Pruett Family/Mormon Coulee

written by Amanda Lambert

A warranty deed dated Dec. 13, 1854, links the Pruett Family to the land where the Pruett Family/Mormon Coulee Cemetery now stands. Forty acres of land were purchased by the family at that time. Although no initial plans were mentioned in the deed to use the spot as a cemetery, the dates on several tombstones are of deaths that took place in the mid-1800s, not long after the land was purchased.

Other family names in this cemetery include Fley (Fly), Whipple, Bell, Raymond, Cushin, and Scales. An indenture from 1898 states that it was within the wishes of the Pruett family for the:

"...premises to remain as it now is for the use of the public for church -- Sunday school and temperance meetings and other public gatherings, so long as it is used with free access to all."

It is also believed that the small building may have been used as a Quaker meeting house instead of a "church." The building was eventually moved from the site and became a residence for someone on the south side of La Crosse.   Other names this cemetery went by included the Shelby Methodist Church Cemetery.

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