Victory Cemetery or Victory Mills Cemetery, also once known as the Loomis Cemetery, and sometimes referred to as "the factory cemetery" or "the village cemetery" is located in the Village of Victory, Town of Saratoga. It is one of three cemeteries along the street appropriately named Cemetery Avenue.

Victory Cemetery was established in 1846 by the Saratoga Victory Manufacturing Company, the 'Victory Mills'. The earliest inscriptions begin that same year, 1846. A deed dated September 21, 1853 and recorded April 8, 1854 in Saratoga County Deed Book 68 page 74, transferred the ownership of the land from the Saratoga Victory Manufacturing Company to the Trustees of the Village of Victory "to be used as a public cemetery and for such purposes only."

The earliest burials at Victory Cemetery are of Irish Catholic potato famine immigrants who found work at the mills. Subsequent generations of these families are frequently found at the nearby Visitation B.V.M. or Notre Dame Cemeteries. Inscriptions for the same person can sometimes be found at more than one cemetery. In some cases, the bodies were removed from the village to the church cemeteries; however, there is no record of the removals in the existing Victory cemetery records. Existing known records of Victory Cemetery consist of two original deed books and a reconstructed cemetery lot map.

Alice Lowder Zetterstrom compiled a list of internments and headstone inscriptions in January 2002. She stated that the list was not complete, but included a list of inscriptions available at that date. She concluded that there are many more people buried at Victory Cemetery than names on the list and that some names may reappear when a buried stone is recovered, or when the fragments of a broken stone are pieced together. Other names have apparently vanished with the wooden crosses, which marked many graves at an earlier date.

The names of Irish immigrants predominate and many headstones are inscribed with the birthplace of the deceased. Of the 18 headstones listing a birthplace in Ireland, the largest number, and a total of seven, list County Longford as the place of origin. County Limerick ranks second with six, followed by Tipperary with two and one each from Kerry, Kildare, Galway and Monaghan. In all cases, the County Longford listings state that the deceased was a native of either Cashel or Shrule Parish. (Note that the John Eustace/Eustice, son of James and ancestor of the Eustice family of Waseca County, Minnesota, came from near Ballymahon located in Shrule Parish and according to his obituary spent 4 years (1850-1854) at Schuylerville with an aunt, believed to be Mrs. William (Bridget) Carroll/Carle. (Unfortunately, none of the Eustis headstones at Victory or Visitation Cemetery include a birthplace inscription).

A List of Victory Cemetery Burials with Identified County Longford Connections

1. Connerton, Ann Gannon; died December 26, 1867 age 29 years. Wife of Thomas, a native of Parish of Cashel, County Longford, Ireland.

2. Gannon, Julia; died January, 22, 18??; Age 75 years, wife of Lawrence. A native of Cashel Parish County Longford, Ireland.

3. Gannon, Patrick; died January 24? 1859, age 33 years, a native of County Longford, Parish of Cashel, Ireland (stone broken). Note that in the same plot but not specifically identified, as County Longford natives are the following;

a.       Gannon, Margaret Bullman; died December 4, 1870, age 31, wife of James Gannon.

b.      Gannon, John; died November 2, 1875, age 76 years (J. Gannon monument).

c.       Gannon, Honor Kelley; died October 16, 1880, age 68 years, wife of J. Gannon (J. Gannon monument).

d.      Gannon, James; died March 14, 1881, age 50 years.

4.      Garrety, Ann Finnon; died February 23, 1887 age 99 years; native of Parish of Shrule, County Longford, Ireland

5.      Geary, Mary; died April 24, 1865 age 42 years, wife of Hugh. Native of Parish of Shrule, County Longford, Ireland.

6.      Geary, Marselle; died September 26, 1858, age 67 years, wife of Hugh. Native of Parish of Shrule, County Longford, Ireland.

7.      Geary, Hugh; died February 17, 1886, age 75 years (monument does not specifically state that Hugh was from Longford, but both of his wives were).

8.      Mulvihill, Catharine Banin; died October 3, 1861, age 50/56 years, wife of Thomas Mulvihill. Native of Parish of Shrule, County Longford, Ireland.

Note: This list should be considered incomplete as many headstones do not include inscriptions listing a birthplace and it is apparent that many additional burials occurred without a permanent marker. A search of church and civil records could prove to be beneficial.

