Schartner  Cemetery
 
Section 29 - Dolton Township - Turner County - South Dakota

History of Schartner Cemetery
By Jake and Esther Schartner 

      Karl Schartner homesteaded in Turner County in 1874 or 1875.  There was no cemetery nearby, so in 1875 Karl donated and designated a plot of ground for cemetery use out of the 200 acres that he owned.  There was no organized church nearby so the donation was symbolic rather than formal.  The first burial was that of Mrs. Henry Koehn, and her son.   

In 1883 Karl Schartner was one of the founders of the nearby Schartner Church (which disbanded in 1940).   Also, in 1883 the Bethesda Mennonite Church was formed 4 miles west of Marion.  In the 1890’s a church now known as the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) Church was established one mile east of the cemetery and the Silver Lake Mennonite Brethren Church (also recently closed) was formed.  The Schartner cemetery became the primary cemetery for the EMB Church although members of both the Bethesda and Silver Lake congregations also occasionally use it for burials.

Shortly before the death of Tobias Unruh in 1875 the 2 acre “Schartner” cemetery area was dedicated by the Elder Tobias Unruh as a Burial Ground.   

In 1902 Karl Schartner sold his entire farm of 200 acres to Peter D Tieszen for the lump sum of $8200.00 dollars.  The cemetery land was not excluded from the sale, and of course, the cemetery plot could not be moved, and there was no legal deed registered, so a dilemma was created.  Karl Schartner moved to Oklahoma sometime after selling his farm and is apparently buried there. 

Elder Peter Becker and Elder Friedrich Schartner called a meeting in the old EMB Church to decide what could be done.  They appointed Jacob Koehn, Ben L Deckert, and Fred Schartner to collect or receive donations to reimburse Peter D Tieszen for this plot of ground which actually had not been intentionally sold, but rather had been donated for cemetery use previously, but was legally included in the 200 acres.  Many people gave small donations, $75.00 was collected, and given to Peter D Tieszen to reimburse him for the 2-acre plot of ground.  Thus, the people that donated toward the $75.00 actually bought the plot of cemetery ground from Peter D Tieszen.  At this point, the cemetery received a legal description, which was registered in the Turner County Court House.  

      The names of all the people who gave money for the project are listed in a book, which is kept by the cemetery committee, and is in the possession of the cemetery Sexton. 

      So Peter Tieszen actually paid $8200.00 for the land without the 2 acre cemetery, but was paid back $75.00 so it cost him $8125.00 

This history was written by Jake and Esther (Schmidt) Schartner.  Jake Schartner was the son of Jacob and Helene Schartner, and a grandson of Friedrich Schartner, a brother of Karl Schartner.  Esther is a granddaughter of Elizabeth (Schartner) Schmidt who was a sister of Karl.  A member of the Schartner family served as Cemetery Sexton from its founding in 1874 until the death of Jake in 2001.

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There are three major parts to the information on this web page as prepared by Ken Tiahrt (tiahrt@montana.edu) with the generous assistance of the cemetery sexton.  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, 441 Avenue, gives the user a physical setting.  

2.  A List of Burials

A listing of the burials at Schartner Cemetery – Section 29 – Dolton Township – Turner County, gives the individual names in alphabetic order.  This listing also gives the date of birth and date of death when available.

 The user should note that the sites are numbered from north to south in each row.

 3.  Photos of Grave Monuments

Each individual record is marked with the row and site number.  The photo numbers are only for electronic matching.  Use your browser return icon to exit from a photo and go back to this page.