Desperate Times for the Desjardins - 1911

Yesterday I wrote about the passing of my great great grandfather, Damas Desjardins, in October of 1911. I shared his obituary from the newspaper, The Patchogue Advance, which was the local newspaper for Patchogue, Long Island, New York.

Another article ran in that same paper two months later on December 28, 1911. It read as follows:

Mrs. Desjardin who has started a little store at her home on Avery avenue finds her business has been injured by reports that her husband died of a contagious disease. This is not true and her friends who sympathize with her efforts protest against this unkind attitude which is severely damaging her. Mrs. Desjardin's stock is entirely new and she is endeavoring to support a family of six and keep them together. She has has three deaths in less than three months.

Great great grandma, Malvina Ethier-Desjardins, did not have it easy; certainly not in 1911.

I know that one of those three deaths mentioned at the end of the article was that of her husband, Damas Desjardins who died on October 9, 1911.

In the family plot at St. Francis de Sales Cemetery in Patchogue, I discover the second death to be that of Anna Desjardins who, according to the headstone, was born on July 30, 1911 and died on December 18, 1911. I suspect that Anna may have been a grandchild of Malvina and Damas; whose child Anna was though, I am not sure. In 1911, Malvina was about 47; I suppose Anna could have been the child of Malvina and Damas but I doubt it.

The third death to take place in the family in 1911 occured on October 10, 1911; just the day after Damas died. On the 10th, the family lost a newborn, Clement Mono, aged 3 months. I learned this by purchasing the plot records for a grave in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens County, NY. Clement was the son of  Emma Desjardins-Monno and Clement Monno, Sr.

In 2009, I was able through the use of the New York City Death Index provided by The German Genealogical Group's online, to track down the death certificate for my great grandfather, Albert Gardner.

I then purchased a copy of the certificate from the New York City Municipal Archives.

From that certificate I learned that Albert was interned in Calvary Cemetery.

Upon contacting Calvary Cemetery via phone, I learned Albert was interned with three others.

I visited the cemetery to learn there was no headstone which was not a surprise really, my relatives rarely have headstones.

The only way for me to know who was buried in cemetery 3, section 36, range 10, plot G, grave 16 was to order a plot record. I do not recall the exact price but in my opinion, it was steep; I remember that!

However, that plot record provided information about three relatives that I may have never otherwise discovered; Clement Mono, Edward Desjardins who the plot was purchased for in 1903 and who was the brother of my great grandfather Albert Gardner, and Alinna Ethier who I believe to really be Olivine Page-Ethier, my 3rd great grandmother who was born in Quebec, Canada and who was buried in Calvary Cemetery on December 14, 1906 at the age of about 70. I suspect Olivine died in the City of New York but I have never been able to locate a death certificate for her.