This cemetery is located on the south side of County E, not quite 1/4 miles west of State Hwy 117 in the Town of Washington, Shawano County.



The church was founded on 01 January 1877. The church was incorporated under the name "Evangelical St. Johannes Germinde." (The German word 'Germinde' simply means congregation in this context.) The first church building was built shortly thereafter at Tracy Corners, Washington Township. The first funeral took place 03 May 1878. The 100 year anniversary booklet states "the Wisconsin District of the Evangelical Synod of North America in the 1870's assisted in the establishment of the congregation centered at Tracy Corners..."



Thus, the first name of the cemetery would have been "Evangelical St. John's cemetery" - at the time there were huge differences between German churches that were called "Lutheran churches", "Reformed churches" and "Evangelical churches." These three types of churches are not interchangeable and had very different beliefs. One item that still confuses me to this day, is the fact that many "Lutheran" and "Reformed" churches also use the word "Evangelical" in their names.



The cemetery remained by this name until 1934 when (in the US) the Evangelical Synod of North America merged with the Reformed Church in the United States (formerly the German Reformed Church). The church then went by the name "St. John's Evangelical and Reformed church" and the cemetery went by the name "St. John's Evangelical and Reformed cemetery."



In 1957 the church name changed again when the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the Congregational Christian Church to form the United Church of Christ. Therefore, since 1957 the church can be found under the name "St. John's United Church of Christ" and the cemetery under the name "St. John's United Church of Christ cemetery" or St. John's UCC cemetery."



Sometime around 1895 the church moved from Tracy Corners into Cecil, the church still exists there today. The church has a website at http://www.uccwebsites.net/stjohnsucccecilwi.html . The church school was still at the old location until the 1920s. The church cemetery remains in Tracy Corners and is still owned and managed by the church..



Thus the cemetery went by the following names:



For 57 years - Evangelical St. John's cemetery

For 23 years - St. John's Evangelical and Reformed cemetery

For 50 years - St. John's UCC cemetery