Removals
Eastern Cemetery was the sole burying ground in Portland for over 150 years. The town’s population grew substantially in the 19th century, so additional cemeteries were established in the mid-1800s to meet demand for burial space. The town encouraged the use of the new, more spacious alternatives of Evergreen, Western, and Forest City Cemeteries; as a result, Eastern Cemetery fell out of favor. As Portland’s citizens purchased lots in the newer cemeteries, it became common practice to remove the remains of their family members from Eastern Cemetery for reburial in their new final resting places.
We haven’t well understood the number of removals from Eastern Cemetery until now. Cemetery historian Ron Romano has documented nearly 700 people removed from Eastern Cemetery to other locations. The vast majority—about 525 (nearly 80% of the total)—went to Evergreen Cemetery. Western Cemetery and Forest City received about 75 more, and the rest can be found in about 25 other cemeteries.
Romano created a data sheet that includes columns for last name, first name, death year, death age, move status, what cemetery moved to (Maine, unless noted), and any notes on the person. When "Jordan" is noted, it refers to the Eastern Cemetery burial records book. Download the list of removals (CSV).
Note: In most cases, searching the Find a Grave website for any of the names in the sheet will lead to 1 record listing the person with a location in their new ("moved to") cemetery. If the person was moved, but their monument was not, there should be a 2nd record for the person with a location at Eastern Cemetery. A note confirming the history of that person’s removal will also be on that record.