Re: cemeteries
LESLE, SCHUG, RICKELS, VOLK, SCHWIDDER, WINTER
Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email) In Response To: cemeteries (Myrna Henrich)
Date: 8/17/2013 at 17:28:07
I did a little research for you. My take is that the Auburn Lutheran Cemetery is either a defunct cemetery of the Zion Lutheran Church in the 19th century or another name for the Grant City Cemetery.
Here is what I located:
The Zion Lutheran Church in Auburn was established on December 31, 1873. It is now Missouri Synod.
It is possible that there was a very early cemetery connected with the church in the 1870's and 1880's. In 1973 a book was written to commemorate the 100th anniversary. It was called "The Lord shall reign forever ... : Zion Lutheran Church, Auburn, Iowa, 1873-1973. It was privately published in Wall Lake, Iowa by Lesle Studio, [1973].
Another pamphlet written was "Dedication, May 15, 1955: Zion Lutheran Church, Auburn, Iowa, L. S. Winter, pastor. Publisher: Auburn Enterprise Print, Auburn Iowa, 1955.
I think that the original author/publisher might have been William P. Lesle of Wall Lake, Iowa. The following is his obituary from the Carroll Daily Times Herald, Carroll, IA on March 2, 1987:
AUBURN, Iowa -- Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Zion Lutheran Church in Auburn for William P. Lesle, 87, of Auburn, who died Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Valley Lutheran Hospital in Mesa, Ariz. The Rev. Ron Oppen will officiate. Burial will be at Oaklawn Cemetery at Auburn. Huffman Memorial Chapel at Lake City, is in charge of arrangements. Born Feb. 16, 1900, in Sac County, he was the son of Herman and Clara (Luckow) Lesle. He was married on June 23, 1929, to Florence Karleen in Minneapolis, Minn. A retired farmer, he was a member of the Auburn Lions Club and the Zion Lutheran Church at Auburn. He is survived by his son, Clair Lesle, of Mankato, Minn.; nine grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and two brothers, Harvey Lesle of Carroll and Albert Lesle of Hacienda Heights, Calif. Mr. Lesle was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, one brother and one son.
According to findagrave, William P. Lesle's grandparents were both buried in the Grant City Cemetery in 1894 and 1911 with a great aunt and uncle in 1874 and 1876. Perhaps this Grant City Cemetery was also known as the Auburn Lutheran.
The present day pastor of Zion Lutheran is Rev. Craig Zandi. Perhaps he has a copy of the history or knows an elderly member of the church. You might also try contacting the Lesle family.
According to a couple of excerpts from the HISTORY OF SAC COUNTY IOWA With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families By William H. Hart, 1914:
"The one at Auburn is known as St. John's Lutheran church, organized about 1875, by Rev. Fred Schug. A building was erected about 1893 and the property is now estimated to be worth about one thousand four hundred dollars. There are now twenty-seven communicants.... At Auburn the pastors have been Revs. F. Schug, Rickels, Volk and Schwidder. ....... Auburn is one of the three towns within Sac township, the others being Grant City, and Ulmer, a station on the Illinois Central railroad. Auburn is situated on sections 23 and 24, of township 86, range 35. It was platted July 31, 1886, by the Western Town Lot and Land Company. It is a station point on the Chicago & Northwestern line, the second station east from Wall Lake, and is on the east line of Sac county. It really caused the town of Grant City, a mile or so to the north and west, to go down. It was incorporated as a town early in its history..."
Please post your findings if any of these clues work. Hope it helps a little.
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