Too Broke to be Dead

I found another area that the dead are being disrespected…they are not even being buried. Many cities are now facing the difficulty of not having enough funds to bury people in a Potter’s Field. "One way we look back at a culture is how they dispose of their dead," said Schmidt. "We see people here that society was not taking care of before they died -- and society is having difficulty taking care of them after they are dead."^[1] The reason…money, or lack thereof. So once again, my research will take another turn with looking at how the downturn in the economy plays a role in the treatment of the unclaimed dead.

 

This is a short video clip of the Wayne County morgue in Detroit. The city is has come upon some tough economic times in turn, its residents are having difficulty finding the money to bury their loved ones. Please watch this short video clip of the trouble that Detroit is facing with the numerous amount of bodies piling up in the city morgue.  
  

I have found a story that gives me some comfort. It is about a slave that died over 200 years ago. There reason why this story warms my heart is that he was recently given an extravagant funeral. This is someone who would have never received such a distinguished burial had it been conducted right after his death. Here is a picture of from the funeral and I have also included the link to the article. I found it truly touching and has renewed my faith in humanity. http://news.yahoo.com/conn-slave-died-1798-called-child-god-221111994.html

Figure 1[2]

^[1] Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/cities-too-poor-to-bury-d_n_306702.html

^[2] Retrieved from: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-slave-died-1798-called-child-god-221111994.html

Money vs. No Money

I have spent this week looking over old maps of St. Louis city and speaking to people native to this area. I also drove around to the various cemeteries in the south area of St. Louis city. What seems to be the bottom line is that people with money have more power that people that do not. This appears to be the case whether or not the person is living or dead. On one of my drives I saw a billboard that was adverting tours at a cemetery. This cemetery is considered to be an outdoor museum. I am guessing that this place will never be in danger of relocating any of its residence. The money exudes of off the monuments in the grounds. It can be viewed here on their inactive map. http://bellefontainecemetery.org/history/map/

One story that had been passed down for generations in one family I spoke with is that they have relatives buried under a boulevard in St. Louis city. As the story goes…the relatives had been using a plot of land as a family burial ground. When the city bought the land from them to build a new boulevard they were asked to have the bodies relocated. The family did not have money to do so, therefore the bodies stayed put. A few generations later, it has become a routine for any descendant in that family to say a little prayer as the pass by a particular intersection of that boulevard to pay respects to the ancestors buried there. The big difference between the Bellefontaine Cemetery and the small family plot are the markers used for the deceased. The Bellefontaine Cemetery has beautifully sculpted monuments. The small family plot that was paved over to become a boulevard has modest large stones for grave markers written in German, not English. I cannot help but feel this family was disrespected because they were poor immigrants that barely spoke English. In complete contrast to some of the very influential people that are buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery.

This week my research will involve a trip to the library in the genealogy department. A lot of St. Louis history regarding cemeteries and their fate is there. I will dig up as much as I possibly can. No pun was intended there. So far this is what I have found out regarding relocated cemeteries in the area.

Potter’s Field (Municipal Cemetery, on the city and county farm, Hampton & Fyler, now apartment complex, see also City Cemetery/Sublette. Established pre 1899, bodies moved about 1950 to Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, 11101 St. Charles Rock Rd.)^[1]

City Cemetery/Sublette (Potter’s Field) (3200 59^th St., Macklin, Sublette and Fyler) Established   pre 1899, most of the graves were moved to Mt. Lebanon Cemetery about 1950 ) (Now site of  Hampton Gardens Apartments)^[1]

Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery ([aka Poor Man’s Catholic Cemetery; New Breman Cemetery] N.               Broadway and Taylor, adjoining O’Fallon Park, mostly poor, burials moved to Calvary; 1864-              1908) (aka Mt. Holy Trinity)^[1]

Old Old Picker’s Cemetery (Kansas-Wyoming-Louisiana-Arsenal area of South St. Louis; area now           home to Roosevelt High School.; Cholera Victims, 1845-1889; removed July 1916. Established 1845 by the Holy Ghost Evangelical & Reformed Church. Continued by New Picker’s Cemetery.^[1]

  

Information provided by St. Louis Public Library retrieved from: http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/stlcem.htm

Census clock update: As off 03:45:23 on Sept 30, 2013 the population is 316,787, 876. That is an increase of 101, 260 since Sept. 16th.  

