A proper burial, 135 years later. Fort Mill woman places headstone at N.J. grave site

When Fort Mill resident Maureen Clary started tracing back the roots of her family tree, she focused on the basics – birth dates, marriage dates, death dates and grave sites.

But when she reached her great-great-grandfather, Charles McMurtrie, she hit a road block.

Although his death certificate identified his burial site as Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson, N.J., when Clary called to obtain his grave site section, she was told McMurtrie wasn’t buried there.

“But once I provided his death certificate and obituary saying he was, the girl at Cedar Lawn Cemetery went to work,” Clary said. “She spent the day going back through their handwritten records from the 1880s. And she found him.”

Misspelled as “McMintrie” rather than “McMurtrie,” her relative’s name would forever remain erroneously recorded. And to top that, he had no grave marker.

Considering McMurtrie was a Civil War veteran who’d lied about his age to serve when he was just 15, Clary found this news disheartening. So she contacted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs knowing the government would provide a free grave marker.

“I filled out the VA paperwork, but to get it processed and placed, Cedar Lawn had to have $352 – the cost to lay the concrete,” Clary said. “That was not in my budget. So I got a list of all my cousins who are his descendants, there are about 35 of us, so I said if everybody pitches in about $10 we can have it done.”

On Nov. 11, 135 years after his death, McMurtrie received a proper burial. In Cedar Lawn Cemetery, an Irish Catholic priest led a Catholic blessing at McMurtrie’s grave – a traditional blessing that would have been given in the 1880s.

To honor McMurtrie’s service in the Civil War Union Army’s158th Infantry, the New Jersey Army National Guard fired a three-volley rifle salute followed by a live performance of “Taps” by Bugles Across America.

McMurtrie, 33 when he died, was also a founding member of the Improved Order of Red Men – America’s oldest fraternal organization chartered by Congress best known for disguising themselves as members of the native American Mohawk nation and dumping tea into the Boston Harbor. It was a provocation that led up to the Revolutionary War. To honor McMurtrie, 12 members led a Red Men burial service.

For Clary, the ceremony brought closure. When the guardsman presented the folded flag to her, she felt like she could cry.

“He was so sincere,” she said. “It was very touching.”

After the service, the 40 relatives who’d gathered at the grave site – some from as far away as Florida, Ohio and Michigan – enjoyed their overdue family reunion.

“I never imagined, during all these years of quietly researching at home, that one day our great-great-grandfather would be the one to bring us all together,” Clary said. “Although Charles lived a short life, it was a full life that impacted all of ours.”

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 7:03 PM with the headline "A proper burial, 135 years later. Fort Mill woman places headstone at N.J. grave site."