Inspirational Message

Inspirational Message

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Cemetery Caretaker

I read with interest an article in The Catholic Missourian a week ago regarding the mass burial of cholera victims in a cemetery.  The mass grave was unmarked until a monument was erected after funds were raised. The cholera outbreak in question was 1853-1855 and they were Irish railroad workers.  The story about cholera is heartbreaking and scary, you can find more on this by searching on Google, etc. The awesome part of this article was the caretaker had written down the names of all 112 victims! The memorial was installed in 1988 and reads: 
"In memory of 112 Irish workers who died 1853 to 1855 in the cholera epidemic while building the Missouri Pacific Railroad thru Osage County and are buried in this plot of Immaculate Conception Cemetery. Rest in peace."
It makes me feel good to know they were not forgotten.

I haven't found any photos online of the memorial, but rootsweb has some transcriptions of the other burials there.  The article didn't say if they names of the cholera victims are listed on the stone or recorded anywhere other than on that piece of paper.