Recently, I located the gravesite of Francis (Frank) J. Beauregard. He is interred in Calvary Cemetery in Holyoke, MA Frank was the brother of my 2nd great grandfather, Napolean Beauregard.
The inscription on his headstone reads:
Frank J. Beauregard
(1868 – 1931)
Margaret C. Smeddy His Wife
(1874 – 1918)
The headstone is larger and more ornate than the other lots in the same section. Furthermore, the lot has a stone border, which is a feature not present in other lots in the same area.
I had expected to see other names on the headstone. Lots in this area typically have room for four or eight burials and my information had some of the children of Frank and Margaret at Calvary. Furthermore, I couldn’t find the other Beauregards. To get some answers, I called the cemetery office. Their records had the following additional people in this lot:
Grace A (Beauregard) Wilson (1891 – 1955)
Beatrice C. (Beauregard) Johnson (1893 – 1979)
Francis M. Beauregard (1895 – 1971)
Marion A Beauregard (1897 – 1975)
Raymond Beauregard (1902 – 1963)
Ira A. Johnson (? – 1933)
Pierre Smeddy (? – 1943)
Ira was the husband of Beatrice and Pierre appears to have been the brother of Margaret. The rest were the children of Frank and Margaret. According to my research, they had one other child ( Lucy) who was born in 1890 and died before the 1900 census.
After Margaret’s death, Frank married Delia Pauze. Delia was born in French Canada in 1891. Their only child was named Norman and he was born in either 1920 or 1921. Unfortunately, their marriage was a short one as Delia died in Holyoke Hospital on September 29, 1921. She is interred in her family’s lot at Notre Dame Cemetery in South Hadley.
I have very limited information on Norman. Norman survived Beatrice and was living in Florida at the time. I found a Norman E. Beauregard who was born in Holyoke in Jan 1921 and died in Florida in 1987. This feels like a match, but I am not completely certain.
To my knowledge, Grace and Francis had children and Beatrice, Marion and Raymond did not. If my Norman is the correct Norman, he also had children.
I do find it interesting only Frank and Margaret are listed in the family headstone. I have to wonder if this was because of the cost, disagreement over the arrangement of the names in a limited space or something else.