HONORING THE PAUPERS.

The most direct drive from DeKalb to the Fox Cities of Wisconsin or Green Bay follows generally the old Northern Illinois Railroad to Belvidere, thence cross country through Clinton Junction to the east side of Janesville, there picking up the ancestral Galena and Chicago Union line by way of Watertown, Clyman Junction, Juneau, and Waupun, where it's either U.S. 151 to Fond du Lac or again generally following an old Milwaukee Road line into Oshkosh.  That routing is country driving through Illinois, one of Wisconsin's Cheddarbahnen from Janesville to just south of Juneau, and the stretch of state highway 26 between 151 at Waupun and Interstate 41 at Oshkosh is a popular truckers bypass as well as home to a notorious speed trap in Rosendale.

The country driving between Juneau and Waupun has a number of things to provoke thought.  My first time trying that routing, I saw what looked like a small military cemetery on the north edge of Juneau.

Although the markers had that institutional sameness, up close they were different, and the grounds were in rough shape compared to what I've seen of military cemeteries.  The old Galena and Chicago right of way is behind the trees east of the road.  Yes, dear reader, what became the Chicago and North Western got to the Fox Cities the long way around first.

There were a lot of markers for unknown people, with many passing during the flu epidemic of 1916.

It transpires that this cemetery was the local potters field, and in the past few years it received a makeover.

The county is removing the stones that have been placed on the graves since the first soul was laid to rest there in 1861 and replacing them with flat markers.

Physical facilities director Russell Freber said there are around 400 graves in the cemetery with many of them having RIP (requiescat in pace in Latin or in English rest in peace) or the anonymous “John Doe” engraved upon them. Clearview, the long-standing name of the current nursing home, has deceased residents buried in the cemetery, many of which have names and birth and death dates on their stones.

“One reason people were buried there was that they didn’t have a lot of financial funds,” Freber said. “There were also numerous residents of Clearview buried there over my 38 years with the county.”

The last Clearview resident was buried there about three years ago, Freber said.

“The majority of the gravesites have been there for many years and only periodically a request is made for burial today,” Clearview administrator Jane Hooper said.

Clearview holds the records for the cemetery. There is a historical record of the people buried in the cemetery if their name was listed, Hooper said. The ones with John Doe and RIP have no background.

Clearview was known as the County Poor Farm when it was built just north of Juneau in 1861.

The story dates to late 2016, when the rebuilding commenced.

The new ground-level markers were in place by 2021, when I was again free to move about the country.

Serious deterioration was the reason that the current actions were taken.

“If you look at the headstones, a lot of them are in poor condition,” Freber said. “They are broke or they are leaning and in need of repair. It is all a daunting task.”

Freber said the old design of the headstones did not have cement bases making them extremely unstable.

“Ninety percent of them are not straight,” Freber said. “They have no base under the headstones, so we can straighten them today and have to do it again next year.”

The Dodge County Supervisors Building Committee looked at the options and felt the plaques would be the best option. Freber said with being flat to the ground they can be mowed over, so that was another consideration.

“Some individuals are sad to see the headstones go,” Freber said. “They don’t think the people will see the cemetery without the headstones.”

A monument was put up so people driving by will still recognize it as a cemetery, Freber said. The image of the existing cemetery was etched by Archie Monument of Juneau. They will also be doing the plaques, mounted on cement bases. Each plaque will have the same information that is currently etched in the stones on each grave.

A few of the old markers were set on a permanent base along with a sign identifying the property. The old headstones? Waste not, want not? "The old stones will be disposed of by the Dodge County Highway Department."  Presumably, run respectfully through the rock crusher for shoulder repair, rather than used intact, which is an intentional message of disrespect.

My Chicago Boyz colleague Bill Brandt notes, "Cemeteries can tell you a lot of things."  His focus is on the final, sometimes modest, resting places of people you might have heard of.  I generally visit the burial places of ancestors, which sometimes produces information to flesh out the family history.  The paupers and the residents of the county asylum have their stories as well.