THE PLEASANT VIEW CEMETERY

On a recent trip to South Dakota, we visited the grave site of my great aunt Johanna Christine Thaden. The cemetery is located southwest of Luverne, Minnesota.

(The death of sister Johanne Catherine (Hannah) on January 18, 1876 at 13 years, eight months and 22 days of age was tragic. It was said that she died of “consumption.” A local carpenter made the coffin. When the pall bearers picked up the coffin, the handles fell off and they dropped the coffin. Following the church service, the coffin was opened and Hannah was lying face down and much of her hair was pulled out. A carrier was dispatched by horseback to a doctor in Luverne. He listened through his stethoscope, but could hear no heart action. The doctor slashed her wrist and no blood came, so he declared her dead. Her tombstone remains in the Pleasant View church cemetery today, easily read and in good shape. It is a beautiful country cemetery.)

Throughout the midwest, churches were started by ministers who "rode the circuit." They packed their Bibles and rode their horses among the struggling rural pioneers, holding services in sod huts for a few families. Eventually, as the rural communities grew and prospered, sufficient money and labor were available to build small churches. 

In 1873 a minister from Jackson, sixty miles to the east, arived in nearby Rock County, Iowa in July despite "bad weather and the great distance to travel," states the Evangelical Minnesota Conference History (p. 73). That pastor was the Rev. William Oehler, who organized a church society consisting of the Bertuleit, Carner, Loose, Miller, Nuerenburg, and Nuffer families. A little later they were joined by Bahnson, Borchert, Hoefer, Mickelson, Munz, Ohs, Rogge, Taubert, Thaden and Zellmer families. In time the Engel, Finke, Oesterle, and Passer families were added.

As a temporary meeting place a large tent of boards, horse blankets, and bed sheets was constructed across the road from the original Loose farm. In 1874 six acres of land at the southwest corner of section 31 of Luverne Township were purchased. Plans to build were delayed for a year because swarms of grasshoppers arrived at harvest time and devoured the cash crop. In 1875 a small church was built on the purchased site. That church was 20 x 30 x 7.

Johanna Christine Thaden - Died - Jan. 18, 1876.

The slim stone on the right is the Thaden stone - hard to find.

Original church site.

Early records reveal little information concerning the cemetery. Much may be gained from reading the names, dates and inscriptions on the monuments. The rigorous life on the prairie took its toll in small children and young women. Many babies did not survive their first year.

The view is just as pleasant today as it was over 100 years ago when pioneers purchased property from the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad to establish a church and cemetery. Although the church is no longer there, the burial ground continues in respectful silence to harbor the dead.

Most of the above was taken from an information sheet provided by

The Pleasant View Cemetery Association