A special thanks to Dennis Roth, for providing all of his information regarding the burials at Teakean Cemetery and taking the time to provide insight, direction and avenues of research. Without his help and the help of others, I would not have been able to compile this information and hopefully help some of the folks, who have family connections to the early pioneer families of Cavendish-Teakean.

My ‘LITTLE’ Project

In September of 2011 I got an idea to add a memorial for Grandma Preussler, on Find-A-Grave and from that idea sprang a “little project” that would take me nearly five years to complete. Grandma Preussler is Olive V. (Herring) Preussler, she is not my grandmother by blood. However, I have always called her grandma and she was a very important person in my life, growing up and someone who I adored. I wanted to make sure her memory was preserved and thought a virtual memorial would be a great avenue to accomplish this goal. I did some researching and found her grandson Alan Sewell and contacted him and explained what I wanted to do and why. By happenstance, he had just been to the Teakean Cemetery and had taken a bunch of photographs of the gravestones, which he sent to me. I created memorials online for everyone and uploaded the photographs over a weekend. This gave me a great sense of accomplishment, which lasted about a week. I knew there were many unaccounted for burials at Teakean and I soon became determined, perhaps obsessed, with documenting everyone at rest there.

I began scouring old newspapers, reviewing death certificates and contacting everyone and anyone who came up with a Teakean connection on the Internet. Five years have passed and I believe I have a comprehensive list of the burials at Teakean. I am grateful to all of the individuals who have answered my questions, provided documentation, photographs and supported me throughout this project and I cannot thank them enough. The Teakean Cemetery contained only four online memorials when I started this project, there are now over a one-hundred and thirty. Keep in mind, Idaho did not begin maintaining vital records until 1911, five years after Teakean Cemetery’s earliest known burial.

Teakean Cemetery History

On February 27, 1905 the Clearwater Cemetery Association was formed by the following individuals:

Ellis A. Patterson, Andrew H. Carson, Sherman Stookey, Tempest Y. Henry, Abraham L. Walston, Irvin M. Cosner, George Studebaker, Pius E. Harlacher, Irvin Heltzel, Charles E. Horne, Orville E. Herring, N. Jasper Cosner, A. Havelock Cosner, Peter Q. Van Airsdale, P. E. Carson, John Carson, John A. Harlacher

All of the names listed above were members of the German Baptist Brethren church, often referred to as Dunkards. The church was first known as the Grafton Church. In 1903 several families, from the church came west, from Illinois and settled in the Teakean area.

CLEARWATER The Clearwater church, the house of which is located about five miles north of the station of Peck on the Clearwater River, had her beginning with the remnant of what was known as the Grafton church, early in 1903, when the following families from Illinois settled near the site of the present church; P. E. Carson (deacon) and wife, William M. Harlacher, wife and son, Sherman Stookey (minister, second degree) and wife, J. L. Carson and P. E. Harlacher and wife… At the first council meeting, which was held in the spring of 1903, it was decided to change the name from Grafton to the Clearwater church…–(Source) A Brief History of Idaho and Western Montana As Settled and District Organized By the Church of the Brethren (published in 1914)

In the summer of 1904 plans were formalized to build a church building on land donated by William M. Harlacher and on October 21, 1904 the Clearwater church house was dedicated. Although the cemetery was not officially part of the Clearwater Church, it was the primary place for burials of church members and was named the Clearwater Cemetery, at the time of its inception. The land for the cemetery appears to have been donated by Ellis A. Patterson; he was given first choice of lots, according to the minutes of the first association meeting. In 1957 the Clearwater Cemetery District was renamed the Teakean Cemetery District and the cemetery became known as the Teakean Cemetery.

The first known burial at Teakean Cemetery was Joseph B. Cosner, December 6, 1905. The cemetery is still in use today. I have researched every name and noted known family relationships. I have also transcribed obituaries and have been given permission to use family photos, on the memorials I manage. My goal is to have a story and photo for each individual in the Teakean Cemetery. Below is a spreadsheet of all of the known burials at the Teakean Cemetery, as of August 2016 (names highlighted in yellow are memorials I do not have rights to and cannot edit, or change), use your arrow keys to scroll through the document:

I have also submitted the files to Interment.net and you can view the cemetery records by clicking on the link HERE.