-being_ the Newsletter of the Hanover I Steinbach Historical Society Inc.

No. 4 July, 1994

Immigration (Paraguay) 8 y Irene Enns Kroeker

Our loca l (ieneral Conference Churc hes have recently undergone an cxLcnsivc ''Life'' proces.s - n proce!;~ rlevelope<l in promotin g 1he understanding of 1he past , present and future of the J\.1ennonite C hu rch. As we ex­plored our pas1 and came to terms with the number of times we emi grnlc cl in order 10 keep ourselves "separate from the wor ld", our Church often wondered if our peop le would continue Lo find ne,v "lands" to escape to in the future . l!cing (he leader of one such discuss ion gro up , I s hared with them 1he reasons that our forefather s em -111igra1.ed; from Prussia LO Russia, from Rus­sia to Canada, and then from Canada to ~•fexico :rnd Paraguay. \V e found many similarities between the decision~ that our an­cestors had to make when compared with our decisi ons we mak e toda y - decisions the govl!rr1111e11f is making fnr us in our educa­tion system, the threat of war in various pans of the world, the affluenc;e (hal w~ t:njoy in Canada and the influence of other cultures, rcli~ions and lifestyles 011 usu:, u Mt'1mo1tite peqple. These thought s were enough to make some of chem wish to move away once more!

In stu dying the past immigration process­es of the Mennonite peopl e, we find an ex­treme ly well organized and supporti ve Church behind the scenes. This was true in the e:u ly immigratinns as we ll as the im­migratio n of the C hortit zcr Mennon ites to 1-'ara~u:,y in the 1920's. I have heen amazed and impre ssed by 1hc bookkee ping, records. correspondtmc~ (in German (md in F.nglislt) ~ the decisions made by the "Brotherho od". and lhe endless legnl work required to 1n(lke this move happen.

Tht" docjsiun lo 111uvt" was instigaled by the government tryin g to unify the schoo l sys ­lem by changing rhe privute ~chonls fo puh lie schools, thereby retaining co ntrol over the subject mat ter. Some peop le of the l::11sl Reserve Chor1i1.zer Men nonites responded to Lhis govc rnml'nl Lkcision by <.luing wl1ul ll1ey had always done in the past - seek a new country where they could maintain control of the ed uca tion of their chi ldren. In a let­ter co the gove rnment signed by che Church

;(-)~;-:g

1111,:,1 .. ,,

Ill Paraguay- Heinrich Pe1111ers, Mrs. Peler K. Kehler (nee Elizabeth Palk) and Abram D. N. Wiebes. circa 1929130.

officials in Paragua y. they state the follow­ing us their reason for movin g: "Now , we leave this cou111ry, because we believe 1ha1 no Chris tian Church can prevail withom the Word of C,od in their .schools . We do no1 be­lieve 1.ha1 such inscructions should be reduced to a minimum, hut rather, that it should be the greatest and the foremost, c,•cn as our Lord said ·seek ye first the kingdom of God.' " We as parcms, currently struggling to kt!ep lht! I ..urtl's PrJycr in ou r schools, feel a slight tug inside as we read this hcurl le lt leHer fhnt our forefat her.,;, wrote to the governme nt. The commitment to their chil­dren's eclucation \1,•as so grem that they were willing 10 give all 10 keep cheir beliefs intact.

That is nol lo ,ay, however, chal thing s

went smoothly from that day on. Many peo­ple strugglW willI lht! decision lo slay or' move. Brotherhood meetings were held in ever~, Church .and <.1 comple.1e lis1 of r1cople wishing to make this move was compiled and handed in to chc Wnisen uml (who harullt!tl all the banking and legal work of the Chor ­Lilzl-r ChurchL·s). A 1

' FuL~rsm·~e Comrnittee 0

was establ ished consisting or Mar tin C. Frje~ n, A .A . Rrann , He inric h Un rau, Abra­ham .I. Priesen, Pecer Peters , an d P,·1c.- I. Dyck. They signed all !he shipping co n1rac1s and land agrccmcncs as well as helping the C anad ian \\taise11:1mt work lhrough some of the problems involved with moving large HlllO UlllS ul' p COl) l e .

See Immigration page 2

Immigration continued from pag_e

The person thac was to spend much time helping fron, the Cana dian scene was the Waiscnfuc.rstchcr Mr. H.G. Klippenstein. He handled much of the correspo ndence, send­ing the money held in his trust to P>1ragu>1y, ;,nd workin)( wil.h the legalities involved in moving large amoums of personal belong­ings sut.:h a long \,:ay. This tremendous job did not automatically stop once the people wc:1c sell led i11 Pnr«guny. The Tntercontinen ta! Company Ltd. handling all the land trans­ac1ions in Paraguay enjoye d all lhe wo,k the Mennonites were handing their way and so docide.d that they would show mnre Men nonites the good fortune that was bestowed o n them in Paraguay. They made some films (they ca lled them "mov ies") of the people settled in P>1mgu>1y. and theu wished to show them to the Mennonit e people jn Canada, hoping to lure some more peo1>le w this pro mised land. The Church in Canada however, were shocked and dismayed Ill such a suggest io n, refu~ing on the grounds that showing a "movie" was against chcir religion. f\.1r. Klippenstein, in a letter (in \Ter. man) wrote 10 the Company on February 24th, 1928, r•olitely informing Mr. Rogers (the person handling 1hcir accoum) 1ha1 the C hurch had decided nut to produce too much "aufregung" (disharmony) among lhei.r people al this lime ond hoped that the company did not think that they believed that tht'St' pidurt>s wen~ of poor laste, rather, tba1 it did no1 suit the Ch urch to have these pictures sbo ,vn at this lim e. The Comp;)ny wa.~ none too pleased with 1his decision however, and ,vrote back the very next day "I think you arc making a very great mis~ take. I am sending a L'OP)' of your leUcr to Bishop Friesen and the ministers in Paraguay. I can see no reason at all why the people should 1101 see their relatives and friends and what they arc doing. Such action on your part look~ a~ though ~on,eone wishes 10 prevent people from go ing to Paragu ay."

Somelhing ,nn~t have happened very quickly to change the Company's mind be­cause tht! 111::xl pii::1,;c or corr~pondence dated February 271h, I 928 from the Company to Mr. Klippensle in rnakts a very 1111ic.:k relr:n; tion: "It comes to my attention that the sra1c­me11t hns beeu made lbnt the [ntercontinental Co. wanted to show 1he pictures of Paraguay in Churdu:..'>. Please atlvi.se the n1iuisle1 s that this is not true. The Company never wanted In show any piclur~ in any Nlt.!'111m11il.c Church as the Company does not feel that thut is a proper pince.'' He also added•· Also please let these people know that the Ameri­arn moving piclurl· l'oncc.-:rns wanted lo )how lhese pictures in a ll the moving picture houses in the UniLed Stat~s and lhe Compa ­ny refused to allow them to do this. Even thougj1 they offered 10 pay money for the op­portunity t.o show these pictures the Com­pany rcruscd."

Not everyone wished for the Mennonite people lo seHle in Parag uay however. Mr. Fred Engen (who had been hired by the Mcn­nonilcs as their guide ) received n letter on July 18th, 1921 from A.O. Kissenger, Attor­ney at Law in Kansas Cily, wttr11i11M lhc 60,000 Mennonites that "will lea"e Ameri­ca to settle in Paragua y ... and plan a na ­t iou an thdr own.- ► He spoke against their decision saying "This is an idle drcum ttnd "''ill end in dii.a~ter. n He hecomcs quite em­phatic in his warning using words like "S'l'Ai\JD! DO NOT RUN 1 Racecl, .<l1e.<are bre,1,.ing in the world: tremendous formcnls ar~ al work, therefore concraction is neces­sary for protection against infiltration by licentious rteis. Ouring w:ll' your women are safe in America and their integrity is somc­lhing worth fighting for. Virtue in woman and courage in man go hand in hand."

The tru ~ rn~tson for his de.c.ire to war n the Mennonites came through loud and clear as, at the end of the le11er, he stal.es: " The ter­rible waste in transportation is a sense less mortgage and is enough to buy irnrrov ecJ land in Am erica and save you toil and tears. H

It seems he dcrinitcly had an ull erior motive

through all hb <..lire prcdi<.:lions,. Of course, all the stories that surround this

immigration rnovermmt are lOo man y lO re count here in this limited space availab le. They are without a doubl however, 1hc m,,st interesting, terrifying and puzzling as the Canadian l\1ennonites und Paraguayan Men­nonites work together to meet. Ihe needs of all the Mennonite people - Lhosc thal wishL·c.l tn retain control over the educat ion of their children by moving and those wished to re­tain cnmro l hy wor king with the sys tem in Canada. Doth groups had a vision • LO cdu ­c<11e I heir children using the values hased on 1he true Word of' God.

