Free Thinkers/Frein Gemeinden

The Free Thinkers cemetery is localed in an otherwise empty area just to the south of the Old St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery.  The Free Thinkers came from a German religious movement called "Frein Gemeinden" or "free congregations." This movement had its roots in the 1840 revolt of the state supported Protestant church of Germany. A similar revolt in the Roman Catholic congregations also occurred near the time of the 1848 uprisings in Europe. Many of these dissenters immigrated to the United States and were referred to as "48'ers." The main focus of the Free Thinkers was that there was no set creed and was based on ideals based in the natural world with a more scientific view toward creation. Eventually many followers joined the Universalist movement.

A local group was formed in La Crosse in 1868 but did not have a large following and disbanded in 1870. While the La Crosse society lost steam, another group was just forming which called itself Free Religious Reading and Investigating Society and was incorporated June 26, 1870 [La Crosse County Register of Deeds, Church Incorporation, vol. 1, p. 44]. The three trustees listed were Peter Grünswald, Fried Nuttlemann and Fried Miller, while the presiding chair was held by H. Sanders and secretary D. Sandmann. The members met in a brick building that eventually became the Town of Barre Hall.

The cemetery land was deeded to the Free Religious Reading and Investigating Society of the Town of Barre on June 3, 1880, for $10 by Hermann and Mary Sanders [La Crosse County Register of Deeds volume 52 p. 608-9]:

"...Reserving, however, for a burial ground of the grantors and their family a piece in the southeast corner of the tract 28 ft. x 16½ ft. and now known as Lot No. 1 of the cemetery plat laid out by the grantees upon the above and adjoining premises....this grant is made upon condition that at the burial of any person upon said burying grounds, no ceremony of any religious sect nor any oration of any religious sectarian character shall be permitted, and no ceremony or oration shall ever be permitted thereon at any time except those of a free thinking, common sense or purely scientific character, free from any dogmas or theories or beliefs of any other religious sect. In the case the above provisions are not kept, the property shall revert to the grantors hereof or their legal representatives, without restoration of any consideration."

According to a James O. Holmlund article that appeared in the La Crosse Tribune in 1964, the Bostwick Valley Free Thinkers disbanded in 1916 for lack of financial support. The meeting hall became the property of the Town of Barre, and in 1999 was nominated and approved by the La Crosse County Historic Sites Preservation Committee for historic designation.

In front of the area that is the Free Thinkers Cemetery is another cemetery called "Old St. John's" Lutheran Church cemetery that was selling lots as early as January 1863. The Free Thinkers, as noted above, formed in 1870, although this land was not designated for Free Thinkers use until 1880 as witnessed by the date of the deed.

An oral tradition tells us that the nearby creek flooded, and the caskets, tombstones and remains of the Freedankers was washed out in about 1899. Most caskets were retrieved and reburied in the cemetery, presumably as unknown persons as no identification was on the caskets. Bob Selbrede surmises that the old stones that could not be matched with a casket were then ultimately used as footings for later stones in Old St. John's Cemetery. Another oral tradition suggests the remains were perhaps moved, but no one knows where. Descendants of some of the Free Thinkers are buried in Hamilton Cemetery & Mausoleum.

Search our online cemetery database