My own back yard

As I said in my last post I am trying to narrow down if moving cemeteries seems to be happening in one region of the United States more than other areas. Well, I decided to start locally and find out what cemeteries, if any, have been moved in the St. Louis area where I currently reside. I found out that Theodore Roosevelt High School was built on top of graves…literally. Most of the remains were moved but not all of them made the transfer (ahhhh). I will have more on that story later. But what really saddened me was that my house is located where the city cemetery, Potter’s Field, used to be. My own back yard used to be the final resting place for the less fortunate soles and now it is my home. Oh the horror! I am trying to get a better understanding of why graves are moved and I am guilty of living on top of a graveyard. I found a zoning map from 1950 that shows where the city cemetery used to be. This is now an apartment complex, a few subdivisions, some single family homes and oddly enough a crematorium too. This is the link to the zoning map.

http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/documents/upload//HistoricalMapOfStL1950Zone.pdf

Life and in Death

Well, after reading the Diary of Miguel Parets and Western Attitudes Towards Death: from the middle ages to the present, I am beginning to realize that disregarding the less fortunate happens not only in death but in life too. As we have read in both, the poor and less fortunate people were not treated as well as the people that have more means. I can only assume that the less than adequate care that poor people receive in life is extended to the in death when they are in a potter’s field. However, this is not always the case. I have found a few exceptions to that rule.

My research this past week has brought me full circle without any being any closer to finding an answer to my question. So, I will need to dig deeper and possibly change course just a little bit. What I do know is that there does not seem to be any shortage of information out there regarding graves being moved. I am going to try and find out if it seems to be happening more in one region of the United States compared to other places. 

Population update: On Sept. 23, 2013 at 04:21:38 (UTC) the population was 316,737,330.  That is an increase of over 50,000 people in a week's time.

Census Clock

I forgot to put what method I am using to keep tabs on the population. Here is is; http://www.census.gov/popclock/

Gorton Family Cemetery

I figured I might as well start my research with the cemetery that got me thinking about the subject in the first place. What I found out was the small cemetery belongs to the Gorton Family. I have not done any research to validate what I have read on the 2 websites but I do believe that the family must have been important enough for the highway to leave the graves intact.
http://letterboxing.org/BoxView.php?boxnum=4505
This website has a picture showing how close the cemetery is to the highway.http://shakingmytree.homestead.com/gortonpage.html

As part of research I will be keeping tabs on the population of the United States. On Sept. 9, 2013 at 13:47:20 (UTC) the population was 316,638,843. I checked this again just a few minutes ago. On Sept. 16, 2013 at 04:07:20 (UTC) the populations was 316,686, 616! That is an increase of almost 48,000 people in a week's time. A strong case may be built that moving cemeteries is in large part due to the increasing population.

What caused contemporary American culture to lose respect for the less fortunate dead?

I was about 8 years old when I noticed a small section of the highway was split around a tiny piece of land. The amount of land seemed so small that I wondered why the highway was built around it. I did what any 8 year-old child would do...I asked my mother about it. She told me that a family graveyard was there and out of respect for the dead the highway was built around it. Respect for the dead. That phrase stayed with me all of this time.

As I grew up I became interested in Urban Planning and Design for a potential career path. This is when I found out that sometimes it is necessary to relocate cemeteries. Going back to the statement mother told me years ago, "Respect for the dead,” came back to mind. Was my mother lying to me when she told me that? Or has our society lost our respect for the dead?

Over the course of American history is has been common practice for Potter’s Fields, or other unknown graves, to be either completely removed or relocated for construction purposes. I would like to know why that is. My guess is that is all comes down to money, although I hope that isn’t the case. I also am aware the population of the United States is rapidly growing. Perhaps it is just a matter of needing space for the growing population. No matter what the reason is I hope that is not purely based on a loss of respect for the less fortunate dead.

So my research begins…