A Baby Boy Once Lost but Now Found

Since the spring of 2018 when I first became a member of the village appointed Evergreen Cemetery Committee, there has been one section in the cemetery that has always tugged at my heartstrings. The Paupers section (AKA: The Free Ground, AKA: Section 8) is one area where most visitors to the cemetery have no idea that it even exists, or where it is located. That is because, in appearance, it is a low-lying grassy area that over the past 170 years has slowly deteriorated as the rainwater has cascaded down its sloping surface, leaving numerous trenches in its wake. 

According to a 1910 map of the section, the individual graves, in seven straight rows, started at the edge of a water run off ravine next to the present caretaker’s cottage and continued north ending at the beginning of a short path. A few years back I compiled a list of those that we know were interred within that peaceful open space, and the names on record tally up to just over 300 souls. 

At one time there were three oak trees that stood like guardians above the free ground area, but today there are only two, massive in size, that remain standing. Only a 12-inch-long cylindrical terra cotta grave marker identified most of the graves of the penniless, the unknowns, and the infants with a chiseled number visible at ground level. Over the many years in passing, two things have happened, either most of the markers have been covered by soil and grass, or the blade of a push mower has obliterated the numbers. In the case of a few of the paupers lying at rest there, the families or friends had scraped together just enough money to purchase an actual marker for the grave of their loved ones and it’s one of those that is the main subject of this article. 

In March of 2020, as I walked the outer edge of the Paupers Field while pushing aside with my foot the brush that surrounded nearly all four sides of the field, I discovered a barely legible long forgotten marble marker. Having laid face to the ground for so long, the words engraved in memory of a long lost loved one had become illegible by the elements of the earth. After moving the marker out into the clearing, I noticed that even though the bottom had long ago worn away, the rest was well worth finding out what the hidden message of loss was. I placed the long-forgotten marker up against a tree, with hopes that the epitaph would someday be easier to decipher. As the weeks went past, a revealing slow un-blemishing took place that eventually put a sad smile on my face and a tear in my eye.

In May of 2020 I reached out to the public for some assistance to help fill in some missing parts of a Milne family’s history while they were here in Owego. It wasn’t long before some answers were discovered, and the missing pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. 

“Edmund Milne and Mary Kershaw were married on Aug. 22, 1850 in Rochdale, Lancaster, England. Not long after, it appears that they immigrated to the New World and settled in Owego. I located a slight hint that Edmond may have arrived in America first, followed by Mary on Feb. 21, 1851. Either way, on May 22, 1851 their young lives were blessed by the birth of a baby boy, whom they named George E. Milne. Then sadly, on Oct. 9, 1852, for some unknown reason, the young child passed away and was laid to rest in the Paupers Field up in Evergreen Cemetery.

According to the information provided for me, after the death of their child, the Milne’s moved west about 1856 and settled in Whiteside Co, Illinois, where Edmund took up farming. In 1865 they moved to Rochelle, Ogle Co, Illinois where he engaged in the grain business until 1872 when he established a partnership with Henry Loomis, as suppliers of lumber and coal. I then discovered that the Milne’s had immigrated back to England in May of 1897. 

Dale and Tina Utter, whom we first met during the summer of 2021, have fast become good friends of the Evergreen Cemetery Committee as well as the Friends of Owego Evergreen Cemetery. Known for their expertise in the cleaning of and reconstruction of damaged grave markers. The Utter’s for the past two years have so graciously spent some time with us so that we, too, could acquire the proper needed skills for the preserving of the last piece of legacy that marks one’s final resting spot. 

In July of 2022, the Utters put their restoration skills to work on the grave marker of the young Milne child. With the bottom portion of the marker having been long beyond repair they needed to attach it to a backing stone to preserve the gravestone, as well as the inscription. During the most recent work crew event up in Evergreen, and with the assistance of four members of both Evergreen committees, Dale Utter returned the baby’s marker to the best spot in the Paupers field where on sunny days the first rays of the dawning warm its small face. 

The last official count for the combined number of burials in Evergreen is known to be somewhere around the low end of 9,200. Most of us who have spent time in preserving the history of Evergreen Cemetery agree that there are more inhabitants laying at rest upon that mountain top than is thought. Well, that number is about to increase by one, as the name of George E. Milne will officially be added to the list of known Evergreen Cemetery interments. 

As I examined the existing list of those known to be laid to rest in the Paupers Field, I found no one listed until 1866, which I find hard to believe. Being that the history of Evergreen in its infancy starts in 1851, little George E. Milne could be the very first to grace the field of those who had little to nothing in life, except for the love of his parents.