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. |
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.
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).
The data are presented in six columns:
8 plot lot (two halves or four quarters) | 10 plot lot (4 or 5 ft. grave width) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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).
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).
1870 | 1880 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | |
Block 01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
Block 02 | 3 | 50 | 123 | 79 | 40 | 79 | 48 | 40 | 26 | 19 | 11 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 2 |
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 | 30 | 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 | 8 |
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 | 7 |
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 | 23 | 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 | 1 |
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 | 13 | 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 | 22 | 12 |
Block 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 50 | 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 | 233 | 179 | 165 |
Paradise | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 22 |
Totals: | 29 | 682 | 1207 | 1349 | 1327 | 1350 | 1423 | 1690 | 1678 | 1938 | 1816 | 1739 | 1688 | 1349 | 1007 |
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.
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.
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.
Copyright © Evergreen Cemetery Association | Directory of the Dead | Contact Us | Last Updated: Feb 2, 2025 |