Saint Ignatius Catholic Cemetery is located in Lake County with approximately 1,525 interments.
There is one section for nuns. There are 35 interments that were between 1845 and 1899. Peter Zerbinatti was the first priest to die in Montana.
"Father Zerbinatti came to the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1844, a little over a year before his death. He was assigned to St. Mary's as companion and assistant to Father Mengarini and applied himself to the study of the Indian language, in which he became proficient. On September 1845, being missed, he was found to have drowned. His death was serious loss for the Mission.
He was the first priest to die in Montana, and he was buried at St. Mary's, where his remains lay 25 years. With the help of Indians, who had assisted at the father's funeral and asserted that they knew the exact spot of his grave, the body was exhumed by two priests and brought to St. Ignatius.
As no indication was ever discovered by which it could be ascertained that the remains were really Father Zerbinatti's, their identity has been a matter of doubt, even by the two Fathers who disinterred them.
Those remains, nine years after being moved, were placed in the same grave with the body of Father Joseph Specht, the same day that the latter was laid to rest in the cemetery in St. Ignatius, Lake County, Montana - June 19, 1884. They had been lying in a corner of the sacristy, apparently forgotten until then."
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1845 - Peter Zerbinatti: Born in 1808 and he died on September 15, 1845 - Priest - the first to die in Montana
1873 - Mary MacDonald: Born on April 15, 1871 and she died on September 3, 1873
1877 - Christine Morrigeau: Born in 1875 and she died on May 15, 1877
1877 - Delephine Couture: Birth is unknown and she died on November 15, 1877
1878 - Peter Carlin: Born in 1834 and he died in 1878
1879 - Louis Magliore Allard: Born on October 26, 1879 and he died on August 3, 1887
1879 - Mary MacDonald: Born on May 6, 1875 and she died on February 14, 1879
1880 - Paul Miki Roby: Born in 1842 and he died in 1880 - Sister of Charity
1883 - Josephine Irvine: Born in 1869 and she died on December 7, 1883
1884 - Joseph Specht: Born in 1808 and he died on June 17, 1884 - Priest
1884 - Martina Allard: Born on January 10, 1883 and he died on December 7, 1884
1888 - Nancy Couture: Born on September 4, 1879 and she died on July 4, 1888
1889 - Cecele Gibeau: Born in 1847 and she died on December 18, 1889
1889 - Delima Rivet: Born on January 30, 1877 and he died on June 13, 1889
1889 - Louis Brown: Born in 1813 and he died on March 31, 1889
1889 - Peter Irvine: Born in 1827 and he died on February 18, 1889
1890 - Susanne Clairmont: Born on April 7, 1888 and he died on March 16, 1890
1891 - Celanire Belcourt: Born in 1847 and she died in 1891 - Sister of Charity
1892 - William Gagnier: Born in 1867 and he died on April 28, 1892
1893 - John B. Rivet: Born on April 17, 1893 and he died on October 5, 1893
1894 - Octave Rivet: Born in 1855 and he died on May 21, 1894
1895 - Joe Francis Beauchemin: Born on February 28, 1885 and he died on March 26, 1895
1895 - Rosalia V. Clairmont: Born on September 5, 1894 and she died on March 27, 1895
1896 - Emma Beauchemin: Born on August 31, 1896 and she died on October 4, 1896
1896 - Florence Clairmont: Born on January 21, 1894 and she died on May 1, 1896
1896 - Isadore LaRose: Birth is unknown and he died on November 28, 1896
1896 - Peter Rivet: Born on September 6, 1885 and he died on March 27, 1896
1897 - Aggie Dora Finley: Born on July 17, 1897 and she died on August 22, 1897
1897 - Edward Pluff: Birth is unknown and he died on June 16, 1897
1897 - Jane C. Finley: Born on December 3, 1890 and she died on January 3, 1897
1897 - Julia Finley: Born on April 30, 1895 and she died on April 18, 1897
1897 - Mary Finley: Born in 1818 and she died on August 13, 1897
1898 - Clarence Beauchemin: Born on May 16, 1898 and he died on July 12, 1898
1898 - Louis Albert Clairmont: Born on November 19, 1895 and he died on January 12, 1898
1899 - August Saxa: Born in 1868 and he died on October 10, 1899
This is a famous person interred in Saint Ignatius Catholic Cemetery.
1945 - Pvt. Louis Charles Charlo: Born on September 26, 1926 and was killed in action March 2, 1945 - Japan
United States Marine Corps Private: Pvt. Louis Charlo was one of the six Marines who raised the first American flag on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. This flag was later replaced by the flag in the famous flag raising photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. Private Charlo was killed in action on March 2, 1945.
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1914 - Michell Pablo: Birth is unknown and he died July 11, 1914
Walking Coyote brought the first buffalo into the Mission Valley. Charles Allard and Michel Pablo later bought them and began their famous herd.
June 1, 1912 The last of Pablo's 700 buffalo were shipped to Canada.
The Enterprise, Harlem, MT, 23 July 1914
Noted Plainsman is Dead
Michael Pablo, formerly the owner of the largest herd of buffalo on the American continent and one of the most picturesque figures of Western Montana, died suddenly at his ranch near Ronan. Burial services were held at the old mission church at St. Ignatius and burial was in the ancient Indian cemetery close to the mission.
Pablo was one of the most successful stockmen of Montana and his herds were known all over the western part of the state. All of Pablo's buffalo, with the exception of the wild bulls, were purchased by the Canadian government and shipped to the government park at Banff. Through this purchase Pablo jumped into into prominence in consequence of efforts to keep his famous buffalo herd in the United States.
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1905 Louise Denise Courville Stinger: Born on October Oct. 14, 1868 and she died on November 25, 1905
Louise Courville, a tribal member on the Flathead Reservation, was born in Colville, Washington and was the second wife of Charles Allard, Sr. a part Indian French Canadian. They had two daughters between 1892 and 1896.
In 1897 she married Andrew Stinger and they had three children. Louise died in Ronan, Lake County, Montana.
The processing of her estate was a years long legal process at several court levels disputing the authencity of individual Indian ownership and accumulation of property. The case was ultimately settled in a historic landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Montana in the interest of Indian property rights.
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These are some of the headstones we photographed.
1914 - Michell Pablo: Birth is unknown and he died July 11, 1914
1919 - Reverend Mother Amadelle: Birth is unknown and she died on November10, 1919 - Foundress of the Ursuline Mission of Montana and Alaska
1957 - Catherine Quinn: Born in1876 and she died in 1957
1966 - Thomas P. Quinn: Born in 1880 and he died in 1966
2007 - George T Blood, Sr.: Born on February 23, 1939 and he died on February 16, 2007 - Served during the Vietnam War
2009 - Chi Dawn LeBeau Wolf: Born on June 10, 1974 and she died March 20, 2009
This is the one of the last interments:
2014 - George Michael Herak: Born on June 14, 1947 and he died on March 8, 2014
There are 4 "Infant" gravesites and 4 "Baby" located within the cemetery. 1 unknown, surname only