Restoring a Name for Baby Boy Littlejohn

I recently wrote two posts where I referred to a child of Rufus Littlejohn and Jane "Jennie" Alexanders. In one, I referred to him as an unnamed baby boy. He didn't show up in any of the later records I found for his parents or siblings, and I didn't know what had happened to him or how he'd disappeared.

I'm happy to say, I now know his name: Julius Littlejohn.

I wish his was a happier story, and a longer one. Unfortunately, Julius died shortly after he was born - just 2 days later.

Here is the record of Julius' birth:

Notice that only the names of his parents are given. Without his name, I'd tried finding death records using his parents' names, to no avail. Earlier this week, I decided to try again, but used only the surname Littlejohn and the year of death, 1895 (I know, you'd think I would've done that already, but I was focused on the Rufus mystery instead). After trying a few other sites and indexes, I headed to the "Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001" record set on FamilySearch.org. Look what came up:

Register of Deaths, Cuyahoga County, OH. The listing stretches over 2 pages, so I've cut it in 2.

Unhelpfully, it does not list the names of Julius Littlejohn's parents. But quite helpfully, it does list Julius' address: 102 Columbus. Does that sound familiar? It's the same address Rufus and Jennie are living at in 1895, listed not just on the Return of Birth above, but also in the Cleveland City Directory for 1895-1896.

And that is how we know that Unnamed Baby Boy Littlejohn is actually named Julius.

One of Julius's uncles - his father Rufus' brother - was named Junius. I wonder if Julius was named in honor of him? Three of Rufus' other children share the names of his siblings.

Julius was buried at Monroe Street Cemetery, which bills itself as "the oldest public cemetery in Cleveland's west side." They provide gravestone photos and I've reached out to them to see if they can take a photo of his burial location. If they can get me something, I'll update this post.

In any case, at least we know his name.