Here lies.... You know, Weaver, I've forgotten who
we just buried: The Milwaukee County Poor Farm
Cemetery Project
Draft Reading Version
PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR
Patricia B. Richards
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Paper presented in Symposium: People that no one had use for, had
nothing to give to, no place to offer: The Milwaukee County Institution
Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery at the 80nd Annual Society for American
Archaeology Meeting, San Francisco, California, April 15-19, 2015.
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Early in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, the ill-fated prisoner, US Navy
Commander Shears is conducting a funeral service during which he declares,
“Here lies.... You know, Weaver, I've forgotten who we just buried” He then
goes on Here lies Corporal Herbert Thompson, serial number 01234567,
valiant member of the King's own, and Queen's own, or something, who
died of beriberi in the year of our Lord 1943. For the greater glory
of...[pause] what did he die for? I don't mock the grave or the man. May he
rest in peace. He found little enough of it while he was alive. And we do not
mock nor treat lightly the individuals buried in the Milwaukee County Poor Farm
Cemeteries. They found little of peace alive or dead.
The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Project was initiated in 2008 and is
a collaborative effort of the UW-Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory,
UW-Milwaukee Anthropology Department graduate students, UW-Milwaukee
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Students, and the staff of Historic
Resource Management Services (now UWM-CRM). (SLIDE of me old and me
new) My involvement in this project dates back a bit further, almost 24 years, to
August of 1991.
Milwaukee County began recording burials of indigent and unidentified
individuals on the county grounds in 1878 and continued the practice through
1974. As of 2013, four locations have been identified as cemeteries representing
the burial of perhaps as many as 10000 individuals. Three of these cemeteries,
1, 3, and 4 are located on the periphery of the Milwaukee County Regional
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Medical Center and remain undisturbed. The fourth Cemetery, Cemetery 2, is
located in one of the most densely used portions of the Regional Medical Center
and has been disturbed multiple times since 1932. The most recent disturbance,
in 1991, resulted in recovery operations that uncovered, documented and
removed 1649 burials.
The archaeological analysis is reported in a 1992 Report of Investigation
and in my 1997 dissertation. Following completion of the archaeological analysis,
the human remains, material culture and associated excavation records were
moved to Marquette University of Milwaukee. Researchers at Marquette agreed
to conduct osteological analysis for free and the Wisconsin Historical Society as
well as Milwaukee County, the entity financially responsible by law for payment of
the analysis, deemed this an appropriate solution. In the years following, when
the Wisconsin Historical Society began to question this arrangement, Milwaukee
County threatened to cremate all remains and rebury in a mass grave on the
County grounds. However, after 17 years of “analysis’ without reporting the
Wisconsin Historical Society began to explore other options.
In the spring of 2008 the UWM Archaeological Research Laboratory
applied for and was granted by the Wisconsin Historical Society final disposition
of all human remains, personal artifacts, burial hardware, field notes and field
images associated with the 1991 and 1992 excavations at the Milwaukee County
Institutions Grounds-Froedtert Tract (site # 47 MI 527). (SLIDE 9) The formal
MOA signed by the UWM ARL and the Wisconsin Historical Society charges
UWM with
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1.The responsibility off answering questions and aiding in research
inquiries by the public related to individuals listed in the Register of Burials,
(SLIDE 10)
2.Continued documentation of land use history and collection of all
historical documentation related to the Milwaukee County Grounds
3.Identification of individuals currently curated at UWM
Following the 1991 and 1992 excavations, it was determined, based on historical
mapping that approximately 1300 burials remained intact outside of the area of
construction disturbance. These burials were located to the west of the 90s
excavations along a slope and under the road.
Consequently, it did not come as a huge surprise when we at UWM were
contacted in April of 2011. This marks the beginning of a two-year process of
negotiation, permitting and contracting associated with the 2013 Milwaukee
County Poor Farm cemetery excavations.
On September 7, 2012, Froedtert Hospital, submitted an application for a
request to disturb the portion of the Pauper Cemetery-Froedtert Hospital Tract
located within the boundaies of the land that Froedtert leased from Milwaukee
County.
On October 23, 2012, the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society officially
notified the persons listed in the Registry of Interested Persons as having an
interest in the Milwaukee County Medical Complex Paupers Cemetery or having
an interest in that class of catalogued burial site about Froedtert’s application to
disturb the site letting them know they had the right to request a hearing.
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The only request for a hearing came on On November 21, 2012 from the
Wisconsin Archaeological Survey (the organization of Wisconsin’s professional
archaeologists) based on their interest in land use of Publically-owned burial
sites.
On January 8, 2013 The “Director” sent a contested case Referral – essentially
providing an Order for Hearing.
