"What do you know about that tiny cemetery next to Engelburg School?"
It's a question I asked on social media when posting a few photos of a Northwest Side plot – on Appleton, near 92nd and Villard, next to Engleburg School – that I often pass and wonder about.
One evening recently, I decided to stop, so I pulled the car over and wandered a bit in the tiny, unfenced graveyard and snapped a few pictures of the weather-beaten stones, which I posted immediately to Facebook. And social media helped make it all clear.
"It's the old Saint Martin Cemetery," posted Brian Brehmer. "Services at St. Martin's were discontinued in 1922, and the building was razed in 1924. The early church records (burial, marriage and birth) are kept at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 12748 W. Cameron Ave. (in) Butler."
Hugh Wynne added this information to the discussion: "The cemetery is known as St. Martin Cemetery after the church that used to sit there. In 1915 when St. Agnes in Butler began the parishioners started to go there. The church began about 1848. They were all German and have strong ties to parishioners at St. Agnes church today. The last church was built in 1876 and torn down in the early 1920s. All of the parts of the building went to St. Agnes including the bell."
The cemetery was originally in the town of Granville, part of which became Brown Deer in 1955 and the remainder of which was annexed to Milwaukee the following year.
Doing a little Google work, I found a list of interments at the cemetery here. Among the names was the family of Adam Caspary (spelled Caspari), who died in 1877 at the age of 82. That makes him a pretty early suburban Milwaukeean.
Which made me curious, so I went back to Google and found this post about the family on Ancestry.com. It even includes a photo – albeit of terrible quality – of Caspary.
You can see how I often end up down a rabbit hole with this stuff.
Later in the original Facebook thread, Karen Egan posted this, reminding us that history is often right on our doorstep: "The graveyard is part of my yard. Many of the graves are from 1800. The most recent date (I think) is 1930s. There's one we could read 20 years ago but can't now. It's a small black 'rock' next to our sidewalk. When I moved here 20 years ago, it read '1799.'
"Most people don't even realize the graveyard is there. Unfortunately there's been a vandal that knocked over all the headstones a few years ago. We put all but one upright again. One just won't stay up anymore, but it's still there. Beautiful piece of history."
Like a good neighbor, Egan also noted my presence.
"Were you there this evening taking pictures around 7:45/8 p.m.? If that was you, I saw you," she posted.
Guilty as charged.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
