A lot of my ancestor-people are buried at Calvary Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. Including my parents. Whenever any of us visit a cemetery, especially at the time of someone’s death, there seem to be many things on our minds. But I often wondered how this place, Calvary, got its name. You see, up until today, I always thought it was the horse-riding-soldier variety.
But now. Upon further inspection, it finally cleared up for me. Calvary is the hill outside Jerusalem on which Christ was crucified.
And cavalry is the group of soldiers who fought on horseback. Today, more so, it is used in a phrase meant “to save the day” at the very last moment. “We had to send in the cavalry.”
How could I have gone so long, thinking these were one word? Cavalry. Calvary.
Many of us confuse words. Heck. Even our smart computers and their spell-checks get things wrong, too, to, two.
English is full of those confounding words that sound alike but are spelled differently. It’s also full of words that share similar meanings, and it becomes very easy to get these wrong too.
A few commoners?
Advice / Advise
Affect / Effect.
Assure / Ensure / Insure
Breath / Breathe
We have seen this next one go horribly wrong in the news.
Capital / Capitol
Capital has several meanings. It can refer to an uppercase letter. It can be money. Or, it might be a city where a seat of government is located. And then there is the Capitol, the place where Trump supporters tried to overthrow the government.
There are plenty more mixed-up words. The next one, which has always been straightforward for me, seems to confuse many others.
Emigrate / Immigrate
You are either coming or going. Leaving or arriving.
Emigrate means to move away from a city or country to live somewhere else. Immigrate means to move into a country from somewhere else.
This brings me back to Calvary Cemetery.
It is located in Dayton, Ohio, very near Carillon Park.
When Dayton was founded in 1796, a big bunch of Catholic families began making their way up the Miami River from Cincinnati. They decided to settle in the Dayton area.
Within a few decades, by 1833, there were three Catholic parishes in the Dayton area — German, Gaelic, and English speaking. Not even a good Catholic will last forever. They lived and died there. So, the first Catholic cemetery was created and called St. Henry’s.
It didn’t stop there. The next wave is when my people came in. My great-great-grandparents. Yes, they were among the German, Irish, Polish, Hungarian, Italian and Lithuanian immigrants who flooded into the Miami Valley during the 1840s. And all throughout Ohio, as well.
So, with more Catholics living here, more Catholics were dying here. This was intensified by the epidemics during the 1850s and the numerous deaths during the Civil War.
St. Henry’s ran out of space. So Calvary Cemetery became the solution. It was established on 100 acres of southern countryside, adding 100 more in later years. It had the highest vantage point in Dayton and was located right on the canal (now South Dixie Blvd.).
Near the end of the 1800s, the people buried at St. Henry’s were moved to new sites within Calvary. It took about 20 years to move them all over. Now that is a job I would not want.
So. That is Calvary, the cemetery in Dayton, and also the hill in Jerusalem. Not Cavalry — the people who’ve been fighting on horseback since before Christ was even born.
Oh, those words. Oh, thick-headed me.
==========
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death.” — Jerry Seinfeld
===========
“They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.” — Garrison Keillor
==========
“I hate going to funerals because I’m not a mourning person.” — Jonathan Katz
===========
Horses. Or the crucifying hill. I’m flipped.
