Letter to the Editor of the Ste. Genevieve Herald

Subject: St. Agnes Cemetery Article
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 22:56:11 -0400
From: Tom Stevenson <thomass@dca.net>
To: stegenherald@brick.net

To the Ste. Genevieve Herald,

Dear Editors,

Thank you very much for covering the story of the recent relocation of the oldest portion of the St. Agnes (formerly St. Philomena) parish cemetery in Bloomsdale.

As a descendant of a number of the individuals who were re-interred, I had a special interest in the preservation of their history. My own great-, gg-, and ggg-grandparents were buried in the old St. Philomena
cemetery and were part of the recent "move". Although I live in Wilmington, Delaware, I have devoted much of my time and constructed a web page to their genealogy and history (www.GenealogySource.com).

I am interested in preserving their history for two reasons. First, because current and future generations of descendants depend on cemetery markers for much of the information to trace their roots. Secondly, the more I learned about our Bloomsdale pioneer ancestors, the more I became convinced that there were valuable lessons to be learned that apply to our present situation.

For example, my mother's Drury family, who along with the Placets were the founders of Bloomsdale (and who originally donated the land for the church and cemetery), travelled halfway around the globe in search of freedom to practice the religion of their choice. Once one of the most prominent families of England (arriving there with William the Conqueror in 1066), the ancestors of the Bloomsdale Drurys sacrificed their land and wealth by refusing to give up their Catholic faith. In 1670, one of our ancestors was granted land in St. Mary's County, Maryland, a colony founded on the principle of Freedom of Conscience. When eventually even this safe haven passed laws against Catholicism, the Drurys made their way to Ste. Genevieve County, then part of the Louisiana Territory, and under a government tolerant of freedom of religion.

A member of this family, John Baptiste Drury, married Marie Olympe Placet and were the first settlers of the town of Bloomsdale. His grave at St. Philomena cemetery disappeared in about 1960 to make room for a
parking lot and playground. Hers disappeared a few weeks ago when the remaining portion of the old cemetery was destroyed.

In a time when our Pledge of Allegiance is being challenged by the courts, and when a class valedictorian cannot give even partial credit to their Creator in a graduation speech in a public school, we should perhaps contemplate the sacrifices that our ancestors made for our freedom of religious expression. We can only avoid the mistakes of the past by learning from the history of our ancestors.

I fully support the expansion of the St. Agnes school, and have pledged a personal contribution to the school expansion fund. I also fully support the preservation of the names of our ancestors for the benefit of ours and future generations. Although I would have rather seen the original century-old headstones preserved, I am very grateful to the Archdiocese of St. Louis and St. Agnes Parish for offering to erect a monument in their honor, preserving their names and dates for posterity.

A group of genealogists and historians are working together with the Archdiocese and Parish to document the names and dates of the ancestors who will be listed on the new monument at St. Agnes cemetery. We are also hoping to help establish guidelines for future relocations of cemeteries, in an effort to help preserve our history for future generations.

Tom Stevenson
Wilmington, Delaware
--
http://www.GenealogySource.com

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We are hoping to establish guidelines to help protect cemetery stones for future generations. Please check this page for updates, or join the Ste. Genevieve Genealogy email-list, the Missouri Cemeteries email-list or the Missouri Cemetery Preservation email-list.