"f\ttay lite govenunenl have the insight to be more tolerant towards the schools of the Chr isl ian churc hes, ancJ Ih m~ he a hll!ssing for the entire world in promoting and sus­taining Christianity." (July 7, 1931, signed Martin C. rr iesen, Johan Schroeder, Abr. E. Uicsbrec hl, Johan W . Sawatzky, Abram A. Braun, Abram B. Toews, Wilh. L. Gies­brecht, Johan Schroeder)

•1rans lations of 1hc above mentioned lcucrs done by Ren Hoeppner

Minutes Ha no.-er Skinb acb H istorica l Soci ety

Tue sday, Mureh 2Y, 1994

Present: Roy Locwl·11, Henry Fas 1, Jo hn Dyck, Wilmer Penner, Delbert Plett, Jake Doerksen, Orlando Hiebert, Irene Kroeker, Dorii,. Penner.

I . U111fale of Volume 3 - Village Histories Th e revised new publication needs lhe photographs and maps; copyprints may be made at any photo shop in Steinbach anti reimhur~emems can be made by handing in the receipt to Delbert.

2. Membersh ips: Membe rship policy was revised. Present fee for nnm,a l membership i~ $10.00 wich a free COP>' of Oberschultz book for a new memb~rship. SlUdenf memher,;hip i!<i set at SS.00. Membership is payable annually on Junuary l '\I or ead1 yt:ar. Each issue of Newslener to include a statement of

membersh ip policy. 3. Newsletter:

Donation: Each issue of Newsletter is to include an appeal for donations and tax deductible rcccipls arc 10 be issued. HSHS books 3r-e to he :ldve rrised in each news­letter.

I .;1\nenc t! Klipptm stei11 has prn11osed that the Historian and the Prcscrvings be mailed to both rnembersh irs.

Wilmer Penner to send copy of ncwslct­leJ'~ lo Lane.aster 'vlennonite Hi,,;,,torical Society; Essex County.

New appointments to the news letter:

Material Cu lture Series - Doris Penner Character Sketches (series) - Delbert Pleil Hook Review F.ctitor - 1 rene K rocker

Women's History Month Did you know Chai. I.he month of October

has been declared "National Women's His­wry Month" by Status of Women Canada? Women's llistory Month is intended to t.:1!l~bralc ~:md acknow·ledse the vital role that women have played in shaping their commu• nil ies, a role for which there has been little recognition.

\Vhile Inst year's emphasb. was 11laced on the theme "HDRstory of Work: Recogniz­ing \Vomcn's Coull ibul iolls ''. the theme for this coming October has yet to be an -

2

nounc<.·d. Since 1994 is also the "Year of the Fami­

ly'', ,vc, as a Jvlenuunile cumm Lu1ity, should pe, hap~ incorporate these two themes and acknowledge the contr ibut ions made hy ou t· •'for emot.hcrs" and pay special tribute to them.

You may obtain more informat ion ahnut '>.'omen's .Hi.sLory Month by wriline ,o Stotm• of Women Canada, 360 Albert St., Onawa, Ontario, KIA IC3.

The Reverend Johann Schroeder Chronicles B~· Jacob Doerksen

The turmoi l cause d by the war in Europe, 1914-18, the pending loss of control over re ligious private schoo ls, serving as schoo l in­specto r while also farming, news or the revo lution and suffe ring relatives in Russia, writ ing poetry, and running n "' ltact Mis­sio n)! wh ile se rvin g as a minister of a church required ~rcat skill and Slam ina. OnL' pt•r.;.on who seems to have possessed this and more was Reverend Johann Schroeder of the Chor-1i11. Church. Reverend Schroeder, born in Russia, was the olde st son of Gerhard Schroeder, Reeve, !\.'Tiller, an d Farmer of Eigenhof, In 1920-21, duri ng negotiations wilh lht': tvfaoiloba <Jovern111e111 a.nd planned emigrat ion 10 Para guay, Johann Schroeder recorded the .1;eq11em:t:! or events ner1;1ini11g to the above. On December 31, 1921 he seems to have passed his chronicles on to hh invalid son who continued to record his father's ac­livitics until ScpLL·mb<.T 5. 1943. almOSl 22 years. At this point Re,•. Schroede r' s second son too k ovc:r the: ,.:hore of k~t>ping a rt't·ortl o r happenings at the Schroeder home. Th e chronicle ends on September 26, 1957.

For the history research .~cudent these chronicle s arc invaluable. As already ment ion ed they contain info rmation on aid to Russia. and 1he ope rat ion o r pr i,·atc schoo ls until 1926, well after the Govern­mcnc's first move co take over Mennonite School s i11 their all.cm pl at "Socia l Engineer­ing" the population. T hey also contai n in­fo, m ru ion nbo ut f he plnnning nod negot iatin g of the move to Paraguay, the Se­cond World W,u, the tlr<tft and CO' s, plu, much more such as deaths , dates, times, age ut time of d~ 1lh and d~11e or funerals .. lohau11 recorded his father's activities in much more detail then Uerhant. l n more in".-1:.inc.:es h~ even recor ded scripture references his father used in hh sc.:nnons. U<::rlum.l, .ult hough 1101 as detailed in his recordings as Johann, has other in formation Johan n doesn 'l have. H~ kept a record of correspo ndence his father and he had with 01hers in their "Tract Mi ~sion."

The rollowin~ is a brief example of what the chronicles conta in (t ra nslated froni the Ut'rman): Sept . 24, 1922 - Father went to Blumengard Schoolho use (used as Church). Tuxt Genesis 2:7 Sept. 25, 1'>22 - Father wcm to Gruem hal for a hroth erhood meeting . Rev. /\. Zachar ­ias and others from Saskatchewan also at ­tended. A fter father vi,.it.ed Peter Sawat,.ky 1

,;

and for lunch he was at Rev. Johann Dueck and after lunch he stopped in at Hein Unsers but chcy weren' t at home. S!.!pL 26

1 1922 Fal h~r wc111. l.o a RroU 1er

hood meeting in Chort itz. Mr. Corneli us

Toews and Cornelius Wiebe from Oergfeld were here. Sept. 27, 1922 - My parents wem to Blumengard for the funeral of Mrs. Cornelius Banman. They a lso stopped at Gerhard Doerksens in regards to 1he money borrowed for emigratio n. Sept. 28. 1922 - Rev. Hein Doerk sen was here. Father went to Joha n Heiherls. April 16, 1923 - Peter L. Giesbrecht was here. April 17, 1923 - Saw wild geese, they were flyi ng Soul h enst. April 18, 1923 - Heard a Meadowlark. After

lunch at about 3 o'clock the spring run-off ,vate r t'ame llow ing over the snow and soon bare gro und was visible . April 19, 1923 - Ducks visited this area . Apri l 21, 1923 - The snow is almost all gone from the lields. Facher drove 10 Kehlcrs. This was the fir i;;t t ime thi s .spring that he u5ed the buggy. I k heard that the boy who had grahhed onto an oak lree in I.he waler at Prairie Ro~c was rescued . April 22, 1923 - Father we11t to church i11 Chortit z. Rev. II. Doerksen spoke on Roma ns 10 : 10 a nd half of the arli cle.s of faith,

Presentation at Annual Meeting of HSHS

By Irene Enns Kroeker

People interested in find ing help to trace their roo t,. gathered at the M e11no nite ll eriiage Museum on January 28, I 994 10 hear Uelhen l' letl, Dr. Koydeu I .ucwcu, a11tl John Dyck present the sources used in their mosl rnt..:t:ni his1orical rest:ar ch.

Plett presented the sourc es that produced his lakst 900 µugc voluntt· on the.· Kkinc Gemeinde series called LEADER S. "Biog ­raphy U!l-t>d as a m~-tlium lO r~late history, is the new vehicle used in telling the story of 1 he Kleine Gemeinde ," reluted Plett. The volume, released in December, 1993, will make availab le 600-700 pages of documents and gcncologica l infor m ation neve r befo re published. 120 pttgcs previously publishctl a,;

excerpts are now included in thei r entirety. " Thi s book is intended to mainstream the Kleine Gemeinde story," Piel.I concluded.

