Republic County Kansas St. George Cemetery Cemetery Information

St. George cemetery is in Republic County, Kansas and is located three miles south of Munden, Kansas on the east side of the road in Section 15-2-2 (Fairview)

Submitted by Joelle Blecha rethablecha@hotmail.com. Prepared as part of her 2001-2002 4-H citizenship project.

Original Gate and Archway

Memorial Alter — 1966

First Cross erected 1886

In March of 1876 when Jan (John) Vich was buried on a site three miles south of Munden, the place did not yet have a name. Perhaps the local people simply called it the "hurbitov" (Czech for cemetery). Over the next six years, other Czech Catholic people, adults and children, joined Jan in the small piece of prairie. On May 29, 1882, George Hanel Sr. (Vich's son-in-law) donated three acres of land where Vich was buried in the SW corner of section fifteen of Fairview Township, for a cemetery and church. At the people's request Father Kulisek dedicated the cemetery on September 2, 1886. At this time, a large cross was erected near the center of the graveyard. George Severa (another Vich son-in-law) and Father Kulisek dug the first shovels full of dirt for laying the cornerstone of the church on April 24, 1887. St. George's church was formally dedicated on June 30, 1887. The iron gate and archway still remain at the cemetery entrance. The church was moved to Munden (a small community north of the cemetery) in 1950.

In 1966 a memorial altar was built in the front of the cemetery. The memorial is made of silver gray Carthage marble and the cross of Italian white carrara marble was done by a sculptor in Carrara, Italy. This altar is a tribute to the faith of pioneer Catholic families and their descendants who are buried there.

The older stones at this cemetery, many carved in elaborate script, are written in part or entirely in the Czech language which was the mother tongue of these pioneer families. St. George cemetery is near the small town of New Tabor when Jan Vich was buried there. When the railroad came through the area, it missed New Tabor and many people moved to Munden. Some records show St. George Church and Cemetery as the church at Novy Tabor (New Camp)

Note: above information partially copied, with permission from the parish from "The Spirit of St. George's Church, Munden, Kansas 1887-1987."

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©2002, Tom & Carolyn Ward

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