Brooklyn-Maple Grove Union Cemetery

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Osseo, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States
Surnames/tags: Cemeteries Hennepin_County Minnesota

Contents 1 General Information 2 History 3 Interments 4 Research Notes 5 Sources

General Information

Location Brooklyn-Maple Grove Union Cemetery is located on the west side of Jefferson Hwy in the cities of Maple Grove and Osseo, and opposite from City of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It adjoins the south end of St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery in Osseo.

GPS Coordinates: The GPS location can be traced back to the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). The GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) for the Brooklyn & Maple Grove Union Cemetery are Lat: 45.1111° (45° 6' 39") Lon: -93.4022° (-93° 24' 7").^[1]

Plat and Map of Owners The cemetery was platted for 524 graves. The records include 300 documented burials, with an estimate of an additional fifty unmarked, and undocumented interments.

Plat and Lot Purchasers

History

Prior to the onset of the Civil War, these pioneers established a cemetery association on January 8, 1862:

• Clark Ellsworth
• George Wetzel
• James Henderson
• Job Brown
• Joel Handy
• John Torgason
• Seneca Brown
• William Ewing
  

The cemetery was neglected during the 1920s [association file]. An inventory of the cemetery records was compiled in 1936, with a cover letter, copied here:

A meeting was held in the schoolhouse at Osseo, in Maple Grove Township, Hennepin County, on January 8th, 1862, for the purpose of organizing a Cemetery Association. Present at the meeting were: Clark Ellsworth, Job Brown, George Wetzel, John Torgason, and W. Ewing. By a vote of the meeting the association was to be known as the Brooklyn and Maple Grove Union Cemetery Association. Six persons were chosen as trustees to manage the concerns of the Association for one to three years. The trustees were: James Henderson and George Wetzel, one year; Seneca Brown and Joel Handy for two years; and Clark Ellsworth and E. G. Brown for three years. The annual election of trustees for the Association is held on the first Monday in January of each year."

The record are: Minutes,1862-1883, 1 volume; Plat record, 1862-date, 2 volumes; Burial records, 1862-date, 1 volume. They are in good condition and are kept by the secretary, F. Biederman, at his office in Osseo." ^[2]

After World War II, the cemetery was unofficially named American Cemetery. In 1969, The Maria Sanford Chapter of the Daughter’s of the American Revolution, via Mrs. F. Lee Biederman Sr. (Arilla C.) typed a gravestone transcription, and a flag dedication ceremony was performed on May 30, 1969 [association file]. Note the photo of the dedication plaque.

On June 25, 1981, Alfred J. Dahlquist transcribed all the markers (261) and published his work in The Grave Markers of Hennepin county, MN Volume I.^[3] In 1990, a fence was installed around the cemetery except on the north side where the cemetery adjoins the cemetery of St. Paul's Lutheran Church [association records].

The last regular association meeting was held August 17, 2000. Several initiatives were made to merge the cemetery with the adjoining St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery without success. An attempt was made to re-activate the association in 2010, and a year later, a resolution was signed to transfer the cemetery to the City of Maple Grove. No further action was taken [association file] until 2018, when informal meetings between several small cemetery associations in the area began discussions on merging services.^[4]

Interments

• See attached image of documented interments from association records.
• See Brooklyn and Maple Grove Union Cemetery, Maple Grove, Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA, at findagrave.com. A history, and approximately 320 memorials are posted.^[5]
• See WikiTree profiles placed in this category with this text in double brackets: Category:Brooklyn-Maple Grove Union Cemetery, Osseo, Minnesota.

Research Notes

The founding of the cemetery probably was to serve the "Adrian Colony", a group that migrated from Michigan in 1852-54, before the land was surveyed, and without the knowledge that the colony had settled in two separate townships, Brooklyn and Maple-Grove^[6]; hence the name. When the cemetery was platted, it was all in Maple Grove Township. In 1875, when Osseo was incorporated, the city boundary only encompassed the northern portion of the cemetery. Being on the outskirts of Osseo, the cemetery appears to be part of Osseo, and is the easiest descriptor of its location.

Sources

1. ↑ Roadside Thoughts. A Gazateer for the United States and Canada. https://roadsidethoughts.com/mn/cemeteries/brooklyn-maple-grove-union-cemetery-xx-hennepin-profile.htm
2. ↑ Minnesota Genealogy Society. Hoffman Research Library files.
3. ↑ Dahlquist Alfred & Babara Dahlquist. 1981. The Grave Markers of Hennepin County Minnesota : Volume 1. Maple Grove and West Osseo. Brooklyn Park MN: Park Genealogical Books. Lookup available; contact Jeanne.
4. ↑ Personal correspondence via Jeanne.
5. ↑ findagrave.com Cemetery ID: 2405998. (accessed 12/9/23) https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2405998/brooklyn-and-maple-grove-union-cemetery
6. ↑ Warner, Geo. E. and Chas. M. Foote; plus Neill, Edward & J. Fletcher Williams, History of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota (By Rev. D. Neill) and Outlines of the History of Minnesota, (by J. Fletcher Williams) (Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Company. 1881. Johnson, Smith & Harrison, Printers. Minneapolis, Minn. https://archive.org/details/historyofhennepi00warn/page/284/mode/2up?q=adrian