A PUBLICATION OF THE MENNONITE HERITACE CENTRE and THE CENTRE FOR MB STUDIES IN CANADA

(cont 'd on p. 2)

settlers5

Once shelter was taken care of theybroke a bit of land for the spring andprepared for the winter ahead. It did nottake long to realize the harshness of thewinter and the difficulty of travel. Therewere some wagon trails and small pathsgoing here and there, perhaps to the well,to the neighbors, or to the other villages.There were no paved, lit highways - onlyprairie, grass, and mosquitoes. Some oftllese paths or trails are shown in notebooksof surveyors in 1875. Their notes are theearliest historical records of the Mennonitepresence on the West Reserve.

OberschullZ (district director) IsaakMuller whom the non-Mennonites calledKaiser Muller6

, took initiative in calling ameeting of all the village Schullzen7 In aletter dated May 17, 1878 from the villageof Neuhorst Muller laid out the plans tomark the most commonly traveled path.8

The Schultzen 9 were instructed toprepare posts, ten feet long and six inchesin diameter, for the new road to Emerson ­one for every homestead. Blumenort was toerect them on Monday, the 20th of thismonth, starting from Emerson. The postswere to be placed fifteen rods apart and ina line with the mileposts. Neuhorstfollowed, then Kronsthal, then Rosenort.Tuesday Neuendorf, Schoenwiese, andReinland were to proceed. For everytwenty miles of road they could use threewagonloads and ten men with spades andchisels. The workers should be prepared tospend three days and improve the road atthe same time. 10

Witll this directive the people of the OldColony set aside time from their busy livesto work at marking the road. They dug thepostholes by hand on the north side of theroad. II According to one artist of the time,the posts had a tapered onion dome crownon them. 12

This trail was used by people on theWest Reserve, as well as those outside of it.It was used as a settlement road byhundreds of settlers who settled thesouthwestern portion of Manitoba. In1879-1880 many settlers from Ontariocame along this road to establish newcommunities further west. 13 All theirbelongings, including lumber, pianos andmachinery traveled along this road. 14 Oncesettled, the new settlers' closest and mostimportant trading and commercial pointwas the town of Emerson.

The concept of road markers was not a

.<).,

They remained at the fort until it wasdecided in which village each family wouldsettle and where these villages were goingto be located. No one else wanted to settlethe open prairie because of the lack oftrees. There were no easily accessible treesfor heating, for building houses, barns, noteven trees for building fences for theiranimals. Once on the land they built housesout of the prairie sod and grasses. Fortemporary shelters, these sod housesworked well for the new settlers. Theywere warm in winter and cool in summer,but tended to melt away when it rainedhard. 2 Some wood was gathered beforewinter from stands of trees a few milesaway. In winter they continued to collectwood3 and there is evidence that a fewyears later some people bought land in theUSA for the purpose of harvesting trees. 4

Even Oberschultz MUller is reported tohave bought some timberland along thePembina River and resold it at cost to the

• .,. ,"~ <

:\ .~ ..•~~~.. :';;'-'.

Mennonite Village Reinland, The Old Post Road, 1883 sketched by artist Richard N. Leawho emigrated from Birmingham, England in 1880 and settled in the Pembina Crossingarea. He often traveled between his home and Emerson where he owned a business. Thissketch is the only known depiction of a post from the Post Road. Photo: Courtesy ofMennonite Heritage Centre

. :r...... .:-..:.

The Post Road

CONRAD STOESZ

I magine travelling along the virginprairie of southern Manitoba over a

hundred years ago, perhaps following abuffalo or Indian trail, on a grassy flatplain without hill or stone almost asendless as the ocean. Off in the far westerlydistance, over forty miles away, is the hazybluish outline of the Pembina Hills. Youtravel by horse or on foot, perhaps towinga cart, along a trail worn into the landscapethat meanders around the wet marshyareas. The only trees you see are the smallscrubby trees hugging the banks of riversand streams. I Now imagine this picture inwinter during a blizzard. No landmarksguide you, no yard lights, no roads, notrees, just a featureless white landscape tonavigate in the cold blowing snow.

These are the conditions that the earlyMennonite settlers had to contend withwhen they first settled on the West Reserve.They landed at Fort Dufferin in July 1875,after a long journey from south Russia.

Mennon·teOl~'N02oJUNE=

istor-an

Page 2

The Post Road(cont 'd from p. J)

new one. In Russia, as early as the 1700s,tall wooden verses posts marked someroads. These posts were put on either sideof the road, painted, and inscribed markingthe year they were erected in Russian andGennan letters. 16 Later some roads inRussia had small ditches running alongsidewith posts marking the distance to the nextstopping station, an idea implemented byPeter the Great. 17 Still other roads hadsmall stone pyramids marking the road atcertain intervals. 18 In the Mennonite areasof Russia, the road from the ChortitzaColony over the Dnieper River and on tothe Crimea was marked with posts. 19

Travel in winter remained hazardous onthe Russian steppes because the postsplanted one verst away were not much helpin a stonn. Travelers knew they werecoming to Mennonite areas when they sawposts denoting that they were enteringMennonite land20

. Traveling in theMennonite areas during storms was easierbecause of the trees planted alongside theroad; the treetops could be followed,guiding them on their journey.21

Mennonite Historian is published bythe Mennonite Heritage Centre ofMennonite Church Canada and theCentre for Mennonite Brethren Studiesof the Canadian Conference ofMennonite Brethren Churches.Editors: Abe Dueck (CMBS)

AlfRedekopp (MHCA)All correspondence and unpublishedmanuscripts should be sent to theeditorial offices at:

600 Shaftesbury Blvd.,Winnipeg, ME R3P OM4

Phone 204-888-6781e-mail:

aredekopp@mennonitechurch.caor

1-169 Riverton Ave.,Winnipeg, MB R2L 2E5

Phone 204-669-6575e-mail: adueck@mbconf.ca.

