Burials in the Plumer Settlement were first made in Saar's Field. Fearing that the graves in Saar's Field would one day be lost, the Plumer Settlement Cemetery was established across the road from the Salem German Evangelical Lutheran Church during the ministry of Pastor Samuel Estel (August 1872 - July 1874). The first grave in the new cemetery was that of Johann Plumer's wife, Maria Plumer, who was born in 1796 and died on December 10, 1859. She had originally been buried in Saar's Field, but was later moved to the new cemetery.

The cemetery is well-kept. Many of the stones have German inscriptions. However, some limestone markers are difficult or impossible to read and others are broken or misplaced. Furthermore, some of the lots have no stones or markers.

Descendents of the early pioneers gather at the church every year on Memorial Day for a special memorial service, and then cross the road for a brief ceremony at the cemetery. Everyone is invited to attend this memorial service — friends and visitors are always welcome.

The list of burials shown below was compiled from various sources, including the book “Mills County Iowa Cemeteries”, which covers the years through about 1980. This valuable book, published by the Clarinda Publishing Company, was the end result of a project begun in 1975 by the Hastings Federated Womens Club to transcribe all of the gravestones in Mills County, Iowa. We would like to acknowledge their efforts and thank them for publishing this valuable information. Every year or so, one of us tries to “walk” the cemetery to find anything new since the previous visit, and then make any changes to this listing.

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