I remember going to Holy Cross Cemetery several times with my father trying to locate the grave of his brother, John, who had died in childhood. Dad was convinced that the grave had been moved, or obscured when a cemetery road was moved or widened. Oddly, I do not believe that Dad ever checked with the cemetery office. Maybe he finally did.
John Edward Watts was the third child of Ralph Edward Watts and Alice Margaret Murphy Watts. Born 26 January, 1925, he was almost five years younger than Ralph “Junior” and just less than two years younger than my father, Gene.
His name has family history. John E. may have been named after his paternal grandfather, John Watts—who had died when Ralph was only 16. The name was inherited from John E.’s great-grandfather, John B. Watts (born Jean Baptiste Vauthrin).
I believe I have one photo of young John, however, I am not positive.
I have not found records of John E.’s young passing. However, his sister Anna Mae kept good family history records, and she noted his cause of death as hemorrhage and myocarditis—an inflammation of the heart muscle.
John’s final resting place is, as my father remembered, by one of the roads in Holy Cross Cemetery, in Lackawanna. South of Saint Joseph’s Shrine, in division 5, row H, grave 34. I am fairly sure Dad and I had looked around there.
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