Who’s Buried in Queens…

Find a Grave lists 111 famous people buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens. The list includes Hall of Famers, Oscar winners, Medal of Honor recipients, congressmen, gangsters, and Civil War veterans. Today marks the death of General Francis Jay Herron (1837-1902). Born in Pennsylvania, he raised a company of volunteers when the Civil War began and served in the western theater. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. In 1863, he was part of the official delegation that received the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg (where a bust of him still stands). After the war he was secretary of state for Louisiana. In 1877 he moved to New York, where he lived until his death. It’s not clear whether Herron was born a Catholic or converted. (Most Pennsylvania Herrons tended to be Presbyterian.) But he certainly died a Catholic, because his funeral was held at Blessed Sacrament Church on West 71st Street. (Note: when Calvary was founded in 1849, Queens was part of the New York Archdiocese. After that year, no new burials were allowed in Manhattan. So when Brooklyn became a separate diocese in 1853, the Archdiocese opted to keep Calvary. Hence the old saying that the only time Manhattanites went to Brooklyn or Queens was to be buried!)