Sources of intere st 10 those in the East Re~-;crvc Rcrgt ha]cr/C hortir 1.er hackgro11nd was presented by John Dyck. Held at the HSHS nff ice are records, of 1he ,ni,1nl es of the R .M. of Hanov er meetings from 1900; Cl 101·tif/ .er { ;t1un: l1 K!!gisl.cr; S1,n1111crfeh..lt:r Church Register; ,•illagc and community rnl.:orcls ~ind fom ily record .,;.

Presenting for Dr. Royden Loewen was the moderntor for the evening U r. Lawrence Klippenstein. Dr. Loewen is the author of the recently released boo k FA MILY , CHURCH AND MARKET. In his 1>aper OVERVIP.W OF MY WORK . Dr. Loewen outlin ed the central theme of his resea rch as " the meeting or the traditi onalist , agrarian groups ,vith mod ern, ind11stria l

1 capita list

1

3

integrative . urban society; that is the cnconn­rer of Gemein.!>chart people with a Gcscll­schaft society . 11

Exploring (111! immigrant's private worlds, Loewen followed those historians " wl,o lnok for ways in which the immig.ram group de ­veloped strategies to cont inue old ways in che new environm ent.·• Two themes arc explored within 1he hook in the wider contex t of im migra, ion and adapt atio n; the internal social organization that undergirded suhjecti"" self­perceptions and their sense of peoplehood; and a comparison of immigra nt..; in Cunadu to 1he immigrant s in the US specifically, Nchra ,'ika and Mnnil obo.

Highlighting the evening with laughter and fun wa~ Ann e Fm1k'~ Low u~ rman Slage presentation. The audience identified with Hein as he endu recJ a hom e visit from his teacher after a misbehaviour in schoo l, liMenetl with reverence to the m01her' s story to her children about the background of a Mennonite ,,1ar refugee am.I d1ut·kkcJ at a hen pecked husband's predicament with his new­ly found wifo and mother -in -law . The scorics presented in Low Germa n tr iggere tl 1111!111ories of our pnsc in a truly unique and de lightfu l way,

<)uotat ions from the jou rnal of Rev. Hein ­ric h F1iese 11 (1842-1921), Hochfe ld , Manitoba

Many a person thinks what he has given away is los t. But cvcrylhin g you give '"·ith a willing heart you have gained .

Century Far111 A"1ards Ry T rcnc t;nns Kroeker

Excited clumcr lilied the room as 15 fom1-er neighbours of Ja cob K. and F.vu Gocn-7en f><!lllcd in to enjo) ' 1he presentation of the first Century Farm Aw11rd to be given 10 a Men nonirc from the ll anover area. <lera l­dine (Goe rt zen) Funk , the present owner of 1he 100 year old farm named Hochfeld Farms, welcomed frie nds and neighbours 10 Lhc original home stead of her II' eat grt:ut­grandfath cr Alte .lohann Kehler in Mochfe ld, Man itoba.

ln1111igruling 10 Cnnndn in 1874 from the Berg1hal Colony in Ru«ia , Alie Johann Kehler (widower) IO~cthcr with his children, sc.ttlcd on Pt SW l/ 4 Sec 30-7-oH'. Thi s lrond is currently occup ied by Jacob K. Goer1,.en' < youngest daughter and her husband , (Je ral­dine ,md Stan Funk. Johann Kehler' < <on Jacob. 26 years of age 01 I he time, developed , he original si1e where C\'eryone bad gathered for I.hi.< occasion, and is current ly owned by Jucttudin c Goertzen (e ldest daugh let or the late Jacob K. and Eva Goertzen).

Being Mends, relatives and neighhooor-; to the Goertzens for many y,,,,rs annbutcd to the cxci1emcnt as Dert Mai,.e pre.¼'nted ace r­tificate ond a sign 011 bch~Jr of the Ma ni(O· ba Department of Allricultu,e a11d the Ma nito~" Historicul Society. Th e I lanover Steinb ach Historical Society presen1111ion of a certilimte was made b)' the president and found er o f the society, Oell>ert Pl eil Q.<.:. Aaron 1-'rlescn, Reeve or Hanov er a nd a friend ol' the family presc11tcd Jac'l ueline and Geraldine and Stan Pun k with a book and a letter of congralu latinn'i.

Iren e Enns Kroeker, niece to J acoh K. Goer1.,.e11, presented the backg round infor ­mntion to Lhc occasion for celeb1~tiou. Arr iving with his futhcr, Jacob Kehler had accumulated a S35. 70 debt along lhc way . He immediately went about the task 10 order so me su pplie s and ge t seukd in . Jacob was soo n Lo 111arry Gerhnrd L. Kchlcr's d augh ­ter Susanna, also from Hochfel,1.

When Ja cob Kehler died in 1898, Susanna cominued 10 live nn the fain, ,.,,th her duugh ­te, bhatb<:th, who had married J acob Goc 11 zen. Ja cob had lived i11 1 heir r;tmily ror ma n)' year s as u foster child. Elizabeth hod lwo chil dren Susan and .lacoh , who then inhcril­ed this property upon her dea lh. They spl it the inheritance and Jtu .. -ub K . Gocn1cn ac• quir ed the current proper! y known as PL NW 1/4 30-7-r.F.. 1 ht eldest daughter to Jacob K. am.J Evu Goertzen. Jacqueline. co11li1111t:.\ to farm Jhe o, il',inal 1Xl ucrcs.

Smil es. nods and teau were "i.harecl n~ the forme r f1ic111ls ,ind neighbours or Jaoob K. Gorrucn listened to .l acque lin e ':ih:.uc h~r memori rc. r,f l1t::1 n:l'l'1ttly departed father.

;' ... .· ... =: . ... I ...

Bert Mui1.,· prl'senring the first Cemury /,urm Award 10 JocquelinP G<H!r1z,•n as S1a11 and Gerry Fu11k look nn.

Th e fiMI song" t >11,h.ly's Iland s" became a lr ih111c IO all who remembered I.heir l'ather's strong yet ca, ing hunds working hard on thc,r generationa l farmste,ids.

In closing, lfov . Richard Marten<, friend or the family and Pastor or the Chonitzer Mennonite Church offe red a prayer and blcssin& on the fif th generati on owner s as lhey conti nue to rurm 1he land settled by Uteir great-great-grandfather.

The Hano ver Steinbach Hisi o , iettl S0tie1y is also interested In presenting a Ce ntury Parm Ce rtificat e 1.0 any family member own ­ing land (but 1101 necessarily occupied at Lhal.

Lime) tl1a1 wHs homesteaded I 00 years ago , provided tha1 the land and the origiual homestead wc1c both located in 1he bound­aries of the same village. Phone Ilene F.nn, Kroeker at 326 2777 for further details.

Anyone resi,linP, on a rarm 1hat has been occupied by a family membe r of lhe origi ­nal homeslcudcr for 100 years or more is aske d to cont act the Centu ,y Farm Award Oiv., Agriculwru l Trainin g Oranch, 810-40 1 Yo rk Avenu e, Winnipe g, Mu nitoba RJ C OV8.

/11 ll ocli/eld - S11za111,a 1<,•hlw , t:lizabetlt (Ke/tier) a,,.,,, .. ,.,, mu/ Jacob F. Goertzen. 4

President's Report Dy Oclbcrl F. Pleil , Q.C.

I am not alway& sure whal ~huulU he in the " President' s Report. " The first interest 1;ccm!'i to he to reporr and co1nmem on the acti vities of the I ISi IS. It also seems ap ­propri::i.te to comment on happeniugs in Lhi: wider community which impact upon our plan~ and prnjec 1s.

One such event was a visit to Steinbach on May l.l , 1994, by frknd s Abrum W. and Anna I lieberl of Asuncion , Paraguay . Mr. Hiebert hns Lu.:e.n lu:all of the l!~honit.zcr Waisenamt Kom.itee for many years and in this position hus done much travelling and mad e many friends the wor ld over. In May of 1993 they had the opportunity to travel to Russia and Sweden a!'i the gue~t.s or Tct,·a Pok. a multi -national Corporation active in South America. Fo r lwo weeks they wer~ able ,o tour the villages of Chortitza, Molot schna a111J Hergth al with pr ivate chauffeur and tran slat0r . Sec their reports Jluhli, t1eU iu lh t: lvfe1111onilisclle Post, November I 9. December 3 and 17, I 993.

