Evergreen Cemetery Association Directory of the Dead

Evergreen Cemetery Burials

18,001
       
Earliest Death Date :  04-14-1871
Memorial Gardens Burials

2,767
       
Latest Death Date :  02-16-2024
 
Grouped
By
Surname

   Aa‑Am  |  An‑Az  |  Ba‑Be  |  Bf‑Bo  |  Bp‑Bz  |  Ca‑Ch  |  Ci‑Cz  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  Ga‑Gn  |  Go‑Gz  |  Ha‑Hd  |  He‑Hn  |  Ho‑Hz  |  I‑Jn  |  Jo‑Jz  |  Ka‑Kn  |  Ko‑Kz  |  La‑Lh  |  Li‑Lz  |  Ma‑Mb  |  Mc‑Mh  |  Mi‑Mz  |  N  |  O  |  Pa‑Pe  |  Pf‑Pz  |  Q‑Rn  |  Ro‑Rz  |  Sa‑Sg  |  Sh‑Ss  |  St‑Sz  |  T  |  U‑V  |  Wa‑Wh  |  Wi‑Wz  |  X‑Y‑Z
 
Grouped
By
Block

   None  |  Cremation Section  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  |  27  |  28  |  29  |  31  |  32  |  33  |  34  |  35  |  36  |  37  |  38  |  39  |  40  |  41  |  42  |  44  |  45  |  46  |  47  |  48  |  MG: Christus  |  MG: Devotion  |  MG: Paradise  |  MG: Columbaria
 
Notes:   
  • Blocks named Christus, Devotion, Paradise and Columbaria are sections of Memorial Gardens.
  • The Cremation Section in Evergreen has its own block numbers denoted by "CS-".
  • In Grouped by Surname pages, the lot number is linked into its Grouped by Block page.
  • In Grouped by Block pages, the name is linked into its Grouped by Surname page.
  • The icon is a link to the person's memorial at Find-A-Grave.
  • The icon is a link to the person's memorial at Find-A-Grave (with a photo of the grave).
  • The icon is a link to our U.S. Military Service Page entry for the deceased.
 

Source Of This Data – How the directory was assembled and published.
Reliability Of This Data – Accuracy and completeness of our records.
Data Columns – Descriptions for each column in the directory.
Cemetery Block Layout Maps – Online cemetery block layout maps.
Burials By Decade Per Block – A table showing the pattern of burials over the years.
Find-A-Grave Memorials – Links to corresponding memorials at Find-A-Grave.
Obtaining Further Information – Where to find more details about a death/burial.
Corrections or Comments – Emailing corrections or comments.

Source Of This Data

The Directory of the Dead is the index of burials for Evergreen Cemetery in northeast Brainerd and for Evergreen Memorial Gardens Cemetery, located just north of Brainerd. Both cemeteries are managed by the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Brainerd, Minnesota.

The former Association Secretary, Barbara Gavin, spent countless hours entering this data into a Microsoft Access database. She consulted various index books and interment records to assemble an index that is as complete and accurate as possible. Without her efforts, this online Directory of the Dead would not be possible.

The transformation of the Directory of the Dead from data in a Microsoft Access database to web pages on the World Wide Web involves three steps. The database is first exported to a tab-delimited text file. Then it is processed by a Perl script to create several dozen web pages grouped as shown at the top of this page. Those pages are then uploaded to the Evergreen Cemetery web site.

Reliability Of This Data

The source of data for the Association records varies. Information for burials before the 1930's was somewhat sparse. But in the 1930's the W.P.A. allocated money to local organizations to augment their local history society activity. One of the projects was to update the cemetery records with information from the county records and from newspaper obituaries. After that, information was gathered from the families and mortuaries and kept on file.

This initial database (2008) has not yet been completely double-checked. Typos need to be found and fixed. Entries for the same burial were sometimes made in more than one record book and duplicates created during data entry need to be found and merged. The Minnesota Historical Society online searchable Birth Certificate Index and Death Certificate Index need to be checked to resolve discrepancies. But since that whole process may take some time, this initial version, warts and all, is being made available to the public.

If you find errors or duplications, please contact us (see the link in the page footer, below).

Data Columns in These Pages

The data are presented in six columns:

  1. Name - Lastname, Firstname of person (if applicable).

    The names are sorted using only alphabetic characters and commas. All other characters, including spaces and periods, are ignored.

    Nicknames are given in double-quotes, like Smith, John "Smitty". Maiden names are in parentheses.

    HYPERLINK NOTE: In the "Grouped By Block" lists, the name is hyperlinked to its location in the appropriate "Grouped By Surname" page so you can see who else with that surname is buried here.
    Example: Van Essen family burials by Surname.

