Arthur Cemetery
Arthur, Cass County, North Dakota, USA
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The Arthur Cemetery is located about a ¼ mile south of the town of Arthur on Old Highway 18, though still within the city limits. Its size is 4.14 acres and it is owned by the City of Arthur. It contains 4 blocks, each with several dozen lots that contain eight graves apiece.
It is said that John Schlaet and his wife Caroline (Goede) Iwen-Schlaet gave land for the cemetery to St. John Lutheran Church (German Lutheran) of Arthur, to be used as a burial ground for the Lutherans. Before the use of the English language, the church was referred to by its German name "Evangelische Lutherische St. Johannes Gemeinde." The church was organized in 1888 and Mr. & Mrs. Schlaet were among its charter members. They are both buried in the cemetery.
The oldest marked burial in the cemetery is Mr. and Mrs. Schlaet's grandson, Albert Friedrich Iwen, who died on Feb. 4, 1892 and was buried on Feb. 6, 1892, although there very well could be older, unmarked graves than his. The oldest part of the cemetery is Block 1 (northeast).
As the community of Arthur was settled in 1879, it is not known if there was ever another community burial ground established then, or if the present cemetery is the only one to ever serve the community.
Rev. A. J. "Dad" Hoeger, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church from 1918-30, staked out the cemetery boundaries and placed the cornerstones, which were eventually covered up by sifting dirt. Later, they could not be found so it had to be re-surveyed.
When it became necessary to bury Methodists (the Arthur United Methodist Church was organized in 1908), the Lutherans said it was okay, but they were to be buried on the south side of the road in the cemetery (Block 2). It was not long until this changed and the different sects are now mixed up.
St. John Lutheran Church operated and maintained the cemetery for about 43 years. A small treasurer's/sexton's book from 1920-27 contains expenses and receipts for the cemetery, a record of lot sales during those years, and a few burial permits as well. Interesting to note is that the balance of the cemetery treasury was $87.19 on Jan. 1, 1927. August E. Sommerfeld was sexton from ca. 1920 until his death in 1960 and was treasurer for many of those years.
Eventually, the expense of maintaining the cemetery became too great for the St. John Congregation to handle, so at their annual meeting on Jan. 8, 1935, they voted to ask the Arthur City Council if they would take ownership the cemetery property and management thereof. The Arthur City Council accepted the proposal and the St. John congregation voted in favor of this 55 to 14. The city has owned and maintained the cemetery ever since this date, to the relief of the church and benefit of the entire community. A cemetery board now operates the cemetery and has for many decades.
William Timmermann and his nephew, William "Bill" Timmermann (1912-79), built the brick pillars which line the south and east borders of the cemetery in ca. 1930s/40s. Piping once connected these pillars but was later removed.
Rumors were that horses were also buried in the cemetery. This is true, as in later years when graves were being dug, horse bones were found.
Graves were hand-dug well into the 1980s, even though there were machines that could be used by that time.
A veterans memorial monument was erected in the cemetery and dedicated on Memorial Day, 1980.
Carl Petersen, and Bert & Joanne Iwen's sons have told of digging graves when they were school-aged. They have said that the placement of caskets were not very well marked and many times, so close together that when digging a new grave they would hit a casket, so they just moved over a little and kept on digging, which sometimes made it a little challenging for lowering the new casket.
In the wintertime, gas was poured on the frozen ground and lit on fire to thaw out the ground so they could dig. When they dug through the thawed portion, more gas was poured and lit, and so on, until they were below the frost line and could dig the unfrozen ground. Sometimes winters were too harsh and burials had to be delayed until spring. Local resident and businessman Paul Lako has dug most of the graves in the cemetery since ca. 2005.
Records of the Arthur Cemetery have been kept consistently since 1931 when the State of North Dakota began requiring better records keeping, and the cemetery board keeps these records. The St. John Lutheran and Arthur United Methodist Church minister's logs contain many burial dates and death records for individuals buried in the cemetery from ca. 1892 to present day.
Cemetery sextons and board members in recent decades have included Bert Iwen, Melvin Nyberg, Rand Nyberg, Gale Hill, Joe Peltier, Kerm Nedrebo, Don Paul, Chelsie Skunes, Tom Iwen, and Greg Gebeke.
