A forgotten hero

James and Sarah's Hickey's tombstone at Holy Family is one of 3 Hickey stones in the cemetery. James and Sarah's stone is on the left. The larger stone on the right marks the final resting place of their second son, William, and his wife Grace.

In the center is a stone inscribed with "James / Beloved son of Wm. H. & Grace / Hickey." According to the dates on the stone, James died in 1895 at the age of 7.

When I first saw the stone for little James many years ago, I had wondered what had caused his death at such a young age. My guess was that he had succumbed to some childhood disease, like so many other children in that time period. It wasn't until a few months ago that I accidentally happened upon the true story of this child's death and of another cousin who was all but forgotten.

James ("Jimmy") Hickey was the oldest of 5 children born to William and Grace Hickey. George Thomas Miles, born in 1880, was the oldest child of William Hickey's sister, Catherine, and her husband, Samuel Miles. George had a little brother, Samuel, Jr., who was about a year older than Jimmy Hickey. The three cousins lived in Baltimore, a few blocks away from each other.

The Baltimore Sun described George Miles as "unusually muscular" and "a plucky fellow." On the morning of July 22, 1895, George took his little brother and Jimmy Hickey fishing at Gwynn's Falls. The 3 boys found a place to sit, on a rock near the public bathhouses. About noon Jimmy got up to move to a different spot on the rock. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell into the water.

George, with no regard for his own safety, immediately jumped in to save his little cousin. Sadly, though, George was not able to reach Jimmy in time, and he lost his own life in the process. Samuel Miles had run for help, but it was too late. Both boys had drowned before help arrived.

Two days after this tragic accident, the two cousins were buried at Holy Family cemetery. According to the newspaper account of their funeral, the boys were buried side by side in the same grave. However, the only name on the tombstone is that of James Hickey. How sad that the boy who gave his life trying to save his little cousin does not even have a stone to mark his grave.

I am currently working on a book about the Hickey family. I plan to include George and his story in the book, so that others may know of his heroism. I want to make sure that George and the many other "heroes" in the family are not forgotten.

The Joy of Discovery

In searching out my ancestors over the years, one of my favorite things to do has been to visit cemeteries. I know that may sound morbid to some, but I find them fascinating, especially the older ones with their decorative monuments.

Today I returned to a cemetery that was the site of a wonderful discovery for me almost 10 years ago. It was at this cemetery that I first "met" my great-great-grandparents, James and Sarah Hickey.As I said in my last blog, I had started out searching for my ancestors "Male Hickey" and "Female Fox." How was I to find them, though, without knowing their first names?

I did some research and learned that a good genealogist always starts with what she knows and works backwards. I knew that my grandmother's parents were Jesse Dell and Bridget Hickey, so I started with them. I was able to find out a lot about the Dell family, but Bridget's parents were still eluding me until I sent away for a copy of Bridget's death certificate.

When the death certificate finally arrived after many weeks of waiting, I had the information I sought: Bridget's parents were James Hickey, born in Ireland, and Sarah Fox, born in Pennsylvania.

Bridget and her husband and many of the Dells were buried in the cemetery of Wards Chapel Methodist Church in Harrisonville. I made many trips to the cemetery to transcribe tombstone inscriptions. While searching old maps of the area around the church, I had noticed that there was once a Catholic church on the other side of Liberty Road, just a little south of Wards Chapel. Since the Hickeys were Catholic, I wondered if this may have been their parish.

The day after Bridget Dell's death certificate arrived, my husband and daughter and I made another trip out to Wards Chapel. On the way to the cemetery, I decided to look for evidence of an abandoned church.As we were driving up Liberty Road, I spotted the remains of an old church building and a sign which said "Holy Family Cemetery / Roman Catholic / Founded 1876." We decided to check it out, and pulled into the driveway beside the building.

As I walked around the cemetery, looking at the stones, I said a prayer that if any of my family members were buried there I would find them. As soon as I finished my prayer, I turned around to look at a row of stones beside the church. What I saw sent chills through me. There, right in front of me, was a stone marked with the name of Hickey. On the front was the inscription: "In loving remembrance of our father and mother."

One of the sides was inscribed with the name of James Hickey and this beautiful epitaph: "Farewell dear father / sweet thy rest. / Weary with years / and worn with pain. / Farewell till in some / happy place / We shall behold thy face again.

"The other side was inscribed with the name of Sarah Hickey and the following: "Oh mother thy gentle / voice is hushed / Thy warm true heart / is still / And on thy pale and / peaceful face / Is resting death's cold / chill."

I could hardly believe my eyes. At last I had come "face to face" with the couple that I had been seeking for so long. James and Sarah had spent over 40 years together as husband and wife. In death, they were not separated for long. James died on November 5, 1893. His beloved Sarah died just 3 weeks later, on November 28.