Subscription rates: $9.00 per year,$16.00 for two years, $22.00 for threeyears. Individual subscriptions maybe ordered from these addresses.ISSN 07008066.

'This concept ofusing posts as markerswas not a new idea in North Americaeither22

. In 1825, an oak post was erectedalong the 49th parallel near what is nowEmerson, with U.S.A carved in one sideand G.B on the other. By 1870 anotherpost was erected, marking a whiskeysmuggling enterprise near what is nowGretna23

. The Mennonite Post Road inManitoba was unique because no other trailor road was as well marked as the PostRoad It had posts every 250 feet, whereasother roads had them over a kilometerapart.

The Post Road began in a straightwesterly line from Emerson and continuedjust south of present-day Halbstadt and pastEdenburg. It continued through the villageof Neuanlage, and then ran north ofBlumengart and Neuhorst. From there itbegan to meander in a northwesterlydirection, passing through the villages ofSchoenwiese, Reinland, Hochfeld,Osterwick, Waldheim, and ending south ofMorden in Mountain City.24

(I'o be continued)

Endnotes

I. John H. Warkentin, "The MennoniteSettlements of Southern Manitoba" (PhD.Thesis, University of Toronto, 1960), pp. 6-9.2. Kliewer family fonds, Centre For MennoniteBrethren Studies (CMBS), Winnipeg, smallcollections "K".3. David Schellenberg collection, CMBS, smallcollections, "S".4. Johann Wall Collection, Melmonite HeritageCentre(MHC) Volume 1706, File #3 has a mapshowing land with timber lots marked on it. Aletter dated December 8, 1999, from theRegister of Deeds Office, Cavalier, NorthDakota confirms that the land this maprepresents (the NEI/4 of section 12-163-55,2.5miles south of the Canadian border) was boughtby Johann Wall from Joseph Cyr in 1878.Letter in possession of author.5. The Altona Echo, June 28, 1944.6. Francis Gerhard Enns, Gretna: Window onthe Northwest (Altona, Manitoba: Village ofGretna History Committee, 1987) p. II.7. Recollections of David Schellenberg, 1944.Small collection "S" at CMBS.8. This path may have been an old Indian orBuffalo trail worn into the terrain and used bythe settlers.9. ScJmltz is a village mayor who is responsibleto the people in the village and to theOberschultz who supervised all the mayors inthe area.10. Rosenort Village Organization, MHC,

Volume 1099, fIle 27 "An die SchulzenAemter", translated by John Dyck. Somesources have other dimensions for the posts andthe distance in between them. For exampleElillS lists the posts as fourteen feet long (page12) and seven inches in diameter (page II).Here the distance between them is listed asseventy-five strides. Ted Friesen in his bookAltona Centennial Hist01Y Tour July27-28,1995 (Altona, Manitoba: Altona CentennialCommittee, 1995), lists the posts asseventy-five feet apart (page 7). Perhaps thenew replacement posts would have been slightlydifferent from the originals accounting for thedifference in descriptions.II. Telephone interview with Ingvar Lindin ofGretna on March 4, 1999 at 3:30 pm. by ConradStoesz.12. Richard N. Lea emigrated fromBurmingham England in 1880. He settled inthe Pembina Crossing area. He owned abusiness in Emerson. He traveled back andforth from his home to Emerson many times.He made this sketch depicting the village ofReinland and a post from the Post Road in1883. Now property ofFelix Kuehn, Winnipeg,it is the only known picture of a post of the PostRoad.13. The Altona Echo, June 28, 1944.14. Warkentin, p.155.15. One verst is 1.06 km or 0.66 miles.16. Paul Shott, "The Role of Highways andLand Carriage in Tsarist Russia" (Ph.D. Thesis,University of Oklahoma, 1982), p.9817. Shott, p.99.18. lG. Kohl, Russia. St. Petersburg, Moscow,KiiarlwjJ, Riga, Odessa, the Gennan Provinceson the Baltic, the Steppes, the Crimea and theInterior of the Empire, (London, England:Chapman and Hall, 1842), pAlO.19. Kurt Kauenhowen, Mitteilungen desSippenverbandes der Danziger MemlOni­ten-Familien (Goettingen, Germany: KurtKauenhowen, 1940), p.69.20. Arnold Dyck, Warte lahrbuch far die Men­nonitische Gemeinschaft in Canada (Steinbach,Manitoba: Arnold Dyck, 1944), p.76.21. N.l Kroeker, First Mennonite Villages inRussia 1789 - 1943 Kh011itsa - Rosenthal(Vancouver, British Columbia, 1981), p.l 09.22. There is a road named the Boston Post Roadin the New England States that was marked inthe early to mid 1600s. Managing Travel inConnecticut: 100 Years of Progress,Connecticut Depaltment ofTransportation 100Year History, 1995, p.I.23. "100 Years Ago: Boundary CommissionMarks 49 Parallel", Volume 1073 file no. I atMelUlOnite Heritage Center archives.24. The earliest map of the Post Road is in E.K.Francis, In Search of Utopia, (Altona,Manitoba: DW. Friesen & Sons Ltd., 1955), p.68. Later maps all confirm this basic outline.

