Wanner Mennonite Cemetery is located at the corner of Beaverdale Road and Old Maple Grove Road just northwest of Hespeler (part of Cambridge), Ontario, Canada. Around 1814, Henry and Anna Wanner, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ontario in 1810, set aside part of their farm as a family burial ground. As the community grew, Wanner’s graveyard, as it was called in the early days, became the burial site for other residents of the area.

In 1837, the local Mennonite congregation built a small, white brick, meetinghouse across the road from the graveyard. At the same time, the adjacent cemetery land was deeded to the church. (The meetinghouse was replaced by the current Wanner Mennonite Church building in 1938.)

The cemetery was enlarged in 1880 to serve the growing population. Around 1910, some of the graves, mainly of Bechtel family members, in the nearby abandoned Union Meetinghouse cemetery (also known as the Samuel Bechtel burial ground) were moved to the Wanner cemetery.

The ages and conditions of the gravestones reflect the more than 200-year history of the cemetery, which is still in use today. While several of the oldest stones are weathered and broken, others are relatively undamaged. Some of the inscriptions on old stones are in German, reflecting the language spoken by European immigrants and Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania.

Wanner Mennonite Cemetery is located at the corner of Beaverdale Road and Old Maple Grove Road just northwest of Hespeler (part of Cambridge), Ontario, Canada. Around 1814, Henry and Anna Wanner, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ontario in 1810, set aside part of their farm as a family burial ground. As the community grew, Wanner’s graveyard, as it was called in the early days, became the burial site for other residents of the area.

In 1837, the local Mennonite congregation built a small, white brick, meetinghouse across the road from the graveyard. At the same time, the adjacent cemetery land was deeded to the church. (The meetinghouse was replaced by the current Wanner Mennonite Church building in 1938.)

The cemetery was enlarged in 1880 to serve the growing population. Around 1910, some of the graves, mainly of Bechtel family members, in the nearby abandoned Union Meetinghouse cemetery (also known as the Samuel Bechtel burial ground) were moved to the Wanner cemetery.

The ages and conditions of the gravestones reflect the more than 200-year history of the cemetery, which is still in use today. While several of the oldest stones are weathered and broken, others are relatively undamaged. Some of the inscriptions on old stones are in German, reflecting the language spoken by European immigrants and Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania.