Descendant Community of Milwaukee County Grounds Cemeteries

Welcome to our website, where descendants, kin, and community unite to honor and dignify all human lives. Our nonprofit organization embraces the responsibility of caring for our ancestors, sharing their stories, and preserving their memory. Our mission centers on ensuring respectful final resting places, particularly for those community residents once interred at Milwaukee County Grounds cemeteries, historically known as the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery.

The Descendant Community seeks respectful, final rest for the 2,480 Milwaukee community members whose remains have been on university shelves for research purposes, some of them since 1991, including the 831 we were given the right to rebury who were disinterred in 2013.

Whether you have kin placed to rest in these sacred grounds or are a concerned citizen, we welcome you to explore and join our mission of caring for those interred at each of the four County Grounds cemeteries.

Locations

Contemporary satellite image of the Milwaukee County Institutions, with cemeteries 1, 2, 3 and 4 outlined. Cemetery 1 was in use 1852-1882. Cemetery 2 was in use 1882-1925; it is covered by buildings and a parking lot. Both of these are south of Watertown Plank Road. Cemetery 3 and 4 are north of Watertown Plank Road. Cemetery 3, Milwaukee County Cemetery, was in use 1925-1974 and Cemetery 4, the Asylum Cemetery, was in use 1880-1914. — Current location of the cemeteries on the Milwaukee County Grounds and the campus of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center

Photograph of a multi-story red brick building. A sign beside the walkway says, "UWM, Sabin Hall, 3413 North Downer Ave." — Sabin Hall (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) where the remains of 2,480 ancestors from the County Grounds cemeteries are currently housed

Section of Forest Home Cemetery & Arboretum which will be the reburial ground of 831 ancestors disinterred in 2013 from Cemetery 2

Become Involved

Descendants

If you believe your family member was once buried at the Milwaukee County Grounds and wish to share their names privately, please contact us. Our genealogical research team will handle your inquiry discreetly.

Volunteer

Support our Genealogy Initiative by helping restore the identities of those once buried at the Milwaukee County Grounds. Volunteers contribute to archival research, Find-A-Grave memorial restoration, student storytelling projects, Jewish ancestry research, and veteran identification. Learn more about each opportunity and complete our volunteer form to get involved.

Meet with Us

If you’re eager to learn about our initiatives and contribute to restore dignity to those once buried at the County Grounds cemeteries, please contact us. We are also open to dialogue to anyone wanting to discuss protection of burial sites in Wisconsin and beyond.

The board of directors convenes virtually, extending a warm invitation to interested community members to participate.