To Oldest “Jesmer” Cemetery I Know About- the Greenbush Catholic Cemetery near Princeton MN, USA. I am thinking about the oldest, Jesmer things, still existing today.  Today, I thought about the oldest cemetery. It is a small catholic cememetery in the middle of some farmer’s field in Greenbush Township, near Princeton Minnesota. My G-G_grandparents, Joseph A. Jesmer and Maryann (Robideaux) Jesmer are buried there, as well and several g-g-g-uncles and and aunts etc. There was a Catholic Church on the site that is no longer there. Joseph A. Jesmer donated the land for the church to be built. There are other cemeteries where Jesmers are buried in Princeton MN, the Oakknoll Cemetery and St Edward’s Catholic Cemetery.

a video of the inside of a catholic cemetery in Minnesota.  (It is like a time capsule)

First, the Greenbush Catholic Cemetery in Greenbush Township….

Link to informative web site

Greenbush Catholic Cemetery, Greenbush Twp, Mille Lacs, MN from above

Greenbush Catholic Cemetery, Greenbush Twp, Mille Lacs, MN, taken from a plane. Jeanine R. and friends arranged for aerial pictures to be taken as the cemetery was being researched. In the bottom left of the picture 30 feet of new grass is visible. This is where the cemetery had been damaged when the owner of the property outside the fence moved the fence and plowed under the south edge of the cemetery.

Greenbush Catholic Church, Mille Lacs Co, MN

This is the only picture I have found that is a complete image of the Greenbush Catholic church. I found this image at the Mille Lacs County Historical Society in Princeton, MN.
Here’s what we know about the church, from various sources:
The church was built near the cemetery in 1880, closed in 1936, razed in 1947.
(Here’s an aerial image of the cemetery & the church, dated 1939. www.flickr.com/photos/mercier_beaucoup/6170872757/ )
The windows were stained glass.
It had a bell, but no one remembers hearing it being rung.
When you walked in the door the confessionals were to your right.
There wasn’t any electricity. They did have a pump organ.
There was a statue of Mary and Joseph, one each on either side of the altar. The furnace was in the basement with large grates on the first floor, to allow the heat to rise. When the parish was closed in 1936 the church remained standing into the late 1940s. The pews were removed from the church well before it was torn down, as there are folks who remember playing in the empty church as children. The pews were donated to Wahkon’s Sacred Heart Church.

An aerial image from 1939 of the Greenbush Cemetery & (yes!) the St Francis du Chantal Catholic Church. This image was found in the Minnesota Historical Aerial Photography database (U of MN) by Chad Everson. He wrote up a great article on his search: theodoremedia.com/grizzlygroundswell/2011/09/21/greenbush…

Greenbush Cemetery

Link to Article

The Greenbush Catholic Cemetery was attached to the St. Francis de Chantel Church located approximately 5 miles west of Princeton, MN and a few miles south of Hwy. 95.  In the 1930s, the church use was discontinued, their congregation split between St. Lawrence Church at Duelm and St. Edward’s at Princeton.  Typographical errors are possible from these records.  Courtesy of Jeanine Reckinger, 205 N. 13th Avenue, Princeton, MN 55371 (763) 389-1088.

PEOPLE BURIED IN GREENBUSH CATHOLIC CEMETERY
Greenbush Township, Mille Lacs County, MN

The ledger from which this information was copied is no longer available for people to thumb through and the ledger goes back only to 1902.  Since the Greenbush Cemetery was established about 1874, you can see that there are records in that span of years researchers are still attempting to locate.  Researchers are told they are contained within journals which the early priests carried with them at a time when they served many missionary churches.  Attempts are being made to locate these records.  This list was copied from ledgers at St. Edward’s Catholic Church, Princeton, Minnesota:

Much of the following list was in a book “St. Edwards Centennial Year 1898-1998”, but other information I gathered from wandering the cemetery, and from my research on the Robideau & Jesmer family.  —Teresa Mercier

Directions to the cemetery: From 169: go west on Hwy 95 for 4.6 miles; go south (left) on Apple Road (directly across from County 6) for 1.1 miles, to the “Y” in the road; take the right fork, onto 20th St, for 0.3 miles.  The cemetery is on the left, with a sign under a tree.