The Arthur Cemetery is located about a ¼ mile south of the town of Arthur on Old Highway 18, though still within the city limits. Its size is 4.14 acres and it is owned by the City of Arthur. It contains 4 blocks, each with several dozen lots that contain eight graves apiece.
It is said that John Schlaet and his wife Caroline (Goede) Iwen-Schlaet gave land for the cemetery to St. John Lutheran Church (German Lutheran) of Arthur, to be used as a burial ground for the Lutherans. Before the use of the English language, the church was referred to by its German name "Evangelische Lutherische St. Johannes Gemeinde." The church was organized in 1888 and Mr. & Mrs. Schlaet were among its charter members. They are both buried in the cemetery.
The oldest marked burial in the cemetery is Mr. and Mrs. Schlaet's grandson, Albert Friedrich Iwen, who died on Feb. 4, 1892 and was buried on Feb. 6, 1892, although there very well could be older, unmarked graves than his. The oldest part of the cemetery is Block 1 (northeast).
As the community of Arthur was settled in 1879, it is not known if there was ever another community burial ground established then, or if the present cemetery is the only one to ever serve the community.
Rev. A. J. "Dad" Hoeger, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church from 1918-30, staked out the cemetery boundaries and placed the cornerstones, which were eventually covered up by sifting dirt. Later, they could not be found so it had to be re-surveyed.
When it became necessary to bury Methodists (the Arthur United Methodist Church was organized in 1908), the Lutherans said it was okay, but they were to be buried on the south side of the road in the cemetery (Block 2). It was not long until this changed and the different sects are now mixed up.
St. John Lutheran Church operated and maintained the cemetery for about 43 years. A small treasurer's/sexton's book from 1920-27 contains expenses and receipts for the cemetery, a record of lot sales during those years, and a few burial permits as well. Interesting to note is that the balance of the cemetery treasury was $87.19 on Jan. 1, 1927. August E. Sommerfeld was sexton from ca. 1920 until his death in 1960 and was treasurer for many of those years.
Eventually, the expense of maintaining the cemetery became too great for the St. John Congregation to handle, so at their annual meeting on Jan. 8, 1935, they voted to ask the Arthur City Council if they would take ownership the cemetery property and management thereof. The Arthur City Council accepted the proposal and the St. John congregation voted in favor of this 55 to 14. The city has owned and maintained the cemetery ever since this date, to the relief of the church and benefit of the entire community. A cemetery board now operates the cemetery and has for many decades.
William Timmermann and his nephew, William "Bill" Timmermann (1912-79), built the brick pillars which line the south and east borders of the cemetery in ca. 1930s/40s. Piping once connected these pillars but was later removed.
Rumors were that horses were also buried in the cemetery. This is true, as in later years when graves were being dug, horse bones were found.
Graves were hand-dug well into the 1980s, even though there were machines that could be used by that time.
A veterans memorial monument was erected in the cemetery and dedicated on Memorial Day, 1980.
Carl Petersen, and Bert & Joanne Iwen's sons have told of digging graves when they were school-aged. They have said that the placement of caskets were not very well marked and many times, so close together that when digging a new grave they would hit a casket, so they just moved over a little and kept on digging, which sometimes made it a little challenging for lowering the new casket.
In the wintertime, gas was poured on the frozen ground and lit on fire to thaw out the ground so they could dig. When they dug through the thawed portion, more gas was poured and lit, and so on, until they were below the frost line and could dig the unfrozen ground. Sometimes winters were too harsh and burials had to be delayed until spring. Local resident and businessman Paul Lako has dug most of the graves in the cemetery since ca. 2005.
Records of the Arthur Cemetery have been kept consistently since 1931 when the State of North Dakota began requiring better records keeping, and the cemetery board keeps these records. The St. John Lutheran and Arthur United Methodist Church minister's logs contain many burial dates and death records for individuals buried in the cemetery from ca. 1892 to present day.
Cemetery sextons and board members in recent decades have included Bert Iwen, Melvin Nyberg, Rand Nyberg, Gale Hill, Joe Peltier, Kerm Nedrebo, Don Paul, Chelsie Skunes, Tom Iwen, and Greg Gebeke.
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- Added: 1 Jan 2000
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 101695
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