Posted: 3/15/07
Trio ensures deceased are gone but not forgotten
By Chris Schafer
Pat Buss sits at her laptop at night and catalogs the dead. Name after name, years of birth and death, all of it finds its way onto her spreadsheet.
The list initially started with family members as Buss chronicled the lives and history of her own genealogy. But now the project has ballooned and Buss finds herself cataloging the names and years of every person buried in every cemetery in Mille Lacs County.
"I like digging for history," Buss said simply. "We've been to every cemetery in Mille Lacs County."
Buss is not alone in her endeavour. The "we" also includes her husband Brian and her mother Stella Mathison. Together the trio are on their way towards cataloging every single grave stone in each of Mille Lacs County's 37 cemeteries. They've completed 15 thus far and they have an information folder for every single one.
The project began last fall when Pat and her mother, both volunteers at the Mille Lacs County Historical Society in Milaca, noticed her father was missing from the cemetery's book. She looked into it further and found that an aunt and an uncle were also absent. Further research discovered that many of the books had not been updated since the 1980s.
So Pat decided to right a wrong and from there, kept going. "I started it," she said. "I'm always wanting to do things. My mom says I'm too willing to take on projects." She stops and smiles, before adding, "It's my fault we joined the historical society too. Mom didn't get a choice, her membership was paid for."
But her mother did get a choice in whether or not she wanted to help her daughter catalog graves in Mille Lacs County and Mathison chose to hop right in. "I think its fun," Mathison said. "We get in the car and go."
As the trio record the history of Mille Lacs County, "going" can mean several different things. Sometimes going means going to the books and cataloging the history of those buried in local cemeteries.
Other times going means heading to the cemeteries themselves and walking the grounds. "Most are okay, you find one or two that are off," Pat said of the cemetery books. "If we don't believe people's books, we go out and walk the cemeteries ourselves," she said. "We've walked a cemetery in the rain. We couldn't see the book for Estes Brook, so we walked it."
Of Mille Lacs' 37 cemeteries, the three have walked 13 of them. There are only four cemeteries on which they have no information and Pat says they will have to walk them.
Walking a cemetery is an efficient system that calls on Pat to read the stones while her mother writes down the information.
In nice weather Mathison has gone out on her own to record names.
The third member of the team, Pat's husband Brian, has the job of cleaning the stones off before the dictation crew arrive. Sometimes that means kicking away dirt and other obstructions and Brian admits he has run into an angry garter snake once or twice.
Other times it means a more polished effort and Brian carries a tooth brush and a bottle of water so he can clean off each stone as need.
"Some you can't read very well," Pat said. "Pioneer is bad, there are no new stones."
When a cemetery is completed and their research is done for the day, Pat then sits at her laptop at night and chronicles her mother's hand-written note cards into the spreadsheet. In addition to adding all the names, she also alphabetizes them and links them to their burial plots.
During the day, Pat Buss works between 40-50 hours a week at Crystal Cabinets, where she has worked for over 20 years. In addition to the work week, and the time spent walking the cemetery grounds, Pat said she spends 10 hours a week transcribing her mother's notes into the laptop.
Brian has a disability and tends to the home, Mathison is retired.
The three live together and that helps because Pat says she can't always read her mother's writing on the note cards.
They began their project in earnest last October and it became a weekend activity. "We take a Saturday or a Sunday to go out and walk the graves," Pat said. "We'll walk until dark. If we finish one and it's still light out, we'll walk another one."
"We leave at 7 or 8 a.m. and we don't come back until 5 or 6," said Brian.
Some of the giant cemeteries, such as Oak Knoll, are not finished in one span. Mathison spent a week transcribing the names of Oak Knoll and now Pat gets to type it all into the spreadsheet. "I haven't typed the rest yet, I'm afraid," Pat laughs.
The three relate the many different things they have seen as they travel the local cemeteries. "Each cemetery is a different thing," Pat explains. "Some of the cemeteries in Greenbush look homemade. It's interesting to see all the different choices and different stones."
"It's a lot of fun to know who's all out there," Brian adds.
"It's really discouraging when you see damaged stones," Pat said.
In addition to cataloging the lives friends and family, Pat Buss also lists stones from the 1800s, which are all white and mostly illegible and stones with photos on them as being particularly interesting.
"Some you have to take paper and chalk and go over the writing so you can read them," Pat said.
In exploring the cemeteries, the three say they have learned a lot. "I found out there are a lot of cemeteries I didn't know," Pat said. "There are little ones out in the country that you didn't know were there. There are four sacred burial grounds in Mille Lacs County and I didn't know that. I know where they are but I'm not writing directions to them to protect their values."
When their work is all said and done, Pat said they will make the updated information available to all who need it. They will also put the information on CD so it can be easily updated.
It is no surprise that all of the cemeteries want a copy.
And when they are finally done with all the cemeteries in Mille Lacs County, do they move on?
Mathison says no, that she is done. "I can't die until I'm done," she says.
"That's right, because I can't read your writing," Pat adds.
While her mother may be done once Mille Lacs County is cataloged, Pat is considering moving on, heading out to Sherburne or Aitkin County and beginning the journey all over again.
If his wife does decide to head that way, Brian says he will join her. "It's a challenge and a lot of fun to get out there," he said. "We've enjoyed it."
The trio still have plenty of work to do before they can call the cemeteries of Mille Lacs County complete but as the snow begins to thaw, they are obviously eager to get back at it. To get out into the fields and begin the cataloging once again.
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
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