Genealogy and Family Historyby Aif Redekopp

Queries

Rempel and Isaak - In the course ofcompiling information on the familyhistory of Heirich Peters (1857-1930), Iacquired many old letters written between1924 and 193 l. Some were written by thesister of Elizabeth Peters (nee Warkentin),a Mrs. Peter RempeL whose husbandtaught at Gretna, Manitoba. There are alsoletters from a David Isaak, who lived nearthe Rempels at Gretna. Information abouttlle descendants of these relatives would begreatly <lppreciated. Please contact KathyPeters Cd: RR2, Didsbury, AB TOM OWO

Letkemann - Mander: I am looking forinformation on the ancestors anddescendants of Jakob Letkemann (1857)and Maria Mantier (1866) who came toGretna, Manitoba in 1892. Thedescendants are believed to have migratedto Mexico. Please contact: TheresiaMantler, 778 Country Rd 37, RR 3,Wheatley. ON NOP 2PO.

Thiessen and Dick - 1 am looking formfonnatlOn on Peter P. Thiessen and W.RDick. Both worked with the resettlement ofRusslaender (Mennonite immigrants of thetwenties) from their first situation on theprairies to the Fraser Valley of Be.

WR Dick was working for theMennonite Land Settlement Board(MLSB), a subsidiary of the CM Board ofColonization, and stationed in Calgary in1928 and 1929. He related to variousagents of the Canada ColonizationAssociation (CCA) in Be. Quite a few ofhis letters are in these papers which formpart of the CPR fonds held in the GlenbowMuseum, Calgary. He suffered a caraccident at Kingston, Ontario in August1928 while on a holiday.

Peter P. Thiessen, a Russlaender fromChortitza, probably Mennonite Brethrenstarted out in Saskatoon as an agent of th~MLSR but in 1930 he was stationed inVancouver as an agent of the CCA in orderto assist in the settlement of Mennonitefanulies in Yarrow. He and his wife helpedIII the early formation of the!v1aedchenheim in Vancouver. He proved to

be an effective inspector for the CCA andwas helpful to many Mennonite families inthe early 1930s.

Anyone knowi ng anything about theseindividuals. or having records that mightbe helpful for research into the earlyMennorute settlement of the Fraser Valley,please contact Peter Penner 20Rundlelawn Close, NE, Calgary, AS, TlY4A5, (403) 280-2177, or Email:justpen@cadvision.com.

Enns - I am looking for descendants ofJohan Enns (b. ca. 1890), son of Johann andKatharina Enns of Fuerstenland, Russia.He came to Canada in the 1920s.Katharina died in 1965 and the children ofthis family are presumed to live in B.e.Contact: Paul Thiessen, RR#3, 62 HunterRoad, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON or phone905-468-7392.

Wiens - I am looking for infonnation onthe descendants of Peter and Agatha Wiensfrom Kleefeld, Molotschna. They had 5children - Peter (d. in WWI), Abram,Jacob (b. June 4, 1904 d. 1947 in Canadaand married to Anna Giesbrect), Helenaand Agatha (married to a Harder). Contact:Paul Thiessen, RR#3, 62 Hunter RoadNiagara-on-the-Lake, ON or phone 905~468-7392.

Enns - Reimer: I am searching for theancestry of Peter Enns (b. 1832 in Tiege,Molotschna). He lived in Berdjansk andhad II children with his first wifeElisabeth Reimer (b. 1835). They wereAbraham b. 1855. Peter b. 1857, Jakob b.1858, Isaak b. 1860, Johan b. 1861,Heinrich b. 1862, David b. 1863, Johann IIb. 1866, Johan III b. 1868, Elisabeth b.1869 and Gerhard b. 1870. His secondmarriage to Eva Berg in 1882 resulted inthe following additional children: Anna b.1882, Katharina b. 1884 Margaretila b.1886, Cornelius b, 1887, Agnetha b. 1889,Sara b, 1893 and Maria Louise b, 1910.This fanuly emigrated from Russia in 1885and settled at Newton, Kansas, Contact:Audrey Hawk, 2035 Old Portland Road StHelens OR 97051-3122, USA or e-~ail:audrey 10@crpud.net.

Page 1

Enns - I am searching for family historyinfonnation on Peter ErulS who c3l~e out ~fRussia via China and settled in the LosAngeles, California area around 1930, Hehad a cousin also named Peter Enns wholived in Portland, Oregon.Contact: Audrey Hawk. 2035 Old PortlandRoad. St. Helens OR 97051-3122, USA ore-mail: audreyIO@crpud.net.

Recent Book

Isaac Bergen. The George Krahn Family1839-1999. (Abbotsford, BC : Privatepublication, 1999) 390 pp.

This book focuses on the family historyof George Krahn (1819-1919) and JuslinaThiessen (1853-1834). BOlh oflhese had afirst marriage- George Krahn firstmarried to Maria Vehr (1844-1879) andJustina Thiessen first married to JacobKlassen (1852-1890). Each oflhese firstmarriages produced a number of childrenso that they brought a family of 13 childre~together in their second marriage,Together they had another 3 children Thisfamily lived in Kronsweide. Chortit/.aRussia. This book conlains many stories:photograpllS and genealogical data on thesefamilies. Contact: Isaak Bergen, 1675Gladwin Road, Winnipeg, ME V2T 5Y5

Upcoming Publicaton

Kathy Peters, Didsbury, Alberta has justcompleted the compilation of a familyhistory on the descendants of HeinricilPeters (1857-1930) and ElizabethWarkentin (1860-1936), The compilationIS In manuscript form and consists of manyfarmly stones and pictures. copies of someold letters and documents, and somegenealogy. Heinrich Peters was thegrandson of another Heinrich Peters whosebrother Jacob Peters was a leader in theemigration of Mennonites from Bergthal,RUSSia to Canada in the 1870s, Contact:Kathy Peters, RR#2, Didsbury, AB. TOMOWO .

