Book D, p. 446). Born in Ireland around 1792, Cornelius Davy and his wife came from Kentucky to Independence around 1835 when Davy was in his mid-forties. (A son, Thomas, had been born in Kentucky in 1834, according to the 1850 census of Jackson County.) Davy became a prosperous merchant in Independence. (Footnote 17) It is likely that both Flournoy and Davy may have used most of the land on and around the Noland house site for agricultural purposes, reserving only a small parcel of the total for any structures. ..."
[Note that the author/researcher did not mention the other 2 (at least) children born in Kentucky.]
Also via Google books -"Journal of the Senate of the State of Missouri at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly ..., Volume 10," pp 367-368
"February 13th, 1839
"To the Hon.: The Senate of Missouri:
"Gentlemen,
"I nominate the following gentlemen to the office of Director of the Board of Internal Improvement for the State of Missouri, to wit:
"... Cornelius Davy Esq. of Jackson county ...
"And repectfully request your advice and consent to their appointment.
"Most respectfully,
"Your obt. servt.
"Lillburn W. Boggs"
[p 368]
"The question occurring on the nomination of Cornelius Davy and Hugh A. Meredith,
"Was decided affirmatively by the following vote: ..."
According to "A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, Past and Present of Bates County, Missouri" [Web Ads: http://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/batesco.html], Cornelius also was named in 1841 as one of the commissioners charged with locating a permanent seat of justice in Bates County.
In addition to another search citation which listed him and his wife as buyers and sellers of land in Cumberland County, Kentucky, there was the following citation, which has lead me to believe that his daughter Cornelia (and perhaps other children - and wife Sarah?) was likely buried in the same cemetery:
"Catholic Cemeteries : tell stories of faith and community," by Marty Denzer
via The Catholic Key: Newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph (online)
"Father Donnelly was ordained and the parish of Holy Cross/St. Mary was formally organized in 1845. Father Donnelly was named pastor of the new parish and arrived in Independence that same year. For a time, until he was able to rent the building that was to be half sleeping quarters and half church, he lived with Colonel Cornelius Davy, a Santa Fe freighter who was a member of the parish, and his family.
"Col. Davy was killed on the Santa Fe Trail in 1853. Davy left money to be used for the purchase of land for a Catholic cemetery with the stipulation that a mausoleum be erected for him and his family.
"In 1855, Father Donnelly purchased six acres from James Cogswell adjoining the city cemetery, an old slave cemetery and a potter's field on what is now Noland Road. The cemetery was named St. Mary's. (The original name of the parish, Holy Cross, was formally changed to St. Mary sometime between 1852 and 1864.) Catholics who had been buried next to the church or in private family cemeteries were moved to the new Catholic cemetery.
"In 1922, the city of Independence renamed the city cemetery 'Woodlawn,' and encompassed the old slave burial ground and potter's field. The Catholic cemetery, as part of an arrangement with the city, became part of Woodlawn, but the records and administration of the cemetery remained under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Parish.
"The Davy family mausoleum has vanished, but monuments memorializing Father Fitzgerald, a beloved successor to Father Donnelly, many members of the Sisters of Mercy of Independence community, the Bundschu and Bolger families and many other civic leaders, both from the early days of Independence and from more modern times. The cemetery is still in use."
[I have requested permission from The Catholic Key to publish the information about the cemetery on F/G's cemetery description but am still waiting to hear back from them.]
Please feel free to add any of the above information to your memorial for Cornelius. Although my mother-in-law is not a descendant of Col. Davy's, he was a prominent man of his time and likely has a number of decendents (however, not through Cornelia and Peter Connelly since their son Henry Wood Connelly married but had no children and Gertrude Connelly never married).
D. Robertson aka TexasLass (#47392335)
Hi, Mr. Meador,
I was looking up information on the first wife of Peter Connelly, my mother-in-law's 2nd great-uncle (great-grandfather's brother). Her name was (Mary) Cornelia Davy, who, according to author William Elsey Connelly (in "War with Mexico, 1846-1847: Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California"), was the daughter of a Colonel Davy of Independence, Missouri.
