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Hi,
Am trying to find the death date for Mary Ann (Thorne) Bellamy in Bangor, Pennsylvania between the years 1874 and 1876.
Now have her husband John's death date, 3rd August 1877.
His will implies that they are both buried in the burial grounds of the Evangelical Methodist Church at Bangor - will witnessed by a vicar so assume correct, but church as such does not exist.
Extensive online work and work by American genealogist, newspapers, Bangor churches, registrar of cemetery and locals searching cemeteries/headstones/records have not located them.
Has anyone info. on Mary Ann's death?
It's been a huge mystery, researched now by three generations.


Thanks,
Marie <3

These seem to be the only churches which might fit?

First United Methodist Church of Bangor
55 N 3rd St, Bangor, PA, 18013
Pennsylvania

or.........

First United Evangelical Church Bangor, Pennsylvania
26 S 2nd St, Bangor, PA, 18013
Pennsylvania

- See more at: http://www.churchfinder.com/churches/pa/bangor/first-united-evangelical-church#sthash.JnYiNlLf.dpuf

Just a thought though - I do not have access to U S census but might it be an idea to look on there around the time his will was made to see if you can find that vicar who witnesses it. This may lead you to the correct church address ???

It would appear that the 'Evangelical Methodist Church' did not exist as such before 1946 - did his will actually call the church by that name?

Dea x

Just had a look at the will on Ancestry, definitely calls it the Evangelical Methodist Church.

The witnesses appear to be a Jas M Salmon and a Geo M Hill (Heil?) but not sure which of these is the vicar? The registrar's name looks like R P Micke.

Dea, you do have access to US census! They're available free of charge on FamilySearch :-)

There's a James M Salmon on the 1880 census who is a clergyman so he must be the witness, his address appears to be 129 Second Street so the second of the churches posted by Dea appears very likely.

The 1880 census from FamilySearch

https://goo.gl/Qidstc

I suspect that this grave may be that of the Rev James M Salmon and he is buried in St John's Cemetery, Bangor

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=133069099

Looked through the listings for that cemetery but no Bellamys, unfortunately.

Perhaps there is no stone for them.

Is that one of the cemeteries for which you have researched the records, Marie?

(I imagine it is - it sounds as though you have left no stone unturned - so to speak.)


Have you tried the website archives.com? It says there are 67 cemetery records for people named Mary Bellamy in Pennsylvania - big place, I know.
Also 135 cemetery records for John Bellamy's.
It's a subscription site, but offers you 7 days free.

I haven't signed up to it, so can't look at the details.

http://tinyurl.com/h2htvk9

ArgyllGran - yes, I went through the listings on FindAGrave for St John's. I haven't scoured every cemetery in Northampton County though but nothing coming up on name searches.

It did cross my mind too that they may be in an unmarked grave, hence no transcription.

It might help if Marie can give us years and places of birth for John and Mary Ann plus names, years and places of birth of their children thus enabling other avenues to pursue.

Thanks MC - I didn't realise that I could access the US census on there :-0 :-)

Dea x

Makes a change me being able to tell you something Dea! ;-)

Did you notice that Rev. Salmon on that 1880 census was a 'Presbyterian' Clergyman ?

Not sure it is significant but you never know ?

Dea x

Welcome to the Community boards Marie.



(I'll let Marie know how to find her replies) :-)






*Waves* to Dea :-D

This posting gives a little more background:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/39q9x8/the_lady_vanishes_mary_anne_thorne_bellamy_1839/

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all comments and advice. I was still working on Genes Reunited at 1am. I checked in again this morning but have been out all day and only just got the time to reply.
We have a lot of info. on our family but I didn't want to swamp you with too much info.
I did extensive research on all the churches.
Rev. Salmon was a close friend of theirs and they belonged to his First Presb. Church. We discovered from a contact at the Slate Belt Heritage Centre that this church in later years was used as a blouse factory and burnt down around 1969. She happened to live in the street opposite and as a child witnessed the fire.
She has independently searched for these church records without success. We have both contacted the Presbyterian Soc. and the Rosetto church that was amalgamated with the Presb. Church congregation. I have also contacted the other churches you have mentioned and have very useful contacts there but were not the right churches.

Rev. Salmon wrote an amazing open letter tribute to the editor of an Easton Newspaper about John at the time of his death, which was both touching and very informative.Their whole story is touching and tragic. You can read this tribute and all about them on my cousin's website
www.mineheadonline.co.uk/Bellamy.htm.
There is a lot there, so if you won't the most up to date info. scroll to the bottom.

The Reddit piece was posted by one of the descendants of their friends who has also walked the St. John's cemetery. The registrar I mentioned was of St John's.
Technically the cemetery did not open until 1878 but I have found headstones there for early 1840's. She has kindly searched parts of the cemetery.
The owner of the piece of land would have been known to John and Mary Ann. He chose to be buried in the older adjacent cemetery attached to Trinity Evangelical Church. Have researched everything about this church with the kind help of a local historian.
They are not listed on records their or on the commemorative stone of all burials.
I have discovered that this stone is incomplete as I have found photo's of headstones for people buried there who are not included on the stone.

The only other cemetery in Bangor is Salem which was listed as an Evangelical Church. A number of their friends were buried there but again they are not listed in any of the records. I have a number of contacts there including a lady who has a map of all the burials. You've probably guessed already that they are not on it!
I f you looked at the website you will see that John buried Mary Ann in style, with a carriage and two black plumed horses so it is highly likely that he would have put some form of marker on her grave.
There is a missing notebook that accompanied the map of burials and several couples are now also going to walk around this cemetery.

You will have also noticed on the website that they do not appear on any recorded passenger list .. going to USA (may have gone to PA via Canada) 1868,
John and children going back to England possibly 1874/5 or his return to America shortly after this date.

Unlike their contemporaries they did not appear on any of the maps of Chapmans or Bangor - having presumably decided inconveniently to move from one place to the other before or after the respective maps had been drawn up!
It''s almost as if they wanted to be hidden,but their actions suggest otherwise.

Hope you find their story interesting. I'm actually writing a novel about their son which obviously starts with them. That's why I 'm trying to find the missing bits of the puzzle, plus, also my Mum would like to travel to Bangor to pay her respects at their grave. She is 80 in June so is hoping that we find them sooner rather than later.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped us work on our story so far.
Marie
PS cancelled my 5yr sub to Archives only yesterday, had hoped new info. may appear. There were no Bellamy burials for Bangor. I also worked through all the 6000? burials at St John's and gleaned a lot of info. about their friends and contemporaries, including the death of a 13 yr old girl, probably daughter of one of their friends. She died only a few days before John, her death I think prompted him to write his final will!

A fascinating story, Marie!