Pioneer Mennonite (Unruh) Cemetery

Section 26 - Childstown Township - Turner County - South Dakota
 

aerialsite.jpg (82138 bytes)                                An aerial photo of the site where Unruh Cemetery is located

This cemetery was created as a private cemetery in the late 1800's by Daniel Unruh.  The only written historical information appears to be in a bible presently held by a related Unruh living in North Dakota.   While the cemetery is no longer considered as “no trespassing allowed” it is relatively inaccessible and visiting it is not recommended.  The following comments summarize my known information.

Daniel Unruh was born in Prussia to a Low German family, married Maria Wedel, and arrived on South Dakota’s Turkey Creek Ridge in 1873.  Homestead records show numerous claims were awarded to the Unruh’s, their children and spouses in Childstown and other adjacent townships.

Through successful farming he supposedly had accumulated enough wealth to purchase 1200 acres of land in the Spring Valley of Turner County in 1874.  (Spring Valley presently refers to a much small region than was the case in the 1870’s.)  An old world village plan was followed with seven houses built for himself, his children and a friend and surrounded by fields.  By 1877 this layout was abandoned with homes being moved onto the individual owners land holdings.

Unruh became a US citizen in the mid 1870’s, meanwhile helping friends with funding to start their new lives.  His reputation pictures him as a great benefactor and a long time member of the Mennonite faith.  He employed newly arriving Low Germans to serve his family, work his farm, and care for his animals.   He retired from an active life in 1884, living until 1893, Maria lived until 1894.  Both are buried in the family cemetery, supposedly along with over 100 of their friends and former employees.

There has been no trespassing allowed on the cemetery site except for families of those buried there for all the many years since passed.  This no trespassing policy was very strictly enforced by the last Unruh owner until he recently died.   The present owner has given approval for this web site to be produced and published and apparently is not especially concerned with folks having good reason to visit the cemetery. 

I am aware of no existing records that show these rumored burials, and there are only seven remaining grave markers and no other records to cite.  If anyone viewing this web page has additional information I would be interested in hearing from you, however there is no intention of including anything on this web page except names of those buried here.

Cemetery.jpg (102618 bytes)  

A recent photo of the Unruh Cemetery
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There are three major parts to the information on this web page as prepared by Ken Tiahrt. Thanks are given to Duane Tieszen for the photographs and other information related to Unruh Cemetery.  Any portion of this page may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use.  Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires written approval.  

1.  A Cemetery Map

There is no map of the cemetery since there are only a very few entries in the burial list at this time.

2.  A List of Burials

A listing of the known burials at Unruh Pioneer Mennonite Cemetery – Childstown Township – Turner County, gives the individual names in alphabetic order.  This listing also gives the year of birth and year of death. 

Photos of Grave Monuments
**UPDATE NOTE - October 2018 -- The cemetery list does not contain any tombstone photographs. Thankyou for understanding. Anyone wanting to donate personal tombstone pics is encouraged to do so on the following dedicated site for that purpose: South Dakota Gravestones Project.

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Pioneer Mennonite Unruh Cemetery Burial Record

Section 26 - Childstown Township - Turner County - SD
 

Last Name First Name Birth Yr Death Yr
Dalke Maria Unruh 1881 1950
Dalke Leslie 1823 1923
Dalke Peter 1874 1930
Hopf Agnes 1864 1936
Hopf Ernest sr 1855 1905
Unruh Cornelius C 1845 1908
Unruh Daniel 1820 1893
Unruh John D 1853 1933
Unruh Maria Wedel 1821 1894
Unruh Susanna Wedel 1858 1931
unknown
Both Daniel and Maria Unruh were born in Molotschna, South Russia.
In 1862 they moved to the Crimea area.
In 1873 they moved to Turner County, South Dakota.