,~end inquiries to Aif Redekapp, 600Shaflesbury Blvd., Winnipeg. lvlB R3P OM4E-mail.aredekapp@mennanitechurch.ca.

Page 4

_Islx'

Ell

record for the first time. It might be theschool child reading a diary from her hometown, familiar surroundings and landscapebut written 150 years ago, or the "eureka"from the behind the microfilm reader as agenealogist finds an unknown ancestor, orthe relief of a woman who suffered fromnightmares throughout her life discoversfrom the record that she did not witness agrim murder as a young child.

Several inter-provincial archivaldatabases are already fully functional onthe internet, and others are at variousdegrees of development. You may wish tocheck out these sites: Canadian North WestArchival Database (Alberta, BC, Yukon)( http://aabc.bc.ca/aabc/icaul. html);Manitoba and Saskatchewan ArchivalInfonnation Network (http://www.usask.calarchives/sain-main!). When I recentlysearched under the keyword "Mennonite",in the Canadian North West ArchivalDatabase, I received a list of 25descriptions of archival holdings. Fifteen(15) of these collections were in BC, nine(9) in Alberta and one (1) in the Yukon!

The Mennonite Heritage Centre beganreformatting and revising its 1988Inventory Guide to Archival Holdingsseveral years ago and now has a number ofthese descriptions uploaded to theManitoba-Saskatchewan site. However,only a small portion of our rich collection,is described according to the currentstandards for archival description.

What we need most is time and money,so that we can adequately staff the Centreto meet the needs and respond toopportunity of sharing our heritage in thesenew ways. Donations are alwaysaccepted and tax deductible. If youappreciate your heritage and want to "helpus connect", please consider a donation.

goverrunen.t, medicine, f .:MdifuNtJlMilffH,i@itfMtlfdWl!ftUMfii.mMtMl,m!lif,i

health sCIences and .::' ~ . ,'!. ,£;. ,~ ,.~ ,.~...!.. ,.'i.., ,2~ ~i i:!. ~services science and ';'",,7'=='-~;::'----cJ '- ,. v_ 0' ' ••, ... ,~ .

, • L;"'~ ~I:;(-->;" ~",,,,,,,,,,~,,~,,,,.~,,;,l ~(G'I'1.,..., ~"""~",~,~,),,,'':-.:('''·~'.. ?I'~'''''''''''''W ~':":'''''''''()'><' ~( .....",,~:...&.. ~l"~<j.:_:IJX"'._Q~I'~:~~_

technology, SOCIal I .. ~ d Mennonite Heritage Ccnt"eorgamzatlOns an

more. CAIN will Ienable us to discover ,where the particular!documentary evidence Iis preserved in order toanswer the questionswe face. It is difficult M~~;'~,::;';';:?;;-:;"'

to convey the elnotion ';;L~::~/~;~;~~~~~M';Fa;.( (:~'Io:~~3, .~~. 7:·

of people who they ·",b,",.'''"'','·......Fd'k·<p'",,,',,.,.,;~''''''''''

encounter the archival Mennonite Heritage Centre Home Page on the web

network of networks that will linkCanadians, via the Internet, with everyCanadian archive in towns and citiesthroughout the country. It will give allCanadians unlimited, easy access to a richresource of Canadian historical records anddocuments. Just imagine the results ofsuch a network.

A grade 8 girl is given an assignmentto learn about Nunavut. From a computertenninaI in her school she discovers CAINand both the Inuit Cultural Institute inArviat and The Prince of Wales NorthernHeritage Centre in Yellowknife. From theirrespective web sites she is suddenlytransported to the vast lands of Nunavutand is able to download photographs andinformation about the new territory and thepeople who have struggled to retain theirheritage. She leaves the computer tenninalwith enough material for her assignmentand a desire to learn more about the landand indigenous people of Nunavut.

Imagine another scenario. A youngman, recently arrived in Canada, wondershow he will ever become familiar with thishuge, strange country. At his local libraryhe discovers CAIN, which leads him torecords and pictures of people who havecome before; who traveled great distancesto find a home in Canada. Sorting throughthe many stories and pictures of earlierimmigrants to Canada he begins to readpart of the diary of a young man who cameto Canada 50 years earlier - suddenly hedoes not feel quite so alone.

The heritage of Canadians can befound in more than 800 large and smallarchives across the country. The holdingsof these many institutions span any numberof themes: arts and culture, education,environment, family and domestic life,religious life, industry, manufacturing andcommerce, labour, law and justice, local

Help us Connect!

T hrough the Summer CareerPlacement Program, a division of

Human Resources Development Canada,several students found employment at theHeritage Centre this summer. ShaunaWeiss was hired by the ManitobaMennonite Historical Society as anarchival clerk with the main task ofentering early Manitoba MennoniteChurch registers into the GRANDMAdatabase. Shawna is a first year student atCanadian Mennonite Bible College. She isoriginally from Warman, Saskatchewan.

Myron Dyck, originally from Altona,Manitoba, most recently a student ofMennonite history at the University ofWinnipeg, was hired by the MennoniteHeritage Centre as an archival assistant toprocess a variety of donated material. Histasks will also include uploadingdescriptions of archival holdings forinclusion in the Canadian ArchivalInfonnation Network (CAIN). Part of thisproject is funded by Young CanadaWorks in Heritage Institutions, aprogram delivered by the Department ofCanadian Heritage.

