Our Savior’s Lutheran of Leonard hosted its first cemetery walk at East Zion Cemetery in Dudley Township on Sunday, August 28. Elwood and Ardell Johnson and Betty and Duane Johnson spoke about Malla and Ole Johnson. They both died one day apart. Malla on April 19, 1948 and Ole on April 20, 1048.

Becky Colebank moderated the event and wrote all the life histories with help from George Boorman’s book “The History of the City of Leonard and Dudley Township,” obituaries and ancestry.com.

Larry Djernes read the life history of Andrew Anderson, who came to Minnesota from Sweden in 1900 and who, along with his wife Annie, farmed in Dudley and Sinclair Townships.

Reuben and Judy Boorman told about the lives of Rueben’s parents George and Winnie Boorman. George Boorman was a local historian who wrote “Life on a Log Drive” and an extensive history of Leonard and Dudley Township. Judy is wearing the autographed Wellstone T-shirt that was so prized by Winnie.

Loretta Bjerke read the unusual life story of Lillie Kleven. Ms. Kleven was a Lieutenant in WWII, then worked for the Far East Branch of the United States Information Agency’s Cultural Information Division establishing libraries in Asia and Australia. Her extensive collection of prints, including a Toulouse-Lautrec, is kept by Bemidji State University and exhibited regularly in the Talley Gallery.

Ken Brein read the story of Erick Monson. Erick was a Norwegian immigrant who came to America in 1884, then north to settle just west of Andrew Mogster in 1896. He was a progressive farmer who was one of the organizers of East Zion.

Tammie Ehlers read the life story of the first Fred Ehlers to settle in the area. He was born in Hanover Germany in 1861 and came to Dudley Townships in 1897 to homestead 160 acres of land currently owned by Jonathan Auker. He farmed, worked at Headquarters Lumber Camp, and helped to establish the Leonard Co-op Creamery in 1916.

Melanie Paulson read the life story of Helena Tollefson. Helena’s dad Martin Willborg homesteaded a 160-acre farm in the very southern part of Eddy Township in 1896. He established a tiny village there which he named Willborg after himself. The federal government appointed him postmaster of Willborg in October of 1897, then in 1904 he began serving as Judge of Probate in Bagley.

Carol McCrehin Sundquist read the life story of her grandmother, Nellie Searles McCrehin Jones. Nellie grew up on a 160-acre claim about five miles from Lake Itasca and had many stories of the hardships of living in untamed timber country.

East Zion Cemetery Walk

Wed, 09/07/2016 - 4:38pm admin

By Becky Colebank

Our Savior’s Lutheran of Leonard hosted its first cemetery walk at East Zion Cemetery in Dudley Township on Sunday, August 28. Many area residents gathered to hear about the lives of the earliest settlers in the East Zion area. Volunteers, some dressed according to the times, stood at the headstones of 11 early settlers and read their life histories. Featured were Nellie Searle McCrehin, Malla Johnson, Mike Gorze, Helena Tollefson, Fred Ehlers, Andrew Mogster, Erick Monson, Lillie Kleven, Andrew Anderson and George and Winnie Boorman.

The East Zion congregation came into existence some time in the late 1890s when the Reverend Leonard Kringle held services in the homes of several homesteaders in the area. Andrew Mogster donated the land where the church and cemetery are located, and the congregation donated the logs and labor. The first service in the newly erected building was held in February of 1916. It was probably the second church built in what is now Clearwater County.

The church officers that year were Andrew Mogster, Ole Matson, John Watnefjord, J. Svalstand, Erick Monson and Ole Berge.

By 1930 there were only four families left in East Zion since other congregations had sprung up in the area. The members voted to rent the Zion church building in Leonard for two Sundays a month for $40 per year. In 1945 East Zion merged with Norway Lake and became the United Evangelical Lutheran Church. The building hasn’t been used since 1930 but it is in fairly good shape yet, with the altar and the rail still intact. Our Savior’s will discuss a plan to apply to the National Park Service to have the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places at its annual meeting in January. This would provide some funds to restore the building and keep it well-preserved.

East Zion Cemetery Walk

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