On February 15, 2013, interested parties and other interested persons appeared
at the Class I Contested Case. The Wisconsin Historical Society, representing a
general historical interest in not disturbing the burial site testified that the
Historical Society’s mission is to help people to connect to the past by collecting,
preserving and sharing stories and that the MCIG cemetery helps to tell such a
story. According to testimony by the Historical Society the burial site serves as a
commentary on how less fortunate citizens were laid to rest. Further testimony
suggested that in the expert opinion of the Historical Society witnesses, when
people are buried somewhere they expect to stay buried there. The Historical
Society testified that there is great value in giving current citizens an opportunity
to be with those most vulnerable people in their final resting place and to imagine
their stories and remember that the county supported them at the end of their
lives. Unfortunately this final resting place was unmarked and under a parking lot
and road making contemplative visiting problematic.
On April 18, 2013, Rachel L Ping on behalf of the State of Wisconsin Division of
Hearings and Appeals issued a decision, which concluded that the benefits to
permit applicant Froedtert in disturbing the catalogued burial site outweighed the
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benefits to all other persons shown to have an interest in not disturbing the burial
site. Consequently, The DHA ordered that Froedtert Hospital’s request for a
permit to disturb the burial site be granted.
On May 9, 2013,The Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society submitted a
petition for appeal from the April 13, 2013 decision and order of the Division of
Hearings and Appeals. Nonetheless, the next time there is a public from
response from the Wisconsin Historical Society is May 21, 2013 when Ellsworth
H. Brown issues a permit to Disturb Paupers Cemetery – Froedtert Tract (MI0527, BMI – 0076) On June 10, 2013 UWM archaeologists began fieldwork.
Any urban historical archaeology project has its own set of constraints and
difficulties and this one was no different. The location in the midst of an
increasingly active construction project was challenging. Unlike the unregulated
situation in the 90s, every 2013 employee underwent safety training and wore
PPE (personal Protective equipment) including a hiVis vest, hardhat, eye
protection and gloves. A very large tent was erected to provide shelter and
privacy although we could not stay in the tent during a thunderstorm. Like the
90s excavations, the landscape changed radically during the course of the
excavations. Additionally, Mortenson, the construction company overseeing the
project required all workers to participate in a bend and stretch period prior to
beginning work everyday.
The 2013 excavations resulted in the recovery of 631 coffin locations and a
single lot (10088) assigned to a bone dump from graves previously disturbed. Of
these, 368 were adult-sized coffins measuring greater than five feet in length;
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263 were juvenile-sized coffins measuring less than 3.5 feet in length. Of the 263
juvenile locations, seven did not contain human remains. Ten adult coffins
contained the remains of juveniles of adolescent or late childhood age.
Adult-sized coffins containing adult burials include 294 single adult burials (age
20 or older) and 57 “mixed” burials containing the remains of more than one
individual. Juvenile-sized coffins include 246 single juvenile burials (age 19.9 and
younger), nine “mixed” burials and one dog. Additionally there are seven adultsized coffins that contain both adult and juvenile individuals. Total number of
individuals recovered includes 550 individuals exclusive to a coffin (294 adults
and 256 juveniles), and 100 individuals recovered from mixed burials that are
age exclusive (either adult or juvenile) (81 adults and 19 juveniles). Finally seven
adult sized coffins contained the remains of both adults and juveniles (6 adults
and 9 juveniles). In total, coffin burial locations produced a minimum of 665
individuals including 381 adults and 284 juveniles (Figure 1). As many as 148
adult and 14 juvenile comingled remains represent an MNI of 162 which brings
the total of potential individual represented to 827.
Provenience was maintained using a lot number system that assigned a unique
identifier to an individual burial. When more than one individual or more than one
set of nonindividualized human remains were present in a single coffin,
individuals were, when possible, assigned individual lot numbers. This resulted in
three recovery contexts: 1.) a single individual in a single coffin assigned a
unique lot number; 2.) a “mixed” context where at least an individual (or up to 3)
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was represented by more than 50 % of the skeletal elements and assigned
multiple lot numbers and 3.) a “commingled context, where individuality was
unclear and a single lot number was assigned to all remains regardless of the
minimum number of individuals represented.
Research into the spatial and temporal differences represented by the 1991 and
92 excavations and those of the 2013 excavations continues. A major challenge
faced by the 2013 excavators was to properly corroborate the previous
1991/1992 excavation maps with the modern 2013 excavations. Over the course
of 22 years between the excavations of Cemetery 2, the hospital grounds have
gone under a series of alterations, including the implosion and removal of the
nurses’ residence built in the center of Cemetery 2, construction of the new
cancer center at that location, as well as the extension of Doyne Avenue that
cuts across the southern edge of the cemetery.
