Records: Burial record, 1918=date, 1 volume; Cemetery plat 1868-date; both are in good condition, and kept at the home of Mrs. H.H. Schwab, RFD Anoka, Minnesota.

Condition of cemetery: neglected.

Names and dates of burials: Zilpla Trott Tennisson, 1868, daughter of J.E. Trott; John Butterfield, 150^th Ill, Co. B. Pvt.; John Cleator, 1^st Minn. Co. D.’ Frank Demarest, 9^th Mich. Inc. Co. I; Angus McLeod, 2^nd Minn. Batt.; William L. Merrill, 31^st Maine Inf.; John Murphy, 8 N.J. Inf.; I.C. Varney, Hatches Batt, Co. E.; Thomas E. Webb, 8^th Minn. Inf. Co. A.

Remarks:  J.E. Trott took a claim in 1855 on the creek that now bears his name. Soon after, he set aside one acre for a burying place, which was named for him.  Mrs. J. Noggles had charge of the cemetery until 1918, the date of her demise, after which no records of any kind outside of the plat could be found. H.H. Schwab then took charge and started a burial record, making some entries, by memory, back as far as 1878. Mr. Schwab died in 1933 but records are kept up by Mrs. H.H. Schwab.

………William McGaffey August 1936

TROTT BROOK CEMETERY HISTORY  (compiled by Carl Hoffstedt 2004)

Trott Brook Cemetery is located in the City of Ramsey , Anoka County , Minnesota .  Ramsey was the Township of Ramsey prior to becoming a city.  The cemetery is located on Trunk Highway 47 just north of 173^rd Ave.   Trott Brook runs west to east across Trunk Highway 47 just north of the cemetery and through property once owned by Joseph Trott.  Both the brook and cemetery were named after him. 

What is a cemetery?  An unknown author defined a cemetery as a place where lives are commemorated, deaths are recorded, families are reunited, memories are made tangible and love is undisguised.  Community’s accord respect, families bestow reverence, historians seek information and our heritage is thereby enriched.  Testimonies of devotion, pride and remembrance are cast in bronze to pay warm tribute to accomplishments and to life, not to the death, of a loved one.  The cemetery is a homeland for memorials that are a sustaining source of comfort to the living.  The cemetery is a history of people, a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering – Always.

Cemetery grave monuments, markers and memorials tell people who pass by them a story. The story might be grand and glorious, or solemn and sad, but the story is what moves people and there is no better place to find stories than the nearest cemetery. Marking a grave is a tradition that dates back thousands of years and will probably continue for thousands more.

This story is a synopsis of the Trott Brook Cemetery burials in each plot and the interrelationship of the people within each plot and between plots.  Joseph Trott had received a Land Patent on April 3, 1857 for 160 acres from which the cemetery land was provided.  A Land Patent documents the transfer of land ownership from the Federal government to individuals.  Joseph’s Land Patent was for the S1/2of Section 2, Township 32N and Range 25W and for the N1/2 of Section 11, Township 32N and Range 25W.  Two of Joseph’s children were buried in the cemetery about 1858.  Joseph and his wife, Esther, deeded a portion of their property for the cemetery on November 19, 1868.  The portion that was deeded was 8 rods (132 feet) by 12 rods (198 feet) in the southwest corner of their Section 2 Land Patent property.  The deed was filed on November 25, 1868 with Anoka County (See Figure A on page ).   The first recorded burial occurred in 1868.   

Many of the people buried at Trott Brook had farmsteads in the area around the cemetery from the 1850s to the early 1900s.  Early farmsteads were, in many cases, obtained with Land Patents, which provided proof of ownership. Some of the following people buried at Trott Brook received Land Patents in the area - Joseph Trott (1857), Samuel Littlefield (1855), Andrew J. McKenney (1855), father to Melvin McKenney, William Tennison (1856), husband of Zilpha Trott Tennison and Sarah Cooper Porter Tennison, John Butterfield (1887), Isaac C. Varney (1854), William Varney (1854) and John W. Hill (1874), father to Jesse Hill.   Several burials have come primarily from descendants and relatives of these people. 