Summer Assistance

MHCNews

The Heritage Centre has had a presenceon the world wide web (WWW) since

February 1996 and would like to developthis resource much more. The potentialfor connecting people with their heritagehas never been greater.

Leaders in the heritage field in Canadahave done significant strategic planningduring the past five years through aninitiative of the Canadian Council ofArchives, the National Archives andHeritage Canada, which has come to beknown as the "CAIN" (Canadian ArchivalInformation Network).

CAIN is a distributed, searchable

JiMennonite Heritage Centre(,00 ,!t;llll'I!IIJ1y 1!lvd Winllipe0 MB Canada R3P 0104

Page 5

,,:?:

CENTRE FOR

MennoniteBrethrenStudies L~ CANADA

Heinrich and Saara VothFamily Reunion

A s in previous years, the Centre forMennonite Brethren Studies has

appointed a student under the CareerPlacement program of Human ResourcesDevelopment Canada. Sheila Wrightbegan work on June 1 and will perform avariety of tasks, including entering the datafor the statistics that are compiled annuallyfor the Canadian Conference of MennoniteBrethren Churches. Sheila is a member ofthe Westwood Community Church (MB), agraduate of the Mennonite BrethrenCollegiate Institute, and attended theSchool of Discipleship of Concord Collegein 1999-2000. She plans to enrol atConcord College as part of the CanadianMennonite University in 2000-2001.

Student Appointed forSummer Assistance

COin~identallY, with the West Reserveanlllversary the Voth Family is

celebrating a reunion at the WestsideCommunity Church (MB) in Morden fromJune 30 to July 3, 2000. Extensivepreparations for this event have beenunderway for some time. The latestnewsletter indicates that there are about500 "Grandkids" of Heinrich and SaaraVoth, many of whom are actually"greatgreatgrandkids" and at least one a"greatgreatgreatgreatgrandkid." A varietyofactivities are being planned and displayswill include items from the Voth collectionat CMBS (Voth's glasses, clerical collar,etc.) and many photographs from CMBSand others held by members of the Vothfamily. The Centre also has one tape of asermon by Heinrich S. Voth, the son ofElder Heinrich Voth, who was also a leaderof the Winkler Mennonite BrethrenChurch.

H 69 Riverton Avenue. Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R2I. LE'i

T ills year marks the 125111 anniversary ofthe founding of the West Reserve in

Manitoba. The first wave of migration ofRussian Mennonites to southern Manitobabegan in 1874, when a large group settledin the East Rcserve (near present-dayStcinbach), and a year latcr a settlementbegan west of the Red River (Altona­Winkler arcas). A number of celebrationsand othcr activities arc scheduled for theWest Rcscrvc areas in the coming months.

Mcnnonite Brethren were not amongthe first settlers in Manitoba. TheMcnnonitc Brethren Church had onlybegun in Russia a short period earlier(1860) and a relatively small number wereamong the first settlers in the mid-westernstates (Kansas, Ncbraska, Minnesota, andthe Dakotas). Thus this year's anniversarydoes not relate directly to the MennoniteBrethren Church.

Many Mennonite Brethren inManitoba do trace their family origins tothis group of settlers even though they werenot Mennonite Brethren at the time. InRussia Mennonite Brethren obviouslysought to win converts to their church fromtheir fellow Mennonites. Although thisproselytization was understandably oftendeeply resented, the Mennonite Brethrenbelieved that many members of otherMennonite groups were in need of spiritualawakening and felt an obligation tominister to them.

Not surprisingly, therefore, MennoniteBrethren in the United States soon began tolook north to the Mennonitc settlements inManitoba as places for a potentially fruitfulministry. At the fourth annual conventionin 1882 in Kansas a delegate raised thepossibility of beginning a ministry in

Mennonite Brethren and the West Reserve Anniversary

Canada. At the next convention inNebraska, two ministers, Heinrich Vothfrom Minnesota and David Dyck fromKansas, were commissioned toinvestigate the situation. The twoministers arrived in southern Manitoba inJune, 1884, stopping in Reinland,Hoffnungsfeld, Blumstein and Burwalde.They met with believers and alsoconducted services in several homes.

After they reported to the conventionin Minnesota in 1885, the Conferencedecided to establish an active missionaryprogram in Manitoba. Voth wascommissioned for the work. During thenext three years Voth made numerousvisits to the West Reserve and graduallywon more and more followers. Among thefirst converts were Jacob and AnnaBanman who were also soon baptizedtogether with another couple. By 1888Canada's first MeIIDonite Brethren Churchwas organized at Burwalde and a churchbuilding was completed in 1889. Theoriginal church remained at Burwalde until1897 when it was relocated to Winkler.But it had already become too small and inthe same year a new structure was begun.The old Burwalde church continued to beused as a kitchen and dining hall adjacentto the new structure.

In addition to the Winklercongregation, two daughter congregationswere organized in the early years-one atGrossweide north of Plum Coulee and oneat Kronsgart, north-east of Winkler. Themembership remained fairly small havingreached only 324 by 1924. But then alarge influx of new immigrants began toarrive from the Soviet Union whichincreased the Winkler membership

dramatically and alsoled to the organiza­tion of many newcongregations insouthern Manitoba..

... A Bible school\,~ (Peniel, or Winkler

II ,. Bible School) was.'. founded in 1925. For

~.-....;~f""5;::~~S;;;;~~:-r~-!~~~~~the next decade or soWinkler was probablythe leading Menno­nite Brethren

The ..W·'-i-n-kJ...:.e-r-M...:.e-n-n-o-n-it-e....B...r...e..:th:..r-e-n-C..;.h:..u..;.r;"'c-h-a';'n"'d;"t-he-fo-r"'mlrooe"'r~c:....~ congregation in

Bunvalde Church in the early 20'h century Canada.

