The case for supporting Kneeland Cemetery......
-The cemetery is a catholic cemetery...a sacred place for parishioners and family
-The cemetery and adjacent "little frame church St. Peter" are the earliest records of the parish and precede the current church and cemetery
-The cemtery is the burial location of historically important parish and area pioneer settlers
-The cemetery was a gift from a parishioner to the church requirnig the donation be a cemetery
-The cemetery is registered with the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison
-The cemetery ios a financial asset of the parish
-Wisconsin state statutes are in place
Kneeland Cemetery is the burial location of early pioneer members of today's St. Patrick Seneca Parish and Crawford County.
Roman Catholic services were first held in the Robert Garvey log house 1855. When the congregation grew, a church was built "a few years later", near the site of the Robert Garvey log house in "the Garvey Settlement". The church was named St. Peter. It was often referred to in early documents and histories as "the little frame church".
Thomas Kneeland donated 3 acres to the archdiocese to serve as the St. Peter Parish Cemetery. The 3 acre land donation was adjacent to the church.
The cemetery and site of the St. Peter Chuch is off Highway "E" , west of Highway 27. Look for signs.
When St. Patrick Parish and Cemetery was opened in 1874, St. Peter church building and the 3 acre cemetery originally known as "the catholic cemetery in the Garvey Settlement" was only occasionally used.
The cemetery was basically "abandoned". Over the years, the cemetery was cleared and cleaned by volunteers . Today, the cemetery is maintained by St.Patrick Seneca Parish.
Your support of the cemetery is requested.......
-Any information, photos, etc. you may have or may have heard of, as it relates to the Kneeland Cemetery, and the burials there would be apprecated.
-A history of the early St. Peter Church and Kneeland cemetery is being developed.Contact __________
-An account to help support the maintenance of Kneeland Cemetery has been set up at the Peoples State bank in Seneca. Account # _____________
Supporting Future Projects
-ongoing mowing, trimming and general maintenance
-Documenting how highway work on "E" impacted the southern end of the cemtery and changed access
-GPR (Ground Peneterating Radar) to detect additional unmarked graves
-Scan the 3 acres with a metal detector
-Probe ground for sunken/burfied headstones
-Map original "little frame church St. Peter"
-cleaning headstones
-repairing broken headstones
-marking perimeter of the 3 acres
-adding and entrance arch/gate