In the fall of 2017, I submitted an Open Records Request to the Wisconsin Dept of Veterans Affairs for “all” burial records, listings, and maps of the original half of the Central Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery (CWVMC) – previously known as the GAR Home Cemetery – in King, WI.
The state disgorged over 2,200 pages of records and maps.
If you have visited the cemetery, then you may recognize that there is a “lower section” and an “upper section”. The lower section was original to the cemetery and it was first populated by veterans of the Civil War and their wives, widows, and (a few) mothers. I asked for the records/maps for this section only, because this section was rife with burial anomalies, burial mismanagement, and even missing burials. The ORR request was a last gasp effort to get a handle on the hair-raising problems I had found there.
Caveats:
- Although the first burial was carried out in 1888 and by 1955 there had been 1,685 burials; all original burial records prior to 1955 were disposed of by the state of Wisconsin. Let me say that again: All pre-1955 burial records were thrown in a dumpster. And, I say 1955 because that was the year that the lot maps were drawn. I was recently told (and this is perhaps third-hand knowledge) that during the 1970s the WIVA Secretary visited the Veterans Home in King and declared that it was “too cluttered”. He ordered that the Home (and cemetery) be cleaned up. Apparently, this is when somebody decided to dump the original cemetery records – which had been transcribed into new formats.
- So, all the records, I have on hand, are actually transcriptions of the original contemporary records. Mistakes were made. MANY mistakes were made.
- The maps were drawn (by hand) in 1955. However, the maps were drawn by “reading” the headstones in each lot then comparing the reading to the (transcribed) burial records. If a headstone was installed at the wrong grave (dozens were), then the map will show a person buried at the grave where his/her headstone was installed – regardless of where the person was actually buried.
Requesting a Look-Up:
- No charge.
- Send me an email with the name of the veteran or family member.
- My email address can be found in the upper right hand corner of the main page of this website – click on the word “CONTACT”.
- Unless I am traveling or otherwise occupied, I should be able to respond within 1-3 business days.
What I Will Share:
- For all requests, I will provide all the information available to me through these records.
- This information will be transcribed from the individual documents within the collection.
- I will not provide copies or image of the records or maps, unless:
- The burial is one that I have identified as problematic – misplaced, mislabeled, mismanaged, etc.
- Or, you can convince me that there is a problem with the burial – that is new to me.