Flathead County MTGenWeb Project

 

Gayle Collins, Site Coordinator

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©1998-2007 by Gayle Mohn Collins

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HISTORY OF THE CRESTON CEMETERY

CRESTON, FLATHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA

COMPILED BY KEITH BUCK

© 2000 by Keith Buck.  All rights reserved.

 

 In order to understand the history of the Creston Cemetery, a little history of the family that started it is needed. The information to follow is just a brief outline as to what I have to offer. My grandfather, Charles Lewis Buck was born March 2, 1870 in Maquoketa, Iowa. He was the son of Philip S. Buck. Charles Lewis Buck came to the Flathead around 1883 as a very young man, and resided in an area east of Demersville (before there was a Kalispell), and homesteaded below the mountains, naming the area he settled in Creston, after his boyhood hometown of Creston, Iowa. Charles Lewis Buck stayed in that same location until the day he died in 1939. Around 1890, Frank Walkley Buck, a brother of Charles Lewis Buck, arrived in the Flathead and settled near Columbia Falls. On June 12, 1892, Philip S. Buck, along with his second wife Margaret, daughter Grace Lena, and son Elmer S. arrived in Columbia Falls via train. Four days later they joined Charles and Frank in Creston. Philip S. Buck lost in first wife Sarah Heller Buck and three of their children, Amos, Cornelia, and John in 1882 to diphtheria. Philip S. Buck married Margaret Newlin April 30, 1883 in Iowa, the same year that Charles Lewis Buck headed west to Montana.

 

Philip S. Buck was a minister and preached in various churches in the area.

 

In 1894, Charles Lewis Buck married Edna Grace O’Mera. Her homestead adjoined the Buck homestead. She was a missionary from Richford, Michigan being born on September 14, 1867. Not much else is known about her family. Also in the late 1890’s another Buck family arrived in the Creston area. This was the Stephen Walkley and Jennie Belle Welsh Buck family from Iowa. They were the parents of fifteen children, all born in Creston. Stephen Walkley Buck was the son of George Stirton Buck. George Stirton Buck was a brother of Philip S. Buck.

 

Around 1892 or 1893, a young transient in the area died suddenly from an illness. With no cemetery nearby, Grace O’Mera donated several acres along the road and on a hillside overlooking the Creston area. The name of the transient was never known. The cemetery was just down the road from a small chapel started by the Rev. Philip S. Buck. Edna Grace O.Mera Buck died September 26, 1895 due to complications from the birth of her son Leslie Ray Buck born August 9, 1895. Leslie Ray Buck passed away November 14, 1895 and was laid next to his mother. They were the second and third burials in the Cemetery. In 1896, a new chapel was built near the cemetery and the Rev. Orrin R. Jenks of Minneapolis dedicated it on July 12, 1896. The chapel and the cemetery were officially named Union Chapel and Union Cemetery. Union was the name of the county in Iowa, which Creston was the county seat of. The chapel went through various remodels during the years and after nearly 100 years of service, the chapel was moved to the Big Sky Bible Camp a few miles south in 1995, so that the highway could be widened.

 

In 1901, Christine Martha Norlander and her sister Emma Olive Norlander arrive in Columbia Falls by train. Christine Norlander began teaching at Deer Park, Echo Lake and Creston. On July 22, 1902 Christine Norlander and Charles Lewis Buck were united in Marriage in Kalispell.  They would become the parents of twelve children all born in Creston. Christine Norlander Buck took much pride in the Union Cemetery, and sometime in the 1940’s the cemetery was renamed Creston Cemetery, to honor the name of the town.  In 1949, Christine Norlander Buck established the Creston Cemetery Association, with local families with family buried in the cemetery, to take turns being on the board and to take care and maintain the cemetery. In the year 2000, this association still exists.

 

There is much more additional Buck family history and its ties to the Flathead, but it will have to be presented later.

 

As of June 2000, the following members of the Buck family are buried in the Creston Cemetery:

If you would like any additional information on the Buck family in the Flathead, please feel free to contact me. Many of the Bucks are also buried in Conrad, Fairview and Glacier Memorial Gardens.

 

My father Howard V. Buck is buried in Glacier Memorial Gardens. He was the owner of Howard Buck’s Garden, south of Columbia Falls from the 1940’s until his death in 1979.

 

I hope you find this information helpful. Corrections and additions are always welcome.

 

Keith Buck

15329 NE 12th St J258

Bellevue, WA 98007

425-641-4390