BURIALS
As no record of the burials at Kneeland has been located, the information currently available concerning the names of those buried at Kneeland are based solely on headstone information and the archives at the Diocese of LaCrosse.
The archives records show selected individuals who were buried at "the Catholic Cemetery in the Garvey Settlement". The name of the deceased is required to located the record at the archives as there is no comprehensive listing of all the Kneeland burials at the archives.
In 1999, a representative of the GenWeb organization transcribed information from headstones that were visible then. That listing appears to be the earliest transcribing of the headstone information.
Family names of marked burials at Kneeland include...Brady ; Crowley ; Donahue ; Flanagan ; Kneeland ; Lennahan ; Mathews ; Mullaney ; Peasley ; Smith.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has shown there are "unmarked graves". Family names of "unmarked" burials are currently unknown.
Newspaper accounts of the time, write that when St.Patrick Cemetery was opened in 1874, some graves were moved from Kneeland Cemetery to St. Patrick Cemetery in Seneca. No definition of "moved" is recorded. No comprehensive listing of "moved" graves has been located.
HEADSTONES
The headstones are a "window to the historic past" of the Seneca/Eastmand, Stueben areas and Crawford County. The burials at Kneelard are those of some of the first settlers of the area.
There are aproximately 20 headstones that are visible at Kneeland. Some of the stones are "family" stones that have multiple burial names representing approximately 27 individual burials.
Unfortunately, no record has been located of the burials at Kneeland leaving the headstones as the only record of the burials there.
Some of the information on the remaining headstones is challenging to decipher as many of the stones are in very poor condition or in pieces, some faded due to age and weather, mold and mildew, some broken by age as well some broken by the using of the cemetery, at a point in the distant past (per long time neighboring residents), as a hog enclosure pasture and rabbit hunting area.
All indications are that over the years headstones have been moved and gathered into a headstone pile.
Research has determined there are also "unmarked" graves, no headstones. Missing headstones can be due to a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, headstone may have been wood, vandalism, no headstone ever placed, weathering, deterioration, theft, re-purposing, movement to another cemetery, headstones made of soft stone, etc.
Many of the headstones remaining were made of stone other than granite which would account for some of the missing or very deteriorated headstones.
The only remaining headstones are at the far northern end of the 3 acre cemetery.
No headstones are visible on the 2 1/2 acres between the site of the original "little frame church St. Peter" and the remaining stones at the far north end. Research in the 2 1/2 acre area has been made more challenging by the results of past highway work on "E" and the addition of berms to help deter errosion onto "E".
The headstones that remain help tell the stories of the early pioneers and pioneer families of Crawford County. Many of the stones are those of early Irish pioneers. Those stones have information as to the birthplace in Ireland of the burials.
The sources of the stone and the headstone/monument stoneworkers who made the stones for Kneeland Cemetery and the early days of St pactrick Cemetery are unknown.
Based on newspaper advertisements and articles of the time, the monument sources included (photo copies of these ads are in the galleray section):
-Viroqua Marbel Works Viroqua, WI
-John H. Grindell & Lynch Platteville, WI.
-E. Ray
-Franklin Marbel works Galena, IL.
-Homrich and Lehner Lancaster, WI. and Galena, IL.
-Lancaster Marble Yard Lancaster, WI.
-Monfort Marble Works Monfort, WI
-Northeastern Iowa Memorial Monona, IA
SURNAME GIVEN NAME BORN DIED
BRADY THOMAS ? JAN. 23, 1869
CROWLEY EDWARD ? APRIL 13, 1865 age 1, 22days, son of E. and E
CROWLEY ELIZABETH ? AUGUST 10, 1862 age 5 mo., 10 days, dau.of P. and H.
CROWLEY HANORA ? DECEMBER 9, 1865 age 35 years, wife of P.
CROWLEY JOHN 1868 AUGUST 29, 1868 age 7 mo. son of P.and H.
CROWLEY JOSEPH 1865 JANUARY 12, 1866 age ? , 21 days, son of M. and J.
CROWLEY MARY 1807 DECEMBER 23, 1862 age 55 years, wife of Patrick
(nee Keefe)
DONAHUE CATHERINE 1822 OCTOBER 4, 1862 born County Kerry, Ireland, wife of Cornelius
FLANAGAN AGNES ? JANUARY 5, 1874 age 7 days
FLANAGAN CATHERINE ? JANUARY 3, 1879 wife of John
FLANAGAN JOHN ? DECEMBER 25, 1886 age 53 years, 6 mos. native of Clare, Ireland
FLANAGAN JOHN ? APRIL 10, 1874 age 15 years, son of John and Catherine
FLANAGAN PATRICK ? MAY 2, 1869 age 10 mos. son of J. and C.
KNEELAND CATHERINE ? DECEMBER 15, 1862 age 1 year
KNEELAND MARY E. 1862 DECEMBER 15, 1862 age 1 year
LENNAHAN JAMES ? MARCH 16, 1871 age 65 years, native of Ireland
MATHEWS ANDREW 1808 JULY 20, 1872 age 64 years
MULLANEY CATHERINE 1821 1871
???? ???? ? DECEMEBER 10, 1868 age 10-12 or 19 years (???)
MULLANEY MICHAEL ? APRIL 18. 1863 age ? years, 3 mos., 13 days son of L.and R.
PEASLEY JAMES ? MAY 6, 1870
PEASLEY MICHAEL ? MAY 22, 1878 age 42 years
PEASLEY PATRICK ? AUGUST 9, 1872
SMITH ANN ? OCTOBER 9, 1875 age 13 years, 4 mos.
SMITH BRIDGETT 1837 FEBRUARY 14, 1882 age 45 years, wife of Richard
SMITH MARY ? MARCH 17, 1870 age 2 years
SMITH RICHARD 1819 OCTOBER 2, 1884 age 65 years
Walter Butler Palmer (1906)
Your tombstone stands among the the rest
Neglected and alone
The name and date chiseled out
On polished marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood and bone
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so
I wonder if you lived and loved
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot and come to visit you
THE RECORDING OF A CEMETERY
BY THELMA GREENE REAGAN
Today we walked where others walked
On a lonely, windswept hill;
Today we talked where other cried
For Loved Ones whose lives are stilled.
Today our hearts were touched
By graves of tiny babies;
Snatched from the arms of loving kin,
In the heartbreak of the ages.
Today we saw where the grandparents lay
In the last sleep of their time;
Lying under the trees and clouds -
Their beds kissed by the sun and wind.
Today we wondered about an unmarked spot;
Who lies beneath this hollowed ground?
Was it a babe, child, young or old?
No indication could be found.
Today we saw where Mom and Dad lay.
We had been here once before
On a day we'd all like to forget,
But will remember forever more.
Today we recorded for kith and kin
The graves of ancestors past;
To be preserved for generations hence,
A record we hope will last.
Cherish it, my friend; preserve it, my friend,
For stones sometimes crumble to dust
And generations of folks yet to come
Will be grateful for your trust.
