West Vermillion Mennonite Cemetery
Section 23 - Dolton Township - Turner County - South Dakota
27030 444th Avenue - Marion, South Dakota
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History of Ortman or West Vermillion Cemetery
Southeastern South Dakota including Turner County was intensely settled by homesteader families in the 1880's and 90's with a resulting rather dense population of families from various regions of Europe. They naturally tended to group them selves somewhat within regions with similar ethnic and religious peoples closer together. Part of this was due to similar people arriving in this country together and part of the clustering effect was caused by the total dependence on horse drawn transportation in rural areas.
The accomplished farmers that settled in this area brought with them a strong dedication to their vocation and their religious beliefs and soon had a thriving community established. Five Mennonite country churches were established in the Marion - Dolton - Freeman area to serve the folks within 3 townships. There were minor ethnic differences and some slightly different theological principals, but they were fundamentally the same Mennonite faith. The distance between any one of these and another was not more than 5 miles. Each church had a related cemetery.
The Ortman cemetery that is now known as the West Vermillion cemetery is a
family cemetery that grew to include a larger neighborhood and serves people
with a more broad background than do those that are church related. There
are several other small cemeteries in Turner County that grew by serving a very
local need which also have web sites. Surely there are other family
cemeteries that have vanished when their founders were gone and are now simply a
part of the landscape, grassland, pasture or farmland.
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There are three major parts to the information on this web page as prepared by Ken Tiahrt in 2010,
with the generous assistance of the cemetery sexton and the photographer, Duane Tieszen. 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
A map of the cemetery showing the individual lots in relationship to the adjacent Turner County Roadway, 444 Avenue, gives the user a physical setting.
2. A List of Burials
A listing of the burials at West Vermillion Mennonite Cemetery – Section 23 – Dolton Township – Turner County, gives the individual names in alphabetic order. This listing also gives the year of birth and year of death when available.
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.