Folks buried in Greenbush Cemetery & Pics (some from Franklin Co, NY)

link to original article

I hope this helps someone. Much of the list was in a book “St Edwards Centennial Year 1898-1998”, but other information I gathered from wandering the cemetery, and from my research on the Robideau & Jesmer family.

Directions to the cemetery: From 169: go west on Hwy 95 for 4.6 m; go south (left) on Apple Road (directly across from Cnty 6) for 1.1 m, to the “Y” in the road; take the right fork, onto 20th St, for .3miles. The cemetery is on the left, with a sign under a tree.

PEOPLE BURIED IN GREENBUSH CATHOLIC CEMETERY
Greenbush Township, Mille Lacs County, MN
* E.P. Grow 1844-1930
* Almira Grow 1 Jan 1848-29 May 1910
Frank Grow 1891-1926
Edna M. Grow 8 Dec 1907- 27 Sep 1910
Ella M. Grow 1888-1936
Thomas Grow 1886-1940
Laurence Dery Jan 1911 – Mar 1911
Charlie E. Dery 14 May 1912 – May 1920
Martha J Robideau (Wife of F.H. Robideau 18 Nov 1878 – 30 Jul 1907
* Joseph Robideau 22 Aug 1819 – 7 Nov 1891
* Margie Robideau (Daughter of Joseph and Kate) 31 Jul 1870 – 31 Mar 1881
* Willie Robideau (Son of Joseph and Kate) 7 Jun 1874 – 17 May 1881
* Louis Robideau Died 3 Sep 1886, Aged 92y
Peter Robideau 13 Sep 1831 – 4 Apr 1905
Vina Bater (Peter and Julia’s Daughter, Malvina) 14 Feb 1869 – 21 Apr 1903
* Julia Robideau (Peter’s Wife) 1833 – 1926
* Greenwood (Possibly a translation of an earlier family name, Boisvert) no dates
Louise Schmidt 1860 – 1928
Fred Schmidt 1855 – 1933
Baby Joseph Volder 19 Mar 1922
Caroline Rocheford 1822 – 1897
Louis Rocheford 1825 – 1901
Leonard Grow 1943
Ralph Newman (Baby Son of Mr & Mrs J.H. Neumann) 8 Jul 1889 – 8 Mar 1890
Catherine Neumann (Wife of F. Neumann) Died 6 Apr 1891 26y,10m,6d
Joseph J. Malotte 1 Jan 1840 – 31 Oct 1889
John Goulet 22 Jun 1834 – 10 Apr 1917
Sarah Goulet (Wife Of John) – 22 Jun 1855 (?!)
* Joseph Jesmer 5 Jan 1833 – 28 Sep 1901
* Mary Ann Jesmer Died 26 Jul 1889 Aged 53y
* Ida (Daughter of J & M.A. Jesmer) Died 13 Mar 1889 13y,3m,21d
Margorie J. Jesmer 14 Jun 1897 –
Henry Blair (Possibly a variation on an earlier name of Belair) 1826 – 1903
Ellen Blair 1836 – 1916
Freeman Blair 27 Nov 1903 – 1906
Aging Black 6’ Cross (Gone By 2004)
Mary Wenberg 14 Sep 1822 – 6 Mar 1907
John A. Grow (Son of N.A. & A.J. Grow) 15 Nov 1868 – 22 Jan 1893
William A. Grow (Son of N.A. & A.J. Grow) 28 Jul 1879 – 8 Sep 1882
Nelson A. Grow 14 Nov 1841 – 10 Aug 1897
Maggie Burke (Wife of James Burke) 25 Nov 1866 – 12 Mar 1902
Isaac Perr 30 Mar 1891 Aged 60y
Eubit (Or Cubit) Morrow Died 1 Jun 1897 Aged 80y
Michael Kennedy (Son of J. & P. Kennedy) 11 Jun 1898 – 28 Nov 1898
John Kennedy (Son of J. & P. Kennedy) 28 Apr 1891 – 5 Mar 1894
Edward Carmody Died 28 Apr 1898 Aged 43y
Michael J. Carmody (Son of M.L. & M.A. Carmody) 3 Jun 1885 – 20 Feb 1886
Anna Reibestein 1844 – 1907
* Edith Grow 1880 – 1934
* Anna Grow 1906 – 1907
Owen Bracken (Born In Kings Co, Ire) 2 Feb 1820 – 28 Feb 1922 102y,26d
Anna Bracken (Born In Kings Co, Ire) 28 Mar 1821 – 19 Jan 1909
Betzler Our Darling Babies
Pamela F. Enright (Wife of James D. Enright, Loving Parents of [6 Children, unnamed as may be living]) 13 Mar 1945 – 20 Oct 1993
Otto Borneke 1871 – 1923
Kate Borneke 1881 – 1953
Ethel T. Pederson 9 Dec 1905 – 13 Apr 1976
Larence Pederson 14 Oct 1902 – 28 Sep 1978
* Edwin Deshaw (Son of Alex. Deshaw) 9 Mar 1872 – Aged 3y,7m,13d
Brandon Vanderweyst (Baby of Gary and Joan)
* Children of J. & M.A. Jesmer 1879 & 1881

