OCONTO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A new monument is in place at an Oconto cemetery. It honors hundreds of people buried in an area historically set aside for those who couldn’t pay for burial services.
On a section of ground at the Evergreen Cemetery in Oconto, a two-ton granite boulder stands alone. It marks the area known as a potter’s field.
“Here, it’s really sacred ground,” said Peter Gabrielson, Oconto.
Gabrielson says since the 1850s, possibly 300 people, whose families couldn’t afford the service were buried at the cemetery. Many are located near the south entrance.
“The stones, the crosses, maybe crumbled, the stones were lost, or there were no stones at all,” said Gabrielson.
Gabrielson is behind the effort. The retired history teacher discovered he had a distant relative buried at the cemetery while researching another project. He says word of the potter’s field spread throughout Oconto, and now others are coming forward with questions about their own families.
“When I was a kid, we would come out, and try finding where he was buried. And we could never find it,” said Mae Treptow, Town of Oconto.
“There used to be an old oak tree back there, and that’s how we kind of knew the area he was in, but to find it was impossible,” said Mary Jane (Girard) Mc Nulty, Oconto.
But on Thursday afternoon, Gabrielson had some news.
“I would say right in this area, right here,” he said.
He showed Mary Jane (Girard) Mc Nulty and her daughter Mae Treptow, where their relative, an infant born, and died in 1937, named Harold Washington Girard, Junior is likely buried.
“Now, we kind of have closure. Because we know the area that he’s buried in, we’re pretty close, to where he’s buried, within probably two or three,” said Treptow.
Harold only lived a few days but, Mary Jane says she will always honor her oldest brother.
“We are very, very glad, it’s been found. He has been found. So now, when we come out here, we can stop and visit with him also,” she said.
And while the new monument stands on common ground, it serves as a respectful reminder, to all those buried in the potter’s field.
There’s still more work to be done on the monument.
A plaza with the names of those buried in the potter’s field is expected to be dedicated on Memorial Day Weekend of next year.
