Home > United States of America > North Dakota > Cass County > Amenia Township > Saint Martins Cemetery

Saint Martins Cemetery

Memorials	:	0
Location	:	Amenia Township, Cass County, USA
Coordinate	:	47.0217018, -97.3099976
Description	:	The Saint Martin’s Cemetery, although tributary to the now defunct Saint Martin’s Lutheran Church, was actually organized before the church. Theodore and Bertha (Haase) Sell donated the land for the cemetery around 1883, which is located in the SW¼ of the SE¼ of Section 18, Amenia Township, Cass County, North Dakota. The oldest marked burial in the cemetery is that of Karl Mergner, who died on September 17, 1883. Interesting to note is that Theodore Sell and his wife Bertha were not buried in the cemetery and are buried in nearby Casselton, N.D. The St. Martin’s Lutheran... Read More	The Saint Martin’s Cemetery, although tributary to the now defunct Saint Martin’s Lutheran Church, was actually organized before the church. Theodore and Bertha (Haase) Sell donated the land for the cemetery around 1883, which is located in the SW¼ of the SE¼ of Section 18, Amenia Township, Cass County, North Dakota. The oldest marked burial in the cemetery is that of Karl Mergner, who died on September 17, 1883. Interesting to note is that Theodore Sell and his wife Bertha were not buried in the cemetery and are buried in nearby Casselton, N.D. The St. Martin’s Lutheran Church was organized on February 2, 1890, and it met in an Amenia Township schoolhouse until a frame church was erected 3½ miles to the northeast of the cemetery in 1905. As church services were conducted in German for the first several decades, the name of the church in German was “Evangelische Lutherische St. Martin’s Gemeinde.” Translated to English, this means “Evangelical Lutheran St. Martin’s Congregation.” As the Sell family who donated land for the cemetery were members of the newly organized St. Martin’s Church, the cemetery was subsequently named after the church and from that point on it was operated and maintained by the church. At some point, the land was deeded in the church’s name as well. It is unknown as to whether or not the cemetery had any previous name before being named after the church. The only public access to the cemetery is a narrow road between two fields that leads up a steep hill to the quiet little spot shaded by big old trees sprawling along the curve of the nearly hidden Rush River. At some point, the St. Martin’s congregation constructed a fence with a neat steel gate to enclose this peaceful burial place. Over the gate in German print are the words “FRIEDHOF DER EV. LUTH. ST. MARTIN’S GEMEINDE.” Translated to English, this means, “Cemetery of the Evangelical Lutheran Saint Martin’s Congregation.” Today, the cemetery is known as “Saint Martin’s Cemetery,” (or also Saint Martin’s Lutheran Church Cemetery,” etc.). In October, 1949, the St. Martin’s Church was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm that swept over the area. The congregation suffered a complete loss of their church building after it burned to the ground and they voted to merge with nearby St. John Lutheran Church of Arthur, N.D., with whom they had been in a two-point parish since their organization. Consequently, the last burial in the St. Martin’s Cemetery was Ida (Schumann) Priewe in 1948. As of today, there are 40 marked graves in the cemetery, and in addition to several unmarked graves, many of them being children and infants, the estimated total burials is 53 persons. No maps of the cemetery and lots are presently known to exist. Following the church’s closing in 1949, several gravestones in the cemetery were knocked over by a local farmer’s cattle. A fence was constructed around the cemetery to keep the pesky cattle out and the knocked over stones were returned to their proper upright position. Charles R. Viestenz, John A. Grieger, Dallas E. Grieger, John A. Pueppke, and others have cared for the cemetery in the decades following the church’s closing. Members of the Charles and Mary (Pepper) Viestenz family met at the cemetery in July, 2018 during a family reunion and performed major cleanup work at the cemetery as part of their reunion activities. Presently, the cemetery is still cared for by local residents. The St. John Lutheran Church of Arthur, N.D. possesses the remaining record books of the St. Martin’s Lutheran Church (secretary’s book and treasurer’s book), though no cemetery records are known to exist. Unfortunately, the St. Martin’s Church minister’s log which contained death and burial information of the congregation, which included more information about burials in the Saint Martin’s Cemetery, has been missing since 1988 when it was used for the creation of the St. John Lutheran Church centennial history book.

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Saint Martins Cemetery is located at Amenia Township, Cass County ,North Dakota ,USA.
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Latitude: 47.0217018
Longitude: -97.3099976

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Nearby Cemetories:

1. Amenia Cemetery
Amenia Township, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 47.0092430, -97.2418290

2. Arthur Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.0943985, -97.2193985

3. Good Samaritan Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.1114006, -97.2161026

4. Cass County Central Cemetery
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5. Wheatland Cemetery
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6. Erie Cemetery
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7. Saint Leos Cemetery
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Coordinate: 46.8967018, -97.2061005

8. Casselton Cemetery
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Coordinate: 46.8947754, -97.2073135

9. Herby Lutheran Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.0210304, -97.0688095

10. Hunter Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.1946945, -97.2272034

11. Buffalo Cemetery
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12. Rose Valley Cemetery
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13. William Ledger Richardson Family Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.2314303, -97.2290299

14. Goshen Moravian Church Cemetery
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Coordinate: 46.8032430, -97.2643900

15. Argusville Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.0574989, -96.9841995

16. Mapleton Cemetery
Mapleton, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 46.8875008, -97.0436020

17. Page Cemetery
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Coordinate: 47.1660995, -97.5766983

18. Saint James Catholic Cemetery
Page Township, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 47.1661500, -97.5769100

19. Zion Cemetery
Walburg Township, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 46.7771988, -97.3265915

20. Greenwood Cemetery
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Coordinate: 46.9193993, -97.6455994

21. Elm River Cemetery
Galesburg, Traill County, USA
Coordinate: 47.2686005, -97.4156036

22. Stordahl Cemetery
Galesburg, Traill County, USA
Coordinate: 47.2824320, -97.3463770

23. Gardner Cemetery
Gardner, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 47.1443634, -96.9692764

24. Tabor Moravian Cemetery
Eldred Township, Cass County, USA
Coordinate: 46.7750015, -97.4606018

Saint Martins Cemetery

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