John & Alice Reilly

No, I think it’s the name at the top that’s the issue.

That said, I think the deceased’s name is also John, with a comma after it like the comma after Reilly.

We're looking for the given name of the son, Nicole. Is it Jack or Jock? Do we know if the mother was not Irish...clue to name other than John?

Yes, John & Alice were the parents. No idea what Alice's maiden name was. It's an old Catholic cemetery, and a lot of Irish are buried here. But definitely not all the deceased are Irish.

JAMES

Kind of looks like 'Joell' to me.

Rusty

I thought it looked a little like JOEL too. But every Joel I've known has been Jewish, and when I looked it up I found it is indeed a Hebrew name. Somehow "Joel Reilly" seems out of place in this cemetery. :-)

I don't see JAMES at all. However, I found the father's gravestone, and here's how JOHN looks engraved in the same manner as the son's. I think the son is probably John too.

I see the son's name as John

Is this a cemetery you are physically in? You could take a piece of paper and a charcoal pencil and do a rubbing and it might pop out.

John

Or John ll

I also see JOHN with a little period mark that looks like a tiny square. Why would they put a period after a name?

It’s a comma, not a period. See the little tail? Compare it to the comma after “Reilly”.

I also see John followed by a square. Alice has a tiny square after her name. Reilly has a square, but shaped more like a comma?

Some of those small squares look like commas.

Looks like JOHN with a squared comma (the N is pretty distinct on my monitor).

What does it say above the son's name?

JOHN,

son of

John & Alice

Reilly,

DIED

So, John, son of John and Alice Reilly, died...

I think the period after Alice's name is just a blip in the stone.

edited for spacing

I see " JOHN, son of John & Alice REILLY, DIED ".

The year of death was 1870? If the death year is any time between 1906-1967, I could check the Pennsylvania death certificates. In fact, I just did that and found a John Reilly whose parents were John and Alice, but he died April 2, 1926. John and his parents were born in Ireland, and the mother's maiden name was transcribed as Halow but to me it looks like Hagen or Hogen. The certificate says burial was to be in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon.

Another John Reilly, who has the middle initial J, was born July 4, 1900, in Philadelphia, his parents John and Alice (her maiden name unknown) were born in Ireland. John's date of death is July 14, 1949, and he, too, was to be buried in Holy Cross in Yeadon.

The first photo looks like JOHN to me also, with perhaps a dash or some mark after the name.

Yeadon is near Philly and Alisande is further north so i doubt that's where the headstone is located.

I have lots of Irish ancestors in NE PA and the cemetery records are sadly incomplete.

The rest of the stone shows a comma after 1870, and periods after both of the next two lines, which state:

Aged 21 yrs. 6 mos. & 11 ds.

That was my first time at this particular cemetery, and probably my last. Here's why I'm not likely to go back. :-)

Adventures in Gravestone Photography

Thanks, everyone! I think I can safely go with John, perhaps with a note on the memorial stating "John" is a best guess. Lindsey, maybe you can suggest what I should do about that? (It's for FindAGrave.) Thanks!

Alisande - I have a subscription to Newspapers.com - maybe I can find the obituary by the county in which it is located. You have the name, the year of death and names of parents.

I just read about your little adventure. Goodness! Glad you made it out of there ok!!

I'm confident the deceased's first name is John, based on the photos you posted, so I don't think you need to make any notes about it on the memorial page.

Schoolhouse, I meant to answer your question. Just above the big JOHN, it says memory of. I can't read what's above that, but it might be sacred to the, which I've seen on some old stones.

I, too, have a subscription to Newspapers.com. In fact, I have the upgraded "Publisher Extra" subscription. I did a search for Reilly in 1870 but didn't come up with anything helpful.

I just realized the father died June 18, 1870--less than three weeks after his son. I wonder if diphtheria or another epidemic came through at that time. I'll see if I find any others.

It looks to me as if it's in a serif font.

To help look it always helps if the location of a grave stone is given. It could be possible that others on here would have family information such as problems in certain areas.

I just edited a photo of the gravestone of someone who died in January 1870. It's engraved the same way (probably by the same person) of the stones pictured above, and the first name (Julia) has a period after it. Obviously they had no Grammar Police in 1870. :-)

I played with the contrast and turned it upside down.

"In memory of.." Oh, yes I see it now. Thanks.