PAPILLION CEMETERY

When John and Anna Sautter's son, Herman, died on 19 Jun 1872, there was no cemetery near their farm. They buried their son in a corner of their farm, a common practice in the mid to late 1800's. Two other children were buried there within the next few years. In the early 1880's they allowed other members of their church (then known as the German Lutheran Church, now First Lutheran Church) to bury their dead in the family cemetery. In 1884 they decided to give the cemetery to the church.

The deed for the Papillion Cemetery was signed 4 Dec 1884 and recorded on 6 Feb 1886 in Book "Q", Page 147. The deed was from John and Anna Sautter to the German Lutheran Church; the consideration was $1.00. The deed reads in part: "John Sautter and Anna Sautter his wife.. grant.. unto said German Lutheran Church... the following described real estate situated in the County of Sarpy ... To wit, all that tract of alnd situated in the N.W. part of Section 23 Township 14 Ranger 12 known as the Sautter Cemetery as platted and recorded on page 190 of book "O" of the records of Deed of Sarpy County."

When the size of the cemetery was doubled in 1925, the plat of the newly laid section refers to it as the First Lutheran Cemetery, but it was still commonly referred to as the Sautter Cemetery. In 1913 the Papillion Times reported that Emil Grothe had purchased the Schaab Cemetery and that "it is to be called the Papillion Cemetery which was the original intention." Ten years later the Times reported in its 22 Mar 1923 edition that at a meeting of the Papillion Cemetery Association it was decided to change the name to Cedar Dale Cemetery.

Thus the name "Papillion Cemetery" was no longer in use. Some time between 1923 and 1946 the name of Sautter Cemetery was changed to Papillion Cemetery. When Hugo Cordes bought two lots in the cemetery on 26 Apr 1946, they were purchased from the "Papillion Cemetery Association", which retains close ties with First Lutheran Church in Papillion.

The cemetery is located on the southeast corner of 84th and Giles Rd.. about 1 1/2 miles north of downtown Papillion.

Gary Iske, Sarpy County Genealogical Society, 1995.

Papillion Cemetery
Herb Lienemann
402-339-8146

Marta's Papillion Cemetery pictures

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