05/10/2026
Everyone has a story. . .
HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADSTONES: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?
It’s all too easy to forget that behind each headstone there is a family’s life story filled with both joy and heartache. The tombstone of William and Mary Ellen Crux in Section 3 is now weathered with age, but its story of love and loss remains timeless.
William Crux was born on April 16, 1835 in Ossining, New York, one of six children born to English immigrants Thomas Simmons Crux (1798-1869) and Jane Waddell (1799-1872). There isn’t much information about the family’s early years; by the time of the 1850 census, the family had moved south to Fairfax, Virginia.
On December 24, 1860, William married Mary Ellen Burris (1831-1909), a native of Maryland, in Washington, D.C. It is unclear how they met, but the young couple romantically chose Christmas Eve for their wedding date.
William and Mary Ellen resided in the College Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. and began growing their family, ultimately giving birth to ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood.
William was employed in the grocery business and sold dairy and farm products when he enlisted to serve in the Civil War on July 1, 1863. He returned home safely after the war’s end, and the family remained in D.C. until about 1882, when they moved to Braddock and became early members of the First Baptist Church of Braddock.
William made a major career shift and began working as a blacksmith at the blast furnaces of the Edgar Thomson Works. He served as a foreman for several departments, and retired at age 68, well past the standard age limit of 63. When he retired, he was one of Andrew Carnegie’s oldest employees, and one of the first men to benefit from the newly-created steelworkers’ pension fund.
On December 22, 1908, the Crux family’s life took an unexpected and tragic turn. William, age 73, was in East Liberty and sprinted to catch a streetcar at Penn and Highland Avenues to return home to Corey Avenue in Braddock. The trolley was crowded and William leaned heavily upon the passenger next to him when it was discovered that he was dead from an apparent heart attack from the exertion of running. He died two days before his and Mary Ellen’s 48th wedding anniversary. We can only imagine the family’s shock and despair.
Mary Ellen’s grief was all-encompassing and greatly affected her health, causing her chronic asthma to flare up as her intense sorrow and anxiety caused her muscles to tighten around her airways, making it hard for her to breath. She died of sudden heart failure on February 16, 1909, mere weeks after her cherished partner’s death. Her broken heart just couldn’t survive without her beloved husband. The Crux children and their families were left to pick up the pieces as they buried their mother next to their father’s newly-dug grave.
As a postscript, most of William and Mary Ellen’s children remained in the vicinity and five of their ten children were also buried at Monongahela Cemetery.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. Photo of headstone of William and Mary Ellen Crux, Monongahela Cemetery, Section 3.
2. Undated photo of William Crux.
3. “Dies After Run for Car.” The Pittsburgh Press. December 23, 1908, page5.
4. Obituary of William Crux. The Pittsburgh Post. December 25, 1908, page 2.
5. Obituary of Mary Ellen Crux. The Pittsburgh Post. February 17, 1909, page 6.
