GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH OF SACRAMENTAL BOOKS

Holy Infancy Parish sacramental records, primarily baptisms and marriages, are preserved in the original sacramental books. There are also very limited records associated with St Michael’s Cemetery.   Only records older than 70 years can be accessed for genealogy research. This time period is in accordance with guidelines of Federal Census records, as well as a recommendation of the Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists. In addition, any record relating to an adoption is subject to the privacy rules of Pennsylvania state law.

Genealogy research is done by searching the sacramental books.  Only Parish personnel are allowed to search or handle the books which are fragile, and the searches are time consuming. It is essential, therefore, that information provided in the research request be sufficient to enable the researcher to link a family name and members to a time period within Holy Infancy Parish. There is a fee for all genealogical research.

For more information on genealogical research or sacramental records, please contact Holy Infancy by phone at (610) 866-1121, or by mail (Holy Infancy R. C. Church, 312 E. 4th Street, Bethlehem,  PA 18015), or by e-mail at holyinfancybethlehem@gmail.com

Click here for a Genealogy Research Form

 

St. Michael’s  Cemetery Map

 

Click here to view the map in pdf version

This map is the only historical document we have about burials in St. Michael’s Cemetery.  When the cemetery was founded, families staked out plots for themselves and put fences around them.  There was no perpetual care by the Church, and the families maintained their own plots.  We have first-hand stories of people witnessing middle-of-the-night burials in less than modern conditions, like fruit crates.  Some families made their own semi-permanent markers of concrete, iron, or wood.
In the 1930s, William Sinnott attempted to establish some order to St. Michael’s by creating this map.  He ordered it by families, or heads of families, using data he found on the ground.  The only pertinent records that exist in Holy Infancy Parish are some old funeral records that we can assume were for folks buried in St. Michael’s.  They are very incomplete, and are included in the information for St. Michael’s on the free public website, Findagrave.com, now the most complete and up-to-date record of who is in St. Michael’s and where.  Transcriptions of the Sinnott map exist in poster form at Holy Infancy Rectory, in the Volunteers’ shed at St. Michael’s, and in an old edition of the South Bethlehem Historical Society Newsletter.  Given the difficulty reading this map, it has been subject to misinterpretation; it is also missing many burials in uphill sections.
Over the years,  tree growth, severe erosion, and wall failure has resulted in many burials having slid from their original locations.  Some stones never had foundations and fell over from natural causes or vandalism.  They were covered by sod and were lost until recent times.
In recent years, the Volunteers have been using all available information including newspaper obits, death certificates, and family knowledge to find out who is buried in St. Michael’s.  We hope to publish an updated map in the future, but it is a very big job.

 

 

Click  the link below to read an article about St. Michael’s Cemetery featured in the Summer edition of Southern Exposure, a quarterly newsletter of South Bethlehem Historical Society written by Rosemary Buffington
Rosemary Buffington’s article

 

Click the link below to read and article featured in the Fall edition of Southern Exposure about a receipt signed by Rev. Philip McEnroe dated 1911
Article about the receipt signed by Rev. Philip McEnroe in 1911

 

 

Click  the link below to read an article about St. Michael’s Cemetery featured in the most recent  edition of Southern Exposure
Southern Exposure’s  article- Winter 2018

 

Click  the link below to read an article about St. Michael’s Cemetery written by Rosemary Buffington featured in the 2020 Summer edition of Southern Exposure, a quarterly newsletter of South Bethlehem Historical Society
Rosemary Buffington’s article Summer 2020

 

Click  the link below to read an article on Holy Infancy Bells story written by Rosemary Buffington that appeared in the Winter edition of the Southern Exposure 2020 newsletter.

 

Rosemary Buffington’s article Winter 2020

 

 

Click  the link below to read an article about St. Michael’s Cemetery written by Rosemary Buffington featured in the Winter edition of Southern Exposure newsletter on the recent discoveries at St. Michael’s Cemetery.

Rosemary Buffington’s article Winter 2021

 

Click the link below to read an article written by Rosemary Buffington published in the 2021 Irish historical journal,  named Breffni.

Rosemary Buffington’s article

 

Some pictures from the All Souls Mass celebrated at St. Michael’s Cemetery on Saturday, November 4th

May 25, 2020 Rosary at St. Michaels