A few years ago, I had found a census record with Peter and Cornelia's youngest (surviving) daughter, (Mary) Gertrude Connelly, listed in the household of an aunt and uncle, Allen J and Elizabeth W Overton in Pleasant Hill Cass County, MO (ED 88; Pg 149-B; Family 178). (Cornelia's second child with Peter, a daughter named Clarita, died shortly after birth).
Peter and their son, Henry W, were together on the census in Kansas City, MO (ED 14; Pg 399-A; Family 286), but Peter was listed as a widower. All of the children were born, however, in Kansas. I'm not sure where (Kansas or Missouri) Cornelia died or was buried; although I believe she may have been buried in the same cemetery as her father for reasons listed below.
I only just found Cornelia's christening record online, and it shows her parents to be (Col.) Cornelius/Cornelious Davy and Sarah Haskins Wakefield Davy. So I was looking up to see if I could find any information on them - in addition to other christening records (in Iowa) for 3 of their children and one for a grandchild thru Elizabeth Overton.
Apparently, Colonel Davy was born about 1792 in County Galway, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States, winding up in Kentucky, where I believe he married Sarah Haskins Wakefield. Several children (at least 3) were born in Kentucky before the family moved to Jackson County, Missouri about 1835. Col. Davy was a very prosperous merchant, who frequented the Santa Fe Trail (thus probably how the Davy family knew the Connelly family since Dr. Henry Connelly was a prosperous, Kentucky-reared merchant who lived many years in Chihuahua and Santa Fe, NM, and who became Territorial Governor of New Mexico). The Davy family is located on the 1840 Census in Jackson County (Pg 82; Line 5) and on the 1850 Census (without Sarah, who perhaps had already died) in Blue Township of Jackson County (Pgs 283-284; Family 744).
From Google Books I found the following information on Col. Davy:
Excerpt, page 134, from "Missouri Irish: Kansas City, St. Louis & Trails West"
Author: Michael C. O'Laughlin
"Arriving in Independence after an eleven day ferry ride [Father Bernard] Donnelly took up residence at the Mansion of Colonel Cornelius Davy, a native of County Galway. ..."
My Google search also produced the following information:
from "Nineteenth-Century Independence and Moore's Addition, Part 2, Chapter 7"
via National Park Service website
[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parkmgmt/upload/07_chapter-2.pdf]
page 117
"In 1836, Cornelius and Sarah Haskins Davy bought this parcel from Jones and Clara Flournoy (who acquired dower rights to this land), along with other lands totaling 101.50 acres for $2,000 (Deed Book D, p. 446). Born in Ireland around 1792, Cornelius Davy and his wife came from Kentucky to Independence around 1835 when Davy was in his mid-forties. (A son, Thomas, had been born in Kentucky in 1834, according to the 1850 census of Jackson County.) Davy became a prosperous merchant in Independence. (Footnote 17) It is likely that both Flournoy and Davy may have used most of the land on and around the Noland house site for agricultural purposes, reserving only a small parcel of the total for any structures. ..."
[Note that the author/researcher did not mention the other 2 (at least) children born in Kentucky.]
Also via Google books -"Journal of the Senate of the State of Missouri at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly ..., Volume 10," pp 367-368
"February 13th, 1839
"To the Hon.: The Senate of Missouri:
"Gentlemen,
"I nominate the following gentlemen to the office of Director of the Board of Internal Improvement for the State of Missouri, to wit:
"... Cornelius Davy Esq. of Jackson county ...
"And repectfully request your advice and consent to their appointment.
"Most respectfully,
"Your obt. servt.
"Lillburn W. Boggs"
[p 368]
"The question occurring on the nomination of Cornelius Davy and Hugh A. Meredith,
"Was decided affirmatively by the following vote: ..."
According to "A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, Past and Present of Bates County, Missouri" [Web Ads: http://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/batesco.html], Cornelius also was named in 1841 as one of the commissioners charged with locating a permanent seat of justice in Bates County.
In addition to another search citation which listed him and his wife as buyers and sellers of land in Cumberland County, Kentucky, there was the following citation, which has lead me to believe that his daughter Cornelia (and perhaps other children - and wife Sarah?) was likely buried in the same cemetery:
"Catholic Cemeteries : tell stories of faith and community," by Marty Denzer
via The Catholic Key: Newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph (online)
"Father Donnelly was ordained and the parish of Holy Cross/St. Mary was formally organized in 1845. Father Donnelly was named pastor of the new parish and arrived in Independence that same year. For a time, until he was able to rent the building that was to be half sleeping quarters and half church, he lived with Colonel Cornelius Davy, a Santa Fe freighter who was a member of the parish, and his family.