• = pictures available. Plus a pic of the Greenbush Catholic Cemetery sign.

Many of these families migrated from the Hogansburg area, Franklin County, NY in the mid 1860s. See this webpages to find many of these surnames (Robideau/Robidou, Jesmer, grow, Belair, Boisvert, DeShaw, Carmody?, Malotte, Rocheford?): http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyfrankl/ and http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/franklin/

Written by Kevin E. Jesmer, (Joseph A. Jesmer’s g-g-grandson.) :  Joseph was buried with his wife Mary Ann and his daughter Ida, at the same gravesite in Greenbush Catholic Cemetery, on section 32, Greenbush Township, Mill Lacs County MN. ( The cemetery is about seven miles west of Princeton MN, off of Hwy 95. Tune south on 160th st. and proceed about 3/4 of a mile. Turn east on Apple road and go about ½ mile. Turn north on 155th and go 1/4 mile. Turn south on 20th for a few hundred yards and the cemetery is on your right. (036/27/32/NEN?))The cemetery is a tiny cemetery, in the middle of section 32, with about 20 headstones. It is difficult to find as it is a tiny obscure cemetery and nobody seems to know where it is. Most of the headstones are old and faded. Some are of new marble. Joseph’s gravestone is white, not marble. It is about four feet tall, thin, four sided in an obelisk shape. Each side is a tall thin cross. On the north side is Joseph, on the west is Mary Ann, and on the south is Ida. The other side is blank. On the west side, near the edge if the cemetery, is a small white faded gravestone. It is one foot high and rounded. The top of the stone is faded and can not be read. The bottom says, “the children of J&M.A. Jesmer 1871? and 1879.” The dates are

not easy to read. Could this be the stone of their two day old baby? The grave yard is mowed and well kept. There is a sign with black lettering saying, “Greenbush Catholic Cemetery” with black crosses on either side of the word “Catholic”. The cemetery is surrounded by a wire fence. There are a few houses around, the owners of which farm 60-145 acres. There are many trees and fields of corn or potatoes. There are two barns, probably built in the 1940’s, but none of the original buildings appear to exist. I took note that Joseph was buried with his first wife and not with his second wife.

The following are some pictures of old Catholic churches in Minnesota. To give an idea about how the Greenbush Catholic Church might have looked inside. We know the dimension and that it had heating grates on the floor. It had statues of Mary and Joseph on each side of the altar and there were also stained glass windows as well as pews.

Second, St Edward’s Catholic Cemetery in Princeton MN…

Third, Oak Knoll Cemetery in Princeton MN…