On whose dime?

This past week I have spent a great deal of time trying to definitely find information on Potter’s Field in St. Louis. I have found bits and pieced but nothing that tells me about how if remains of those interred there where moved a different location. Perhaps I would have more luck if I had names of the people buried there but I do not. The records of the people that were buried at Potter’s Field and that were patients at the city hospitals were not the best kept records. What I have found is backing up information of my last post. The St. Louis Potter’s Field was in close proximity to City Hospital (or Insane Asylum), the City Poor House, The Chronic Hospital, and the Female Hospital. The building with the dome is the Insane Asylum. On the same side of the street is the City Poor House and across the street is the Female Hospital. What is not shown in the picture is behind the City Poor House is where the Potter’s Field used to be located.

 Figure 1[1]

In total frustration I told one of the librarians the trouble I was running into trying to locate information on St. Louis’ Potter’s Field. I told her I was beginning to think that it did not really exist. Just then one of the volunteers said, “I remember Potter’s Field. It was at the intersection of Fyler and Hampton. I used to play in there when I was a child!” Ahhh, finally I know I am not going crazy trying to search for this. And I am not the only one running into a dead end trying to find information on this (no pun intended there). Here is a link to people trying to locate family members that have been interred in St. Louis City Cemetery. http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.stlouis/5470/mb.ashx

At least the librarian gave me some very helpful information about whom to contact at the history department. Hopefully next week’s post will be the proof that I have been searching for all along. However, while I was explaining why I am searching for Potter’s Field in St. Louis I was asked an excellent question. I told the librarian that I was looking for evidence that Potter’s Field is often relocated to make way for construction purposes. I explained that Potter’s Fields are municipal cemeteries where poor and unknown people are buried. The question the librarian asked me was, "At whose expense is the burial?" In her opinion, if it was the city’s expense then the city should have every right to reinter the bodies if the space is needed. Huh, I never thought about it that was but I wholeheartedly agree. However, I still think that the city should at least move the remains prior to construction instead of leaving the remains in place. So, I have changed my thoughts about moving cemeteries a little bit. IF there is a need for moving cemeteries, I feel they should indeed be moved, not constructed over. Leaving a cemetery in place to be constructed over is complete disrespect for the dead. 

And the search continues…

References:

^[1] http://stlouis.genealogyvillage.com/hospitals.htm

We are running out of room

Well, unfortunately I think they the United States is merely running out of room to fit an ever growing population. This week I have taken a closer look into what can be done moving forward to try and kept some dignity to those that have need been reinterred. I have come to the conclusion that moving cemeteries is not necessarily done out of disrespect but merely trying to accommodate a massively growing population. There has been an increase of just about 280,000 people in the United States since September 8^th. There is no doubt that number will at least double in the next 7 to 8 weeks. I have included a link for a video that explains the reason for the Department of Transportation (DOT) moving a graveyard. In this case the cemetery was moved to keep up with safety regulations regarding the transportation. No disrespect was intended here and every effort was made to keep accurate records of the remains that were being moved to a new location. More than likely these remains will remain unknown, not because it was a potter’s field, but because there weren’t grave markers in this location.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A0S00MkoCihShhQAXQn7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBncGdyMzQ0BHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEdnRpZAM-?p=moving+a+cemetery&ei=utf-8

So I wonder…is it still being disrespectful if the remains are no longer visited by family members? Is it disrespectful if no one alive knows who you were or that you are dead? The remains that the DOT had to relocate to make street improvements had been interred so long that not much was left to reinter at the other cemetery. I think that if no living family member was able to claim the bodies that new method of disposal for the remains should be used such as cremation. Although, cremating of the remains may be considered disrespectful as well. However, if the country continues to grow, which it will, the bodies have a good chance of being relocated again. At what point does that end? 

Looking a little deeper into “Too broke to be dead,” I have looked into alternative ways to dispose of remains. There are options for whole body donations, sustainable burials, and other types of alternatives that help conserve space. Dead Bodies that Matter: Toward a New Ecology of Human Death in American Culture by Susanne Kelley (2012) discusses some of the contemporary views our culture has with death. Talking about everything from fictional television shows that highlight death to exhibits of bodies. This article also talks about ways bereaved family members are taken advantage of by funeral directors. This is a story I found that is in complete contrast to moving unknown dead with respect. This story is more along the lines of what I would consider being blatant disrespect for the dead if these accusations are true.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A0S00MkoCihShhQAXQn7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBncGdyMzQ0BHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEdnRpZAM-?p=moving+a+cemetery&ei=utf-8

This story I wanted to include simply as an example of what I meant by disrespecting the dead but it lead to much more. I decided to read more about funeral service directors after viewing the video. I found The American Funeral by Dr. Leroy Bowman (1990) that discusses frankly some of the unscrupulous acts that some undertakers use to make higher profits. I would have never guessed that people of means could be just as likely to be moved as someone buried in a Potter’s Field. And all along I thought it was the less fortunate that were the ones being taken advantage of in life and then again in death.

Uncanny Similarities

Looking at Hart Island in New York which is the largest run Potter's Field in the United States, I noticed a few similarities to other potter's field in the United States. The potter's field in St. Louis city and Chicago share similar time lines. Chicago City cemetery was located in what is now Lincoln Park. Along with Hart Island, the two Midwest potter's fields were used heavily in the middle of the 19th century. During that time the United States was not only in the middle of a civil was but also dealing with cholera. Cholera hit this country fast and hard resulting in the need for mass burials. Potter's field was the best and fastest way to dispose of the body for sanitary reasons. Small pox was another reason that people were buried in Potter’s field.

Another glaring similarity was the Lincoln Park, St. Louis City Cemetery, and Hart Island were built near insane asylums, poor houses or county farm, workhouse, reform house, women's hospital, and pest houses. The pest houses were built to contain people suffering from contagious diseases such as small pox. The insane asylums were meant to contain people not deemed to be mentally functional. The poor houses and county farm were places for indigent people to have a place to live and work with dignity. This was society’s way of providing for people with limited or no means to be productive members of society. The workhouse and reform houses were for men and young boys that were less than desirable members of society that needed to be taught how to become productive members of society. The pattern here is that the Potter’s field that are burial grounds for the less fortunate were built around places that kept less fortunate people while they were still alive. Matter of fact, today Hart Island is still worked by prisoners as seen the image below.

                                                  Figure 1^[1]

Record keeping was not done well with any one of these three potter’s fields. St. Louis City cemetery and the potter’s field in Chicago (now Lincoln Park), were both removed for urban renewal and revival. I have not been able to find detailed records of the St. Louis City cemetery. Only that it was closed and the bodies re-interred but not exactly to what location. I found newspaper clippings in an article regarding the removal of bodies from Chicago city cemetery but again, not much more.  There was an article about medical students stealing bodies from potter’s field in Chicago. It can be read here: http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap4/chap4-sect7.html

Hart Island still exists but efforts are being made to keep detailed records of those interred there. A project called Hart Island Project is diligently working to wrong the past mishandling of records. More can be read about that here: http://hartisland.net/

References:

http://stlouis.genealogyvillage.com/hospitals.htm

http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/hart/html/hartbook2.html

http://hiddentruths.northwestern.edu/home.html

^[1] http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/11/12/nyregion/12homeCA01ready.html