Returning Identity To The Forgotten Buried At Milwaukee's Poor Farm

MILWAUKEE, WI — For thousands of the disadvantaged, poor and nameless citizens of Milwaukee County's past, even those who served in the Civil War, a proper burial after death was anything but guaranteed.

For many, family never arrived or couldn't afford to claim their body, and earthly life concluded with a small underground plot at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm.

Often, little more than a number tag was left as a marker. What remains of the four burial sites near what is now the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center is hardly identifiable as such. Cemetary No. 2, where around 5,000-7,500 people were buried between 1882 and 1925, saw two rounds of exhumations between 1991 and 2013 with 2,400 former residents now stored at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Sabin Hall, genealogist researcher and advocate Judy Klimt Houston told Patch. Others buried at the complex are either still underground, under pavement, or they were destroyed years ago amid other development, Houston said.

Now, over a century after the cemeteries were established, descendants and genealogists like Houston are trying to return identities to the former and remaining cemetery residents. To further that goal, Houston helped found a non-profit organization called the Descendant Community of the Milwaukee County Grounds Cemeteries.

It's an issue close to Houston, as she said her own grand-aunt and other members of her family were buried at the poor farm.

Among the burials identified so far, Houston said, are two unmarked Civil War veterans, Friedrich Bartsch and William Craig. Houston told Patch in an interview that she identified the soldiers by cross-referencing the burial ledger from between 1882 and 1974 with possible descendants, coroner's inquests and other records. Many more soldiers could yet be uncovered, Houston said, as she's going through the ledger in alphabetical order.

"We started by looking at the letter, A, and then the letter B," said Houston. "And so that's how we have Mr. Bartsch and that's how we have Mr. Craig. And so we're going to continue, we've got between 7,000 and 10,000 names that we're looking at. But as you can see, it's a big job. So we have to compare that with all the Wisconsin records for our veterans."

Craig, originally from Appleton, died in 1901, Houston told Patch she found. At just 11 years old he signed up for the war and served as a musician, and despite a disability discharge at one point, he rejoined and served in the war until he was 15.

Bartsch, a farmer from Kewaskum, was a German immigrant who knew little English before he enlisted in the Union Army, according to Houston. He was mustered for nine months and died in 1875.

Since identifying the two soldiers, Houston said she's gotten in touch with living descendants, who have ordered veterans' headstones. Just one other civil war veteran, Herman Borghardt, has a Veteran's Administration marker at the poor farm cemetery.

"We're hopeful that Milwaukee County will also accommodate theirs, just like they did with Herman," said Houston, "and allow them to also have their headstones placed there."

Houston said at one point she found a veteran ancestor of her own buried in Forest Home Cemetary without a VA headstone.

"And in 2019, he got his stone 118 years after his death," Houston told Patch. "So it is important to me. These folks, they went above and beyond to do what they did."

To honor the soldiers once laid to rest at the poor farm cemeteries, Houston visited on Memorial Day 2023 and planted an American flag for each.

"Thank you for your service, honorable Civil War soldiers Herman Borghardt, Friedrich Bartsch, and William Craig," wrote Houston in an emailed statement. "Although you were buried at County Grounds rather than the distinguished Wood National Cemetery with your soldier brothers and sisters, and while you have not received recognition on any other Memorial Day for more than a century, your service for our country was always appreciated."

For Houston and the Descendant Community of the Milwaukee County Grounds Cemeteries, the next step in the poor farm's story is to create a request for proposals to use DNA research, especially for Cemetary No. 2 residents who were exhumed. The goal is to have the request ready by August, she said. Houston said a small pilot test could be in order before expanding into what could become one of the largest ever groups tested, but it could come with a price tag of over $1 million, she said.

Houston said tested remains would be immediately re-buried at another cemetery, and as people are identified, families could decide if they want to re-inter their ancestor somewhere else. Houston said her group is currently working with three cemeteries to develop and later select a plan for the immediate reburial.

Identification of remains after DNA testing could continue to take years after the initial re-burial, Houston noted.

"We're hopeful that there could be DNA research done to indicate who's who," Houston said. "And then possibly compared to some of our descendants. And then in the end, our goal is to rebury after the testing."

Identifying the remains comes with a host of other issues. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's history on the farm notes that over half of the grave sites in Cemetery No. 2 were disturbed before 1990 with construction, and 13 percent of the burials there are thought to be paved over by Doyne Avenue.

Burial sites were also disturbed in 1928, according to UWM's online history of the poor farm. The construction of a nurse's residence forced some to move, but UWM researchers wrote that may have just included the few burials who received regular visits.

Other issues could arise when contacting stakeholders and living descendants for burial changes. Houston pointed out there could be many living relatives of her grand-aunt, who could all have a say in what happens to her remains after the planned DNA testing and initial re-burial.