Local Resources

Marshfield City Cemetery Viewer

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced family history researchers to think outside the box while we wait for libraries and other research facilities to reopen. Online resources have been expanded to allow more access for more people, but with Spring around the corner it might be time to actually GO outside and do some research. The cemeteries are defrosting in our northern climate and headstones are visible again.

A few years ago, our local genealogy group took on the task of cataloging our large city cemetery (which is actually 3 separate cemeteries). Volunteers from the Marshfield Area Genealogy Group walked through and recorded the information on over 15,000 headstones in Hillside Cemetery, Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, and Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery over several weeks. Once completed, the new cemetery inventory was compared with the sextons records to develop a searchable database. Then the database was merged with GPS mapping using Google Earth images to create a searchable map of the burials located in the three cemeteries.

The final result of the project is a webpage called the Marshfield City Cemetery Viewer. Visitors to the page can put a name in the search bar and and be given the exact location of the grave inside the cemetery complex. The viewer can provide GPS locations and Google Maps can give you directions to the grave you want to visit. Grave site information includes sold and available burial plots and veteran burials are identified within the cemetery complex.

I wish that every cemetery had this tool! If only Find A Grave was equipped with location information for individual graves instead of just the location of the cemetery. This tool makes it easy to understand the context of the burials and not just see the individual burials in the cemetery. Knowing the proximity of other burials can give us clues to relationships between the deceased.

This mapping tool is also extremely helpful in fulfilling headstone photo requests for Find A Grave. Instead of randomly searching rows of headstones hoping to find the right stone, I can do a name search and get directions to exactly where I need to go! It’s amazing!

I hope you can take advantage of the warmer weather and get outside for some research, fresh air, and sunshine.