"Der Evangelisch Lutherischen St. Johannis-Gemeinde in Marion Township, Allen County, Staate of Indiana" as the church's record book reads, was founded in either 1842 or 1852, by the Rev. H.F.A. Strauss, a converted Orthodox Jew. Pastor Strauss also served at St. John's Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne (briefly) and St. Mark's Lutheran Church on Thiele Rd. in Allen County, as well as serving as a missionary pastor to what would develop into Emanuel Lutheran Church, New Haven. The church was a member of the Ohio Synod until 1871, when it combined with a Missouri Synod parish - St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church - that was approximately 1/2 mile to the east, in the town of Soest, forming what is known today as Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church (Soest). After some dissension, however, some of the members of the former St. John's congregation left Emmanuel to re-form St. John's. The newly re-founded congregation continued to exist until the early 20th century, when it disbanded and its records were deposited in Grace Lutheran Church, which has itself since closed. The cemetery is currently in an overgrown state; however, some efforts have recently been made to repair the cemetery and bring it back into an orderly state.



The cemetery is located in Marion Township (NW quadrant of the SW quadrant of the NE quadrant of Section 3 Township 29N Range 13E) on the south side of Wayne Trace about 0.1 miles east of its intersection with Acre Lane.



Indiana Cemetery Locations, Volume 1, published by the Indiana Genealogical Society (02 April 2005), gives the primary cemetery name as Saint Johns Cemetery.

The cemetery is listed in the Cemetery and Burial Grounds Registry of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and in the State Historical Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) with Cemetery Record Number CR-02-53 (Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran).

The Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory (IHSSI) survey number for Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery is 003-214-85002.