St. Mary's Cemetery

201 Homeland Avenue

St. Mary's Cemetery was established around 1850. It is located in the 200 block of Homeland Avenue on the grounds of the original St. Mary's Church. The cemetery faces east as is the custom of many cemeteries. All burials are with the foot of the grave toward the east and most gravestones face east. In old parish records it is termed "God's Acre", which was an old Catholic term for a cemetery. As Father Paul Meyer says, it is "...where His blessed departed ones sleep the sleep of peace until the Angel of God calls their bodies from the grave to assume the cloak of immortality."

The oldest grave marker is dated 1846, however the first recorded burial was Daniel Taylor who died at the age of 55 in 1851. The cemetery may have been used as early as 1700 when it is said that a flu epidemic swept through Baltimore. The victims were buried in unmarked graves covering approximately one quarter of an acre in the northeast section of the cemetery marked by a single monument. Many of the first bodies were orphans who died of pestilence and poverty.

The bodies of four French Sailors are buried at the Cemetery. The first French Reservist was Joseph Melvel of the French Ship Amarel Cicile, who drowned while swimming at Port Covington in August 1918. The other three French Reservists died of the flu in October 1918. They were Pierre Chetodel and Louis Gouger of the French Sailing ship Thiers, and Louis Brazzard of the French Sailing ship Almandral. Since there was no next of kin, the French sailors had to remain in this country and were buried by Father Hartwell. The sailors were given a military funeral courtesy of the Senior Naval Officer in charge of the port at the time.
To view pictures from French Sailor Day at the cemetery click the picture

The burial records of the parish go back to 1856. These records are available as a CD (for $5) and as a hardcopy (for $10) in a binder. Please contact the rectory to purchase these versions.

These burials listed herein and the accompanying maps are cross-referenced to both the Church Burial Records and Baltimore Genealogical Society tombstone readings.**

	Map of the Old Section and Marian Section
	Burial Records From Old Section
	View Gravesite Markers Where Available Please note: This link will open a new window. Close the new window to return to St. Mary's site.

   ** The Baltimore County Genealogical Society Tombstone inscriptions book has been reprinted and is available from:
Family Line Publications
64 E. Main Street
Westminister, MD

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