James N. Ryan - A Father's Lament

Among Jim's personal effects returned to the family was the booklet "The Making of a Man 'O Warsman." referred to earlier.  It must have meant a lot to Jim's father, because he wrote this lament on the inside cover.

Here is the transcription:

Elmwood Place, Ohio

In the year nineteen ten (eleven) on the Battle Ship Virginia a young sailor lay dying.  Without any friends he lay waiting till the dawn when death would close his wings about him and shield him from the cares and troubles of this life.  He was far from home from those who loved him, far from the land that gave him birth. But now as he was dying, things certainly were different. His father loved him with a love as no one could ever love again, but his father never knew that he way dying -- never knew that he was sick.  His mother dear did not know either, so this made it all the harder for the poor sailor who was dying and so far from home and friends and no one to pray for him. Only one hour, however, he lay there sick.  He got worse, fell unconscious and failed to rally and died just as he had lived -- far away from home and mother. 

Cincinnati Times-Star, May 2, 1911, p. 3

The record shows that James Hugh demanded that a second autopsy be performed in Cincinnati. Although his son's body was returned in a sealed coffin, James Hugh wanted confirmation.  The evidence suggests that he got his wish.

According the the Death Notice, the funeral took place in the family home and was followed with a Mass at St. Aloysius Church.  He was buried at St. John's Cemetery in St. Bernard, OH.  He, along with his mother, father and several other Ryans are buried in this cemetery.  Not one grave is marked.

Just to complete the record for interested family, I am attaching a copy of Jim's Death Certificate.