It is my impression lhaf the Hfobcrts w<.:n.•. able to access and proper ly interpret more of l11t> lk,r, th al ,tory in Russia than has previously been possible. They have abo 1ake11 ,;,,me 200 photos and kept a daily jour ­nal of their trip. 1 hope we will encournge them to publish this information as a "Reise­hericht" which would he invaluable for fu­ture travel lers and historians.

On a related note, OJ'la11do Hicht:n, flit: new Vice-president of the I ISi IS. returned fro111 a lrip to Ru~si:1 on Apr il 10, 1993. \V e look forward to reading Orlando's report of hit'i experien ces there.

A sad event is the passing of Dr. Emerich K. Francis on Janua ry 14. 1994. His ground­breaking doctoral thesis was published as /11 51'eun:h <tl Vtopia : The :Wnmonites in Manitoba in 1955. Dr. Francis is one of the falhers of th~ historiog raphy of the Men­nonites in Ntanitoba and de~erves onr undy­ing grnt iludt~ for his work.

An important event for our hiMorical society is the appointment of Irene Enns Kroeker as book review ed itor for the new, letter nt our last board meeting. This affirms our c-ommitment to foster and encourage research and writings relating to the history o f our area. Very ~eldom do we find in ot her Mennonite media a real und erst anding or even interest in hisloril:al l!Vt!nt., which have taken place in the Eas t Reserve , and hence it is only logi<.:;111ha1 we. musl have the fucil­itics to tell and interpret the same from our own pero;.pect ive.

::Vkmbcrs of our society will be pleased to hear lhat Dr. Jame s Urry is scheduled to return to these parts sometime in .tune to conti,1oe his researd1 on his Grunthal book. We look forward to meeting with liim anti hearing mor e about his continued work. James has single-handily laid the cornerstone for a more balanced and positive understand ­ing of our history and we are fort unate tha t he htts been a friend and pa tron of our Society from the very start.

One of the most important project s of the HSHS is the prospec tive Volum e fhree of our Easl Reserve Historical Series. The book will co ntain m,111y biogrophics, viJlagc his­tories. sermons and journals and will come 1t1 over 800 pa11es in length. Over the past month s a number of people have inquiretl as to whether th is book was ever going to be completed. Our hope at this time is thal the hook will be ready for the press by fall. I tru st thaL all of our writers have their ;uti ­cles douc nod will hantl in their pictures im­mediately.

We are disappointed that the Heritage Grants Ad visory C:onuui1 lee or the Govern­ment of Manitoba has turned down our re­que~t for a publi shing grunt. h se.enis that they have made a policy decision to put their Ii mired resoufces i nto Olh~r projec:ts such a buildin g restora tion, etc. They have nm yet le;Jmt!Ll lh!! let;':-On thnt nrtifocts wichouc document ed history are meaningless. In any event, we us a boa rd arc comm itted to pub­lishing Volume Three by one means or a11othcr, once lhc manuscript is ready.

And lastly, I would like to conunem on my visit Lo my Hutterian Brethren friends at the Baker Colony in MacGregor on May 8, 1994. Ostensibly my purpose in going was lo pick up a quilt which the women were kind enough to make for me as a gift. I enjoyed vh,iting with my hosts Pauline aHd Jouathan Macndal as we had ou r dinner togeth er.

It happened LO he Mot.her '., I lay, and the day was special for me as my own mother had tlied only a week previous on April 29. 1994. I was touc hed by the beautiful acar-1-.ellil ~inging of the youu g men und ,vornt·n as the rest of us in the dining room enjoyed llUr dess~rts.

I was reminded of the many songs my mn lher sang ror me throughout my li fetime and of the many storie s she told me. I regret now , not huving reco rded man y more of these.

J am miw.Jful that the story of chc ,vomcn in ou r history has not yet been told. I would like Lo close with the wish that other s might record as many stories a~ 11t>ssihle:1h,n11 ihcir

5

Delbert Pie/I

gra ndmother s o r great-grand mot hers :mu hopefuUy submil the same for publicat ion in our ne,vslener or Volwnc 4 of our hisloricn.l ser ies. This is a worthy cause .

Quotation s from thejoumal of Rev. Hein ­rich Frie sen (1842 -19:HJ, Hochfeld. Manitoba

Jr you want to be honoured by people, then do not speak mud1 ~,bout yourself.

The one who only has received one 1.alenl and does 1101 use it, llnt t one would also neglect to use 50 if they were given to hint.

I I is a great mistake to forge I the received blessing ;Jud let remember only the difficu lt days.

It is very harmful if some preachers feed rheir lislene1.) with swc.·t·t cookies ouc of their own bakery instead of the bread of life.

Panoramic view of Berg/ha/.

Return to Bergtha.l After five weeks on assignmen t in variou.~

par ts of Ukraine the 14 hour overnight train ride co Zapori zhia looked like it would be 1111 llilTerenf from the other trips. The train station in Kiev was crowded, the tra in car with its four berth roomelt cs was hot, and

By Orlando Hiebert my roommaLe.c. were total SI.rangers. Af1er our tickets had been collected and I had paid 101000 Kupou., for a pillow s1ip :.md lwo sheets, the Ukrainian woman in the lower herth acro .ss from. me and I found thnl we cou ld communicate to a limited extent in

Tlte 1•/1/age of Bergrhal.

6

German. \Ve. were ~oon join ed by the two W:u.s.sit111s in lhc upper berths. I began to notice that the conversation between the woman and the two Russians was becoming some what stra ined. The older Russiau then turned to me and began talking to me very

exciredly in Russirrn and would gn1b my hond and shake it frequently. At first I went alon2 willt thi:,. but afler a whil e 1 b~camt! susp r cious and finally in annoyance I told him '*neyel". The two men lhen len the room but returned a hour later with a bottle. When the men offered me a drink I glanced over ut the woman and could see by the look in her eyes nncl the sli~ Ll shake of lter heac.l that she wus afraid of what would happen and was hop­iug that I woulli not join them. l liedineli and the men again left the room. Out of gnuitudc for my stabilizing influence in this situation, she insisted th3t I share the. food she had brought along both that evening and (ht' Ut'Xl morniug. This i.!. a situation thal c.an and does occur when travelling by train in U kraine ;ind Ru..;sia.

When I arrived at ~~l)orizhia at 9:30 a.m., Olga , the guide l hnd hired, was at the station to meet me and in the next few days we toured some of the villa ges in lhc Old Colony and also a few in Lhe Molotchna. f'or me the highlight of my tour came on Mon ­day , April l l, when at 8 a.m. we set out for

Oergthal/Respublica. Af1cr a few wrong turns and four hours of chiv ing we had covered cite 200 km from Zaporizhia or the Olli Colony, 10 &•r111hal. After hours of driv­ing by endless fields and wondering how Sushu w;1s :ihle fn dodge the many pot holes in the road , Olga suddenly exclaimed: "There it is." There . ncs1lcd in a shallow val­ley ju~t. ahead in this forgot.ten corner of Ukraine, was the village of Oergthal. Turn­ing off the highway onto the main street or Lenin Sc., as many in Ukraine arc called, one secs a wide !-,I reel hel.wl!en I he rmA• or houses on either side. The roadway is off 10 one side, next in the centre is n shallow dilch, n row of trees and then a grass strip which abuts lhe yanJ.:,. 011 the uUtt'r sid~ or Utt' street. The yar ds arc all fenced, all seem to contain frui 1 Ire~':-. and u fair number have a lighl steel frame made of bars and angle iron on which creeping vines cUmb until the shore driveway is covered over wit.h a canopy of l'oliugc in summer.

At 21 Lenin S t. lives an 84 year old "bub ushka" named Sheve Krupchikha at whose house I, a.s had Lawrence Klippen­stcins two years earlier, had a glass of milk and some cookies. She wi~hed that. more Mennonites would come 10 visit her because sht-is lond y and s~tid she would be gracef ul if I would write to her. She also told me chat the four villuges or Bergthal , He.uhnden, Schoenfeld and Schoenthal all belong to one scate farm. At the cemetery, which to 111y reckoning is al the ease end of che village, I round what uppcars tu be the originaJ red granite posts with a hole through them either .st.anding, leaning or !'alien over. I abo Uh ­covered one identifiable Mennonite grave marker, that of Peter Penner born 1791 died I R49. This could he the same Pete r Penner listed on page 19 under A 16 in chc Bc.rgthal­er Gemeinde Ruch. Compar ed to the :Vlolotchna and especially the Old Colony viUages of Chortit;,.a/Rosenthal, the Oergthal villages huve lictle or no buillii1114s or la11d­nrarks of their Mennonite past . For me just being able to smnd on the same ground , walk on the same stree1 and Jee the soil of these same fields run throu gh my fingers as my great grandfat her Pet.er P. Hiebert had, was a moving experience.

