Calvary Cemetery, Queens

About 2 pages (631 words)

Calvary Cemetery is located at 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd. in Woodside in the New York City borough of Queens, New York. The cemetery is managed by the Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. It is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in the United States.^[1] In 1847, faced with cholera epidemics and a shortage of burial grounds in Manhattan, the New York State Legislature passed the Rural Cemetery Act authorizing nonprofit corporations to operate commercial cemeteries. Old St. Patrick's Cathedral trustees had purchased land in Maspeth in 1846, and the first burial in Calvary Cemetery there was in 1848. By 1852 there were 50 burials a day, half of them the Irish poor under seven years of age. By the 1990s there were nearly 3 million graves in Calvary Cemetery.

Notable burials

Vito Bonventre (1875-1930), mobster
Anthony Carfano (1898-1959), mobster aka "Little Augie Pisano"
Gandolfo "Frankie Marlow" Curto (1890-1929)
Joe Diamond (Natale Evola) (1907-1973)
Stefano Ferrigno (1900-1930)
Joseph Lanza (1904-1968), racketeer; mobster
Thomas Lucchese (1899-1967), mobster
Ignatius "Lupo the Wolf" Lupo (1877-1947)
Joe Masseria (1879-1931)
Peter Morello (1870-1930)
Dominick Napolitano (1930-1982), mobster
Bonaventura "Joseph" Pinzolo (1887-1930)
Benjamino "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero (1926-1994)

Nancy Carroll (1903-1965), actress
Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838), opera librettist
Tess Gardella (1897-1950), actress who played Aunt Jemima
Patrick Gilmore (1829-1882), "Father of the American Band"
Texas Guinan (1884-1933), actress and saloon-keeper
Robert Harron (1893-1920), actor
Joseph E. Howard (1878-1961), American composer ("Emerson and Howard")
Patsy Kelly (1910-1981), actress
James Murray (1901-1936), actor
Nita Naldi (1897-1961), actress
Arthur O'Connell (1908-1981), actor
Una O'Connor (1880-1959), actress
Wini Shaw (1910-1982), actress
Joe Spinell (1936-1989), actor

Michael Corcoran (1827-1863), American Civil War Colonel of 69th New York Irish Volunteers
Thomas E. Corcoran (1838-1904), American Civil War Sailor and Medal of Honor recipient
Francis J. Herron (1837-1902), American Civil War Union Army Major General and Medal of Honor recipient
Patrick Kelly (d.1864), American Civil War Colonel of 88th New York Volunteer Infantry, and commander of the Irish Brigade
Thomas Patrick Noonan, Jr. (1943-1969) Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipient
Eliakim Parker Scammon (1816-1894) American Civil War Union Army Brigadier General (grave unmarked)
Robert Augustus Sweeney (1853-1890) United States Navy Sailor and Double Medal of Honor Recipient.

John Fox (1835-1914), U.S. Representative from New York and member of the New York City Council
Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944), Governor of New York State and 1928 U.S. Presidential candidate
Robert Ferdinand Wagner (1877-1953), U.S. Senator from New York State
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1910-1991), Mayor of New York City
Robert Wagner III (1944-1993), president of the New York City Board of Education, son of Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr., and grandson of Governor Robert Wagner
Timothy D. (Big Tim) Sullivan, U.S. Representative in Congress (1903-1906; 1912); long-term member of New York State Legislature.

Willie Keeler (1872-1923), Hall of Fame baseball player
Joseph Scoini (1904-1925), professional boxer, Harlem Welterweight champion
Martin Sheridan (1881-1918), four-time Olympic gold medalist in the discus and shot put
Mickey Welch (1859-1941), Hall of Fame baseball player

Steve Brodie (1863-1901), Brooklyn bookmaker, claimed to survive Brooklyn Bridge jump
Mary Laetatia Martin (1815-1850) (see Martyn), heiress, novelist
Edward McGlynn (1837-1900), reformist Catholic priest
Claude McKay (1890-1948), poet, journalist, novelist
Joseph Petrosino (1860-1909), NYPD's first Italian-American detective, founded the Bomb Squad