Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery,EAST HOWE STREET, Seattle, King Co, WA ******************************************************************************** Submitter Contact Information:Denise R. Ottoson, ottoson422@earthlink.net Submitted in May 2005 ******************************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ******************************************************************************** Prior to 1896 military veterans who had served on the Union side in the Civil War were buried wherever their families could afford to put them or (after 1872) in a plot reserved for Grand Army of the Republic men in Lake View Cemetery (often referred to in early writings as "the Masonic cemetery") on Capitol Hill. By 1896 Lake View had accumulated "some 40" GAR remains in that lot, which was apparently in a portion of the northwest quadrant of the cemetery. Unfortunately Lake View Cemetery records were organized or reorganized after that time, and there is no Lake View record of these men. By 1895 the two largest Seattle-based Grand Army of the Republic posts, Stevens Post, No. 1 and John F. Miller Post, No. 19, began looking for an appropriate spot for a new separate cemetery. They found willing contributors for such a site in a local Jewish couple, David and Huldah Kaufman, who owned land adjacent to the north side of Lake View Cemetery across Howe Street, a little north-east of Lake View's GAR plot. In December 1895 the Kaufmans deeded the land over to the GAR posts with the blessings of the City of Seattle, and the land was dedicated as a veterans' cemetery. On Memorial Day 1896 the last large memorial service was performed at the Lake View lot with the promise that the next year's service would be in the new cemetery. The first burial in the new G. A. R. cemetery actually took place May 14, 1896, before the Memorial Day ceremonies. William Baskett, a 76- year-old Missouri militia veteran, got the honor. Then, between June and December 1896 all "some 40" of the GAR remains, most of whom had been marked only by wooden headboards, were moved from Lake View to the new cemetery site. They fill the bulk of Row A of the cemetery. The move was all but complete by the time Samuel Segar was buried on November 7, 1896. Only six men who died before 1896 are buried to his right. (William H. Estep was later inserted into the row.) Then chronological burials began on February 27, 1897, with William L. Pike. The first of the spouses buried in the GAR was Margaret Lockard, on March 18, 1898. The last veteran to be buried in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery was Daniel A. Reams, who died October 8, 1943. Spouses and children of veterans continued to be buried in the cemetery until 1968, when the cremation urn of John Robert Coffin, son of Frank and Jemima Coffin, was interred. The last widow to be interred was Anna Binns (1877-1965). Over the years some remains were relocated to other cemeteries, often to lie beside a spouse or family members buried in another location. Only one exception to the Union veterans and family rules is known. In 1901 a young Swedish-born U.S. Navy veteran, C. Richard Lindgren, drowned while saving shipmates from the government transport ship Warren at Nome, Alaska. His body was brought back to Seattle and given a hero's burial in the GAR cemetery. The first markers were wooden. At some point after the new cemetery was established the remaining wooden markers were replaced by concrete sexton stones. Later U.S. Government markers replaced some of the sexton stones and became the standard marker. Over the years some of the markers and sexton stones were replaced by family stones. By the 21st century a fair amount of inaccuracy in knowledge of the cemetery had developed, due to poor original spelling of names, misreadings of stones, duplicate markers, vandalism, etc. In 2003, after considerable research to establish correct names, military units, and death dates, the Sons of Union Veterans (legal owners of the site) began replacing the most damaged and unreadable stones with new VA headstones. That effort is currently on-going. Another recent development has been the creation of Friends of the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery (FGAR). For many years the cemetery was neglected, was overgrown, and was vandalized. No one knew who was responsible for the site. The cemetery itself is surrounded by a small park which was equally neglected. Neighbors of the park and cemetery reacted by forming a non-profit group and volunteers to perform upkeep of the site. FGAR volunteers have performed monthly cleanups and beautification of the cemetery, and a volunteer raises and lowers the U.S. flag on a new flagpole daily. They have also worked with the City of Seattle Parks Department to get grant money to perform the larger beautification and upkeep of the site. The following Excel file lists the occupants of the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery on Capitol Hill in Seattle. This list includes people who were once buried there but removed and a few who are documented as having been buried there, but have no headstone. The list is the product of nearly three years of research by genealogist Denise R. Ottoson with the help of genealogist Loretta-Marie Dimond and Sons of Union Veterans graves registrar Lee Corbin. A fuller three-generational database of that research is available at: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=drowa Caveats: (1) While the exact death and burial dates listed here are solid, the birth dates are simply the best evidence available and should in no way be considered "Truth." (2) Many of the veterans served in multiple units; the one listed here is the one that appears to be the longest service during the Civil War or the one where the man held his highest rank. (3) For sake of clarity, spouses [if known] of all women are listed, even if their husband(s) are not buried here; men's spouses are listed only if they are also buried in this cemetery. Again, fuller detail is available in the three-generational database listed above. (4) There is one truly "unknown" veteran buried in the cemetery. There are six "unknown" stones in Row A, probably due to destruction of the original wooden headboards. The names of the five men whose identities were lost are included here (without an exact burial spot, but would be five of the "unknown"), thanks to newspaper lists published in 1894 and 1896. (5) Previous lists of burials in the cemetery sometimes included a few people buried elsewhere. Those people who were incorrectly listed as being buried in the GAR are included in another database, with their correct place of burial: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=miscsea