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| Joseph Gregory Moniz Born, March 12, 1922, legitimate son of Rufino Moniz and Maria Natalia Neto Moniz. Baptized in Immaculate Conception Church, New Bedford, Massachusetts on April 15, 1922 according to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church by J.N. Almedia. Sponsors being Manuel d'Araujo Sol and Libania Fernandes Sol. Such a handsome young man, Joseph would pass at the age of 18 from a tragic accident. Joseph Gregory, was the second Joseph in the family. I believe it was a tribute and custom to name the next male child Joseph after the baby that had passed. My mom, his younger sister writes: "He was such a kind person, always helpful and so good to his parents. They had moved into their new house and he was going to paint and wallpaper for them. He slept in the new house only one night before his death. He loved to dress and would pay me a quarter to iron his shirts. He worked at the Colonial Textile in New Bedford, MA. He had just come back from a date when the accident occurred. The night he died the police came to the house. My parents were devastated. I woke to my brother John's voice screaming, "it should have been me!" We all drove to the hospital to identify the body and my mother passed out. The wake was held in my parents house. My mother says that she had a vision of her mother the night before he died and somehow she knew that this visit wasn't a good sign." After all these years my mom Gloria, has kept the newspaper clipping below. Joseph Gregory would pass on December 8, 1940 at the age of eighteen. Cousin Hank writes: "My dad, Uncle Ralph and Aunty Mary drove all the way from California to attend Uncle Joe's funeral. My dad spoke of him often and the tragic way he died." Cousin Jo-Ann writes: "Now I can see another reason my father drank, tormented by the death of his brother. I know he drank prior to that but he felt he the bad son should have been the one to die and not Joe, the good son. Sometimes I wish I could have understood this earlier in my life, maybe I could have comforted or encourage him to know that there was a purpose to his life. I don't think he ever knew that." Once again such tragedy had befallen the family! I have visited his grave and in some odd way mourned his loss even though I never knew him! A young life taken way too soon! What could have been! |
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2 comments:
Such a GREAT story!!
I do genealogy and have found several families that also would loose one baby and name the next with the same name. Of course the babies were usually named after a grandmother or grandfather, but would think they would be apprehensive about naming a child after one who has passed.
Wonderful that you found him and marked Joseph's grave site.
How tragic for the family to lose two sons. He was such a handsome young man and you wonder what would have become of him had he not met such a terrible fate.
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