Two plaques on the monument at the Catlin Cemetery northwest of Peabody, KS in Marion Co., KS tell the story of the cemetery and church. Another plaque has an image of the church. Those plaques are the basis for this story.

In 1856 a community cemetery was started one mile south of this location by early pioneers and settlers.

In 1873 the Henry Hornberger and John Evers families were the first Mennonites to settle in the Catlin community. In 1875 Henry Hornberger started the cemetery at the present location by burying one of his children in the northwest corner of his farm. When it became apparent that the Hornberger Cemetery was destined to become the community burial ground, other graves from the earlier community cemetery one mile south were moved to the Hornberger Cemetery.

During the years from 1873 to 1883 the Hornberger and Evers families were joined by 12 more families from the east. They attended union services at the Weaver school house one mile north of the present location and at Canada and Marion, Kansas. (An 1885 Marion County atlas shows the Weaver school as "Sch. No. 40" in Section 7, but it shows no church on the "H. Hornberger" quarter of Section 17.)

In 1885 the Mennonites bought the Hornberger Cemetery ground, and in 1886 they built and dedicated the Catlin Mennonite Church beside the cemetery. (This church is shown on a 1921 Marion County atlas). The front of the church faced west at the location of the current monument. The congregation grew for 75 years and the church was a worship center for the community. The cemetery contains grave markers for names such as Dohner, Eakin, and Good which also appear nearby on the 1885 and 1921 atlases. With many moving elsewhere in 1961 the membership dissolved and moved the congregation to Hesston. When the monument shown here was constructed, there were 115 graves in the cemetery.