"Col. Davy was killed on the Santa Fe Trail in 1853. Davy left money to be used for the purchase of land for a Catholic cemetery with the stipulation that a mausoleum be erected for him and his family.
"In 1855, Father Donnelly purchased six acres from James Cogswell adjoining the city cemetery, an old slave cemetery and a potter's field on what is now Noland Road. The cemetery was named St. Mary's. (The original name of the parish, Holy Cross, was formally changed to St. Mary sometime between 1852 and 1864.) Catholics who had been buried next to the church or in private family cemeteries were moved to the new Catholic cemetery.
"In 1922, the city of Independence renamed the city cemetery 'Woodlawn,' and encompassed the old slave burial ground and potter's field. The Catholic cemetery, as part of an arrangement with the city, became part of Woodlawn, but the records and administration of the cemetery remained under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Parish.
"The Davy family mausoleum has vanished, but monuments memorializing Father Fitzgerald, a beloved successor to Father Donnelly, many members of the Sisters of Mercy of Independence community, the Bundschu and Bolger families and many other civic leaders, both from the early days of Independence and from more modern times. The cemetery is still in use."
[I have requested permission from The Catholic Key to publish the information about the cemetery on F/G's cemetery description but am still waiting to hear back from them.]
Please feel free to add any of the above information to your memorial for Cornelius. Although my mother-in-law is not a descendant of Col. Davy's, he was a prominent man of his time and likely has a number of decendents (however, not through Cornelia and Peter Connelly since their son Henry Wood Connelly married but had no children and Gertrude Connelly never married).
D. Robertson aka TexasLass (#47392335)
I was looking up information on the first wife of Peter Connelly, my mother-in-law's 2nd great-uncle (great-grandfather's brother). Her name was (Mary) Cornelia Davy, who, according to author William Elsey Connelly (in "War with Mexico, 1846-1847: Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California"), was the daughter of a Colonel Davy of Independence, Missouri.
A few years ago, I had found a census record with Peter and Cornelia's youngest (surviving) daughter, (Mary) Gertrude Connelly, listed in the household of an aunt and uncle, Allen J and Elizabeth W Overton in Pleasant Hill Cass County, MO (ED 88; Pg 149-B; Family 178). (Cornelia's second child with Peter, a daughter named Clarita, died shortly after birth).
Peter and their son, Henry W, were together on the census in Kansas City, MO (ED 14; Pg 399-A; Family 286), but Peter was listed as a widower. All of the children were born, however, in Kansas. I'm not sure where (Kansas or Missouri) Cornelia died or was buried; although I believe she may have been buried in the same cemetery as her father for reasons listed below.
I only just found Cornelia's christening record online, and it shows her parents to be (Col.) Cornelius/Cornelious Davy and Sarah Haskins Wakefield Davy. So I was looking up to see if I could find any information on them - in addition to other christening records (in Iowa) for 3 of their children and one for a grandchild thru Elizabeth Overton.
Apparently, Colonel Davy was born about 1792 in County Galway, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States, winding up in Kentucky, where I believe he married Sarah Haskins Wakefield. Several children (at least 3) were born in Kentucky before the family moved to Jackson County, Missouri about 1835. Col. Davy was a very prosperous merchant, who frequented the Santa Fe Trail (thus probably how the Davy family knew the Connelly family since Dr. Henry Connelly was a prosperous, Kentucky-reared merchant who lived many years in Chihuahua and Santa Fe, NM, and who became Territorial Governor of New Mexico). The Davy family is located on the 1840 Census in Jackson County (Pg 82; Line 5) and on the 1850 Census (without Sarah, who perhaps had already died) in Blue Township of Jackson County (Pgs 283-284; Family 744).
From Google Books I found the following information on Col. Davy:
Excerpt, page 134, from "Missouri Irish: Kansas City, St. Louis & Trails West"
Author: Michael C. O'Laughlin
"Arriving in Independence after an eleven day ferry ride [Father Bernard] Donnelly took up residence at the Mansion of Colonel Cornelius Davy, a native of County Galway. ..."
