Saint John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery

French-Canadian Catholics settled here at Frenchtown to farm in the late 1850s, and by 1859, they operated a mill nearby. In 1864, Jesuit priests from St. Ignatius Mission established this cemetery and built a small log church, the second built in Montana for white settlers. They named it the St. Louis Church after the pious French kin whom Jesuits believed a worthy role model. In 1884, the present St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was built down the road to replace the old St. Louis Church, which no longer stands. This historic cemetery is Frenchtown's oldest and most signification site. Among the tombstones are those of Frenchtown founders Louis Brown and Moses Reeves. The stone mausoleum of T.J. De Mers, the wealthy founder of the Flathead Valley boomtown of Demersville, holds his remains and those of eleven family members. The 264 recorded burials include worn wooden markers and elaborate marble tombstones. That of Moses Reeves' wife Josette, dated 1873, is the cemetery's oldest marked grave. There are many unmarked graves, however, from the earliest time period.  The cemetery remains an active burial ground for descendants of Frenchtown'sfounding families.