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graves registration PHASE 4
The development of the 5th Street Cemetery graves registry is being accomplished from three primary sources. source 1 The registry for the Normal Hill Cemetery is well-established and accessible via the internet. A query of the data base produced a complete listing of the persons whose graves are found at that site and having a date-of-death prior to 1889. This registry was built from the actual cemetery plat and from the headstone surveys conducted by the staff. In only one case has the registry been found to be in error or missing key data.
All existing microfilm copies of local and regional newspapers dating from 1863 were read for obituaries and probated wills. The publications include The Golden Age (Idaho's first newspaper), The Idaho Signal, The Northerner, The Nez Perce News, The Teller, and The Lewiston Teller. Obituaries were very brief and were often no more than a public notice that someone had died, much as is published by the local newspaper today. Infrequently, a personal note or quotation accompanies the notice. Obituaries in the strictest sense began to appear in the 1890's, well after the time when the 5th Street Cemetery ceased to be used. source 3 Nez Perce County granted approval in late 2005 for a "harvest" of data from the original journal proceedings of the county commissioners from 1861 - 1889. The purpose of this supplemental study was to quantify county burials that would have been unmarked in the city cemetery. The project is described in detail at its web site. source 4 The records for the local congregations of Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches were actively queried, at the local, regional and national levels. Some of these records are especially helpful, as very complete data is recorded in the entries. However, just as often records do not exist for the period, as they were dependent on the local minister to be dutiful in recording information. An additional opportunity for records has been afforded to us through the local Masonic Lodge, which sold plots in the old cemetery, as it still does today in the Normal Hill site. The Lodge dates to 1862 and is the oldest in Idaho. SPECIAL NOTE: Given the results of selected ground penetrating radar surveys at older grave sites in the Normal Hill Cemetery and the anecdotal comments gained from the relatives of eye witnesses, as many as 50% of those buried prior to 1875 may not have been exhumed from the original cemetery. Although their headstones can be found in Normal Hill Cemetery, their remains are still in Pioneer Park. |
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Despite
a concerted search, no graves registration or plat record for the
cemetery has ever been found. Indeed, no mention is ever made of
such a document in newspaper or church reports. Any listing would
have to be constructed anew from extant sources.
source
2