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Old German Methodist Cemetery
Whitman County, Washington

Lat: 47° 11' 12"N, Lon: 117° 22' 27"W
T20N R43E Sec 34

Contributed by Richard Morgan, Dec 30, 2000, last edited May 31, 2005 [moric@colfax.com]. Total records = 6.

Located on the highway between Rosalia and Thornton is the old cemetery that was established by the first German Methodist Episcopal Church in Whitman County. Eighty acres of land were originally obtained from the Northern Pacific Railway by (Miss) Barbara Horlacher in 1885. On Sep 2, 1891 she deeded about two acres for a church-yard and cemetery to Fred Widman, Jacob Blank and Christ Imhoff, trustees of the First Methodist Church. A small church building was erected, which was also used for school purposes.

On Nov 1, 1891 Barbara Horlacher passed away. She was one of the first to be buried in the cemetery. The old tombstone still stands, along with one for Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bauxan who also were early day pioneers. There are several unmarked graves. As far as is known there was a Mrs. Miller buried here, a Miss Martha Widman, and several infants. The old tombstones are partly hidden by an old lilac bush that has withstood the test of time.

On Jul 20, 1904 the churchyard including the cemetery was sold to Jacob Blank. On Jun 04, 1936 heirs of the estate of Jacob Blank deeded the old cemetery to Lena Blank, who is the present owner. --- by Lena Blank

The has been cleaned up and fenced in, unknown how many stones are intact or moved. At my last sight, which may have been around 1980 there were about four or five stones in the area. I assume the old church building is the same one that is in our barn lot, used for storage. Lena Blank and her sister Lizzie have passed a number of years ago, both were ladies of the finest, as they use to say.

- Richard Morgan

Baumann, C. H. Friedrich 'Fred', b. Feb 1823 Saxony, d. Mar 02, 1891, h/o Ernestine Biers, surname previously listed incorrectly as Bauxan
Baumann, Ernestine Biers, b. Saxony, d. no date, w/o C.H. Friedrich, surname previously listed incorrectly as Bauxan
Blank, Jacob, no dates
Horlacher, Barbara, d. Nov 01, 1891
Miller, Mrs, no dates
Widman, Martha, no dates