Burials shortly after immigrating

[Lisa in California]

A young child, Peder, and his family immigrated to New York in 1882.  He (according to his brothers’ descendants) was separated from his family at the immigration station because he was sick.  The immigrating family never saw him again.  Family members were never able to find out what happened to Peder.

After looking at a couple of online trees for this family, a record indicates that Peder apparently died 4 days after arriving in New York (information obtained from FamilySearch, New York City Municipal Deaths).  His burial place was Ward’s Island, New York.

Question: I would imagine there were a number of deaths upon arrival to North American ports.  Might children have been buried in a children’s section in the local cemeteries, or was it more likely that recently deceased individuals were interred next to each other, paying no attention to age, religion, etc.  Thank you in advance for any feedback.  Lisa

[oldohiohome]

There are a few results from searching for "burials Ward’s Island, New York".  I'd guess that people were buried as they died, in unmarked graves. Then again, maybe there was a children's section of the pauper's field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randalls_and_Wards_Islands
https://untappedcities.com/2016/07/01/top-10-secrets-of-nycs-randalls-and-wards-islands/10/
https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2020/04/the-history-of-hart-island-a-place-of-strangeness-and-sorrow.html

findagrave had a listing but said it is closed. I tried "Peder" but didn't find anything. If you have his surname, you might give it a try.
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2427585/wards-island-cemetery

[Lisa in California]

Thank you for the links and suggestion oldohiohome.  I had not seen the third link you mentioned.  While I glanced at the other links a few days ago, I read them more thoroughly today (after you posted them).

Our friend has the little boy’s details (surname, family members, etc), but he is not recorded in findagrave which isn’t surprising since only a few burials were mentioned for 1882.

I only began to wonder about the burial method after noticing that a little girl (not related to Peder) died within days of Peder’s death. They shared similarities: both were born in Norway and arrived in New York around the same time (if I remember correctly, Olina’s ship arrived one day before Peder’s) and they were both very young when they died.  Hopefully, they were given respectful burials.

Thank you for your help, oldohiohome. 

[Erato]

There might be records here:

https://a860-collectionguides.nyc.gov/repositories/2/resources/24

but you'd have to go to New York to see them.

[Lisa in California]

Thank you very much, Erato.  I will let my friend and her family know.  While her close family lives in California, she may have relatives in New York.  Thank you.