The Borculo cemetery is located just south of the village on the south slope of the Borculo hill on 96th Avenue. This hill was a 20-foot rise above the lowlands that covered about 80 acres in all directions. The higher elevation was ideal for a burial ground. In fact, just 100 feet south from the edge of the cemetery began some of the lower areas of Borculo, where water would have come into a grave if it were dug there.
When Gerrit Klanderman opened his grocery store in Borculo in 1869, these Indians would walk across the hill to his store on the northwest corner of 96th Avenue and Port Sheldon street, to buy food and tobacco. Gerrit’s younger brother Derk would often play with the Indian boys from the encampment. They spoke the Algonquin language which he soon learned to speak, and the Indians also learned some Dutch.
My great grandmother was always deeply concerned about these Indians, first in regard to their spiritual welfare, but was unable to talk to them, as she could only speak Dutch. But their son of 8 years could speak the Indian language, learning the language by playing with the Indian children. Many a time she would send young Dick over to the Indian encampment with a hot pot of soup if one of the Indian children would be sick. She always drilled in Dick that he must tell them about God and that He gave His son Jesus who died on the cross, arose again from the grave, and is now in heaven that whosoever would believe on Him shall never perish but have eternal life--Indians, Dutch, or any nationality. These Indians would listen very carefully what the young lad would tell them. Tears would come in my grandmother's eyes when she would see these Indians walk bare feet in the snow the early part of the winter. But she did not have to worry, they could take care of themselves fairly well. They kept quite warm in their wigwams. My great grandmother, Mrs. Klanderman's house was a log cabin with an open fireplace and a dirt floor. Many a time the log cabin was filled with aroma of wild game she was cooking.
Years later the encampments in Borculo showed the evidence of the Indian’s presence there by the number of flint arrowheads and other artifacts found there. Adrian Geurink remembers finding many arrowheads on their father’s farm as a boy. My father also found a number of them on our farm across the street.
The Borculo Cemetery Association began in 1874 with the purchase of a narrow strip of land from the Lahuis family’s 40-acre farm. The cemetery was later owned by the Borculo Christian Reformed Church, which is quite unusual for a cemetery to be owned by a church. The church at that time was called the Holland (Dutch) Christian Reformed Church of Olive, located on the former site of Koop’s General Store.
The cemetery was first operated by a board of directors and a sexton. It was plotted out like many early cemeteries in America, with grave lots laid out in an east-west direction. When the deceased are lowered into the ground, they are buried facing East, which is a symbolic Christian tradition based on the expected return of Christ in the Eastern sky (Matthew 24:27). In the early days people were buried in pine caskets without a cement vault. As time moved on, many old gravesites would cave in and need more dirt added to level the ground.
The first person to be buried in the Borculo cemetery was 20-year-old John Linderschot, in 1874. His family was one of only four families living on the east side of 96th Avenue at the time. His mother’s farm was just north of the present cemetery, near the Indian encampment. The second person to be buried in the Borculo cemetery was Giljam Lokers, who died on April 14, 1876 at the age of 48 years. He was one of the earliest settlers in Borculo, arriving in 1869. His son Jacob started the first harness shop in Borculo in 1909 and then later moved to Zeeland in 1913, specializing in shoe repair. His descendants still operate the shoe store called “Lokers Shoes” in Holland today, 107 years later.
The next person to be buried in the cemetery was Gerrit Klanderman, the oldest son of Jacobus Klanderman, the first settler in Borculo.
In June of 1941, my father Martin Essenburg became the new sexton of the cemetery, holding this job for 41 years, until he retired from the job in 1982 at the age of 75. I was five years old when my father became the sexton, and I would sometimes go to the cemetery to watch him dig a grave. As soon as I could lift a shovelful of dirt, he put me to work. I was his helper until I graduated from high school, after which time each of my brothers got their turn helping my father. We learned a lot about grief in those days.
The previous sexton was Anne Machiela, who served in this position for many years. He was 76 years old when he retired. Like my father, he lived near the cemetery, in a brick house at the top of the hill. When Anne retired, he sold his special grave-digging shovel to my father for one dollar. The second grave my father ever dug, in 1941, was for the third wife of Anne Machiela, who died on July 7, 1941. My father received $5.00 for digging a grave at this time.
- Check with the family and the cemetery map as to where the grave was located
- Drive to the cemetery with our tractor and 2-wheeled trailer
- Lay out the grave site 3-feet by 8-feet using 2-inch wooden planks
- Cut the grass sod into squares with a spade and stack them alongside of the grave so they could later be placed in the same spot as where they came from
- Load up the first yard of excess dirt onto the trailer. I would then unload this dirt into a low area on the southeast corner of the cemetery and come back for a second load. All of this excess dirt had to be removed to make space for the cement vault.
- My father would continue digging until the grave was 5 feet deep.
- After the service at the cemetery, we would fill the grave with the dirt placed alongside and put the grass sod squares back to where they were originally.
Before power lawn mowers, the cemetery board would cut the grass in the cemetery just before Memorial Day with a scythe. Later the sexton used a lawn mower to cut the grass on a regular basis.
There are now approximately 900 people buried in the Borculo Cemetery, throughout its 144 years of existence. My father buried 320 people as the sexton for 41 years. All of these people he buried had a story to tell. For some, life was difficult; for others, life was great, enjoying the freedom and opportunities living in America.
Some folks have wondered if we ever had to dig more than one grave for a funeral. I sadly remember the day when we did. On March 3, 1946, Peter Weenum, age 26, who was the son of William and Grace Weenum of Borculo, perished in a housefire, along with his son Terry, age 5, and his daughter Penny, age 3. The fire took place in Saginaw, Michigan but the burial was held in the Borculo cemetery a few days later. I remember digging a grave large enough to accommodate all 3 caskets.
I believe the saddest days in the life of the Borculo community were during the year 1944, when three young men from Borculo were killed in action in World War II.
Arlyn Blauwkamp was killed in action during the Vietnam conflict on January 12, 1968 and is buried in the soldier’s plot of the cemetery. The soldier’s plot is part of the Batema addition to the cemetery.
For years after World War II, services were held at this soldiers’ plot on each Memorial Day. All former veterans would march from the church in Borculo and up the hill to the cemetery. Henry Geerts, a local army captain, would lead this group and a speaker would give a patriotic speech.
Today the Borculo CRC has a committee that is assigned to the operation and upkeep of the cemetery. The current committee consists of Steve Schrotenboer, Paul Geurink, and Rob Overway. They continue to do an excellent job of keeping the cemetery looking attractive for the community as they drive by and for those of us who walk through this sacred place.