HERE
THEY
SLEEP Narrative
and
EARLY SETTLERS' GRAVES MARKED
a Richland Observer July 12, 1979 article by by Mona Owens
RURAL PLOT - AKAN
Information gathered throughout late 1974 will now further substantiate
and perhaps add to what has already been recorded in book form by the
Five Points Lutheran Church. It all began in 1851 when a number of
Norwegian immigrants came to Wisconsin. Within a few years they had
become quite firmly settled in Richwood and Akan Townships. Even two
years before the first church was built (1857) the first recorded death
occurred, that of Ole Jansen (1855) . The actual site for the
church had been thus far undecided upon. In that interim, Mr. Jansen
and two other neighbors, Torkel Evenhaugen and Mons Monson, were laid
to rest in a wooded area in the northwest corner of section 35, Town of
Akan, about 1 1/2 miles south of Five Points on County Trunk X. Plans
are being made for an enclosure to be installed during the coming year
(1975). The plot lies within a farmed area and would be accessible from
the farm entrance, by permission only. Some marker for identification
will need to be decided upon at a later date. This farm is presently
owned by Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Rognholt. No further data is presently
available however, the writer has at hand a military record plus a land
transaction which might add to any wanted information related to the
first settlers of this section. Mons Monson was the son of Christian
(Kristian) Monson. On November 10, 1863 one Christian Munson (recorded
spelling) conveyed to his brother Morten Munson, 80 acres ($100) in
Sec. 35, south 1/2 of the northwest 1/4, Town of Akan. The
following February 29, 1864, Christian was enlisted into the Union Army
at Port Andrew, Town of Richwood. He served with Co. B, 25th Wis.
Infantry. He died of sickness at Rome, Georgia on August 7, 1864 and
was buried in the Marietta Cemetery out of Atlanta, Georgia, Section C,
Grave 294. This is now a national cemetery.
RURAL PLOT - EARLY SETTLERS' GRAVES MARKED (Richland Observer
July 12, 1979 by Mona Owens)
Ole Jansen, Torkel Evenhaugen, and Mons Monson each died in 1855. Until
recently their graves lay unmarked in Section 35 of Akan Township
beneath a ridge laid out in strips of hay and corn. Theirs were the
first burials in the parish of the Emmanuel Lutheran Church. And it was
not until two years later that the parish's 'first log church was
completed on a site several miles to the south along what today is
County Trunk Highway X. The year the three men died Richland County was
only beginning to be settled and their final resting place was located
in a wooded area. The trees are long gone and until recently the three
Norwegians lay in unmarked graves on the farm of Lyle and Mary
Rognholt. It was Mary who decided that the gravesite should be
commemorated in some way. To that end, a granite marker bearing the
early Norwegian settlers' names has been erected just off the road and
within a few yards of the gravesite, which is under land that is being
cultivated. The stone was provided by Gilman Johnson, a representative
of the Krause Monument Company, Viroqua, while Lyle and his son, Mark,
erected a white fence around the marker. Herb Dieter, known for his
1976 book, "Here They Sleep," which researched Richland County burial
sites, coordinated the marking of the grave out of what he described as
"personal interest, " and, " It was done for the benefit of church
history and to preserve the site of the first burials." In years past,
Dieter's family farmed in Akan Township in the area that was for many
years predominantly Norwegian. His family is buried in the church yard
where the Emmanuel Lutheran Church once stood. There were two Lutheran
Churches just three miles apart, the Emmanuel Lutheran Church and the
Five Points Lutheran Church. The former served what was known as the
south ridge, and the latter, the north ridge. Gradually attendance at
the church on the south ridge dwindled, Dieter said. "The church life
moved north because most of the people did." The Norwegian
settlement along the ridge that County Trunk X follows was once some
four miles long. Interestingly, Norwegians who settled along the "left
ridge," as Dieter called it, were Methodists. Norwegian settlers came
first to LaFayette County and gradually moved northward into Richland
County. One cannot but speculate that the ridges in Akan and Richwood
Townships reminded them of their homes in Norway.