AnnounceJDents Orlando Iliebert has accepted the posit.ion

of Vice-President of the HSHS. Irene Enns Kroeker will be the Book Review Edi tor.

\Vilm er Ptt.ru1t-r is st~pping uside as Edi­tor of ibis newsletter. A new ap1>oii11.111e111 \\'i ll ht: announ ced.

A dedication of che Mennonite I.anding Sile Monument at the junccio n of the Rat and The Red Rivers is j, lanned for August I, 1994. Uctails 10 be announced.

With regret we note the passing or E.K. Frnncis, whose book /11 Search of Utopia:

Th e Me1111011i1es of Manitoha firs! broughc our c-onnnunitics to lh<.: attcntiu11 or the out­s ide world.

The Mennonite Historical Sociely of Canada is in the proce ss of publish ing (with the Univcrsicy of Toronto Press) Men11011ites (11 r.anada Vn/. ((/ 1910-/970 by Dr. T.D. Reg.ehr. Tax deductib le donations 10 support this projecr wonl<I be appr eciated, and can be sent 10 Mr. Ted ['riesen, President, :VIHSC:. P.O. Hm 720, AIL011a, MH KOG OHO

7

Hanover Steinbach Historical Society Purpose and Membership

TI,e Hanover Steinbach Historica l Soceity was organized in 1988 to research and write the history and heritage of t.he R.M. of Jlanover and the Town of Steinbach . The emp hasis is on the period 1874-1910. Through public meetings, writings and pub­lica1 ions it seeks 1.0 fo!<.l.er an undersla..nding and respect for the rich heritage of the com ­m uuily .

Many volunceers from this community have l'Ontributed infunualiou, collected old diaries and letters, written articles, entered dum on compuler. proofrea d da1a. and helped in other ways to compile material for book s. The finanical support of the R.M. or Hanover, the ~Tanitoba Heritage fiederat.ion, the office of the Secretary of Slate, lo?,ether with donat ions from private indi\'id uals has made it possible for the society 10 publi sh three hooks. Two more are in stages of com­plc1ion.

These efforts have rewarded pa rt icipant s with a greater appreciation for their heritage. Perhap s you wou ld like to F.how your .sup­port for the work of Che socie1y by dona ting rarnily rel:on.ls, okl <.:orl'espondence or diaries co the society. Any of our board members or John Dyck at lh e offi ce wo11hl he gl::tli 1.n talk 10 you .

The so<:il·ly a lso req uires your support finan cially in order Lo concinue the above uctiv ities. Your <lunatiuns will he lp lo keep che society strong. All contributions of $10 or more will be acknowledged with a d raril.• ahle donation receipl for income cax pur­poses. We arc presently levying an 11nnu11l membership fee of $10 per annum hue will appreciate you giving an additional amount of SJO or $20 to support . the work of the society. T hank you for your participation.

H:111over S1ei11hach Historica l Society Oox 1960, Steinbach, :VIB ROA 2AO

Enclosed is u cheque/cash in the amount of $ _____ for:

Don.1tions 10 sodety for which please issue a receipt $ __ _

TOTAL $ __ _ _

Nanu! ____ ___ __ _

Add ress ____ ____ __ _

Postal Cude ______ ___ _

Book

R)• I rcoc Enos Krod ,cr Book Review Editor

Review Bernard P. Doerksen & Garth B.P. Doerk­i;en. "Kfeioe Gemeim.h• (t"'ungelicu l Men­nonite Co nferen c-e since 1%2) Grave Sites or Rlum-,norl , M,mitoba and Area (East Resen ·e) 1875-1990. " 1991. 111 pp. S1, ira l bound .

This publication should amact the atten­tion of those families who.!)e roofs lie in ,he. Kleine Gemcinde church of the East Reserve. Although nol rne~rnt 10 be u h.istoricaJ account of the ea rly beginnings o f this con­gregation in its new homeland, lht· book doc:; provid e an overview of the Kleine Ue-.ruein<l1is s~tllemem in M anitoba in 1874 and focusses on the villages initi ally estab­lished in this urea. Furt her attention is given to the later sett lement at Neua nlagc, Green land, and Prairie Rose.

Half of the memhershir left to join the Holdeman church in 1881 but conti nu ed to use several of 1.he cer11eti::rit:~ lislt!cJ in I he book until I 893 when the se families moved to Gree11la11d.

Burial liStS arc divided into eigh t sections; the~e include the four Blllmenort c-.eJneteries, the grave sites at Neua nlage, Hochfeld, Rlumenhof, aod lhe scaH~rnd gittves in the Dlumenhof area which are identified as four­teen separaL~ plots. (T he l;1tter includes the area known loca lly as "D e Krim' .)

Alth ou•h an index of names would have proven ve~y u,1:!f11l 10 the ,esearcher1 Lhee n­tr ies are listed in chronologica l order accord ­ing lO individual grave siles covering a tii-nc span of 116 years.

A total or sevt'n maps ~erve to hdg htt-11 in terest as do the several pages of photographs of the well-kept cemeteries . Co nminin g u registry of approx imate ly 600 graves, the book includes usc f'ul suppleme ntary inro r­matio n ~uch a,; maide n name .~ a nd na mes of parents. A sepa ra te section at the end or the book gives accoun ts of the circumstances sur roundin g the accidental dea ths of people h11ried in tltt: an:;J.

Although the many pages of grave listings moy appear daunting to the casunl reader of Mennonite history, the per sonal accounts aud tidbi ts of local history re lating to the cemete ries themse lves makes th is book a worthwhile :H.Jdilion to your bookshelf e.c;.pe­cially as it relate s to and co mplem enLs the books of Uelbert Plett and Roydcn Loewen on thi~ part icular area.

He ,•i(\WCd by L indo Buhler

We are int erested in all books p ertainin g to F..a,t Reserve/RM of Har,over histurie> for our review column , particularily fa mily tree bnok.s~ vi/lag() hisloril!s, und stories. Please forward review copi es to: Irene Kroeker, Box 20531, Stt!inh11l'h, Manitoba ROA 2AO or phone 326-2777.

Living in the compu ter era has its advan ­tages, as it lowers the cost of printing books. Co nseq uentl y, mo re boo ks are being written by ordinary people and placed on the mar ­ket - family tree hook s, diarie .'i/jo 11rnals, family stories a nd village histories. It is with g_reat plea1s11re that T approach my new as­signme nt as Dook Review Clditor , knowing that there are many oul. U1t:re willing LO shar~ their experiences thro ugh the printed word. H. is my joh 10 hri ng 1hese books to your m­tcntion so that you too can have access to the informntion prov ided in (ht·sc books.

The Fasts of Fischau Many people will be intere sted in our next

issue's fealltre book. Ha ving grown up as a Chort itzer Mennoni te in the Blumensard dis­trict or I ht! F;1sr Reserve. I wns more than keenly interested in the book that Edna Vogt. is working on for a high schoo l reunion of the Dothw ell School District. She was hnsy cowpili1 1~ history ut·t·ounts of chc Aron. Sea­ton, New Bothwell, and Moray Schools a nd of the Silberfeld and Sommerfe ld churches. The book includes some histories of villages, hu/\inesst!s :u Rothv,•ell, accounts written by former teachers and individua l familv histo ­rie.,. Published in June, l'J'J4, chis book \\ill be of interest to anyone that h:u: a connec­tion to the 1101·thcr11 Ea:st Reserve area.

The following book review will he or in­terest lo the Kleine Gemeindc families of the Cast Reserve.

