Richard Rossi 1

An Analysis of the Nuns of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio

A look at the death records from 1865-1912 Using the digital collections on the University of Cincinnati libraries archive, an analysis of the nuns that lived in convents during the years 1856-1912 was constructed. A sample of one-hundred citizen death records of Cincinnati that contained the words sister in the name and convent in the address were examined. This process was chosen to find only records of nuns and not of citizens residing in a convent for some other reason. This search results in 144 hits, but there are probably more or less nuns that lived in this time period (some may not have claimed sister in their name or did not live in a convent). From the examined records, many points of interest appear. Amongst these are the widespread heritage of the nuns of Cincinnati and the astounding trend in deaths of the nuns. First, the basic data will be examined. The average sister of this sample died at the age of 44 years, with the eldest aged an impressive 87 years for the time, and the youngest aged 21 years. The most common name was Mary. They resided in about 6 different convents, but the two main convents, the Convent of Good Shepherd and the Convent of Notre Dame, housed over 80% of the sampled nuns. According to some of the death records, Good Shepherd was located on Bank St., and Notre Dame was located at the corner of Court and Mound St., presumably of present day downtown Cincinnati. Nuns came from eight countries other than the U.S., including New Zealand, Holland, and Belgium, but primarily Ireland and Germany. Most of the Irish nuns lived at the Convent of Good Shepherd (14 of 24 Irish nuns examined), but still some resided in the Convent of Notre Dame (5 of the 24), the Convent of Mercy (4 of the 24) or the Convent of St. Francis (1 of the 24). Why did some nuns choose Convent of Good Shepherd and other Convent of Notre Dame? The answer to this question may lie in the burial sites of the nuns. Of the sampled sisters, they were listed as buried in one of five sites: Calvary Cemetery, Reading Rd. Cemetery, St. Josephs (New/Old/not specified) Cemetery, Carthage Ohio Cemetery, or Our Lady of the Woods Cemetery. The divergence between Notre Dame and Good Shepherd becomes apparent here. All of the nuns that lived in the Convent of Notre Dame were either buried in Calvary Cemetery or Reading Rd. Cemetery, while all of the nuns that lived in the Convent of Good Shepherd were buried in St. Josephs, Carthage Ohio, or Our Lady of the Woods. St. Josephs Cemetery is a Roman Catholic Cemetery; therefore, the nuns of Good Shepherd must have been Roman Catholic. A cemetery on Reading Road (Reading Lockland Cemetery) is primarily Protestant cemetery, which would mean the Notre Dame convent was Protestant, which would explain the large split between the convents and burial site. However, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, a present-day catholic group, came to Cincinnati from Belgium in the 1800s, and several nuns that were listed at the Convent of Notre Dame were from Belgium [3]. The two convents clearly reached a divergence and Protestant/Catholic differences would explain the split, but the history and burial sites data confuse the situation. Another intriguing anomaly arises when examining the causes of death. Causes of death marked on the death certificate vary widely, from archaic terms for diseases like La Grippe (influenza) and Brights Disease (nephritis) to typhoid and chronic bronchitis. Taking a closer look at the causes of death, though, brings out a surprise. Of the sample of one-hundred nuns of Greater Cincinnati during

Richard Rossi 2 this time period, almost 50 of them were noted as dying of Tuberculosis (or the archaic terms, Phthisis and Consumption). After further research, it was discovered that the early 1900s was known as The Great White Plague in which over 100,000 Americans died each year [1]. The nuns of Cincinnati likely nursed the sickly which put them at a greater risk for contracting the disease. The nuns of Greater Cincinnati had roots that stretch around the world. The sisters of the late 19 century and early 20th century had an unusually high rate of death by Tuberculosis. And within this analysis, there still lies a question: Why is there such a split between Convents and burial sites?
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Sources: [1] http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/blueridgesanatorium/death.htm (accessed April 8th 2013, 11:00pm) [2] http://drc.libraries.uc.edu/handle/2374.UC/2032 (accessed April 6th 2013, 6:00pm) [3] http://www.sndohio.org/ (accessed April 9th 2013, 10:00 pm)