The beginning for our pioneers was very hard. The year was 1926. Six Mennonite families bought land north west of Elm Creek in the Wingham District. Some of these families had lived at Hochfeld for a time after their arrival from Russia. During the years of the Great Depression in the early 1930's, they could not make their land payments and so were given the option of leaving their land or renting it. In 1934, the municipality offered them land for $1.25 an acre. This was land that the World War I Veterans had received from the Government but they in turn deserted. Five families took advantage of this offer and settled on it. More families kept coming until there were about thirty Mennonite families in the Wingham district.

The spiritual well being played an important part in the lives of these early pioneers. There was no church and no minister and so they met in homes for the first five years for Sunday morning services and Bible Study. They were served by ministers from the Mennonite Bretheren churches at Newton and Culross, and the Blumenorter church in the village of Rheinland south of Winkler. Some of these people were affiliated with that church before moving to Elm Creek.

On May 12, 1939, they met for the first time to plan a church building. The people participating in this new venture were from five Mennonite denominations; one of the participating families donated the land on the NW section of 17-09-05(-W1). The first five dollars was donated by Mr. Charlie Dann to whom the land had belonged at one time. The new church, 22' x 32' long was built in less than a month, with all volunteer labour, and dedicated on December 17, 1939.

(Source: A Century of Memories - Elm Creek Centennial History Book 1892-1992, p 126 [1992; Adapted]) 

The Wingham Mennonite congregation in Elm Creek, MB began services about 1930, and formally organized in 1938. The first building was occupied in 1939, with a subsequent building program in 1961. Cornelius Rempel is considered the founding leader of the group. The congregation originated through immigration from the Soviet Union.

(Source: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia (GAMEO) website [2024/02; Adapted])

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Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD09-31-09-05-W1

In the Rural Municipality of Grey

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As noted above, a part of the community's story, and those of its inhabitants, from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1992 is told in the volume "A Century of Memories - Elm Creek Centennial History Book 1892-1992", especially starting on the cited page. A free digital version of this and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #0310), transcribed by a member or members in 1988 and updated in 2010. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication "Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites" (revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages).

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Additionally, the Manitoba Mennonite Society curates and makes available extensive records related to the communities established by the families of their faith who contributed to the story of Manitoba.