Poor Farm Cemetery (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Patricia B. Richards. Brooke L. Drew.

Fieldwork in 1992 and 1993 on the grounds of the Milwaukee County Regional Medical Center, Milwaukee Wisconsin, resulted in recovery of some 1600 individuals originally buried in the institutional or "poor farm" cemetery. This paper argues that the conflict inherent in a public policy intended to provide a decent burial while simultaneously discouraging utilization of the service can only be understood within a broader historical context. Milwaukee’s population increased from 20,000 in 1850 to...