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Saint John Cemetery (Pleasant Valley Cemetery)
Whitman County, Washington

Lat: 46° 04' 41"N, Lon: 117° 32' 06"W
T18N R42E Sec 4,5,8,9

Transcribed by Maggie Rail, © Jan 10, 2007, last edited May 27, 2009 [mrail@asisna.com]. Total records = 1,960.

To reach the Saint John Cemetery drive south east out of town for about 2 miles on Hwy 23, turn left, into the cemetery.

Saint John Cemetery was established as the Pleasant Valley Cemetery, probably named that because of the beauty of the valley it is in. The first deed for this cemetery was recorded in 1889 although there are burials earlier than that, one is as early as 1879. Today it is operated by a board under Cemetery District #3 in Whitman County.

This cemetery is unique in that it is situated in the corner of four sections in Township 18N at Range 42E.

The main part of this transcription is from my cemetery survey. I have added records found in older readings, sexton records, obits and from relatives. These are denoted by an * asterisk. For those records which have no stone, I was unsure if the date was the death date or the burial date.

I listed the cemetery in what I called Sections. These may not be the way the board keeps records, but it helped me to keep track of where I had been. The Lot numbers came from old sexton records. I am not sure they use the same today.

One stone was in Chinese. I am grateful for the help of Pam Wagner and one of her students, who assisted me in translating it.

The aging stone for Edward St John was replaced with an incorrect death date according to court house records - per Margie Robertson.

I have transcribed from the headstone readings acquired when I walked and read this cemetery, using a digital camera on Aug 16, 2006. I found this cemetery to be very well maintained and in excellent condition.

- Maggie Rail

Legend:

c/o = child of d/o = dau of h/o = husband of s/by = stone by * = no photo

s/o = son of s/w = stone with sss = shares surname stone w/o = wife of

Sec E = east section
Sec M = middle section
Sec W = west section

Records Index:

Surnames A-F Surnames G-L

Surnames M-R Surnames S-Z