Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!
Plans for a Millinocket cemetery in its current location off Medway Road were made early in Millinocket’s development. The museum has early maps made by GNP
showing how the basic blocks and plots would be arranged for the original Catholic and Protestant sections. One is dated 12/31/1900 and is titled Map of Millinocket Cemetery, GNP. Most of the early Millinocket town and street maps were drawn by Hardy Ferguson, GNP engineer.
There is also information that at least one or two burials were at the present park in downtown Millinocket. The book Maine Bandstands states that “park graves were moved to the new cemetery.” This grave removal took place sometime after 1921 to allow for park expansion. A letter to the historical society in 1994 by Ruth Morgan, daughter of Charles Morgan, undertaker, states that sometime after 1921 her father “had the task of moving the graves of a man named Ossinger and of a young girl to the new cemetery.”
Who was the young girl? A few years ago, MHS was contacted by a lady seeking to locate the burial site of a relative who died from typhoid in 1904 in Millinocket. The family, from New Brunswick, was living here, but wished to have their daughter buried in New Brunswick. Their request was denied because of the typhoid epidemic. The inquirer knew some burials had taken place in the area of the present park and wondered if her relative may have been buried there. The question remains unanswered. There are a number of unmarked graves in the oldest sections of the current cemetery.
A letter received some time ago from Arlene Carlstrom to MHS ago tells of some of her early memories of the cemetery. She notes that when she was young the cemetery was much smaller as Peter Barnett had a potato field at the lower end. Other memories include: a set of steps over the fence where she would sit and look at the mountain; fresh flowers covered the graves of new burials; a grieving spouse would wear black all year and the men wore black arm bands. She remembers one occasion when her parents were at a funeral and she and another girl listened to the radio… this was not something that was permitted. Another memory is when asked by her mother where she wanted to go for a walk, she answered to the “somatory.” And that’s where she would go!
Another query received at the museum was about the early ownership of the land that became the cemetery. The person stated his great-grandfather Boota (later Boutaugh) lived on East Avenue and buried his first wife and child in the field nearby in 1901. There is a gravestone there for them.
Did Boota own the land before GNP and donate it for the cemetery as family lore suggests? Are there records that show who did own this piece of land? If anyone has information on this, please contact the museum. We have also heard other names mentioned as having farmland there. The museum has one small photo showing several cows on the land that would become the nearby airport.
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