Whelan Headstone

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, I am posting cemetery photos this week. This is a photo of the headstone of my great-grandparents Timothy and Catherine (Markey) Whelan (or Whalen) and their son John. Like my parents, they are buried in Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, Cook County, Illinois.

I was very glad when I found out where my great-grandparents were buried, and was able to take a picture of the headstone. Even more exciting was the copy of the cemetery record that I received. (See below.) This is a 3 grave lot with 11 people buried in it. Seven of the burials were of children or infants. In fact, this cemetery record led me to discover that there were 3 sets of twins born to Timothy and Catherine. Most of the children did not survive long enough to appear in any census record. However, those born after the Chicago Fire of 1871 did appear in baptism records of Holy Name Cathedral. Who would've expected a cemetery record to lead to a baptism record? I sure didn't when I first saw this burial record, many years ago.

Whalen Headstones

These photos are of two Whalen graves at Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, Cook County, Illinois. The graves are located in Lot 35, Block 23, Section U. I don’t know yet if these Whalens are related to my Whelans, also buried at Calvary Cemetery, but I hope to find out one day. Here are close-up photos and transcriptions of the headstones:



Michael Whalen
Husband of
Mary E. Whalen
Born Aug. 15, 1847
Died March 8, 1925
Rest in Peace



Mary E.
Wife of
Michael Whalen
Born in Chicago
May 25 1847
Died Jan. 13 1889
Rest in Peace