B., Heury N. Fust My great -grandpa rents, Heinrich and

Char lotte (Loepp) Fast arrived in Stcinbacsh, Manitoba in the fall of 1874 having made the long jo urn ey from the sma ll village of Nick­olaital, Cherson pro vince, Russia. Many r111est ions arise as to why the Fasts had joined seventeen other Kleine Gcmeindc families in this immigration . While most other Sccin­bach immigrant.~ had family connections within this chu rch grou p. Heinrich and Cha rlotte had none. Tn fact Charlnl.le's parents, Cornelius Loepps, were Germ a n Lut heran who had co,ne 1.0 1.he Mnlnt .,c hna in 1839. Knowledge of ll einrich 's back ­ground also :c;ee.-ned somewhat vague. Kleine Gcmcin dc bishop, Peter Toews, tentatively indic.1led that Heirnich's falhe-.r wa~ Wilh~lm Fast bur modifies this written statement with a Qul!stim1 mark. F'ortunatcly, lhe recenlly discovered Russian census of 1835 from the Molot">dmu us round in the liraun coJJection sheds new light on the Fas t family.

The census of Febn ,nry, 1835, lists a Wil­helm Elias Fast as having settled on lot #22 in the village or Fisc.:hau in Lh~ year 1803. This corresponds to Unrau's date of 1804, and 1he infnrm;1lion rhnt \Vil helm . age 35. came from the Prussian village of Wiecker -

8

au, An,1. F.lhing, together with his wife Maria. age 38, and children Wilhelm, 14, and Maria , l I. Th e census dat e notes that Wil­helm Elias Fast died in 183 I.

Followi11g is a record of Wilhelm Wilhelm Past's family living on 1111.1/22, as trnnsl atcd from the census paper s.

Name Age WiU1elm Wilhelm Fast Wife Sara Son Wilhelm Son Durk Son Pe ter Son Heinrich (grent-irandfat hcr) Son Abr ah am Son Jaco b Son David Daughter Mar ia Daughter Katherina Daughttff S;1ra

(a lso listed under I.his familv is u Jucob Kro eker) ·

(1835) 40 39 18 16 14 8 7 3 2

20 11 5

Jacob J uliu s Kroeker 42 Wif'c Katherina 40 Son (2nd wife) Jaco b 15 Son (2nd wife) Johan 9 Daughter (2ml wifo) Anna 6

continued next pnge

When the infor mation of thh ocu,u , i, compa,ed will, corresponden ce 10 the Men ­nonitisch e R1111dsch:111 und lhe 1862 Molocschnn School Attendan ce records (also included in the Rraun collection) we can for• mula1e a more co mplete picture of the Fasts.

Wilhelm Wilhe lm ►·•st I he ol<lo:s1 so n of Wilhelm evidcncly inherited 1he family fa11n in Fischau, fiis 1 .,eit letl by hh e,rnndfathcr Wilhelm Elias Fast. li e is listed ,,. living on J()l #22 in the school record s. Two children. Katherina , I 3, and Sarah, 11 are auend inx 1he Fi schuu M"hool.

Diedrich Wilhelm Fast Diedneh (Dul'k) i, a lso liviux in F'ischau in 1862 on 101 #6 together wlth a Jacob Pete1~. 011c sou, Franz :J);e 7 is utt endin g sc hool. Diedric h, his wife ~1aria and children Fran,., l>iet..11 id 1, t.,h1ria and J\nnn came 10 Am erica in 1877 and evi­dently settled near Inman , Kan>aS. A news ilem in the MR says 1ha1 Diedrich Fas!, formerly of F ischa11, died 011 April 14, 1890. In 1912 his daughter Maria ra st .. ,a s living in Hooke!' , OK (MR June 12, 1!112).

Peter Wilh elm Fast Presentl y, no infornia • tion is availnble on Peter.

Heinrich Wilhelm fa st Heinric h marri ed Charlotte Lucµp, <laughler of Cornelius Loepp, a German Luthern i111111igra111. Luter out or del'ercnce 10 Kleine Gcmclnde humil ­ity she was kn own as Maria . In 1862 the family lived In Por denau where their two oldcSt daughters, Maria , 11, a11d l:'.li<abeth, R, "en' to school. They moved 10 Xickolai-1al in 1865 where lhey lived"'' ren led hmd . Probably. they joined the Kleine Gcmeinde at this time. The fam ily accompanie d lhc Ste inbu ch. Boroscnko Kleine Gemeindc in their journ ey 10 Steinbach, Munitoba in 1874, where Heinrich settled on lot 13. He sold his farm in the vtllage in 1882 and bought 160 acres from the Hudson Bay Co. south of Slei 11hnch which he nppropriatcly named Pischau.

Abrahum Wllh1•tm l'ast ln IM62 Abraham is a scu lcr in Neu Dere.<la\'. Chi ldren Kathe rina, 10, nud Abraham. 7 arc ancnding school. Evidently the fam ily is quite poor a, son Abraham misses a number of school r.lays becau se he docs not havi.: , line, . Niece, Maria ra,1 ul' Stei nbach trie s 10 make con ­cact with the Abraham Fa!iit fomily a uum­llt!r o f limes through the Mennonitischc Rundschau.

J•~ob Wilhdm Fast Jacob and his family came 10 South Dakota i11 lhe cmn11uny of the Hultcrites . He wus visited her e in 1883 by his niece Elizab eth and her hu ,ba nd Jacob Frit:sen from Kansas who were on their way 10 Manitoba 10 ,;ee her pai cut,, Heinric h l'ascs (MR Pcb. I. 1883). His son David F3!.t reports the dca1h of hi; fa1hcr, Jucob . form ­c, I)' or Pischau, in the July 22, 1896 issue of the tvtennoniliScl1c Kurulschau .

l>1tvid Wilhelm Fast In 1884 a David Past from Lim.lcnau, Russia. inquires about the whereabou ts of his brother Jacoh who came to Am erica with Lhc Hulk-ri ll"'). The same let­ter also repo rt s 1ha1 David is "j etz g,anz ,,e, krupr•elt " (MK l>ec. 31, 1884). No further

information is presc nlly availaule un David. Morin Wi lb(')m •·•sl Maria, daughter of

l lcinrich and he,· cousin Mar ia, daughter of Ui•<lrkh both indicate that they hnve an au n1, M rs Ahrahum Kroeker Jivina in Rus• sin. This ma y be Ma ria (MR Marc h 11, 1891 and Jun e 12, 1912).

Katherina Wilh elm Fas! Likely K:nherinn married Abraharn Uueck from Orhlof (MR March 11, 1891 and Dec . 21 , 1910). Abra • ham' s father was n coppersmith in the village.

Soni Wilhelm Fasl Sara may have been married to a David Doerks en (MR March 11, 1891 und Jan. 24, 1906).

The information on the th ree sisters is somew hat speculative in that I am nnl cer ­tain which sister helong s tu which husband. Since Abraham Dueck is only one year older than Katherine l a.ssum~ lhis data to be cor­rccl . I would be mo st hapt)Y to hear from anyone who c,in udd ro this story of the Fust s.

Reflections on Mixed Mennonite Ancestry It all began when our 13 year old daugh­

ter Rachel read Oen Doerk scn's orricle "Kanadier a nd Russlucndcr: Tensions on the Prairies" (J une 1993 issue nf Men11u11ite Hi.<1orian). Om ehildl'cn have, of co urse. heard numer ous lii:ht-hearted dehau:s ot home on 1h• prus und co ns of bcina either which one. But th is anicle pnl them in an a-.kward si111Hlion: were they 10 identify wilh their Dad who wa.s from lhe "si111J)le-111imkd K111111dier ... who were uncultur ed, afraid o f educa tion and roo satisfied wilh tra<li­lio u" ur with their Mom who was from 1he ''domme Russlaenda" who were regarded "a, ar rog ant, worldly, and unwillin g to en gage in manual lulmr ". So what did !hat make lhcm, oh children of mixed par enlae,e?

Thnugh our chilclrcu's conl·crn was quite tongue-in-check. I ha ve to admit that I .. as in a quandary too, bur in a different area. Imagine my identit y crisis when I <li,oovered that my Nemlnrf line hadn't begun their cross-cont inent trek in 1.hc I 920 's 1ml I hat 111y mate111al great -grclll •P,rand l'at hcr Johann Ncudorf (b. Oct. 26, 1812) had actually been o Kono dier! Cuulu tb i~ be so? Tru e enough, he had left the Chorti12a Colony mu l had a111,~d iu Ca nad a in July 1874 on the S.S Auscrian with his secon d wife , hi, daup,hler Anna l'rom his first marriage, and four chil ­dren (Abram, Aga..ncta, Frnn1. 1 oml KulhH­rin11) from his second marriage. (1-lis first wife, my great-gre..i -srnndmot l,er Muriu Hi!• debrn ud , had <lied in childbinh with her eleventh child. Two mo nths Inter. he mar ­, ied Anna Olf en with whom he had another eight children.) He died on May 27, 1877 and w11s buried near New Oothwell, pr csumah ly o n 1he NE J/4 of 20 7-~E in the Schoenthal Ceme tery in which there arc approximately 40 unm ark ed s rav~-s. By 1881, Johan n' s willow was living with three of he, chih.lren in the village uf Hlnmenreld. W . Reserve while his daught er Anna Ol)(J huslrn11d Peter

9

Hildebrand were living in Sommerfeld, W .R. even thoush recorc.Js show n Widow J. Ncu­dorf having applied to homestead the SF. 1/ 4 of 22-7-SE in 1874 n11d u Pclcr Hildebrand Jr. having applied for the NW 1/4 nf 20-7-SF ..