Page 6

Alfred van Vogt, Edenburg /Hollywood, Dies at 87by Lawrence Klippenstein

I n the wider worldAlfred van Vogt

was known as aScience FictionMaster, as the lateJohn Dyck put it in hisbrief biography of theman. But John then

went on to say, "Few readers of the fictionwritten by this Hollywood writer suspectthat his roots are in southern Manitoba.

The fact is that Alfred Vogt, as he wasknown as a child, was the son of Heinrichand Aganetha (Buhr)Vogt, grandson ofHeinirch and Judith (Wiebe) Vogt, and thegreat grandson of Wilhelm and Anna(Quiring) Vogt. These families lived for atime in Edenburg, a village a few mileseast of Gretna, Manitoba. Edenburg wasthe place where Alfred was born on April27, 1912. His father became a lawyer andthe Henry Vogts then moved to Neville,Saskatchewan, where the father set up alaw practice. The great grandparents hadmoved to Dallas, Oregon already in 1890,but were nevertheless listed in the BergthalChurch Register No. I when it was begunaround 1903. (Anna Vogt nee Quiringdied in Oregon in 1895). They spent someyears in the village of Altbergthal as well,possibly before moving to Oregon.

Alfred's own career took off in 1940when he moved with his family toHollywood where he lived for many years.His last book of fiction was published in1980. By then he had written 85 booksand short story collections. The Voyage ofthe Space Beagle was one of his best­known science fiction titles. He became agrandmaster of the genre in 1997.

It has been said that Vogt wasdefinitely influenced by his Mennonitetradition - a social life centring around thechurch, radio broadcasts from Moody BibleInstitute, travelling Mennonite evangelistsfrom the United States, as well as self-helpsalesmen and the motivational industrypromoted by men like Dale Carnegie andEarl Nightingale.

One of Vogt's biographers has saidthat "during the forties and fifties tllis(former West Reserve) Manitoban was themost popular science fiction writer in theworld surpassing Asimov, Clarake and

Heinlein". His books have been widelytranslated and his reputation remainsundimmed in Europe and South America.

Vogt, not really a Winnipeg-bornauthor (though he attended high schoolthere), as the Winnipeg Free Press stated,died in February earlier this year and wasburied in Los Angeles, California.

SourcesDyck, Jolm, "Alfred van Vogt : Science FictionWriter", Preservillgs No. 10, Part II, (June,1997), p. 66.Ellis, Scott, "Surrationa1 Dreams : A.E. vanVogt and Mennonite Science Fiction", PrairieFire Vol. 15, No.2 (Summer, 1994) pp. 204­219.West Reserve Bergthal Church Register No. 1and No.2. Mennonite Heritage Centre Achives,Volume 718 and 719.

Old Maps and DrawingsDiscovered

Several old mapsand drawings of

Mennonite coloniesin the Ukraine haverecently beenreceived by theMennonite HeritageCentre courtesy ofDiane W. Williams,Forestville, NewYork. The maps

were discovered among the items saved byher father Gerhard Wiens.

Gerhard Wiens was born inTashchenak, Russia on May 13, 1900,emigrated to the United States in 1920121,lived in Newton, Kansas until 1939, whenhe married Olga Hiebert from MountainLake, Minnesota. He worked as a chemistfor Robin Hood Flour in Kansas City,Missouri until he retired in 1965. In the1969 Gerhard and Olga Wiens moved toToronto. Gerhard Wiens passed away onMay 13, 2000 on his 100th birthday.

One of the rare maps in tllis collectionis entitled, "Karte der MolotschnaerMennonite-Bezirk Halbstadt undGnadenfeld Gouvemement Taurien." TheMolotschna Teachers' Associationcommissioned a 1. Janzen to prepare tllismap and it was published by AJ. Unruh,Tiege in 1912. After almost 90 years, tllisitem is still in excellent condition.

Another rare item in Wiens collection

is a map published in 1914 entitled"Mielitopol (Jekatierinoslaw)". The lang­uage on the text on this map is in Gennan.The map shows villages, estates, roads andrailways and some physical geographicalinformation of the district of Melitopol.

The most unique items in the Wienscollection are, however, a number ofdrawings of tlle estate Tashchenak. Theland at tllis estate had been purchased byJohann Cornies before 1832. It was herethat Cornies first attempted to establish avineyard in 1836. Later, fruit orchards andsheep-shearing enterprizes were developed.Included in this collection of drawings isplan which shows the division of the estateto the heirs of David David Schroeder.These heirs included son Johan D.Schroeder and daughters Louise D. Wiens(Gerhard Wiens' mother), Anna D. Ennsand Katherina Sudennarm.

Manitoba Mennonite WestReserve 125th Anniversary1875-2000

T he year 2000 is an important year inhuman history, marking the advent of

a new millenium. It is especially sigrlif­kant for our Western Canadian Mennonitecommunities because it is the 125thanniversary of the Mennonite beginningson the West Reserve. Several committeesare working hard at planning events tocommemorate this event. The main eventis on July 16,3 pm at Fort Dufferin (Nearpresent-day Emerson). A drama is beingwritten by play-write Wilmer Penner.

On July 22 there will be an unveilingof a plaque at the Reinland church. This isthe oldest Mennonite church in WesternCanada. This plaque commemorates theimportance of the first Aeltester, JohannWiebe.

