This photo shows the entrance arch to Friedens Lutheran Cemetery in south-central North Dakota. The black wrought-iron arch prominently displays the cemetery’s name, curving across the top. Beyond the arch stretches a golden field of grain under a bright blue sky dotted with a few clouds, with a cluster of evergreen and deciduous trees in the distance. The setting highlights the cemetery’s peaceful rural location, surrounded by open prairie farmland.

The founders of Friedens Lutheran Community began to meet in one another’s homes beginning in 1895. They were German emigrants from the Black Sea area of South Russia. Friedens means Peace in German. A two-acre parcel of land was donated by Christian and Eva Huber, and a small, white church was built in 1905. When the church closed in 1954, the church building was sold and moved. During the congregation’s active years, there were two different barns built on the property to shelter the teams of horses from the bitter cold wind. With doors at each end, members could drive their buggies in one door, park their teams in the barn during worship, and upon leaving, exit out the other door.

The earliest grave in the cemetery dates to 1901. Once there were many hand-made wooden crosses marking graves, especially in the children’s section located on the south end of the Friedhof (which means cemetery in German). The crosses disintegrated in the brutal winters and hot summers. Church records indicate that at least 18 children’s graves remain unmarked. In 2005, descendants commissioned Iron Artist, Gary Just, to create a 5-foot iron cross on the property to commemorate all the unmarked graves.

The oldest grave is that of Gottlieb Dockter, born in 1842 in Neudorf, South Russia, who emigrated with his wife, Salomea Job Dockter, and their seven children to the area in 1889 – just before statehood. What is most unique about this grave is that it is marked with a hand wrought iron cross and porcelain gold trimmed plate with birth and death information in German. Iron Crosses date back centuries to Ukraine and before that, what is now France and Germany, and Prussia, now Poland. Primarily they marked Roman Catholic grave sites. This beautiful cross in a Lutheran Cemetery was a rare occurrence. Gottlieb’s son, a blacksmith, was often asked to create iron crosses for his Catholic neighbors. It is considered an art form, with two rarely alike. Family legend has it that Gottlieb Dockter’s iron cross was created by his son as a tribute to his father.

More than 115 years later, descendants of Gottlieb and Salomea Job Dockter were hunting for Salomea’s grave. Salomea outlived her husband by 34 years, living out her later years with family members in Linton, ND. Sources indicate that Salomea was buried next to her husband, Gottlieb, in Friedens Cemetery but there was no record of it and no grave marker. Grave witching experts were called in and it was determined that a female was buried just to the south of Gottlieb Dockter’s iron cross. There was, indeed, a depression in the soil next to his grave.

In September 2017 another iron cross, this one created by Salomea’s great-grandson, Ray Dockter, was installed next to her husband Gottlieb with descendants numbering several generations commemorating the event. They recited The Lord’s Prayer in German, sang a traditional Germans from Russia graveside hymn. Salomea’s final resting place was now marked and celebrated.

There are many stories in this cemetery. In the first quarter of the 20th century, it was common to put photographs of the deceased in a sealed compartment on their grave marker. You will find some in this sacred place. If families could not afford a professional marker for their loved one, they fashioned their own. Some have survived the elements.

In early 1923 the diptheria epidemic struck the community and the Karl Just and Katharina Meidinger family, 9 of their children were baptized at Friedens. On February 12, 1923, 38-year-old Karl died, followed by his 8-year-old daughter, Eva, on February 14th. They were buried in one casket at Friedens on February 16th, 1923. It was an extremely cold winter so grave diggers likely used hot coals to warm the ground enough to be able to dig. Tragedy had not yet ended for this family. 5-year-old Katharina and 3-year-old Elizabeth died on February 19th and 20th. The burial crew decided not to attempt digging through frozen ground again. Instead, they exhumed the casket holding Karl and Eva and from there dug below the frozen topsoil to create a burial space for Katharina and Elizabeth who shared another casket. Thus, within 7 days of unbelievable tragedy, all four were resting peacefully in Friedens Cemetery.

Stories like this are not uncommon on the Dakota Prairie. If tombstones could talk, imagine what they might tell us.