By 1785, in reaction to Emperor Joseph II's order that forbade burials within churches and city walls within the Holy Roman Empire, it was expanded to accommodate Christian residents of Roermond.

[4] Architect Pierre Cuypers undertook a redesign of the cemetery in 1858, walling off separate sections for Catholic and Protestant burials, and reserving a place for his own family [nl].

[7] To avoid provocation, their marriage was conducted in the German town of Pont, near Geldern, just across the border from Venlo.

Virtue outlives death), originally from the van Gorkum family coat of arms, was chiseled on both monuments.

[7] The neo-Gothic[2] grave markers, placed on a limestone base, consist of sandstone columns with a gable-shaped top that are higher than the wall separating them.

[2] The story of Josephina van Gorkum was dramatized in 2016 in Les Culottées, a French webcomic by Pénélope Bagieu that depicts short biographies of unusual or inspiring women.