Boundary County IDGenWeb Project

          Sue Kemmis of the Boundary County Historical Society completed a new survey of the Moravia Cemetery for a cemetery walk in September 2019.

            The former community of Moravia lies approximately 1 mile west of the Mirror Lake Golf Course. All that remains of the town are the cemetery, the school house (now a residence), and a motel (burned to the ground 2023).

Moravia Cemetery History

Rasmos Christensen homesteaded 140 acres in 1893 and proved up on it in 1898. Christensen, a single man, was paid $50.00 for 5 acres to be used exclusively for a cemetery in April 1904. The first burial that year was Erik Persson (Eric Peterson), the brother of Nels and Martin Peterson of Moravia. There were 2 burials (William Gines and David Conway) in 1907; 1 burial (Ida Walty) in 1908; 1 burial (Ida Moore) in 1909; and then Frank Peterson in 1910.

The town folk decided to name the cemetery Grand View Cemetery. They voted to clear the cemetery by cutting trees and purchasing dynamite to clear the stumps. Henry Morkeberg was paid $7.00 to do the clearing. D.C. McColl built a fence around ½ of the cemetery for $57.15. Cave was paid $9.05 to survey and plot the cemetery in 1912. Family plots sold for $10.00 each (8 grave sites). $2.00 was spent on white clover seed. Deeds were drawn up for plots by Chas. O’Callahan, A.J. Kent, O.C. Wilson, and First State Bank.

In 1923, the town cemetery (known as the Bonners Ferry Cemetery or the City Cemetery) took the name Grandview (1 word). The Moravia cemetery was still being called Grand View Cemetery (2 words), which can led to some confusion when reading obituaries.

The first board minutes of the cemetery association, dated 1942, referred to this cemetery as “Moravia Cemetery.”   By 1957, a waterline was installed. From 1957 – 1964, there are no records of any annual meetings held.

In 1964, a meeting of the association, held in the schoolhouse, resulted in the incorporation, under the name Moravia Cemetery Association; by-laws were written.

A quote from the obituary of Harry Keller who is buried at Moravia states: “Harry Keller so loved the outdoors and all of nature that he asked to be buried in Moravia Cemetery where there were deer and other wild life, and wild ferns could grow over his grave.”

The new burial list & the sources

          The new list of cemetery interments is the result of many months of gathering old lists and plot maps, the Moravia Cemetery Association was very involved in suppling all the infomation they had.

          As well as the older lists, old newspapers and the 1985 "History of Boundary County" were searched for information and obituaries and in some cases online death and birth indexes were used.

         In the obit column you may find a link to the obituary on this site, the tombstone column may have an X indicating just a mortuary marker or other grave marker.

          Also the name may be highlighted orange indicating a link to a biography of the person.

          An original plot map is included at the bottom of this page below the list.

          A good deal was learned about many of the people resting at Moravia Cemetery, please feel free to contact us for obituaries or more information.

Boundary County Historical Society's new cemetery survey list