Eustace/Eustis Family Burials at Victory and Visitation B.V.M. Cemeteries

While the following burials at Victory or Visitation B.V.M. Cemeteries do not include birthplace inscriptions, they are of interest to Eustace/Eustis family history research:

Victory Cemetery Burials:

1. Eustace, Kattie; died July? , 1864, age 4 years, 8 months; daughter of Thomas and Bridget (double stone with Julia Eustace-KE footstone).

2. Eustace, Julia, died? 11, 1863; age? Years, 11 months; daughter of Thomas and Bridget (double stone with Kattie Eustace-JE footstone).

3. Quigley, Bridget Eustis; died May 1, 1868; age 35 years; wife of Thomas Quigley (stone broken under name, pieces are good match). Buried near Bridget Eustis Quigley are the following members of the Quigley family (Note that none of the Quigley headstones have birthplace identification).

   1. Quigley, Bryan; died June 2, 1871, age 78 years (Quigley monument).

   2. Quigley, Margarete; died October 23?, 1873?; age 35 years (Quigley monument).

   3. Quigley, James; no dates (marker in same lot with Quigley monument).

   4. Quigley, Mary Bevine?; died July?, 25?, 1862; age 28 years, wife of Thomas Quigley (stone broken and extremely worn).

   5. Quigley, Mary; died Aug 16? 1866? age 26y (Quigley monument).

   6. Quigley, Margaret; died Oct 6? 1877 age 76y? Wife of Bryan (Quigley monument).

Visitation B.V.M Burials

The Cemetery of the Visitation, B.M.V., is located on the west side of Cemetery Avenue near the Village of Schuylerville. Visitation Cemetery is across the street from the larger Prospect Hill Cemetery and just north of the earlier Victory Mills Cemetery. Victory Mills and Visitation Cemeteries share many of the same Irish surnames, with the earlier family members buried in Victory and the more recent in Visitation.

Eustis Burials:

1.      N-4 Eustis, Joseph J. 1901 – 1972

2.      N-4 Eustis, Julia M. 1904 – 1981; wife of Joseph J. Eustis

3.      N-4 Eustis, Mary E. Mullen 1870 - 1926

How to locate Victory and Visitation Cemeteries: From the Victory Mill, on Route 32 in Victory, NY, turn up Pond Street, and then turn right at the top of the hill to Cemetery Avenue, and Victory Cemetery will be the first cemetery, on your left. Or from the Saratoga Battle Monument, in Schuylerville, Victory Cemetery will be on your right, the third cemetery, after passing by Prospect Hill and Visitation B.V.M. cemeteries. There is a chain link fence, which runs across the front of Victory Cemetery.

References:

1. Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett; History of Saratoga County, New York (1878)

2. History of Saratoga County, New York; From Our County and Its People: A descriptive and Biographical Record of Saratoga County New York, Boston History Company (1899)

3. Alice Lowder Zetterstrom and Heritage Hunters of Saratoga County (2002) Accessed on February 26, 2005 at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nysarato/victory.htm

Go to the Saratoga County Cemeteries Index Page.Victory\

Burials of interest: Visitation Cemetery

1.       Cooney, Lawrence; died Oct 22, 1882, aged 66 years (Born 1816)

2.       Cooney, Mary Murray; died Jan 15, 1911, aged 82 years. Wife of Lawrence Cooney

3.       Cooney, James; died Sept 4, 1893 aged 97 years (Born 1796)

4.       Cooney, Mary Glinnon; died Sept 13, 1879 aged 74 years. (Born 1805) Wife of James Cooney (Born 1829)

5.       Daly, Patrick; died Jan 6, 1886 age 60 years. Husband of Catharine Carney Daly, (Born 1826)

6.       Daly, Catharine Carney; died Nov 2, 1876, aged 47 yrs. Born in Parish Shrule, Co. Longford, Ireland, (Born 1830)

7.       Gannon, Thomas Sr; 1795 – 1879

8.       Gannon, Margaret Mahedy; 1813 – 1905, wife of Thomas Gannon Sr.

9.       Mulvihill, James; died Dec 8, 1890, age 83 years (Born 1807)

10.    Mulvihill, Bridget; died Aug 12, 1890, age 75 years wife of James Mulvihill (Born 1815)

11.    Mulvihill, Thomas; 1801 – 1873

12.    Mulvihill, Catherine Bannon; 1809 – 1861; wife of Thomas Mulvihill