ST PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CEMETERY, Section 19, Lanark Township, on State Highway 54, approximately 13 miles West of Waupaca. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the history record behind the upcoming "survey" of a cemetery next to St Patrick's Catholic Church in Lanark, WI, between Wisconsin Rapids and Waupaca, on WI Hwy 54. If you are interested in volunteering for this, please contact the LANARK ST PAT Project Coordinator John M (HOPKINS) CROCKETT at . All results will be published and there will be FREE access for all... Join in the fun and help "dig" for family roots which are buried in WoodCoWI! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning all! For those who don't know, my name is John M. (Hopkins) Crockett; I'm just a guy digging up his roots. I (along with some other folks with ancestors at St. Pat's) am investigating the possibility of conducting a thorough site survey of the cemetery. Below I have pasted a couple of messages that I sent out so we're on the same page (sorry, couldn't resist that one ;). Please let me introduce every one: MARCIA A. KUEHL is the website coordinator for the PortageCoWI USGenWeb and Rootsweb genealogy web site. For me, this web site is the "hub" for my genealogical/historical information gathering and posting (I also use the County Roscommon, Ireland GenWeb site to gather/post data from "the other side of the pond"). DEBRA CRAVENS is part of the Burial Sites Preservation office at the Wisconsin State Historical Society and is the person/agency I intend to submit all confirmed/documented data to (my idea is that this is the archive/repository for others; as an alternative and parallel to the Internet). Debra: we spoke about a month ago; the Ho-Chunk Nation GPR equipment is used exclusively for themselves. HELEN HELBACH is the caretaker/records-holder for St. Patrick's Cemetery and could use all the help she can get to straighten out the records and physical layout. Helen: do you have any of the info Debra is asking for below? DR. FREDERICK W.MADISON is the Soil Scientist at UW-Madison, Geological & Natural History Survey, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (this is my first contact with him - Dr. Madison: please excuse me if I didn't get the description right). He is a contact referred by Debra Cravens for possibilities on Ground Penetrating Radar or other subterranean survey methods. DR. KEITH A. SVERDRUP is from UW-Milwaukee, Department of Geosciences. I found him while looking for alternatives to GPR (a method that I seriously doubt would work in the boulder-infested clay up here). He concurs about GPR and has used electro-magnetic means. Dr. Sverdrup: it looks like it may only be 4 to 10 localized tests; areas of about 20 ft x 20 ft, up to 12 ft deep and I doubt concrete vaults were used; most of the burials were in the late 1800's/early 1900's. MELVIN CLARK (COLO.), KYM COLLAR (ILL.), JOHN GIBBONS (APPLETON, WI), STACEY MANNY (WAUPACA, WI) and myself (Waupaca, WI) are related "diggers" - this message is mostly FYI for them (Hi guys!). I am currently awaiting permission from Marcia Kuehl at USGenWeb to post an invite for volunteers to survey/map/index the cemetery. I intend to target those with ancestors buried there. Does anyone have rough ideas regarding approximate costs of the subterranean surveys and possible support (and their requirements)? I would like to at least do the mapping/layout and data indexing this year, before the cold weather sets in. beat regards to all, John M. (Hopkins) Crockett hopkins@netnet.net E4622 Meadow Lane Waupaca, WI 54981-9029 920 867-3834 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Debra Cravens: Dear John and Mary, A copy of your e-mail was given to me by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's membership coordinator. I work in the Burial Sites Preservation office at the State Historical Society. We are interested and concerned about all burial sites is Wisconsin and would like to help you with any cemetery project in any way we can. Unfortunately, we do not have access to Ground Penetrating Radar. I can give you the name of someone at the Geological & Natural History Survey - UW - Extension. Their address is 3817 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705 and the phone number is (608)262-1705. The person you should talk to is Fred Madison. If he can't help you I'm sure he would be able to recommend someone. GPR is not inexpensive and unfortunately we don't have free access to their equipment. As you probably already know, GPR would just tell you where burials might be located not who was buried where, It works best in sandy soil. I was wondering if you had a deed with a metes and bounds description for St. Patrick's or any other cemetery. If we have a metes and bounds description describing the cemetery's current area we can catalog it according to state law which offers greater protection. What I would need is a copy of all the deeds for a cemetery or the Volume and Page references for these deeds and the current owner's name and address (for St. Patrick's Cemetery, I understand it would be the Diocese of La Crosse) I would be happy to send you a copy of the law or information about our program if you are interested. Sincerely, Debbie Cravens Burial Sites Preservation Program 1(800)342-7834 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Keith Sverdrup: Dear John: Thank you for your note concerning an interest in surveying the cemetery. As Dave probably told you we have had some success in the past in locating grave sites - although I must caution you that it is my experience that these types of surveys are very site specific. They work in some locations and do not work well in others. From your description of the ground conditions I would tend to agree with your assessment that GPR might not work very well. That would leave electrical and magnetic methods. Do you have any idea what the coffins would be like - would they be likely to have sufficient metal to be detected magnetically? Do you have any information concerning the depth of burial? If the graves are relatively shallow we would stand a better chance of locating them. Is it likely that the coffins were placed in concrete boxes for burial? What kind of spacing do you think there might be between grave sites and between rows of graves? If I participated in a survey of this kind we would have to talk about how much it would cost and how long we might be at it. Please give me any additional details you might have. Thanks very much - Keith Dr. Keith A. Sverdrup email: sverdrup@csd.uwm.edu Department of Geosciences office phone: 414-229-4017 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Dept. phone: 414-229-4561 Milwaukee, WI 53211 FAX: 414-229-5452 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, John M. Crockett wrote: Hello! My name is John M. Crockett. Dave Overstreet at Great Lakes Archeological Research Center, Milwaukee suggested contacting you about possibilities. I have been engaged in genealogical research of my family and am interested in coordinating a "scan"/site survey of a cemetery in Lanark, Portage County, Wisconsin. The cemetery is next to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lanark, WI, between Wisconsin Rapids and Waupaca, on WI Hwy 54. It appears to be a focal point for many of the families in the area from about 1840 to 1960. I have the burial site records on loan from Helen Helbach; the current caretaker of the cemetery. The burial records are somewhat incomplete and, at times, appear to be inaccurate. I am assisting Helen in establishing the (relatively) precise location of individual burial locations; for administrative purposes for Helen and myself, genealogical/historical. Ultimately, I intend to "map" the entire cemetery, index the data and make it available for genealogical and WI State Historical Society uses. Can you be of assistance in the surveying of this site? The soil tends to be clay with sand, littered with rocks and boulders and am therefore skeptical of the effectiveness of GPR. I intend to coordinate the funding and volunteer labor for this project (any "tips" on possible funding assistance would be welcome!). Most of the volunteer labor would be provided by local families with genealogical interests. I am still awaiting a response from the local Parish Priest regarding church policy and this project (Helen doesn't foresee any problems). Thank you for any guidance and/or assistance in this matter. Best Regards, John Michael (Hopkins) Crockett E4622 Meadow Lane Waupaca, WI 54981-9029 920 867-3834 hopkins@netnet.net (c) 1999 - 2004 All Rights Reserved - MAK