When Mennonites settled the East Reserve in what is now largely the Rural Municipality of Hanover (and surrounding areas), farms were set up in small villages with communally-owned fields and pasturelands arranged in long narrow farmsteads. The result was many small towns and family farms such as this one with graveyards. This cemetery was for one of these towns: Tannenau. It contains nut one visible grave marker.

(East) Tannenau existed as a village for only a few years. Perhaps this makes it all the more important to collect whatever is still available of its history because, unlike the villages that persisted, there are no "Tannenauers" to keep its oral history and experiences from being forgotten completely. On the other hand, the experiences of the settlers who temporarily made up this village contribute just as much to our understanding of life in the early days. Indeed, Tannenau has two unique reasons for being remembered. Firstly, it was here that the first proper store was established in the East Reserve. Secondly, the portion of the memoirs of Mrs. Gerhard Hiebert relating to her childhood in Tannenau provide one of the best existing descriptions of village life in the settlement in the first few years.

According to John Rempel and William Harms, the Tannenau area comprised of Section four, township seven, range five east and the northwest, northeast, and southeast quarters of Section thirty-four, township six, range five east with the village itself on northeast thirty-four, township six, range five east. This area was one of the first to be settled in the Reserve. The first Mennonites arrived in the summer of 1874, and the first records of homesteads being applied for in this area according to the Agricultural Crown Lands Office are Carl Neufeld, 28 August, 1874 on southeast four, township seven, range five east and David DeVer Sr., 3 September of the same year on northeast thirty-four, township six, range five east.

As early as 1876, windmills are known to have existed in Tannenau. Early interest in education was strong and a formal school was soon established. School enrolment statistics from the annual reports of the Superintendent of Education to the Manitoba Legislature show sixteen pupils attended a school in Tannenau in 1878, thirteen in 1879, and ten in 1880. As already referred to, Erdman Penner started his general store in 1877.

After a few years, early expectations and optimism faded in the face of harsh reality, and Tannenau, like the East Reserve in general, suffered a severe loss of population largely to the more recently established West Reserve across the Red River. Although a few individuals left as early as 1875 and 1876, the migration reached its peak about 1882. It has been estimated that nearly half of the original Bergthal settlers left the East Reserve.

The sole remaining marker visible at this place is for Jacob Wall, who arrived in Quebec City in 1874 and is known to have been both one of the first to break ground in the area and one of the only original settlers to remain there.

(Source: Historical Sketches of the East Reserve 1874-1910 - Villages Biographies Institutions, pp 235f [Adapted])

Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD16-04-07-05-E1

As noted above, a part of the town's story and those of its inhabitants from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1910 is told in the volume "Historical Sketches of the East Reserve 1874-1910 - Villages Biographies Institutions", especially starting on page 235. A free digital version of this 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 #1393), transcribed by a member or members in 1999. 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).

Additionally, the Manitoba Mennonite Society curates and makes available extensive records related to the communities established by the families of their faith who contributed to the story of Manitoba.