In a pre-1900 section of the quiet, rolling hills of St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery lies a grave with a surprising connection to a national figure.
Finton “Beargrowl” Montochna was a Montana native and nephew of the famous Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, who unified Sioux forces against the U.S. militia in the 1870s in the Battles of the Rosebud and Little Bighorn. Born in the mid-1860s, Montochna — whose surname has been recorded locally with up to four different spellings — traveled to the Midwest 20 years later to study English and German at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Spencer County. On New Year’s Day 1886, he fell ill with tuberculosis (then called consumption) and was hospitalized at St. Mary’s, where he died Jan. 19 at age 22. His uncle died four years later during a confrontation with Indian agency police in North Dakota.
Instead of returning to Montana for burial, Montochna’s body was interred locally, as was common at that time. His fellow students erected the white stone monument that marks his grave in Section 6 of St. Joseph Cemetery; present-day visitors also hang dreamcatchers in his honor.
