PAST RECALLED: Remains representing 19th Century Irish and German immigrants who were interred in mass graves on Staten Island finally will be given a proper burial. Workers found the bones during the construction of a new courthouse in 2000.

Remembered in Death, 150 Years Later

October 19, 2009
Eleanor Miller, Megan Finnegan Bungeroth
Irish Central

Staten Island —

Mourners gathered at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church on Oct. 17 to bury the dead, but this was no ordinary funeral.

Members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians escorted two caskets – one a small, white children’s casket with golden angels; the other larger and pearl-colored – into the church as bagpipes played “Amazing Grace.”

The two coffins contained the final remains of immigrants who died over 150 years ago.