A third project is the initiation of thePost Road self guiding tour. Signs, replicaposts and a brochure are in the workstelling the story of the various points ofinterest and the uniqueness of the roadwhich stretches across the West Reservefrom Emerson to Mountain City. Theopening is yet to be announced, but thegoal is to complete this by August.

Radio spots on CFAM will begin inJune and a 12-page insert will appear inthe Altona, Winkler, Morden and Cannan

Book Review Essay(cont 'd from p. 8)

the 1806 list).The great value of the 1806 list is the

confinnation and extension of the RH.Unruh data regarding the varioushomestead transfers that took place overthe years. The 1806 list is particularlyimportant in documenting the movementof the various settlers to the new villagessuch as Burwalde and Niederchortitza. Forthe villages such as Neuenburg andSchoenhorst, the 1806 list is the last in theavailable early Old Colony lists. However,as stated above, non-homestead owningfamilies (the trademen, craftmen, smiths,etc.) are not included in the 1806 list.

In the 1806 list, the data is sometimesconfusing, oweing no doubt to thepredilection for the comparative approach.There are several 1797 entries needlesslyput under the 1806 list (for instance thethird Isebrandt Friesen entry underSchoenhorst) and a duplicate entry forMartin Wiens under Rosenthal. This hasthe potential of confusing the read~r..Aswell it appears there is an entry mlssmgunder Einlage for Isaac Bom/lsaac Woel­eke, although I do not have any original toverify this.

The Grodno Lists (1803-1810)These lists document the settlers

arriving at the border point at Grodno andcontinuing on into the interior of NewRussia. Most of these families settled in theMolotschna, although some settled in theOld Colony. The majority of these familiesare found in the 1808 Molotschna or OldColony lists of B.H. Unruh. As well, B.H.Unruh documents many of these familiesby year of immigration. . .

The great value of the Grodno lIsts IS

the inclusion of a considerable amount ofinfonnation regarding the individualfamilies, their traveling companions

125th Anniversary(cont'dfrom p. 6)

papers near the end of June.In addition to tllese events there are

various family and community gatheringsand book launches. For more infonnationvisit our Wro site (v...ww.mmhs.org) or call888-6781.

(relatives and servants) and the financialaid received. A good many detailsregarding arrival and departure dates,illnesses and routes taken are included.There is certainly a lot of new andadditional material in this section, and forsome families who do not overtly appear inthe 1808 lists, this may be the only datapresently available.

The Lists of Households and Visas after1815

Here again the author has used acomparative approach, with the Jist of visasissued in a given year followed by the listof new households established in NewRussia (in either Molotschna or OldColony villages) for the same fear. Helpfulnotes are included in the visa listsindicating the probable location of a familyin the new household list. This approachworks well in these sections because thedata are comparable and because there isno obvious distortion of the original list,except perhaps an alphabetical ordering ofthe new household lists.

The data of both lists separatenaturally by year. Furthennore, the visalists appear to be represented in theirentirety and include many non-Mennoniteimmigrants. The new household listscomplement the 1835 Molotschna census.Of special note are the lists offamilies moving to the Molotschna fromthe Old Colony, although much of thisinformation (and perhaps more) is alreadyin the Molotschna census (and does in factseem to originate from the 1835census sources). Some interesting new datais presented for new households establishedin the Old Colony. Included in the datapresented for the new household~rs is abrief economic description regardmg theeconomic affairs of the household.

The most interesting and infonnativenew data is contained in the visa liststhemselves. All the persons traveling onthe passport are generally named andinclude various relatives (andthe relationship to the passport owner),maiden names (in some cases) and thevillage where the passport-holder resided.All of this adds a great deal to ourknowledge of the settlers.

As will be apparent to the reader, thisvolume contains much new and variedinformation. Some of the data will he moreuseful than other data. The importance ofthe data in sections 3 & 4 (as outlined

Page 7

above) have been recognized in this volumeby the inclusion of a brief butexcellent economic overview of the newsettlers (1815-1825) by Conrad Stoesz.Also included is a map of the Visual Deltaand valley, detailing the villages fromwhich many of the new settlersoriginally came. Included as well is someinfonnative introductory commentary rethe original lists. This book undoubtedlydeserves the popularity it will achieve.

IB.H. Unruh. Die Niederlaendisch-nieder­deutscher Hintergruende der MennonitischenOstwanderungen. (Karlsruhe, 1955)

Book Notesby Ado/fEns

Salt & Sign: Mennonite CentralCommittee in Palestine, 1949 B 1999 (150pages) by Alain Epp Weaver and Sonia K.Weaver is an account of fifty years ofChristian service, peace and educationwork on the West Bank. Maps, photos anda good index enhance this account.

Jean Janzen, Tasting the Dust(Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2000); 69pp. pb. $9.95 (US). This is another volumeof poetry by the Saskatchewan-born poetand hymn writer who teaches poetrywriting at Fresno Pacific and EasternMennonite universities.

Perry Bush, Dancing With the Kobzar:Bluffton College and Mennonite HigherEducation. 1899 - 1999 (Telford,PA:Pandora Press U.S., 2000); 320 pp. pb.This centennial history of one attempt atcombining liberal arts education withAnabaptist theology and retaining aMennonite church connection may be ofinterest to the church bodies which recentlyfounded Canadian MennoniteUniversity.

Irvin 1. Kroeker, compiler and editor,The Papers of Howard W Winkler(Winnipeg: Open Door Communications,1999); 173 pp. pb. $10. Winkler wasMember of Parliament for the constituencyof Lisgar 1935-1953. Since his areaincluded large numbers of Mennonitecommunities in southern Manitoba,Winkler's memoirs and correspondence areofconsiderable interest to Manitoba readersof the Historian.

