Connie, I think I have most of the records from St. Joseph's Catholic Church & cemetery. I will look for you if you can give me any names. I went to the Library in Ashland and copied most of the records, plus someone sent me a print-out of the same. If I still have the email saved, I could directly send it to you as an attachment as it is quite long, but it may help you with other names as well that I wouldn't spot. I have lots of info from all the cemeteries you mentioned, so I will look for you. Your Galigher name is very interesting, as my great great grandmother was a Mary Galigher, spelled Gallahar, Gallagher, etc. She married William Devitt. I found her records at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pottsville, PA, USA. It seems that was the starting point for many of my Irish relatives. I went in person a few times for which I am so glad that I did. I started with looking for my great-grandfather, Anthony William Devitt son of William Devitt and Mary (Gallagher) Devitt. Had I not been standing there I would have never discovered his baptismal record because someone had typed in the wrong year. Instead of 1856, 1956 was typed in, so every time the clerk saw the year 1956, she skipped over it. I noticed that each record was numbered according to when each event happened. It looked strange that the 1956 entry was record number 6923. All the records before 1900 were 10,000 or less, making the 1956 date way out of place. If it really was 1956, then it should have been numbered between 18,000 and 21,000. When I looked closer at this record, it was all the names of my family. The info. read: Record 6923 Name Devitt, Anthony Book 5 Page 76 Date of Birth and Place of Birth were blank Father's Name Devitt, William Mother's Name Mary ? Sponser's Name James Devitt Sponser's Name Mary Monahan Date of Baptism 4/28/1956 Minister of Baptism T.J.Lyndon. This record has to be a typo for the date as it is only the second Devitt record in the register for the name Devitt. All their records are chronological. Seeing that Anthony's record was there, I tried for his parents' marriage record. Found it - The Marriage Record: Groom: William Devit (their spelling) Bride: Mary Gallahar (their spelling) Date of Marriage: 1/28/1854. Parents for the couple was not recorded but blank. From the 1870 Norwegian Twp., Minersville, PA census, I figured Mary to be born about 1835 in Ireland. She is a widow and living with her son Anthony. I can't seem to find her after this. Family legend says she died in a house fire in the 1870's, leaving Anthony alone. He moved in with the Sweeney family, his cousins. I tried to find how the Sweeney's were related and I traced them back to a Michael Davitt, so they had to be from William Devitt's side. In 1860 I find Mary and her son Anthony living with a Peter Gallagher age 35 a Mine Laborer born in Ireland. On Anthony's death certificate the maiden name of his mother is written Mary ? , just like it was written on his baptism record from St. Patrick's.
For the Ashland info. try writing or calling St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Ashland, PA. Ask for or write in care of Mrs. Elizabeth Woodward. Her husband is the care taker in the cemeteries. He has the burial records at their house. The church had a fire back in the 1960's or '80's and lost all their records. There is a young priest there now & he may know the present folks, but doesn't know too much about the previous people. The parish office's address is 1115 Walnut St., Ashland, PA 17921. Phone numbers are 570-875-1521 or 570-875-2990. Fax # 570-875-2635. St. Joseph and St. Mauritius are the names of the Catholic cemeteries. There is also another St. Joe's just down the St. in the next town, Girardville. I will check all my cemetery holdings and see what I can come up with for you. Send me the name of the baby or the parents names, that will be a big help. Also, I am going back there this summer & will look up for you what we can't come up with by then. Where in AZ are you? My best friend lives in Tucson as well as my nephew. My brother & family lived there off & on as my bro. graduated from the University for his Masters and then after living overseas returned to the University & taught a few years. We also have good friends in Phoenix. It must be hot right now there. I don't think summer is ever coming to these parts (Michigan). It's a long story how I wound up here. I was born in Phila. & raised in NJ. I still call the East home after 18 yrs. in MI and 5 in Mexico and 1 yr. in MO. Please feel free to email me directly, if you'd like......Pat
patricia_bennett@ntm.org