Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery

Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery
Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery
Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery
Location 48th Ave. SE.
Ashley, North Dakota
Coordinates 46°04′41″N 99°22′44″W / 46.078°N 99.379°W / 46.078; -99.379Coordinates: 46°04′41″N 99°22′44″W / 46.078°N 99.379°W / 46.078; -99.379
Area 1.7 acres (0.69 ha)
Website Ashley Jewish Cemetery Association
NRHP Reference # 15000807
Added to NRHP November 17, 2015[1]

The Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery is an early 20th century burial site near Ashley, North Dakota. The Russian Jewish community that farmed the area beginning in 1905 arrived as refugees fleeing Russia's pogroms against the Jewish people. Within the next 20 years, the Jewish community moved to less harsh areas to carve out their livelihoods. Established in 1913, the cemetery remains as the only physical evidence that the Jewish homesteader community existed in the area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in 2015, and re-dedicated in 2017.

Background

Russian Jewish migrants who fled to America to escape pogroms in their home country, began staking homestead claims in McIntosh County, North Dakota in 1905, arriving two decades into the county's homesteading immigration flux. What they found was a stark landscape of rocky soil, and conditions that included living in sod houses. Nevertheless, for the next 20 years they persevered, seeing the fruits of their labors in agriculture, livestock and dairy farming. Eventually, they found the area too harsh and moved on to other areas.[2]

The cemetery

The Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery is located approximately three miles north of the city limits of Ashley, North Dakota.[3] Rabbi Kiva Bender's 1913 burial is believed to be the first in the cemetery.[4] The last burial was in 1932, about the time the community itself was abandoned. The cemetery is the only remaining physical evidence that the community existed.[5] Spanning the period of 1913–1932, the site contains 22 monuments, each epitaph inscribed in the Hebrew language. Infants were buried in a separate area. According to the National Park Service, Ashley was the largest Jewish agricultural settlement ever in North Dakota, with the largest number of marked graves of Jewish homesteader families in either North or South Dakota.[3]

NRHP and other recognition

The cemetery was added to the NRHP in North Dakota on November 17, 2015.[5] North Dakota governor Doug Burgum declared May 21, 2017 "North Dakota Jewish Homesteaders Day", to honor the re-dedication ceremony held by descendants of those buried in the cemetery.[6]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Bender 2015, pp. 29–30
  3. 1 2 Bender 2015, pp. 4–5
  4. ↑ Bender 2015, pp. 81–83, 96–97
  5. 1 2 "Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery (overview)". National Register of Historic Places Program. National Park Service. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  6. ↑ Jerry, Klinger. "The Ashley N. D. Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery" (PDF). The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. Retrieved June 5, 2017.; Donovan, Lauren (May 13, 2017). "Ashley Jewish cemetery gets rededication". The Washington Times. Associated Press. Retrieved June 5, 2017.

References

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