To navigate the Bellevue Cemetery pages, use the menu dropdown at the top of each page

Big Elk was much respected by the early Bellevue settlers and his people, the Omaha indians. Logan Fontenelle, his grandson and the man for whom Fontenelle Forest is named, negotiated the sale of the tribal lands to the US government. 

Big Elk was originally buried farther down in Bellevue but evidently in the late 1950's, when the land was sold to the soon-to-be-built Bellevue College, his remains were moved to Bellevue Cemetery. Big Elk died in 1846 of cholera, a scourge that took many lives in those days. His grave sits on the highest point in the cemetery and overlooks the Missouri River.