My Google search also produced the following information:
from "Nineteenth-Century Independence and Moore's Addition, Part 2, Chapter 7"
via National Park Service website
[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parkmgmt/upload/07_chapter-2.pdf]
page 117
"In 1836, Cornelius and Sarah Haskins Davy bought this parcel from Jones and Clara Flournoy (who acquired dower rights to this land), along with other lands totaling 101.50 acres for $2,000 (Deed Book D, p. 446). Born in Ireland around 1792, Cornelius Davy and his wife came from Kentucky to Independence around 1835 when Davy was in his mid-forties. (A son, Thomas, had been born in Kentucky in 1834, according to the 1850 census of Jackson County.) Davy became a prosperous merchant in Independence. (Footnote 17) It is likely that both Flournoy and Davy may have used most of the land on and around the Noland house site for agricultural purposes, reserving only a small parcel of the total for any structures. ..."
[Note that the author/researcher did not mention the other 2 (at least) children born in Kentucky.]
Also via Google books -"Journal of the Senate of the State of Missouri at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly ..., Volume 10," pp 367-368
"February 13th, 1839
"To the Hon.: The Senate of Missouri:
"Gentlemen,
"I nominate the following gentlemen to the office of Director of the Board of Internal Improvement for the State of Missouri, to wit:
"... Cornelius Davy Esq. of Jackson county ...
"And repectfully request your advice and consent to their appointment.
"Most respectfully,
"Your obt. servt.
"Lillburn W. Boggs"
[p 368]
"The question occurring on the nomination of Cornelius Davy and Hugh A. Meredith,
"Was decided affirmatively by the following vote: ..."
According to "A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, Past and Present of Bates County, Missouri" [Web Ads: http://thelibrary.org/lochist/moser/batesco.html], Cornelius also was named in 1841 as one of the commissioners charged with locating a permanent seat of justice in Bates County.
In addition to another search citation which listed him and his wife as buyers and sellers of land in Cumberland County, Kentucky, there was the following citation, which has lead me to believe that his daughter Cornelia (and perhaps other children - and wife Sarah?) was likely buried in the same cemetery:
"Catholic Cemeteries : tell stories of faith and community," by Marty Denzer
via The Catholic Key: Newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph (online)
"Father Donnelly was ordained and the parish of Holy Cross/St. Mary was formally organized in 1845. Father Donnelly was named pastor of the new parish and arrived in Independence that same year. For a time, until he was able to rent the building that was to be half sleeping quarters and half church, he lived with Colonel Cornelius Davy, a Santa Fe freighter who was a member of the parish, and his family.
"Col. Davy was killed on the Santa Fe Trail in 1853. Davy left money to be used for the purchase of land for a Catholic cemetery with the stipulation that a mausoleum be erected for him and his family.
"In 1855, Father Donnelly purchased six acres from James Cogswell adjoining the city cemetery, an old slave cemetery and a potter's field on what is now Noland Road. The cemetery was named St. Mary's. (The original name of the parish, Holy Cross, was formally changed to St. Mary sometime between 1852 and 1864.) Catholics who had been buried next to the church or in private family cemeteries were moved to the new Catholic cemetery.
"In 1922, the city of Independence renamed the city cemetery 'Woodlawn,' and encompassed the old slave burial ground and potter's field. The Catholic cemetery, as part of an arrangement with the city, became part of Woodlawn, but the records and administration of the cemetery remained under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Parish.
"The Davy family mausoleum has vanished, but monuments memorializing Father Fitzgerald, a beloved successor to Father Donnelly, many members of the Sisters of Mercy of Independence community, the Bundschu and Bolger families and many other civic leaders, both from the early days of Independence and from more modern times. The cemetery is still in use."
[I have requested permission from The Catholic Key to publish the information about the cemetery on F/G's cemetery description but am still waiting to hear back from them.]
Please feel free to add any of the above information to your memorial for Cornelius. Although my mother-in-law is not a descendant of Col. Davy's, he was a prominent man of his time and likely has a number of decendents (however, not through Cornelia and Peter Connelly since their son Henry Wood Connelly married but had no children and Gertrude Connelly never married).
D. Robertson aka TexasLass (#47392335)
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