This index is based on the work of Virginia "Ginny" Gross, a local researcher who took on the task of recreating cemetery records which had been lost over time. Additions and corrections are welcome.
Introduction:
Why these dates? The earliest death date of a marker (monument) in Riverside reads 1841: this body was moved, along with others, from Locust Grove Cemetery around 1855, when Riverside was established. By 1909 death certificates had become routine, resulting in better cemetery records. For 67 years, between 1841 and 1908, burial records are almost nonexistent, except for the Register of Burials listed below. Although the handwritten Register contains many misspelled or incomplete names and many lapses in time, it was a good root work for this list. Other names, found on markers while walking the rows, in church records, and in the newspapers, were added to the list, which contains 8566 entries.
Of those 8566 entries, 1963 (23%) could not be verified, either because no marker was found or because the name could not be positively identified. The list was not cross-checked against the computerized records in the cemetery office, nor was every obituary in Oshkosh papers checked for the place of burial. Church burial records, written in German or German script, were used to verify some entry names, but were not fully translated. If cross-checking and translating could be done efficiently, no doubt many more burials would be found; this would be a monumental, time-consuming task. In addition, many Riverside markers from the 19th century were laid flat in 1950 and since then have sunk as much as 8 to 12 inches below the surface. Locating and raising these markers now would be almost impossible, although it would give definite evidence of more burials.
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