Name of R.M.: Great Bend No.:
405
Name of Cemetery: Borden Mennonite Brethren Church Cemetery
Name of Community: Great Deer in the Borden area
Name of Denomination: Mennonite Brethren
Condition of Cemetery: Well kept, cemetery is on church property and the
church is still in use in 2005. The families of the church co-operate
with maintenance of the cemetery.
Ownership of Cemetery: Borden M.B. Church
Approximate number of burials: 172 (2 of these are unmarked)
Legal Land Location: NW 15–41-8 W3rd
Directions: When coming from Saskatoon - Take highway #16 west from Saskatoon-cross
the Borden bridge and after 1 mile take Larsen Road north (on your right)-go
4 miles north and take speed curve east and go 4 miles east, then take
speed curve north and go 7 miles north. You'll see the Borden M. B. Church
on your right side.
When coming from the west (the Battlefords) take highway #16 east. Go
east 3 miles past Borden and turn left, north, on Larsen Road. Follow
directions from there as above.
Recorded by: Julia Neufeld
Information from the gravestones themselves was submitted by Doreen Wiebe
2005.
Date: January 18, 2005
Local Contact Person: Darrel & Kathy Wiebe
Borden SK S0K 0N0
Phone: 306-997-4904
Darrel & Kathy have the cemetery record book.
Comments:
Caretakers have been: K. K. Wiebe, G. G. Thiessen, Martin Lemke, Henry
Wiebe, J. K. Wiebe, J. L. Hamm, J. H. Block, J. R. Wall, Clarence Wiebe,
and Darrel Wiebe.
Besides the cemetery record book, some of the information is from “Borden
Mennonite Brethren Church History 1905-1980 Precious Memories” ISBN
0-88925-165-2, also “Mennonite Brethren Herald” obituaries
and “Family Record of Gerhard G. and Anna Derksen 2003” by
Julia Neufeld. Information from the gravestones themselves was submitted
by Doreen Wiebe.
After meeting in homes since the homesteaders began to come to the area
about 1902-1903, the Hoffnungsfeld School was built in 1906. The first
teacher was Mr. William Diefenbaker, the father of the Right Honorable
John G. Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada. Worship services
took place in the school and mid-week services continued in the homes.
In October 1906 Elder Br. David Dyck donated two acres of land to the
local brethren for a church and cemetery site. Building started in 1907.
In 1952 the present church sanctuary was built. The old church was dismantled
in two days and most of the old lumber was used in the new building.Page
58 & 59 by J. R. Wall –“The corner where the first graves
were started is somewhat on a higher elevation. It was found to be very
rocky and so, for this reason, some plots were discarded. A little further
west and south, the stony conditions decrease but you have sand to contend
with. This makes for easy digging but sometimes cave-ins take place.
. . . I have been told that the first burials took place 1 ½ miles
north of where the church now is. These were later transferred to the
present graveyard. There is record of this in the cemetery-book. The first
burial on record was Baby Martin Lemke, Aug. 7, 1903.
. . . I notice there are some errors and omissions, especially in the
earlier records. Some are impossible to correct and there may be others
I am not aware of.”