Huw was it that no one in Mom 's fomily had known ahnut I he Knnadicr relativ es? It seems that Grandpa (Abram Ncudorf) hnd never spoken of it lo his childcn. Had he even known ? And to confu~c i~,;ue.~, at aboul U1t· same 1i111e that my gm11dp11tcnts came in the 1920's . some of the Kanadier clan were leav­ins fo, Mexico. If I didn't know ~ter, I might think that th ey h:.1d go ne 10 r.rcat le11i.ll1s 111 11void meeting the Russlacnd er "frlod schafl".

Rut wha1 linked the Kanadier and Russ­laend er Neudnrf.< olhe r rhan a common un­cestur and their interes t in genealogy ? Well, it seems that not only my grem grandpa Dietri ch and some of hi s childre n (including my sranpda) had hee11 ··rrn chrmoakas " but a lso numerous Kanadl er relatives, among them •'Ooktnr., Pele1 Ncudor f or Ncucn• dor f , w. Reserve, a brother to my areal grandpa . The re is also the beautiful choral talent shared by man y Neudorfs, youi , truly excluded of course . Hut gelling back 10 che subcct of the village of Neuendorf , T fnuncl ano1.l1er of the oral tradi1 inn.-. in our fm11ily had bit the dust. After writing to th e town o f Neuclnrf, Sac;.k. I di scovered that il wo.s named after a village in Austri a. We had takt:>n I>' id~ in (hiuJ:..i..11~ that it \'ll·as named fur one of our relatives - oops, there goes ~111nfhcr 1henry. you kn ow, the one ubout Menn onites being so humble.

Now , let '.s see, there ·s a place culled Ouhlcr, Kansas 100, isn't there ? Kamed af ter a I elot1\'e. perhap:s ·!

Submitt ed by Lintlu Buhler

Ne"' Discoveries: hy lklbert ¥. l'lell

In the lthl i~.suc of "Prcscrvings" I wrote about new discoveries from the Peter .I. Brnu11 Coll"'-tion re<.-emly released from Rus­sia. I focused on the 1835 u,n"" and 1he marvellous new genealogical connections that are made po~~ihle hy fhi~ new infonua­lion. I not e nn error in thi s article in that the Peter .I. llrann Collection is 111islakenly rckrrcxl to a, the J .J. Draun Collection . I am indebted to Professor Jann :_, I Jrry fur drnw­ing ,his 10 my allcn 1ion.

I would alM, like 111 nnle thnt Henry H. Fast of Steinbach has finished a rough tran s­l3t.ion <lf the UH"i ce11.su~ u11d thHl same is now available al the Menn on ite Heritag e

Cc,11 r~. Ahhou~.h only a draft. Mr. rast's work is nonethele.i;.~ invalnahle in mnking this inrormation availab le to researchers.

In this issue I \\.':lnr ro conti11l1c 111y discus­>iOn on new sources, based largely on my presentation a1 ou , HSHS annual meeting heh.I on January 28, 19?4. The Peter J. llr3un Co llection al,n c11n11,ins the 1l!57/l! and IR61/2 Molot schna schoo l registers. Thu .<, for exa mpl e, the I R'7/ 8 school register for the village of Kleefcld lists five of the ch il­dren of Cornelio, S . l'lctt (1820.1900) attend­ing school, including my great -1,ram.lr:rlher Cornelius L . l'l ell. :rye 11 m the time . Eighty­four children were registered and rite lencher was Pe ler ll ocrkscn . l:ly l l!6l /2 the C .S. Plett family only had lwn chi ldren in school

Johann I . Friesen wilh tl/1111!,h:e,rs in front O./ the Peter L". Hdmt •r /tom(' m Su•mluu ·h. /941. 1.eft t() rig/rt: Marie. Mr.,. Peter Remp el; partia/ly hidden Is Margaret. Mrs. l lbram A. Reimer; £:.'lisa~1h. never murriet.l whu ,vus knu,.,n in Sleinl,xu.:11 us "Tmmlt' I 1e:.1d1e"; Katlrerma. M,s. f'eler 8. Reimer; Mr. Jolr11 I. rriese11; and to Iris rig/rt, Arma, ,\.frs. George W. Reimer. Missing are: du11~h1cr /1ele11a. tire first wife of Peter 8. Reimer, 11•/u, tli<•tl in /920; M111 o,. /1/Jrum Frie.,e11. u.fu11wu➔, A111e,i,.:a11 phy.sids1, und so11 John Friesen. a Ne,v ~·ork b1111ker.

10

Part T"1o ht11 1nta.l en,ohm:ul had risen to 98. Doerk ­sen was s1ill the teacher and the list is signed hy lfanman as th e villngc Sch ulz.

Many times these resi sters can he hclrr111 in i<kntif~ing the place or residence of a par­ticular family. lmponan1 u,cio-econn1n1(" c.k· tail; ca11 also be gkan,xl from these sources. ror example, of th e ~0 Vi1llwir lhcn li,l"rl in Klcefc ld in 1857/ 8, 7 were KG. Th is mak es it more understallllahlc 1h:r1 C'.S . P le11 served '" 1hc mayor of 1hc village.

1 lelpful In an 11ndcr<1andinr, of lire Molot sch na cduca1 ional syste m and hence the ~y~tcm estab li ,hel1 by Lilt' Kltnu: Gcmcinde (KG) when they ca me to Man i10-ba in 1874, arc the 1cr,11rls wrill en by 1hc teachers in the Molotschna in 1855. Severa l or 111,.,.. are wri11en by KG or KG-related teachers such as: Johann ra.<1 or Schocnau, fsnnk Peter:, of rucr>tenau. Pranz haac of Ticgc, Kornelius Isaac of Blumenort, l'e1c , rric,cn o r .\fari enthu l, Gerhar d Goossen of Pau lshcim and Cornelius Doerk sen of /\ le< am.h!rl hnl.

Another importanc new \Ource of info,­mutron ,s a collection or documcnis number­ing some 2000 pasc11: lncattd at Me1111011it~ Lil11ury and Archives, Bethel College, North Newl on. Kansas. I was ah le to oh1a111 w 11i1•, or 1hcse documents in late 1993, just after the publication or Volume 6 or my KG Historia l Series. In a sense this was unfor­tunalc a., thccollee1inn comains a guocJ num­ber of new items which arc well worlh p11hli,hing .

Th e lirst part of the co llection con,ists of cJ04,;u111t•uh, ~atht'n~<.1 luxctht>r by Juh tu111 I. rriescn (1860-194 I), one- time partner in the S1einbnch nour mill He wa~ the rrandfolher of rran~ r. Reimer, the founder of Reimer l!xprc ss. l'ricscn was a keen student or our history and an avid genea logist. When I first :sluru:c.l my rcst·an:h ~u111c 15 ycm:s ugo l ex­erted co nsiderable efforts lo I rack down his wrilings all to no avail. The search WU-\ rm.uJ~ more t.lifficuh by the rac1 that many of his grandchildren became American fundamcn-1oli,g with lit1le interc~I in :Vtcnnonite cul turc and so 1 finall y gave up my search.

Nnw ii ~eems lha1 hy :.n intere.~ting quirk of history at least some of these writings fuum.l 1he11 "ay 10 Uethd College. In 1918 Johann I. Friesen moved to Meade, Kansas wlum.! he m;Jrried rm 1lu..: ,t:coml lime In lhc widow Abraham K. Friese n, nee Katharina Ku1tlnff . Ill 195?., hi•d>l)ll /\brnham . n 11hy,~ ics Professor, donated some of his collected ..,.,.,.,,. to lll·lhcl Colk 1'.C where they havt l~n­gui~hed 1ill now.

