Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries -- Search Online!

I love online databases, especially for cemeteries. Within a couple minutes, I can determine if my ancestors were buried in that cemetery (and if I need to visit it to take pictures of the gravestones), and I don't have to bother the sexton or travel unnecessarily.

If your Milwaukee German ancestor was buried in one of the Milwaukee Catholic Cemeteries, you can search their database online at http://www.cemeteries.org/genealogy.asp. Most of my Germany family in Milwaukee was Catholic so this database is a treasure to me.

Doing a search for Ferdinand Bartels produced two results: Ferdinand Bartels and Ferdinand Carl Bartels, both buried in Calvary Cemetery. When I click on the name "Ferdinand Bartels - Calvary Cemetery," I am taken to the results page for him which lists the following information:

Name: Ferdinand Bartels
Date of Death: 3/25/1915
Date of Burial: 3/25/1915
Age at Death: 29
Marital Status: Unknown
Last Address: 707 1 Ave
Funeral Home: Alstadt &
Cemetery: Calvary Cemetery
Location: Block: 21Section: Row: 145s

(This Ferdinand Bartels is the son of Ferdinand Carl Bartels.)

There is also a feature below this data display that enables me to search nearby graves or crypts. When I do this, I find other Bartels family members, including a married daughter (Caroline Kramer) listed in the adjacent graves.

Frederick and Franziska Reiniger Family Group Sheet

Family information current as of 25 October 2008. Work in progress.

If you have any additional information, please contact me. Thanks!

Milwaukee Public Library

If you are just getting started researching your Milwaukee German heritage, one of the best places to start is at the library!

Milwaukee Public Library Central Branch
814 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
phone: (414) 286-3000

Hours
Monday - Wednesday, 9am to 8:30pm
Thursday - Saturday, 9am to 5:30pm
Sunday - 1 to 5pm (They are closed Sundays from May through September)

Parking information can be found here.

What You Can Find at the Milwaukee Public Library Central Branch

• Books about Germans, Milwaukee history, Germans in Milwaukee, histories of neighborhoods and churches, etc. Search the library catalog to discover what they have.
• Milwaukee City Directories in book form. Available in the Zeidler Humanities room.
• Large, historical maps of Milwaukee that include where buildings were on the map. (Milwaukee street names changed in the later part of the 1920s--around 1929, I think--so seeing historical maps from before and after will help your search tremendously). Available in the Zeidler Humanities room.
• City of Milwaukee Archives--Tax rolls, aldermen’s records and correspondence, 1862-1911. Available in the Zeidler Humanities room.
• Great Lakes Marine Collection--Thousands of historical items, photographs and information on 85,000 ships that sailed the Great Lakes. Available in the Zeidler Humanities room.
• Milwaukee Road Archives--Engineering drawings of engines, bridges and railroad structures. Available in the Zeidler Humanities room.
• Microfilm of Milwaukee newspapers, including The Milwaukee Journal, The Milwaukee Sentinel, German-language newspapers for Milwaukee, and so on. These newspapers can be found on microfilm in the Periodicals Department.
• Indexes to Milwaukee newspapers. The Milwaukee Area Necrology compiled by Manning M. Bookstaff can be used in the Zeidler Humanities room, as can Milwaukee's German Newspapers: an Index of Death Notices and Related Items compiled by Gary Rebholz . The Milwaukee Sentinel Card Index, 1837-1879; 1880-1890 and Death Notices/Obits, 1930s (?) - June 30, 1992 (available on microfilm) can be accessed in the Periodicals room. There are other indexes available as well.
• Government Documents--More than 1.5 million state and federal documents. Available in the Periodicals room.

The resources I enumerated above are only a few of the many available at the Milwaukee Public Library Central Branch. I could spend days there searching all that they have--and still need more time to finish my research! The staff is very friendly and helpful. Don't be afraid to ask them questions.

Happy searching!

The Reiniger Women

Back row: Katherine "Kate" Reiniger; Ottila (Quade) Reiniger; and Gertrude Reiniger.
Front row: Twins Klara Reiniger and Rose Reiniger

Photo in my possession.

The Gertrudes

From left to right, and youngest to oldest:

• Gertrude (Bartels) Lewis, daughter of Frances (Reiniger) Bartels;
• Gertrude Reiniger, sister of Frances (Reiniger) Bartels; and
• Gertrude (Quade) Mollerus, aunt of Gertrude Reiniger and Frances (Reiniger) Bartels--and great aunt to Gertrude (Bartels) Lewis.

Note: Each of these Gertrudes is about 20 years apart in age.

Picture in my posession. Taken circa 1960s.

Vynen, Nordrhein, Westfalen (later part of Prussia and Germany)

This is a map of the village of Vynen where the Bartels family lived. On this map, you can see where a kind German genealogist from Vynen added a note about where the Bartels' family farm was located: next to St. Martin's church.

Heinrich Bartels Holy Card

Heinrich Bartels

Born in Finnen an the Rhine on 3 April 1829

Died in Milwaukee, Wis., on 10 Jan 1917

Note: Heinrich Bartels is one of Ferdinand Bartels' older brothers. He immigrated to the US and lived with Ferdinand and family in Milwaukee (see 1900 Census).