  2. Death Date - The date of death of the person in MM-DD-YYYY format.

    Sometimes only the year and possibly the month is known (or is estimated). In the rare case that a date of death is not known, the date of burial is used. In the case of transfers into the cemetery, if the date of death or original burial is not known, the date of transfer is used. There is nothing in this data to indicate that a date does not refer to the date of death.

  3. Age - Age at death, if known. Age of -0- means stillborn.

  4. Block - Block number within the cemetery where interment took place.

    If the block is "Christus", "Devotion", or "Paradise", it is the superblock by that name in Memorial Gardens. Otherwise it is the number of the block within Evergreen Cemetery.

  5. Lot - Lot number within the block where interment took place.

    If there is no lot number, the record is usually from the 1800's and the precise location is not known. This is especially true for the "Public Grounds" burials that occured in what is now block 14 before the Cemetery Association was formally created in 1878.

    HYPERLINK NOTE: In the "Grouped By Surname" list, the lot number is hyperlinked to the beginning of that lot section in the appropriate "Grouped By Block" page so you can see who else is buried in that lot. Most lots were not owned entirely by the same family so this feature is not always useful.
    Example: Van Essen family burials in Block 45 Lot 100.

  6. Plot - The gravesite plot within the lot where the remains are buried.

    The lots are oriented North/South - NWC = North West Corner, SEC = South East Corner, etc.

    Lots in the First Addition to Evergreen (the original blocks 1-14) are 20 feet wide North/South and only 16 feet deep East/West. All other lots at Evergreen (blocks 15-48) are 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

    8 plot lot (two halves or four quarters)   10 plot lot (4 or 5 ft. grave width)
    NWC N ½ NEC N ½
    SWC N ½ SEC N ½
    NWC S ½ NEC S ½
    SWC S ½ SEC S ½
     
    NWC NW ¼ NEC NE ¼
    SWC NW ¼ SEC NE ¼
    NWC SW ¼ NEC SE ¼
    SWC SW ¼ SEC SE ¼
     
    NWC NEC
    4 or 5 ft. NWC 4 or 5 ft. NEC
    West Center East Center
    4 or 5 ft. SWC 4 or 5 ft. SEC
    SWC SEC

    This field may also contain additional comments about the burial. If there was a transfer out, or the burial location is unknown, there will be no block and lot number and the plot info is a comment regarding the transfer.

Cemetery Block Layout Maps

When the cemeteries were originally platted (and when they were later expanded), documents were filed with the county surveyor's office. The original 1879 Evergreen map covers the southernmost portion. The later ones cover the middle and the northernmost portions. For the Memorial Gardens maps, Christus has the statue in the middle and is centered on the west gate. Devotion is to the south and Paradise is to the north.

Our Plat Maps page has links to PDF files for these maps (originals as well as updated versions that include additional lots added since the original filing).

Death Dates By Decade Per Block

And here, for all you information junkies out there, is a table showing the count of death dates for burials, per decade, per block. (If a block number is missing - it was not used for any burials.) You can see when certain areas of the cemetery were opened up for new burials. There are some year outliers where earlier burials were transferred in to a newly purchased family lot (e.g. a 1932 death transferred into block 48).

