I just signed up with Evernote. It is a program that is supposed to help a person organize thoughts and information. I don’t know about you, but the internet has so much information I don’t have room in my brain to put all the information I want to remember. I am hoping this program will help me organize my thoughts and projects.

The Evernote program has great reviews. I have been hesitant all this time because I know it will require discipline on my part. The chaos that is who I am that may prove to be a challenge, but I am going to give it a try. It supposedly has the ability to store scanned documents…so in theory if I spend some time scanning paper documents, I can then go and toss the original and no longer need to deal with paper clutter.

I think this morning I will try to organize a few projects I have in the works. This afternoon I will test it out when I go to the library and try to rely on the program to my retrieve notes.

Wish me luck!

For more information on the program, check out the Evernote website.

It is a sad state of affairs when progress feels the need to desecrate the sanctity of a cemetery. The history of cemeteries in Milwaukee is an interesting one. I am sure Milwaukee is not unique and is similar to a lot of other larger cities in America. Progress can have its positives and negatives. Back in the old days 1830s and ’40s, Milwaukee was a small community. As the population expanded, so did the need for larger burial grounds. Remains of the dead were commonly removed from a cemetery and moved to another to make way for building expansion. Reports have told some cemeteries were not moved at all.

From a 1922 book:

There is a story about a man named Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, who is reported in all existing histories of Milwaukee to have been in Jacques Vieau’s company.

“Mirandeau was buried on the slope of the hill on what is now the northeast corner of Main and Michigan streets. When in 1837 or 1838, Michigan Street was being graded Solomon Juneau told the workmen to take care of Mirandeau’s bones, their resting place being marked by a wooden cross, I was standing near the grave with others when the blacksmith’s skull came tumbling down the bank. The greater part of the hair was still attached to the skull, and some one remarked that the reason for this was that Mirandeau had drunk so much poor whisky that he had become sort of pickled. I do not know how much truth there was in the remark. The rest of the bones came down almost immediately after, and all the remains were picked up by Juneau’s orders, put in a box and placed in the regular cemetery.

Source: History of Milwaukee, City and County: City and County v. 1; William George Bruce, Published by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922.

How many others were buried on that hill but were not moved?

Another story from 1886:

Bones in Bricks A Large Brick Yard Located Where an Old Cemetery Used to Be

Bones in Bricks

A Large Brick Yard Located Where an Old Cemetery Used to Be

“Many of the bricks in some fo the finest buildings in the city are partly composed of human bones,” said a well-known builder yesterday. “This may seem a little odd to you at first, but it is true, for I’ve known it for several years. One of the yards producing the largest number of bricks of any in the state-is located on an old burying-ground from which only a few of the bodies interred there were removed before the manufacture of brick from the clay began. I have actually seen small pieces of bone pressed into these bricks.”

Source: The Milwaukee Sentinel, (Milwaukee, WI) Sunday, June 20, 1886; pg. 2; Issue 34; col C

I recently read an article which disturbed me. What first caught my attention to this article is the fact there is a known civil war veteran buried among the indigent in what was formerly known as the Poorhouse cemetery near Froederdt Hospital. People are trying to locate the grave to give this man a proper burial.

I am a huge veteran advocate, so I support giving veterans respect and proper burials. The reason for my discontent, is there are approximately 1300 other graves in this indigent cemetery. Froederdt is looking to expand and it is in the works that these remains be exhumed. Instead of reburying the remains in another cemetery elsewhere in the city, it is expected that the remains will be given to the UWM anthropology department for scientific study.

In modern terminology, the people buried here are what we now call unclaimed persons. They either had no known family or the family could not afford burial for them at the time of death. Circumstances abandoned them for all these years. Now, instead of leaving them to be at peace, progress wants to dig up the remains and place what is left in a box to sit on a shelf in storage or even worse, to be studied like a culture in a petri dish. They may have been poor or alone, but their life and death matters just as much as the veteran, a successful business person, or a former president of the United States.

Over the past few years I have spent hours trying to identify family for unclaimed persons. Trying to move these people off of shelves and give them a proper burial. Here it looks like the opposite is happening.

Read More:

• About the early Milwaukee Cemeteries from articles collected from history books and news articles.
• About the veteran in the indigent cemetery.
• About Unclaimed Persons
• Help solve Unclaimed Persons Cases

Today I thought I would use a very generic phrase, put it into Google, and see what came up. I got a link on reviews of genealogy software, a link to the GenWeb, and of course an ad or three for ancestry.com. The one I clicked on was a 2009 article called 10 Free Genealogy Websites. I thought it would be interesting to see how far some of these sites have come or if they are still around. Sometimes we get so caught up in the larger sites, we forget that often there may be a small site out there with one little tidbit all the others don’t have. Often it is a small tidbit that gets us going again on a brick wall search.

If you check out the site please also be sure to read the comments visitors have left. There are some other valuable resources listed by other people.

One of the listings was Free Genealogy Tools. Although the site has not been updated in several months, it led me to the New York City Municipal Archives Online Photo Gallery. The gallery contains over 870,000 images. Images from archives such as this can sometimes help date photos you have in your possession. You can look for similar clothing, women’s accessories, or men’s accessories. Even background items such as vehicles and street signs might be helpful in dating your photos.

A new blog has appeared in the blog circles called Sweet Tea, Tart Lemons & Memories. Looks quite interesting. Definately one to watch.

http://sweetteatartlemonsandmemories.blogspot.com/

The Great Chicago fire was nothing compared to the Pestigo fire in Northern Wisconsin. I recently found out there was another great fire in Michigan about the same time. Anyone hear of one in Minnesota? Anyone have any stories from relatives that lived through the fire? (read more…)