Frir\t"n had pr~~rl\ctl many uf the w1i1~ inss co llected by his father, Abraham M.

cont inued nexl page

f' riesen, and even two letters - dated I 834 and 1838 - wri1tcn hy his grandfather , Klaas ~·riescn ( I 793 - J 8i0) a KG minisler in Rus ­sia. Notah le amn11g lhese papers are u num­bc,r o r lcllcrs written from Jansen, Nebraska, during the year .~ 1880 1910a s well as lcuers by Bishop Peter I'. Toews (181 J. I 926) from Gruenfclu (Klede ldJ, Mnniloba, in 1882, at the time of the so -called Hol<ieman's scce-.~ion.

The second part of this collection of docu ­ments seerns to have t>een donated lO Bethel College in 1949 by Rev. Hci11rid1 R. Harms

of Meade, Kansas. II contains many 11Titings of Heinr ich F. I .oewe11, ,., we<1lthy KG furmer from Jan sen, Nebraska, who later moved to !\:tcade, Kan°'ns, where he also )~rvc:d as a minister of the Gospel.

Th i.e. col I eel ion iuduc.lt.>S an J 835 sermon by I leinrich Balzer which I was fortunate to he ;1hle 10 p11hlish in Volum e 6 of my KG ser­ies. It also contai ns some 12 sermo ns a nd a numb er of journals by Hein rich F. Loewen . One of the featu res of th is collect ion are lhrn· journals which comain an excellent selection of historical wriLings from the Rus.-

sian period, including nn 182S ··Achnouition to the brotherhood" by Aeltester Klaas Reimer which 1 had nol seen before .

It is the first major collection of such docu 111e11l.s fm rn 1he American KG that I am aware of, and as such will provide valuab le iuform;11ion regarding those settlements . Copies of all this materia l arc being deposited at the e.M .C. Arch ives in Steinbach, Manitoba, where they will be ava ilable lo rest'~lrd1ers.

A Valentine Heirloom: The Bartel Family by Oelhert t·. Plelt

In 1967 Abram A. Vogt, a great-great-gra11d.m11 of Joha1111es Hartel and Agaetje Quiring had a full colored, full s iw mpy 11f t/1(, dowment """"' by Walt's S/lldio, Steinbach. Tlte eight sect ions were tlte11 ,w:011slnu:/1•r/ 1111// ji 1ld1·d in 1he original fasltion to form a heart. Courtesy of Margaret Kroeker , Me1111011ite Genealogy Inc. , Winnipeg. Manitoba, May 17, 1991.

In the SCGond issue of our Newsletter, July 1993, I wroie about the need to document the material culture of our coinmunhy . hi s ir111mr1;n11 10 coUC'<'t the artifacts and to have facilities for their display, sud, as our local Her itt,r,c Villugc Museum. Out this by itself is not enough. An anc ie111 arliract without a history or srory is valueless. I am still hope ful that many of om mcmher .-. will writ.:-

about and document the story of their family heirloom .s and trea sure~.

In the second issue of our newsletter I told lhe !)f0 1 y of the Koor1 •· New Year's \Vi:,.h," Today I want to write about a Valentine writ-1011 in 1794 hy a 20-year -old for his 17-ycnr­old lover Aganetha Quiring as a wedding pr-e$elll . Tht· 11u111c or tit<.' yo ung man \Vas Johannes Bartel of Tragheimerweide , West

Pru s ... ia, i11 mo dern Llay Pola11d. The siory was published in the Winnipeg

rr('(' Pr,•ss on t-'ellrnmy 14, 1994, :mLI rnpri111 cd in the Memronite Reporter on May 2 .. 1~>~>4. N<.:ithcr of tlu.·se ,eµorf .) included :my history of the document. Thi s is unfortunate a~ lhe sa.me b Vt>l'Y relev~ml lu lh(;' his.wry and cuhurc of the Hanover area.

See V,dentlne page 12

''Prescrvings" is the Newsleller of the H'1no,er Steinbach Historical Society Inc., Oox 196-0, Sreinbnch, Man itoba, ROA 2AO. pub ­lidled c-.emi-an,,uully ul Su:inbach. Manitoba. Cditor. \Vil mer Pennc::1, Rox I .HU~ S1embnch, .\ilanitoba ROA 2AO. The publicali,,11 of I he Ncwslcllcr is funded by "D.F. Plell h-.unda1m 11 Fund ."

11

Valentine continued from page 11

It turns out that Joha11nes Hartel moved to Russia in 1797, where he became a Men­nonite minister in the village of Kronsgar­ten. In time two of his sons, Peter and Jakob. moved LO the :vtolotschna colony where they or their descendants became members of the Kleine Gemeinde (KG). Pe1er'5 daughter Anna married Cornelius P. Toews, one of 1hc cwo KG delcgalcs 10 America in I R73, and another dang ht.er Maria married Klaas F. Reimer lhc son or Klaas, Reimer I founding Bishop of the KG .

Jakob' s daughter llelena married Cor­nelius \V. Loewen. aml they were Lhe grand parents of C.T. Loewen, founder of some 1,f Steinh;Jch 's mosl prt:~s, igio us husi nes-.es . Jakob's sons, Jakob and Johann. selt led in J:inseo , Nebrm;ko, with rheir mo1 her nnd

rour1da.l l;Jrge rarnilies. For run her inform a­tion on these Bartel families, see my unpub­lished article "Johann l:!artcl 1764-1813 Kronsgarten.''

The story of what happened to this beau­tiful valenlinc is told by Margaret Kroeker, director of' Mennonile Genealogy Inc .• Win­nipeg, Manitoba : " ... 1hi& family ht:irlno111 was passed on for three generations 1hrough the younge~t daughter in rhe family . . . n

II cveniua lly became the property of Mrs. Pet.er Martens. "Ap11arently the love letter (heart) scayed in the Peter Martens home in Russia. During the Kevnlufin11 wlum I.ht! bands were destroying homes and properties, his daughLer Auria, horn 1900, dh-covered i1 among the rubble. She brought it 10 Cana ­<la ;rnfl chefisJ1ed it u11til hn d<.·uth on December 28, 1993. ii was then given to her oldes t ~islt!r's son Herman (Hank) Peters. Winnipeg."

-being the News/et/er of the Hanover I Steinbach Historical Society Inc.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Yes, I wish to become a member of The Hanover-Steinbach Historical Society and receive Preservingf: twice a year. Endosed i~ my $10 membership fee.

Please Prin1

NAME _ _ _____ _ _____ ____ ______ __ _

AUUKESS _ _ _ _ _ __ ____ _ __ _ ___ __ _ ____ _

POSTAL CODE ____ ___ _______ ___ _____ _

S1.:mJ lo: HSHS Oox J.105 S,cinbach. 1vlB ROA 2A0

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News Release

Royde,r Loewen

Royden Loewen, lecturer in history at. the University or Manilobu, hns been awarded a Fulbrigh1 Fellowship by 1he Foundation for the Cducationnl Exchani.1c lktwccn Canada and the United Sta1es. The Fu lbright pro gram hegan in the United States 45 years ago and has funded exchanges of scholars he­tween the United Slate,; and some 130 differ­ent countries. Loewen was one of ilu·ee Canat.li:..t11 "cholurs to receive a full nine­month award . The fcllow<hip will enaule him to tench a f.:.n-u.Jmllc seminar and undertake the writing of a book-length manu script at the O~partment of His1ory, University of Chicago. The cour~e will he a "Compara­tive History of Immigralion and ethn icity in Canada and the Un.ited States, 1880-1960." The writing project is entitled, "Mennonites in Canada, lhe U.S. and Central America: A Comparative History of Soc ial Adjust ment, 1945-1975." The smdy will focus on how conservative, ag:rarian-hased t-..fen­nnniles of three communities - Spanish Lookotu (Belize), Meade cou nty (Ka11sas), nncl lite ICM. or Hanover/Steinbac h District (Manitoba)- undertook various .,tr:ueg ies to maintain their communities in the increas­ingly incegrated :wd commercialized world or the post-World War II period. Loewen, his wife Mary ,'\nn, n11d their lluee d1il<ln:n - Rebecca. Meg and Sasha • will be leaving for Chicago at the end or August.

Quotations from 1hcjourna l of Rev. Hein rich rriescn (1842 - 1921), llochfcld. Manitoba

Some people are very amiable and poli1e as lo ng as l hl!y have 1heir own w..iy.

II' one wants 10 do ri,ghl, then one must first c:e;i~e to <lo what i<-\vrong .