Land ownership has evolved in the United States over a long period of time starting with people such as squatters who moved into unsettled areas and built on land they did not own.  Then in 1841, Congress passed a Pre-emption Act that applied to all squatters.  A squatter who lived on surveyed government land and made improvements had the right to buy that land before anyone else could do so.  When the land the squatter occupied was offered for sale, the squatter could buy up to 160 acres for $1.25 an acre. 

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act which provided that any person over 21 who was the head of a family and either a citizen or alien, who intended to become a citizen, could obtain title to 160 acres of public land if he lived on the land for five years and improved it.  Or the settler could pay $1.25 an acre in place of the residency requirement.  When the Land Patent actually came into existence is not known for this article, although the United States established a Patent Office in 1802.  A patent is an official paper issued by a national government to indicate ownership of property.  The opportunity to own land is what probably brought setters to the Trott Brook Cemetery area.  A good number of them came from the State of Maine .

There are two predominant groups of people in the cemetery.  From one group, with Maine connections, comes from the descendants of William McKenney (1792) and Ruth Douglas McKenney (1794).  These McKenneys are the ties to the Trotts, Tennisons, Littlefields, Giles, Varneys, Demarests, McLeods and Thornes buried at Trott Brook Cemetery .  This group was among the early settlers in Ramsey Township , Trott Brook Cemetery area, in the mid 1850’s.  Many of these names can be found on 1888 Ramsey Township Plat Map (See figure B on page ). 

The second group comes from descendants of William Evans Keillor (1912) and Mary Jane Crandall Keillor (1922). This group settled in Ramsey Township , Trott Brook Cemetery area, in the early 1879 – 1891.  They connect all of the Keillors, Crandalls, Hunts, Loucks, Luthis, Blumers, Davises, Johnsons and Amies buried at Trott Brook Cemetery .  The first Keillors, Crandalls, Hunts and Loucks came from Canada .  This group has more direct descendants and relationships than the McKenney group. Some of these names can be seen on the 1914 Ramsey Township Plat Map (See Figure C on page).

Reference to the plot numbers comes from a map of the Trott Brook Cemetery provided by the City of Ramsey , the current cemetery owner.   Ramsey Township became the City of Ramsey on November 12, 1974.  The City became the cemetery owner on October 2, 1989 and on May 31, 1990 an easement was provided to the homeowner on the north side of the cemetery for access to the homeowner’s property.  The cemetery is about one acre in size and has 60 plots with 6 lots within each plot for a possible 360 burials.  As of September 30, 2004, an inventory is still being completed to determine the number of burials that have taken place.  Some burials do not have grave monuments, stones or markers.

TROTT   BROOK   CEMETERY   PLOT  LAYOUT

Trott Brook Cemetery was originally laid out on a window shade from Trott Brook School District No. 14.  Various people kept burial records on the window shade with Mrs. J. Noggles assuming responsibility at some point in time until 1918 when she died.  After her death, no records of any kind outside of the plot map could be found.  Henry Humboldt Schwab then took charge and started a burial record, making some entries by memory, back as far as 1878.  Henry died in 1933 and his wife, Alvina J. Jentsch Schwab, then kept records until her death in 1956.  Different families then kept the record book but both the plot map and record book are now in the possession of the City of Ramsey .  The original window shade still exists, but it is in the possession of an individual citizen.

While the original plot layout for the cemetery was in a nice geometric configuration, the lack of accurate survey locations for burials has necessitated a reconfiguration of the plots.   Lot numbers within the plot were never really established so it is difficult to determine the actual burial location within a specific plot.  Also, the cemetery dimensions have changed a bit from the original eight rods by twelve rods.  The most recent land survey and the plot layout as it exists today is shown in Figure D on page  .  The land survey was completed in 2004 as part of updating the whole inventory for Trott Brook Cemetery .  The City of Ramsey has a current record of the burials matching the new plot map.    The Anoka County Genealogical Society has a record of the gravestone inscriptions including pictures.