This photo shows the entrance to St. Mary’s Cemetery in Emmons County, North Dakota. A black wrought-iron archway with decorative scrollwork bears the name “St. Mary Cemetery” topped with a cross. Beyond the gate, rows of gravestones and monuments stretch across the neatly kept green lawn. A prominent white crucifix with statues stands in the background, framed by evenly planted evergreen trees under a cloudy sky. The scene conveys a solemn and peaceful resting place.

Welcome to the Old St. Mary’s Cemetery which was founded here in 1884, on the grounds of the original St. Mary’s Catholic Church site. You will notice grave markers of concrete, marble, cast iron, and hand-crafted iron. In fact, the Old St. Mary’s Cemetery has twenty-two wrought iron cross sites named to the National Register of Historic places. Most of the founding families from the Hague area, here in southern Emmons County were Black Sea Germans who were of Roman Catholic faith. These families immigrated in the 1870’s and 1880’s from the mother colonies of the Kutschurgan (Kuts-chur-gone) District, South Russia, today located near Odessa, Ukraine. Dr. Timothy Kloberdanz (Kloh-ber-donz), in the Markers XII publication of the Association Gravestone Studies writes, “Old St. Mary Cemetery West of Hague North Dakota includes the decorative iron work of at least four German-Russian cross markers: Paul Keller, Michael Schmidt, Jacob Schneider, and Jacob’s son Deport Schneider. All four blacksmiths were born in South Russia. Most of the crosses in the Old St Mary Cemetery undoubtedly were fashioned by Deport Schneider. Deport married Rose Scheer and two of their sons, Louis and Jake, became talented cross makers as well. Both Louis and Jake eventually moved from Hague and settled on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, about 35 miles across the Missouri River, where they made numerous iron crosses for Sioux Indians as well as German-Russians.

You’ll notice all four of the Schneider cross makers shared a preference for double bar iron crosses with a basic diamond design. Louis preferred to use the iron from buggy wheels, and Jake made his crosses from large wagon wheels.

These iron crosses make St. Mary’s one of North Dakota’s most iconic German-Russian cultural sites. The remaining iron crosses or “eiserne kreuze” (Eye-sern-es Kroy-tse) stand open to the effects of time and nature, serving as a symbol of strength of community for the German-Russians. These handmade crosses are also a symbol of thrift, hard work, practicality, religious, and creative qualities of the Germans from Russia. You might continue your explorations along the Talking Trail at the Emmons County Museum where there is an operational Blacksmith shop, amongst many other buildings and artifacts.