187018801890190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010
Block 01 0 0 0 81 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 9 2 6 4
Block 02 3 50 124 80 40 79 48 40 26 19 11 18 13 5 1
Block 03 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 26 16 11 9 5 17 7 5
Block 04 7 102 107 94 57 48 64 66 70 50 34 23 29 26 17
Block 05 0 17 28 93 165 87 83 101 81 50 47 79 38 31 18
Block 06 7 64 66 119 95 71 79 83 50 37 37 17 40 16 7
Block 07 9 83 139 97 57 75 101 172 96 66 51 31 34 23 22
Block 08 0 10 28 18 19 13 20 23 9 15 3 5 7 2 4
Block 09 0 17 11 27 38 44 21 37 45 16 11 12 8 3 1
Block 10 1 70 216 93 60 50 83 113 43 29 22 19 14 21 23
Block 11 1 55 27 45 20 28 41 146 37 36 29 25 12 11 9
Block 12 1 66 63 54 62 55 65 110 62 56 41 19 22 17 18
Block 13 0 26 40 45 11 24 56 33 21 28 12 8 8 9 4
Block 14 0 117 351 231 39 74 124 95 178 128 75 70 46 30 19
Block 16 0 0 1 0 1 19 6 11 5 8 2 6 5 6 2
Block 17 0 1 0 7 45 22 33 23 17 18 12 23 16 10 9
Block 18 0 0 0 36 15 5 12 16 14 4 10 3 3 0 1
Block 19 0 0 0 26 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Block 20 0 0 0 95 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Block 21 0 0 1 1 28 15 9 12 13 3 8 6 6 1 4
Block 22 0 1 2 3 17 47 42 44 31 41 27 34 22 11 6
Block 23 0 1 0 1 51 42 28 32 38 36 25 19 18 13 3
Block 24 0 1 0 2 8 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Block 25 0 0 0 48 82 95 39 3 10 2 6 1 0 1 1
Block 26 0 0 0 22 216 19 7 8 3 4 3 2 3 0 0
Block 27 0 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 5 3 0 4 1 1 3
Block 28 0 0 0 0 6 42 20 18 34 27 22 19 16 15 10
Block 29 0 0 0 0 3 36 18 29 25 16 13 9 8 12 3
Block 31 0 0 0 12 10 78 83 40 20 7 12 3 2 6 1
Block 32 0 0 0 1 2 24 15 15 8 12 10 8 3 2 0
Block 33 0 0 0 0 0 10 7 5 4 8 2 4 2 0 1
Block 34 0 0 0 4 59 46 44 54 39 33 15 19 9 10 2
Block 35 0 0 2 3 60 46 53 56 29 45 25 23 26 17 11
Block 36 0 0 0 3 47 47 52 72 40 31 23 20 20 14 11
Block 37 0 0 2 4 3 65 53 49 31 32 31 19 22 12 2
Block 38 0 1 0 0 2 28 51 37 35 35 28 21 23 16 3
Block 39 0 0 0 0 3 4 47 36 29 20 22 20 21 9 7
Block 40 0 0 0 3 0 2 4 17 14 10 7 11 4 8 2
Block 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 5 9 7 13 9 5 6
Block 42 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 19 12 6 7 3 3 3 1
Block 44 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 8 239 356 216 188 129 96 68
Block 45 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 12 126 219 94 94 87 49 42
Block 46 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6 32 29 24 17 21 12
Block 47 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 5 49 196 249 279 167 150
Block 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 46 205 113 99 94 60
Crem Sec 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 20 54 35
Columbar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 16
Christus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 77 165 213 255 283 289 192
Devotion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 28 119 163 184 232 179 165
Paradise 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 18 22
Totals: 29 6821208135013281350142316901679193718161739168613471003

Find-A-Grave Memorials

The Find-A-Grave website is a place where people can create a memorial to a deceased individual that includes photos (of the person or the grave marker), a biography or obituary, virtual flowers, and more. Since we do not have this capability on our website, we will link to the corresponding memorials in the Evergreen Cemetery section or the Memorial Gardens Cemetery section at Find-A-Grave that people have created for burials in those cemeteries. The links are indicated by the small icons and (described at the top of each Directory of the Dead page) and will be updated when the web pages are updated from the cemetery database (usually every month). To see an example, click on the icon shown on the entry for Van Essen, William.

Obtaining Further Information

A major rationale for putting the Directory of the Dead online is to provide access to this information for genealogists or interested family members. A key feature of this dataset is the "By Block" sorting to show who else is buried in the same lot and block. This can reveal the burial locations of additional family members of interest.

Once you have found a burial of interest, you will notice that the public data about that person on this website is limited.

The Office records will almost always have additional information (which may be in short supply for early burials, say up to 1910 or so). This supplemental information would have been obtained from the mortuary, burial permit, obituary, family members, or gathered by researchers in the 1930s (part of a WPA project) trying to fill in missing information on past burials by examining county death records, coroner's records, newspaper accounts, etc. So please contact the office by phone or email to see what they have. There will be a $1 per page fee ($5 minimum) charged for sending additional information.

The Crow Wing County death records are another source of information if and only if that person died in Crow Wing County. Vital Records are handled by the Crow Wing County Treasurer's Office.

Obituaries are often found in the local newspapers (moreso after about 1900). In the early days, there were many weekly newspapers. A list of microfilm resources for all Crow Wing newspapers can be found in the Microfilm section of the Crow Wing County Historical Society Research Library page. Contact them to request an obituary lookup. The Society maintains a card catalog of all the death notices in Crow Wing county newspapers so a lookup is very easy. For more prominent local figures, a separate file may also exist with information about that person and their family.

And finally, the Crow Wing County GenWeb website lists many resources for researching in Crow Wing county.

Corrections or Comments

Please use the "Contact Us" link in the page footer for information on how to contact the website maintainer or the Association. Be aware that this Directory of the Dead is intended to be a faithful reproduction of the cemetery records, including the original spelling in older records.