Page 8

Book Review Essay

Peter Rempel. Mennonite Migration toRussia 1788-1828 / edited by Alfred H.Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen(Winnipeg, ME : Manitoba MennoniteHistorical Society, 2000) 249 pp.

Reviewed by Henry Schapansky

I t is an exciting event whendocumentary material on the Russian

Mennonites is made accessible to thepublic in book form. Recent publicationssuch as the Bergthaler Gemeinde Book, theReinlander Gemeinde Buch and the recentMolotschna 1835 census data (althoughnot yet published in book form, Iunderstand that plans are in the works forthe publication in book form) testify to theenthusiastic interest of the general readerin such works. This is to say nothing ofthe enduring interest in the great work ofRH. Uruuh. l There is no reason to believethis current book will not enjoy a similarpopularity.

The documentary material presentedin the present volume is, in fact,supplementary to all these works but inparticular to B.H. Unruh's book and the1835 Molotschna census data. Indeed,the reader will want to have both works athand when going through this volume.

When reading this book, I can't helpthinking of what a great debt Mennonitehistory and family history owes to B.H.Unruh, and how the pioneering work ofthis historian has held up over time. Allsubsequent works seem to be footnotes orenlargements of his justly famousbook. The present volume will be ofinterest to both professional historian andfamily historian, but like all books of thisnature, the interest of the family historianwill be the dominant one. I think it is sadthat works of this kind are too oftenneglected by the academic historian, sinceall history is composed of the countlesslives of ordinary people and the data andfacts of tlleir lives. The documentsassembled for this book may be grouped(and here I differ slightly from the view ofthe author in his preface) into thefollowing categories.l. The Old Colony lists of 1797 and

18062. The Grodno lists of 1803 -18103. Lists of households established in

Russia 1815-1828;4. Lists of visas issued by the Russian

Consulate at Danzig 1819-1828.

The approach taken by tlle author is achronological one with the data beingrestructured in such a way as to facilitatethe comparison of individuals in one listwith those in another. This works well forsome of the data, less well for other data.In a work of this kind, tlle readerexpects the documentary data to bepresented in its original form, in so far aspractical, and appreciates additionalcommentary, as appropriate, anddistinguished as such. In general, theauthor and editors will have met thereaders exwctations in this volume. Iwould like to discuss the data of this workunder the headings I have indicated above.It would be appropriate to say at this point,that. at least some of the material in thisbook was originally uncovered by the lateDr. D.G. Rempel while in Russia in the1960s. Dr. D.G. Rempel took copies ofmuch of this material on his return homeincluding a transcription of th;1797 census. It is astonishing that no onehas seen fit to publish any of this materialalthough some of this material hascirculated in unpublished fonn (I have acopy for instance of the 1797 list given tome by Richard D. Thiessen, one of theeditors of this book).

The Old Colony lists of 1797 and 1806The documentary lists under this

section are among the most important ofthe whole book, being compiled at earlierdates than elsewhere in this book. Only theB.H Unruh's lists of 1793 and 1795 aredated earlier than 1797, and there are OldColony families who may only bedocumented in the 1797 or 1806 lists. Wemay therefore be grateful indeed thatthis material has been published here.

The two lists were complied for quitedifferent purposes and differ greatly inmaterial presented. The 1797 list was ageneral Old Colony census (and includedKronsgarten) and con(ains informationregarding the economic data of eachhousehold, including the number ofhorses, cattle, sheep and pigs owned. Onlythe household head is named, but the totalnumber of males and females in eachfamily is tabulated. The lists are organizedby villages, with a last section for newsettlers not yet assigned to any particular

village. The 1806 list was established forthe purpose of establishing the tax-freeyears remaining to each homestead. Byhomestead I mean homestead in theCanadian sense, according to the variousprovincial homestead acts, where familiesreceived a free grant of land (and some taxexempt years) under certain conditions.The Gennan word is Wirtschaft. The 1806list gives the name of the original owner ofthe homestead rights, and the owner in1806, along with a count of males andfemales in the 1806 owner's family. The1806 list therefore contains only the datarelative to the 1806 Wirtschaft ownersand the original owners. The author ha~chosen to present the 1797 and 1806 listsin parallel columns so that names from the1797 list are across from the same namesin the 1806 list. This approach willdoubtlessly please many readers wanting aneasy reference from a name in the 1797 listto the same name in the 1806 list Ihowever, would have preferred that 'th;original format had been maintained. Infact I feel that even in the present format,the author should have included adescription of the record as it wasoriginally created.

In my view, the comparative approachtaken doesn't work here, essentially becausethe lists do not contain comparable data,although most of the 1797 families did infact own a homestead. Many of the unlisted(not yet assigned a particular village) 1797families had by 1806 acquireda homestead, and to have done a fullcomparison would have required a grossdistortion of the 1797 list. As it is, the1797 list comes off poorly in this volume.There are a number oferrors and omissionsin the 1797 list. The name Lehn issometimes misstated as Lepp, and tllename of Johann Leppky (at Insel Chortitza)is misstated as Lempke, even though theadjacent Russian is clear. The error of KarlStumpp is continued in the Kronsgartenentry under the entries for Bartel Meussen.There should have been a footnote, at leastat this entry, indicating the name is Barth­olomaeus (as in RH. Unruh), a variant ofthe name Bartel (Bartel is a short form).More serious however, is the omission ofthe Chortitza entry for Jacob Berg(BarklBarg) and the Neuendorf entries forAbraham Dyck and Michael Loewen. (TheMichael Loewen entry is misplaced into

(cont 'd on p. 7)