‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
War and Peace shape state, national and family history: Minnesota, U.S. and Seymour Fillmore
Above: Gravestone of Seymour Fillmore “Died in Service” and buried in Memphis. Right: Monument honoring 189 members of the 9th Minnesota Voluntary Infantry who died in or from Civil War injuries and were buried in Tennessee. By Sue Hunter Weir Seymour Fillmore has a marker in Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery even though he is not buried there. Mr. Fillmore was a private, a wagoner, in Company B of the 9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted on August 21, 1862, three days after the Dakota Conflict began. His company spent the next several months in Minnesota, engaging in battles with the Dakota at Acton and Hutchinson. In the fall of 1863, soldiers in the 9th were furloughed for ten days and had the opportunity to spend some time with their families. For Seymour Fillmore, it was likely the last time that he saw them. He had been married less than a year when he enlisted. He and Annie Sully were married on 4 November 1861; [...]
Remarkable progress update: 74% fencing is restored, obelisk gravestone found, gravesite a mystery & marker upgrade continues
This 3-foot obelisk gravestone found at a dump was for Mrs. Fred Eaton & her baby, dates and gravesite are a mystery. By Sue Hunter Weir They”'re back. The 42 sections of steel picket fencing that border the Lake Street side of the cemetery have been straightened, sandblasted, galvanized, repainted and reset. The remaining fifteen sections along Cedar Avenue will be repaired this fall. This project has not been cheap; each section of the fence has cost about $14,000 to repair. The stone pillars still need to be straightened, tuck-pointed and capped to prevent water from dripping down inside the pillars and eroding them from the inside out. The fence serves many purposes but perhaps none more important than protecting the markers, especially the oldest markers. New markers, with the exception of military markers, are usually made of granite. While they”'re not indestructible, they are considerably more durable that the oldest markers many of which were made of [...]
First burial 160 years ago
There is one Depression-era photograph of the cemetery in the Library of Congress collection. It was taken in 1939 by John Vachon, a 25-year-old St. Paul, MN native. Vachon was hired by the Farm Security Administration to document living conditions, especially of the poor, during the Depression. The view is of the southwestern section of the cemetery. Note the two buildings in the background; both still exist although the one of the southeast corner of Cedar and Lake is one story shorter. Also note how small the trees were and the systematic planting of trees along the Lake Street edge. September 11, 2013 marks the 160th anniversary of the first burial in Layman”'s (now Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery). Carlton John Cressey, son of a Baptist minister, died of consumption at the age of ten months and nine days. His was the first of what would be 27,000 burials in a little less than 60 years. The base of a marker is located on Carlton”'s grave; the [...]
