This cemetery at Randolph in the Rural Municipality of Hanover are associated with the Chortitz Heritage Church across the road. The earlier burial occurred in 1890. A granite historical marker inside the cemetery is inscribed as follows:
“Led by Aeltesta (Bishop) Gerhard Wiebe, starting in 1874 and over the next three years about 440 Bergthal Colony families left south Russia to a make a fresh start in Manitoba. Loss of military service exemption, eternal pressures to change their school curriculum and the need for more land were the main reasons for the migration ... the Bergthal Colony Church was transplanted to the new village of Chortitz ... The first House of Worship was built in 1877 and replaced twenty years later in 1897. Worship services continued until August 29, 2010. At time of closing the local congregation was the oldest fully established Mennonite congregation in western Canada.”
A second granite marker is inscribed with the birth and death dates of the founding families.
Chortitza Mennonite Cemetery (April 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Chortitza Mennonite Cemetery and granite marker (July 2019)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Chortitza Mennonite Cemetery and granite marker (May 2020)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.54587, W96.83020
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Chortitz Heritage Church (Randolph, RM of Hanover)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Chortitz New Mennonite Cemetery (RM of Stanley)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Chortitz Cemetery / Chortitz South Old Colony Mennonite Cemetery (RM of Stanley)
A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society, including a searchable online database available to members at the MGS Manitoba Name Index (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.
Chortitza Mennonite Cemetery - Randolph MB, Waymarking.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Rose Kuzina.
Page revised: 24 May 2021
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