Finding more information about Rhode Island grave stone bearing date range 1897-1923?

Question

Some ancestors of mine immigrated to the US. Jose Correia in 1915 and afterwards his wife, child and mother-in-law.

It seems his wife died while in labor and afterwards the family came back to Portugal. But his wife was definitely buried in the US.

I have found registers of Jose Correia entering the US, but I didn't find the immigration records of the women that went afterwards.

I might have found the grave of his wife Maria Lucinda.

They didn't give her surnames in Portugal, most probably because her father was declared unknown. Anyways the date of birth matches exactly the name on the following grave. Maria L. Correia could be Maria Lucinda. This grave is in the Precious Blood Cemetery in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It seems to be a catholic cemetery and I called the local parish and unfortunately they couldn't say anything about the grave since there was a fire in the 1950s where they lost a lot of records. I also didn't find anything on familysearch.org which I believe has extensive information about vital records of Rhode Island.

I'm a bit stuck here. How can I find more information about this grave afterwards?(there's nothing online about them) I have his SSN number, I know his address in Woonsocket back then because he was drafted for WWI and WWII. I also know the precise date of Maria Lucinda's birthday and where she was born in Portugal.

List of facts that I have that make me think she is Maria Lucinda:

• From the Portuguese christening record I know Maria Lucinda was born on 30 March 1897. It matches the information on the grave.
• Yes, there are a lot of records for Maria Correia's since these are common Portuguese names. But there aren't much records for Maria Lucinda and the abbreviation on the grave matches her second name (Lucinda).
• It's a known fact in the family that she died in the United States. I know she registered a child in Portugal in January 1916 and that this child also went to the US with Maria Lucinda very early in life.
• Her husband was drafted for WWI and he had an address in Woonsocket in Woonsocket in 1917. So I can expect her to be around Woonsocket in 1923, which is where the grave is located. Here's the registration draft:

If you want to give me advice about how I can find more information about Maria Lucinda online, I'd like that. But what I'm really asking is which registry or archive I need to reach out for to ask if they know something about this grave.

Answer 1

When dealing with online databases, especially where the record creator or indexer may have been unfamiliar with the correct spelling of a surname, sometimes it is worth searching just on first name and some other known characteristics alone.

A possibility for Maria L. Correia, for example, might be this record. It gives her name as "Marie Lucinda Careau", her husband as Joseph, her parents as Antoine Loffier and Marie Jesus. I can not see any trace of the name "Careau"

The year of birth being 1898 might be simply because the year of birth is not directly recorded on the death certificate but it is a calculation based on her age in 1923. The film number associated with this indexed record is 1940073 which relates to "deaths and index of deaths" microfilmed from documents at

Westerly, Narragansett, Charlestown, Newport and Woonsocket 1923

Furthermore, with a free login, this film is actually online, despite the image not being linked directly. A short examination of the deaths for Woonsocket turns up Marie L. Careau (may require you to log in to view).

Important details from this: this woman was born Portugal, and buried in the Precious Blood Cemetery. Her husband was Joseph and there is an address (18 Jansen Ave), which hopefully you can link back to your family. It also looks to me like her cause of death, though not easily readable, could start with the word puerperal, which would make sense if it was related to childbirth.

Answer 2

FindAGrave lists a considerable number of persons named Maria Correia in various graveyards in Rhode Island (as well as in other states). I would be wary of an identification based solely on first and last name and year of birth.

However, together with the other evidence provided in the edits to the original question the identity of the women in the grave with "your" Maria Lucinda is starting to look plausible.

What more do you know about Jose Correia?

It might be worthwhile digging out the 1920 census records for the ward(s) corresponding to the known address(es) of Jose Correia, especially 81 Bernon street. Search by location, not name, since some of the census takers mangled some names pretty badly.