Documenting the early history of Brainerd, Minnesota through the lives and deaths of its early settlers holds great significance for me; my great grandmother, Mary E. Connor Pillon, arrived in Brainerd via stagecoach in January 1874.
      Find-a-Grave is the perfect vehicle for sharing these histories with others who have an interest. Linking early Brainerd pioneers with their families, friends and business associates provides a unique glimpse into the social and business fabric of the early city and creates a relevance these bygone pioneers don't normally possess today. To that end, I have created a number of Virtual Cemeteries, alphabetically arranged and dedicated to the pioneers of Brainerd and their descendants from 1872 through 1900, in the hope they will not be forgotten. Presenting their histories through these links, I think, makes very interesting reading.
      Included here are a few of Brainerd's Pioneers: Henry I. Cohen, James "Jim" Dewar, Emma Elizabeth Linman Forsythe, Caroline Morrison Grandelmyer, Wilder W. Hartley, Maud Sleeper Hazen, Dr. Werner Hemstead, Anna F. Himrod, Charles Douglas Johnson, Charles F. Kindred, Galena "Mollie" O'Neill, John E. Pryde, Belle Low Rosser and Morris C. Russell.
      Using Brainerd's early newspapers, I am also engaged in documenting its history from 1872-1900. That history can be found by visiting Special Features at the Crow Wing County Historical Society website.

Dear Ancestor
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I'd exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.
-Author Unknown

Documenting the early history of Brainerd, Minnesota through the lives and deaths of its early settlers holds great significance for me; my great grandmother, Mary E. Connor Pillon, arrived in Brainerd via stagecoach in January 1874.
      Find-a-Grave is the perfect vehicle for sharing these histories with others who have an interest. Linking early Brainerd pioneers with their families, friends and business associates provides a unique glimpse into the social and business fabric of the early city and creates a relevance these bygone pioneers don't normally possess today. To that end, I have created a number of Virtual Cemeteries, alphabetically arranged and dedicated to the pioneers of Brainerd and their descendants from 1872 through 1900, in the hope they will not be forgotten. Presenting their histories through these links, I think, makes very interesting reading.
      Included here are a few of Brainerd's Pioneers: Henry I. Cohen, James "Jim" Dewar, Emma Elizabeth Linman Forsythe, Caroline Morrison Grandelmyer, Wilder W. Hartley, Maud Sleeper Hazen, Dr. Werner Hemstead, Anna F. Himrod, Charles Douglas Johnson, Charles F. Kindred, Galena "Mollie" O'Neill, John E. Pryde, Belle Low Rosser and Morris C. Russell.
      Using Brainerd's early newspapers, I am also engaged in documenting its history from 1872-1900. That history can be found by visiting Special Features at the Crow Wing County Historical Society website.

Dear Ancestor
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I'd exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.
-Author Unknown