St. Columba Cemetery at "Lake Five," Wisconsin, USA: A

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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Anheuser, Ernest W.; stone # 268; location: K-26; born: 14Jan1922, died: 20Aug1989; Veteran: Pfc US Army Air Corps; also on headstone: "parents of Nancy, Anita, James, Mary Beth, Jean, Kathryn, Paul"; husband of "Maggie" Anheuser (living)

Anheuser, James L.; stone # 269; location: K-26; born: 03Dec1951, died 15Sep1997; Milw. J/S obit: Anheuser, James L. of Colgate. Tues., Sept 16, 1997, age 45 years. Beloved son of the late Ernest and Maggie L. (nee Harrigan. Dear brother of Nancy Anheuser, Anita (Craig) Ruffing, Marybeth Anheuser, Jean Anheuser, Kathryn (Chris) Pfeil and Paul, 8 nieces and nephews....et cetera.

Location and Contact Information

If You Visit St. Columba Cemetery

Headstones listed on this blog are given a "letter" and a "number" to identify their location on an "x-y axis" layout.

The cemetery has 11 rows of headstones, labelled "A" through "L."
The rows run south-to-north, parallel to Highway 164. "Row A" is closest to Highway 164 (east) and "Row L" is farthest from Highway 164 (west), towards the Mobil gas station.
The north and south fences have letter markers attached to designate row location.

Headstones are also given a number to identify their approximate location, in paces (steps), away from the south fence (along County Line Q).

Headstones are also given a specific and unique number. For example, the headstone for James and Katherine McCartan is "# 96" (the 96th headstone to be recorded in an east-to-west row progression with a south-to-north movement along each row). The headstone is also designated as "F-18," to aid in locating the headstone in "row F" (the sixth row in from Highway 164) and about 18 paces in from the south fence, along County Line Q.

Please note that many headstones in the "oldest" (south) section of the cemetery are missing, so there may be many open spaces along a row of headstones.

Genealogical Research

The records on this blog are available for your use in family research. Please credit this source. Please contact us at stccemetery@yahoo.com for permission to use the material on this blog for other purposes.

As noted above, many headstones in the "oldest," south section of the cemetery are missing.
Sadly, records to identify who is buried in those open spaces is not available from St. Gabriel Parish which is the church maintaining the cemetery, nor from the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese.

An excellent resource for genealogical research in southeastern Wisconsin, at a nominal cost, is available from local historian and researcher, John Von Haden. (See his website, "Wisconsin Ancestors," at http://www.wisconsinancestors.com/ or email him at jvonhaden@wi.rr.com .)

The Milwaukee Archdiocese Archivist responded to enquiries in 2004 that they would respond to individual enquiries, as time allows, when you submit the name of a specific, deceased person, including as much additional information as possible. (See their website at http://www.archmil.org/ .)

Another resource is available through the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Library. See their website at http://www.familysearch.org/ to find the library nearest you. From that library, you can order microfilm # 1871065 that contains records for St. John, Monches and St. Columba, Lake Five. Death records are only included for the years 1898 to 1920, but there are records for Baptisms (1845-1855, 1856-1879, 1884-1920, 1884-1894), First Communions (1908-1920), Confirmations (1898-1916, 1919-1920) and Marriages (1845-1854, 1858-1894, 1885-1920, 1871-1891).

Abbreviations used:
b. = born / date of birth
Co. = County
d. = died / date of death
m. = married
Milw. J/S = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper
NCH comments: = information provided by Nancy (Collins) Henke, local historian
obit. = obituary / death notice
VS comments: = information provided by Vincent Sennott, lifelong parish member and local historian
yrs. = years

Good luck with your efforts.

More Research Sources

Although St. John - "Monches" Roman Catholic Church does not provide research information for its former Mission Church---St. Columba, they have an interesting website that has cemetery listings for St. John's and nearby St. Clare's - "North Lake." The two parishes merged in 2006 and are now called Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
Go to www.blteresaparish.org/ and click on the "Our History" selection along the left side of the website to find more local history.

The Menomonee Falls Library at http://home.mf.lib.wi.us/ is another good source for local history information.

St. Columba Parish History

St. Columba Roman Catholic Church, Lake Five, was a mission of St. John Church, Monches, according to the book "The Story of Washington County," by Carl Quickert. Both parishes were established in 1842 by the Reverend Martin Kundig, a Roman Catholic priest. Initially, Father Morrisey, a "circuit-riding" priest, said Mass in the home of John Donnelly on the shores of Lake Five.

Among the first members of the congregation were the families of Matthew Cosgrove, Patrick Flynn, Edward McCartan, John Fleming, Martin Claffey, Michael & John Redmond, John Donnelly, William Dunn and Michael Denney.

The name of the church, "St. Columba," is likely to be a reflection of the Irish heritage of many of the church's early members. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Saint Columba," also known as "Columcille," was one of the twelve leading churchmen in Ireland's history. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and was a statesman, scholar, poet and founder of numerous churches and monasteries.

The original church, built in the mid-1800's, was a log structure. The second building, "the little, white church," was built around 1901. The newer, Lannon Stone church was built in 1972.

In 2002, St. Columba merged with two area churches, St. Hubert-Hubertus and St. Mary-Richfield, under edict by the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese, to form a new church, St. Gabriel.

St. Gabriel Parish maintains the three cemeteries.

St. Columba Cemetery at "Lake Five," Wisconsin, USA

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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