"There are excellent records of the Zoar church and cemetery. Much has been written that cannot be covered here, but for further information check the library.
"Zoar Reformed Church and cemetery is located on highway 14 eight and one half miles north and 2 and one half miles east of Newton, Iowa. It is in section 23 of Malaka Township. The foundling fathers (fourteen members) paid Heinrich Hoerling Sr. $109.00 for three and one half acres, erected a small church on the land that is now the cemetery. They held the dedication 30 July 1876. Rev. Abraham Schneck was the first minister and began his work in August 1876. ON 12 January 1877 the need for a cemetery arose, when Rev. Schneck's six year old daughter, Emma, accidentally met her death from a severed artery caused by a broken saucer, when she slipped while reaching for it. It was a German custom to have the burial grounds in the churchyard and Emma was the first to be laid to rest in Zoar Cemetery. Her interment was near the center of the cemetery as we know it now.
"The following years are a saga of deaths from accidents and dread diseases such as Diphtheria that struck down severn out of ten children from two families in the community. It was customary to toll the church bell announcing a death in the community. One toll for each year the person had lived. In order that the count was not lost, the exact number of matches representing the years was placed near the bell ringer. As the rope was pulled, a match was lifted from one side and placed on the other, thus the bell ringer knew when to stop the ringing.
"In the early years the church members, especially the families who had received free burial spaces, were responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery. The care then was small as the cemetery was grown with prairie grass and flowers.
"By the year 1893 the cemetery was no longer part of the churchyard, because the little 'A frame' building was replaced with a large church built north of the old church, down the hill and outside the cemetery. It was a grand building with a sixty foot bell tower and cost $3700.00.
In 1934 the Zoar Cemetery Association was formed, and a ruling made that instead of the free burial plots they were accustomed to, there would now be a $50.00 charge for perpetual upkeep. In 1935 the cemetery was fenced, old trees and shrubs were removed, planted with new ones and the prairie grass was replaced with Kentucky Blue Grass. In 1937 a grounds keeper was hired and it is professionally cared for today.
"The Zoar Reformed Church is a 'Historic Heritage' and was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 1979.
"The hilltop setting our forefathers selected remains a beautiful site. The grounds and graves have been well cared for over the years."
Source: Jasper County, Iowa Cemeteries: Malaka, Mariposa and Hickory Grove Townships, compiled by Jasper County Genealogical Society; published by the Iowa Genealogical Society. Copyright 1994. Used with their permission. To order this book and the listing of those known buried in Zoar Cemetery, contact the Iowa Genealogical Society.
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