Cunninghams of Columbus, Part 2

This is one of a series of posts about Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham, their children and grandchildren, and their lives in Columbus, Wisconsin in the late 1800s. You can find the other posts here: Part 1 (overview), Part 3 (the church and farm), Part 4 (our current state of knowledge) and related posts on  Robert Steven Cunningham, the Rooney farm and Wallenstown, Ireland.

The Cunningham Plot in St. Jerome's Cemetery, Columbus, Wisconsin

As I mentioned in my previous post, Maurice Cunningham was the first person buried in St. Jerome's cemetery. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the Cunningham plot was near the entrance to the graveyard. Seven Cunningham tombstones are in the plot: Maurice, his children Ellen, John, and Edward, and Edward's wife and two daughters. Unfortunately, the Cunningham plot is badly damaged. It appears a large tree fell over earlier this year, and it knocked over the monument to Maurice and Ellen when it fell. Perhaps the Cunninghams could take up an offering to fix the monuments.

The Cunningham Plot in St. Jerome's cemetery, Columbus, Wisconsin

Maurice's tombstone reads "In Memory of Maurice Cunningham, Died March 18, 1867, Aged 58 Years. Native of Wallenstown, Ireland." Beneath there is a prayer or text, but I cannot read it.

Maurice Cunningham's Tombstone

Two things are significant about this tombstone: 1) his home town is new information. Other than knowing that he sailed from Cork, we had no idea where he came from; and 2) his age at death suggests he was born in 1809 or 1808. His census records and other documents put his birth year anywhere from 1807 to 1811, so this helpfully narrows it down. 

A quick Google search will show that there's no such place as Wallenstown, Ireland. The mystery of his home town will be its own post, but here's a quick spoiler: my best guess is that he was from Wallingstown, an eastern suburb of Cork. The Irish government recently published many of their parish records on-line, but so far I have not been able to find Maurice or Elizabeth in any records from that parish. I will keep looking.

Ellen, Maurice's daughter, has a small stone marking her actual grave, and also her name and dates carved into the back of Maurice's tombstone. It reads "Ellen Cunningham, October 4, 1836, June 29, 1902" (I need my mother to confirm these. She has the notes were took on the inscriptions while we were in the cemetery.)

Ellen Cunningham's dates, on the back of Maurice's monument

John Cunningham, Maurice Cunningham's son, had a small stone inscribed "John Cunningham, 1834-1873". John had disappeared from the family records earlier (he is not with the family in the 1870 census), but we now know he died relatively young.

John Cunningham's tombstone, partially affected by the uprooted tree

Also in the Cunningham plot are tombstones for "Edward, Father", "Anna, Mother", "Ida, 23 July 1893 - 23 March 1973" and "Nellie, 7 Sept 1890 - 5 March 1931". Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham had a son named Edward. He appears to have lived on the farm with his brothers and sister until at least 1885, when he would have been in his early 40s. If he then married and had children, the dates of birth for Ida and Nellie would fit. This, too, is new information, since I had no record of children for any of the Cunningham siblings except my own great-great-grandfather, Robert. So far, I have not found any information about this family, but the graves give me some place to look. [Update: I found Nellie Cunningham and Ida Mae Cummings (sp), ages 10 and 7, living in an orphanage in Milwaukee in 1900. How sad.]

Tombstone for Edward (presumably Edward Cunningham, son of Maurice)

What really struck me about the cemetery, however, are the graves that were not there. Where is Maurice's wife Elizabeth? Where are their other children, Michael and William, who lived on the farm until Elizabeth's death? Did they move away later in life and were buried elsewhere? Or were they buried in the same plot but with graves unmarked? Unfortunately, document searches are not very effective in solving this mystery. The name Cunningham is extremely common, and with such common Christian names, as well, it because very difficult to track the fate of one William Cunningham or Elizabeth Cunningham out of the thousands who died around the country during this period.