Meyer Family
Mormon Coulee is the area in southern La Crosse County that was originally settled by a community of Mormon families in the 1840's, before Wisconsin had even become a state. The Coulee, or "Coolie" as local newspapers often spelled it, follows Mormon Creek and carves out a long valley (coulee) between the limestone ridges. Mormon Coulee runs west from the Town of Shelby and winds its way eastward up to St. Joseph Ridge in the Town of Greenfield.
During the mid 1840's, the national Mormon movement experienced internal problems after the death of their leader Joseph Smith. As a result, the La Crosse County Mormon community packed up their belongings, burned their homes, and headed back to Nauvoo, Illinois. Shortly after that, in the mid 1850's, German and Bohemian farming families began to settle the valleys and ridges of Mormon Coulee.
The Meyer Family Cemetery sits in a pasture surrounded by a barbed wire fence on a farm on Kammel Coulee Road in the Town of Greenfield. The German farming family is represented by six names on white markers and a large, granite monument with the name "Meyer" stands as a silent sentinel over the cemetery.
Wilhelm Meyer, a widower, recorded an indenture on Nov. 1, 1894, selling the farmland to Peter Meinertz [La Crosse County Register of Deed, volume 86 page 619] "...except one quarter of an acre in use for a grave yard in the said southwest quarter of the northeast quarter also a right of way to said grave yard...." The following is a translation of the stones from German:
| Wilhelm Meyer | Anna Meyer | Lorenz Meyer |
| Oct. 19, 1834 May 9, 1902 | Jan. 20, 1840 Apr. 7, 1887 | (month?) 29, 1863 Feb. 26, 1884 |
| John Meyer | William Meyer Jr. | Heinrich Wilhelm Meyer |
| July 6, 1872 July 6, 1890 | (illegible) 1891? May 6, 1892 | Jan. 7, 1892 Apr. 1, 1892 |
In the La Crosse Republican & Leader Press newspaper of May 10, 1902, p. 6, Wilhelm Meyer's obituary notice appeared under "Mormon Coolie" [Coulee] news:
"Died, at his home in the Coolie, Mr. Wilhelm Meyer, father of Mrs. Henry Freehoff, Anna and Edward Meyer, of this coolie, and Frank Meyer of Hokah, Minnesota. He was born October 19, 1834, in Germany; came to this country May 15, 1845; came to Mormon Coolie in 1855. Funeral will be held Saturday afternoon at two o'clock from the residence."
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