Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
is located on a plot of land at 5000 Young Street near the intersections of Young Street and Mormon Bridge Road. Like all
Potter's Field
A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been pu ...
s, it was used to bury
poor
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little
people or people with no known identity from across the Omaha area. The cemetery was active from 1887 to 1957.
History
The Potter's Field was used as early as 1887, and over the next seventy years almost 4,000 burials were made. However, there were few markers. People who were buried there were too poor to afford burials in regular cemeteries, and therefore were too poor to afford headstones. Burials were commonly made without markers of any sort. There is speculation that
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
pioneers from
Cutler's Park
Cutler's Park was briefly the headquarters camp of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) established by 2,500 members as they were making their way westward to the Rocky Mountains. It was apparently created in August 1846 and ...
were buried here in the 1850s, as well. A partial list of the individuals who are buried at Potter's Field and any details is listed in the US GenWeb Archives. It also indicates whether the person's remains were removed or moved from the cemetery.
Despite being owned by Douglas County, the cemetery fell into disrepair from the late 1950s through the 1980s. In 1986 a volunteer group rehabilitated Potter's Field, adding a serene walkway and meditation area, as well as a listing of every burial accounted for in government and the neighboring Forest Lawn Cemetery records. Potter's Field was reconsecrated in September, 1986. The area is now maintained by the City of Omaha, not Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Perhaps the most notorious interment in Potter's Field was that of Will Brown, an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
civilian who was lynched in
downtown Omaha
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and ...
in 1919. Brown was accused of raping a white woman and was lynched in front of the Douglas County Courthouse. On October 1, 1919 Brown was laid to rest, with the interment log listing only one word next to his name: "Lynched."Garrison, C. (2006) "Potter's Field," The Metropolitcan. '' p 17.
Potter's Field
A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been pu ...