Barre/Bostwick Valley

Barre Cemetery, a small rural cemetery located just south of the junction of Hwys. O and OA is now maintained by the Town of Barre, but it once belonged to a congregation called Bostwick Valley Norwegian Lutheran Church. It was a mission church of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of North La Crosse. The main church is now called Trinity Lutheran Church.

An early deed [La Crosse County Register of Deeds, volume 25 page 179] recalls the time when two Norwegian Lutheran churches from the Barre area joined together to support a cemetery. Dated May 28, 1864, the arrangement between Ole & Isabel Halverson and trustees of the Evangelical Norwegian Lutheran Church of the Town of Barre (Augustana Synod) and trustees of the Evangelical Norwegian Lutheran Church of the Town of Barre (Wisconsin Synod) agreed to purchase land:

 "... for a cemetery or burying ground for the use of the said churches and the congregations worshipping with them ... containing about one acre more or less .... The parties are to build a good and sufficient fence around said lot and keep in repair."

As early as 1852, Rev. Stub, a Norwegian pastor from Coon Valley, visited the Barre area, preaching in both Norwegian and German. St. John's (St. Johannes) Evangelical Lutheran Church, which was a German Lutheran congregation organized by Pastor Wilhelm Hass, was formed in Barre Mills in 1870. In 1888, a parish was formed consisting of the Norwegian Lutheran churches of Bostwick Valley (Barre), Sparta, Onalaska and the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of North La Crosse.

This congregation's records date from 1855 to 1936 and are held by Trinity Lutheran Church in La Crosse, and do contain burials from 1862-1936. Most of these burials occurred in this cemetery. These records have also been microfilmed by the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), their control number 1306450. The records are all written in the Norwegian language and the handwriting is very difficult to read.

The earliest legible stone has a date of death of 1855 and is that of little Oliver Tollefson, 11 week-old son of P. (?) and R. Tollefson. Other early death dates include Oline Swennes who was two months old when she died in 1857 and two more children who died in 1861. Clearly, the site was used for burials before the congregations banded together to buy the property for a cemetery.

Pastor E. O. Vik preached the last sermon in the small church in 1934 or 1935. Members of the former congregation then joined Trinity Lutheran in north La Crosse, St. John's Lutheran in Barre Mills or Our Savior's Lutheran in West Salem. A quit claim deed [La Crosse County Register of Deeds, volume 204 page 54] dated July 14, 1944, turned the ownership and care of the cemetery over to the Town of Barre.

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