West Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery is located directly behind (east side) the West Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church and parish hall. There is a sign for it, the sign is located in the front of the church. Maplewood Cemetery is only the stones that are north of the driveways. Maplewood is the township cemetery and not affiliated with West Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church.

The church was organized on March 26th, 1862, 1862-When we think about this year and what was going on at that time, we can sit in total amazement. There was a division between the North and the South. It was the 2nd year into the America Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States. A year earlier in 1861, 11 southern states declared their secession from the United States and became the Confederate States of America. There was war in our homeland. It was a long bloody war.

Most of the war was fought in the southern states, but here in the little northern community of Ida, MI was a settlement of hardworking farmers. They were German immigrants. To them, the war must have seemed like it was on the other side of the world. Here, they focused on their families and their way of living. There were no paved roads to travel on. By horse and buggy, there were families that bundled up to worship at East Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church. Think about muddy, bumpy roads in the dead of winter with wobble, wooden wagon wheels. It is exactly 2 miles between our two churches. Today it is a short 3-minute drive. In 1862, when the world was much bigger, East Ida was a long way for those that lived west of Lewis Avenue.

It is not clear when or how a division in the Ida church started, or if it even was a division as this could be a myth, but it is told that while the nation was divided by North and South, Ida had its own division between East and West. Lewis Avenue was a border line. The ground on the east side had rich clay where the crops thrived and the farmers prospered. On the other side the ground was sandy, useless, and scrubby. People on the west side of Lewis Avenue were called "sand frickets" by their eastern neighbors. Either due to dissension or distance, just about a year from the time that the 11 southern states seceded from the Union, some seceded from East Ida and 13 charter members formed what was know as West Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church.

The founding members were: Michael Schober, Fred Albrecht, Christian Sadewasser, Chris Bentschneider, Matthias Strabel, Michael Strabel, Hans Bruegert, Fredrich Vogelsang, Joachim Vogelsang, John Kleinert, G. Mathes, G.W. Meier, and Frederich Lefien & their families as principle members. As many of the members were German immigrants the worship was conducted in German until 1918. The Rev. Willam Kroenke of Riga served as administrator until the congregation called their first pastor the Rev. J.J. Oetjens. The home of Joachim Vogelsang was the gathering place of worship until the first West Ida Lutheran Church was built & dedicated in 1862. The church had outgrown the original log cabin and a new and larger structure was built to take its place in 1881. The church still stands today serving the community and its members.It has withstood being struck by lightning and fire and in 1870 (in the summer months and autumn) 13 children died in this church from Scarlet Fever which was rampid in the state of Michigan that year. All the children listed in this cemetery under the age of 16, who died in 1870, died from scarlet fever. The names of the children were: (they raged in age from 16 to age 8 months)

1. Carl Bernhard Feinauer-son of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann) Feinauer, born 25 December 1858, died 24 July 1870, age 11 years, 6 months, 29 days.

2. Julius Ferdinand Feinauer-son of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann) Feinauer, born 4 October 1869 died 25 July 1870, age 9 months, 21 days.

3. Alwine Pauline Amalie Feinauer-daughter of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann) Feinauer, born 30 November 1857, died 26 July 1870, age 12 years, 7 months, 26 days.

4. Franz Hermann Feinauer-son of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann) Feinauer, born 15 February 1861, died 27 July 1870, age 9 years, 5 months, 12 days.

5. Friedrich Michael Kleinert-son of Johann & Friederike (nee Oberleiter) Kleinert, born 19 December 1862, died 30 July 1870, age 7 years, 7 months, 11 days.

6. Johanna Marie Kleinert-daughter of Johann & Friederike (nee Oberleiter) Kleinert, born 15 September 1861, died 31 July 1870, age 8 years, 10 months, 16 days.

7. Maria Barkenquast-daughter of Johann & Margareta Dorothea (nee Oetjens) Barkenquast, born 5 October 1856, died 2 August 1870, age 13 years, 9 months, 27 days.

8. Minna Anna Feinauer-daughter of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann) Feinauer, born 18 November 1866, died 6 August 1870, age 3 years, 8 months, 18 days.

9. Maria Magdalena Reinsch-daughter of Rev. Martin Heinrich Berthold & Amalie Elizabeth Marie (nee Kramm) Reinsch, born 5 December 1868, died 22 August 1870, age 1 year, 8 months, 17 days.

10. Wilhelmine Albrecht-daughter of Friedrich & Sophia (nee Vogelsang) Albrecht, born 25 November 1853, died 23 August 1870, age 16 years, 7 months, 6 days.

11. Emma Maria Bentschneider-daughter of Wilhelm & Amalie (nee Schierholz) Bentschneider, born 15 June 1868, died 1 September 1870, age 2 years, 2 months, 16 days.

12. Johann Fritz Ludwig Schulz-son of Carl & Maria (nee Schulz) Schulz, born 19 December 1869, died 7 September 1870, age 8 months, 18 days.

13. Friedrich Wilhelm Feinauer-son of Carl & Antonie (nee Grundmann), born 1 January 1865, died 12 September 1870, age 5 years, 8 months, 11 days.

Most of these memorials were submitted from the church registries and double checked, but there are a lot of stones that are unreadable in this cemetery. Church baptism, death and marriage records are available to view at the church office. The oldest records have been also been submitted to Monroe County Library, Ellis Branch on the corner of S. Custer and Raisinville Rds, in Monroe, Michigan. They have also been shared with the Monroe County Historical Museum and the Genealogy Society of Monroe County. All the baptism and marriage records and the death records have been transcribed into English. The death registry (different from actual death records) from the church has a lot of valuable information in it which has been transferred to these memorials when available. Accuracy to make these memorials the most correct that they can be, has been our number one goal. If there is a name or vital statistic discrepancy, please contact the church to view the records personally, 734-269-2587.