Kalispell: Demersville Cemetery
The Chinese population of Flathead County peaked in 1910 at just over sixty. Most Chinese residents of the county lived in Kalispell, with 43 Chinese residents in 1900, or Whitefish, with 24 Chinese residents in 1905. While it is certain that many Chinese residents of Flathead County were buried in the area, no known Chinese headstones have been found to date. Often, stories claim that headstones with an Asian writing system in Demersville Cemetery are for Chinese residents of Kalispell. However, upon close inspection, these headstones commemorate Japanese Montanans (for more on how to tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese headstones, click here).
Map of Demersville Cemetery, Kalispell, Montana
Records show at least 18 Chinese residents of Flathead County buried in the Demersville Cemetery. These records indicate the burial sites being mostly along the eastern edge of the cemetery.
Along the eastern section of the cemetery, where records show Chinese residents were buried, several notable depressions indicate that it is likely their remains were removed for return to home villages in southern China for reburial. This was in keeping with Chinese traditions.
Other than the depressions noted above, which indicate exhumation of remains for return to China for reburial occurred at Demersville Cemetery, nothing remains above ground to indicate the presence of Chinese burial sites. Other sources testify to the impact of Chinese settlers in the region, including the pages from the International Chinese Business Directory (1913) that detail several Chinese-run businesses in the area. Note particularly restaurant owner Mar You of Whitefish, whose story is detailed in more depth below.
The Tragic Story of Mar You
Flathead County resident Mar You’s life illustrates the difficulties for Chinese Montanans, caught between two worlds. Mar came to Montana in the 1890s, working in laundries and restaurants. He resided in Columbia Falls during most of his time in Montana, though it is noted that his residence was given as Kalispell at times. People of Chinese ethnicity were unable to become American citizens until 1943. With this constraint and with severe restrictions on entry to the United States, life was difficult for Chinese Montanans like Mar You. He traveled back and forth from the United States to China several times. Each time, extensive documentation was needed for him to be assured that he could get back into the United States to make money that his family in southern China desperately needed. This paper trail shows us Mar You from the time he entered Montana in 1904 through the 1940s. (Photos of Mar You and his wife courtesy of the Northwest Montana History Museum).
During one of his trips back to southern China, Mar You married. Needing to return to Montana for work, Mar You and his wife were separated like many Chinese married couples as it was not allowed that wives of Chinese workers be allowed to enter the United States. Mar You returned to China every few years, fathering two sons.
With the onset of the worldwide Great Depression in the 1930s, economic conditions worsened for Mar You and his family. One letter relating to Mar You remains, housed at Kalispell’s Northwest History Museum. The letter attests to the variety of investment strategies Chinese workers used to try to make money for their families, and the difficulties of such strategies when economic conditions worsened.
Unfortunately, additional tragedy struck the region and Mar You’s family. With the onset of World War II in China in 1937, Japanese attacks frequently caused civilian casualties. In January 1938, Mar You received word that his wife and sons were killed in a Japanese bombing raid on Christmas Day, 1937.
With the wartime alliance between the United States and China, the restriction on people of Chinese ethnicity becoming naturalized American citizens was lifted in 1943. Mar You went through the naturalization process in 1944.
Mar You continued to live and work in Montana into the 1950s. Upon his death in 1957, newspaper accounts noted that he was the “last of the Chinese restaurant operators in the Kalispell area.” He was buried in Kalispell’s Demersville Cemetery, but his resting place is unknown and unmarked. It is unlikely that his remains were exhumed and return to his home village for burial as that practice had mostly ceased in the 1940s.
Below is all the information about Mar You’s interment at Demersville Cemetery. His burial site is unknown. With his family’s tragic death in southern China during the Japanese invasion, it is unlikely that his remains were exhumed and returned to his home village for reburial.