McKenna Monument at St. Joseph's Cemetery

In Section D, Lot 6, at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio is a monument honoring Thomas McKenna and his family. Thomas McKenna was born in Sandusky in 1850, to Thomas McKenna and his wife, the former Mary Ann Rowland. An article which appeared in the December 16, 1893 issue of the Sandusky Register provides  us with details about his life.

Thomas McKenna was a member of the A.O.H., the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which is the oldest Irish Catholic fraternal organization in the United States. The group seeks to aid newly arrived Irish both socially and economically. In 1879, Thomas McKenna married Anna Dullighan. Rev. R.A. Sidley officiated at the marriage ceremony. 

Anna Dullighan McKenna died in 1913, and Thomas McKenna died in 1918. Below is an obituary for Thomas McKenna, from the 1918 Obituary Notebook at Sandusky Library

Thomas and Anna McKenna were buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery. Three of their children were also buried in the family lot with their parents. Clara McKenna died at the age of 10 in 1893. Theodore McKenna died in Toledo, Ohio in 1920. Leo McKenna died in 1940. At Find a Grave, you can see a photograph of the McKenna monument at St. Joseph's Cemetery. In this picture, the names on the tombstone are clearly legible. Over the years, weathering has made the names on the McKenna monument currently difficult to read. Thank you to all the volunteers at Find a Grave for documenting tombstones all over the U.S. and across the world. As time goes by, stones continue to deteriorate, and photographs taken  of tombstones now will be helpful to family researchers in the future.