[SLIDE 18) During the 1991/92 field season, excavators mapped the location of
each burial using an alidade and plane table. Additionally, particular landscape
features such as the former Nurse’s Residence and several historic and modern
utility lines were also mapped. [SLIDE 19) During the 2013 excavations, modern
mapping technologies, incorporating a laser transit and digital data collector,
proved to be more expedient and reliable in terms of accuracy.
Aligning the mapping between the two series of excavations (some 22 years
apart) proved successful due to two factors: First and foremost, [Slide 20) We
were able to successfully locate several of the previously excavated burial pits at
the eastern end of the 2013 excavation area. Secondly, the diligent mapping by
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the 1991/92 crew [SLIDE 21] plotted an assortment of buried utilities and steam
tunnels. Remnants of these tunnels survived to the 2013 excavations, and
subsequent mapping of these feature in 2013, allowed proper alignment of the
two series of excavations.
One of the objections the Wisconsin Historical Society made when arguing
against further excavation was that from a scientific perspective there was
enough known about this group of people based on the 1991 and 1992
excavations and that further excavations would not contribute substantially to that
understanding. My 1997 dissertation identified, based on material culture, 3
groups categories of individuals likely interred in Milwaukee County Poor Farm
Cemetery 2; 1, individuals who died as county residents who were buried in
shrouds fastened with pins, 2. Individuals sent from the coroner’s office buried in
the clothing in which they were found, and 3. community poor who were buried
with items indicative of family involvement in the burial. A preliminary study of
fabric recovered from the 2013 excavations was able to identify only the first two
of those 3 categories, leaving community poor unrepresented. Additional artifact
analyses will likely reveal category 3 individuals. However, a fourth category was
identified as a result of this study – individuals who may have either died as
residents or may have been sent from the coroner’s office BUT who were used
as cadavers by either the Milwaukee County Hospital or medical colleges
associated with the hospital. The material culture associated with these
individuals includes bandages as well as other medical waste. The remarkably
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complex burial patterns identified during the 2013 excavations support this
finding, as do osteological analyses you will hear more about later in this session.
Additionally, cemetery use appears more variable in the portion excavated in
2013 including the formal burial of a large German Shepard size dog in a nonstandard size coffin. Further, the remains of two fetuses were recovered from an
adult size coffin but interred in a glass jar. A wide variety of combinations of
individuals interred in a coffin is also characteristic of the portion of Cemetery 2
excavated in 2013.
Final disposition, as per WisStat 157.7 and administrative Code HS 2, of the
human remains from the 1991 and 1992 excavations has been granted to the
UWM Archaeological Research laboratory under the care of the Milwaukee
County Poor Farm Cemetery Project. The 2013 excavated human remains,
representing as many as 827 individuals as well as associated funerary items,
are temporarily curated at the UWM Archaeological Research Laboratory during
analysis which is expected to be completed in June of 2015. As per the law, final
disposition of the human remains excavated in 2013 will not be decided until the
Report of Investigations is completed and accepted by the Wisconsin Historical
Society. In a process similar to asking for permission to disturb, “Persons in the
registry who have an interest in the disposition of the human remains and objects
related to the burial, may apply in writing to the director for possession.” Given
the contentious nature of the request to disturb application, I do not doubt this
process will be equally contentious. The range of papers you are about to hear
demonstrate the incredible breadth of research potential of the collection as a
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whole. The painstaking care taken in excavation and analysis to preserve the
individual, nameless or not, the potential of additional historical research to
provide names for those individuals, and indeed the work to reindividualize those
whose individuality was taken from them as a result of medical procedures is a
work of respect and even love. The UWM Archaeological Research Laboratory
will apply for final disposition of the 2013 excavated human remains and
associated funerary items. We hope that a rational decision is made to reunite
these two arbitrarily separated groups. We know that expecting rational behavior
from humans is a risky proposition and we know, some public opinion is very
much against a curatorial final disposition decision. For example at the recent
Great Lakes Home Front Seminar: Exploring the Civilian Experience during the
Civil War Era my old nemesis Dr. McBride, in another movie reference,
presented a paper entitled “Saving Private Borghardt; Are You Comfortable with
the Remains of a Civil War Veteran Used as a Scientific Project?” Nonetheless
those of us here today feel the fight is worth fighting.
Like US Navy Commander Shears, Milwaukee County may have forgotten whom
they buried but we most assuredly have not, nor do we have anything but the
utmost respect for those once interred in Milwaukee’s County cemeteries. The
following papers will attest to that.
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