For the history of Balmoral let us go back to the year 1872 when the first settlers came. A great deal of courage, foresight, and a taste for adventure were needed to leave the more settled parts of Ontario, and to make their homes in a land where there was nothing but wilderness. Out of the wilderness along Jackfish Creek, Balmoral grew; slowly the first few years; then when the school was built in 1878 and named Balmoral, it took on life and became the centre of the surrounding district.

Authentic records show that Wm. Ashdown was the first homesteader in this district.

Early in the spring of 1878 a meeting was held at the home of Wm. Ashdown to organize a school district. Three trustees were chosen: George Hyde, Andrew Mitchell and James Barbour, with Mr. Ashdown as secretary-treasurer. When the question of naming the school came up, James Barbour suggested "Balmoral" after Balmoral Castle, Scotland. George Hyde donated a square of land just east of Jackfish Creek and south of the present east-west Balmoral road.

The Victoria Presbyterian Church was built in 1883 and their Sunday School and Church services were held in the morning at Victoria. Methodist services were in the afternoon. For a time there were three Sunday schools, Methodist, Union & Presbyterian. Those of the Baptist faith held Church in the school.

In 1889 the Balmoral Methodist Church was built, later to become Balmoral United Church.

(W)e are indebted to the pioneers of the first forty years, as they are the ones who laid the foundation of the Balmoral of today.

(Source: Rockwood Echoes - 90 Years of Progress (1870 - 1960), pp 109ff [1960; Adapted])

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Established in 1880, prior to 1883 the area was known as the Victoria Greenwood Mission. In 1883 the Victoria Presbyterian Church was built and with union in 1925 became known as Balmoral Victoria United Church.

(Source: Manitoba Genealogical Society [Adapted])

This United church is situated southeast of Balmoral, northeast of Stonewall, in an area known as Wavy Bank. Constructed in 1883, the church was closed between 1917 and 1925. In the latter year, the congregation united with that of the Balmoral Methodist Church to form the Victoria United Church. A decrease in the number of congregants led to a reduction in the frequency of services, from monthly as of May 1949, to annually in June 1968. The first burial in the associated cemetery occurred in 1880.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Society [Adapted])

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Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD14-32-14-02-E1

In the Rural Municipality of Rockwood

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As noted above, a part of the community's story, and those of its inhabitants, from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1982 is told in the volume "Rockwood Echoes - 90 Years of Progress (1870 - 1960)", especially on the cited pages, and in the related later work entitled "100 Years of History, Rockwood Municipality".

Free digital versions of these and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #0644), transcribed by a member or members in 1992 and updated in 2001. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or 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).