The title is a bit misleading because, while it is easy to use Google Earth to get aerial views of the graveyard and surrounding church property today, 1872 views are not readily available. There is this wonderful gift, Bird's Eye View of the City of Columbia, "a perspective map not drawn to scale," which offers …
Author: Darryl Williams
Skeptical Observer Looking for Permanent Fixes
Site Activity
This website has been up about nine months. Statistics on views by country are in the chart below. No wonder there is a lot of interest in Ireland, home country of many of the early parishioners in this church, St. Peter's Catholic Church, Columbia, SC, recently recognized as the Basilica of St. Peter. Please follow …
The Wall and Fr. J. J. O’Connell
This brick wall, built sometime in the mid 1800's, stands along the west end of the graveyard and between it and Park Street. According to Rev. J. J. O'Connell, pastor of St. Peter's from 1848 to 1871, "I built the wall at the rear of the cemetery in Columbia, and erected also the front wall, …
McIntosh – MacIntosh Connections
Check out the page on the McIntosh family members buried in this graveyard. Rosemary MacIntosh, Sacristan at the Basilica of St. Peter reports that John Richard and Anna Theresa Mahoney McIntosh are her grandparents and that their son, John McKenzie who died in WWI is her dad’s brother and her uncle. Lillie Gladney is her grandfather’s …
More On Rev. Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell and a Trip Idea
We drove to Belmont, NC, today to attend daily Mass at the Belmont Abbey Basilica, Our Lady Help of Christians, and to identify and photograph the grave marker for Rev. Jeremiah Joseph O'Connell who has parents and other family members buried in this graveyard and who was instrumental in the founding of Belmont Abbey. Construction …
Continue reading More On Rev. Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell and a Trip Idea
In Memory of Mrs. Hetty McKenny Flynn
A few grave markers documented by the WPA in 1936 are missing, and one of those is that of Mrs. Hetty Flynn. Since the WPA workers arranged their listing geographically, we know that her marker was adjacent to those of Patrick Flynn’s three sons, Rev. Thomas Augustine, James, and John. So, it seems logical that …
Three Sons of Patrick Flynn
There are currently three Flynn markers in the graveyard, Father Thomas Augustine Flynn, Serg. Charles E. Flynn, and John L. Flynn. We learn from Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia, Pages 219-220, that the three were brothers, sons of Patrick Flynn and his wife, the widow McKenna. More information about the book is HERE. All …
Father Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell and His Legacies
Rev. J. J. O’Connell is not buried in the Graveyard of the Basilica of St. Peter, but many family members are, and he is one of three priests, brothers, who honored their parents, Patrick and Anne Wray O’Connell, with a memorial marker in the O’Connell Family section of this graveyard. Born, educated, and ordained in …
Continue reading Father Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell and His Legacies
Bollins’s Great Granddaughter Checks In
I received an email from Liz Collins Baker, great granddaughter of Charles J. and Emily Marie Passalaigue Bollin. She gave me permission to post her message on the website so here it is: On my mother's side, I have great great grandparents buried there. Charles Bollin and Emily Passalaigue Bollin. He worked with the SC …
Columbia’s Oldest Citizen (as of 1901)
Julian Selby was a newspaper man who lived in Columbia from the 1830's until his death in 1907. He wrote a book, Memorabilia and Anecdotal Reminiscences of Columbia, South Carolina, which was reprinted and published in October 1970. It contains this, on page 138, about a St. Peter's Parishioner, Hugh McElrone, who died in 1901 and …