Mel?l?ol?iteHistorial?

Volume III, Number 1March, 1977

Photo Courtesy of Ernest Wiebe, Winnipeg. Man.

Many readers will have noted the recent passing of several well-known Mennonite church leaders of ourConference. This photo recalls a southern Manitoba ministers' and deacons' meeting where some ofthem were present. Ithas been dated as "the early 1940's" with the Bergthaler Mennonite Church in Morden, Manitoba, specified as theplace.

We would appreciate very much knowing more about this gathering, i.e. more evidence for the exact date and placeof the meeting, the names ofall the participants, including churches which they served, and what the conference was allabout.

Seated in the front row are (l-r); Isaac I. Friesen, Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Man.; Johann J. Enns,EUm Mennonite Church, Grunthal, Man.; William H. Falk, Rudnerweide Mennonite Church of Manitoba; DavidSchultz, Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Manitoba; Jacob J. Nickel, Zoar Mennonite Church, Langham, Sask.;Johann Bueckert, Blumenorter Mennonite Church near Gretna, Man.; Johann G. Rempel, Rosenorter MennoniteChurch of Saskatchewan; Benjamin Ewert, Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Man.; David Abrams, SchoenfelderMennonite Church, Headingly, Man.; George G. Neufeld, Whitewater Mennonite Church of Manitoba, now resident atBoissevain, Man.; and Wilhelm H. Enns, Springstein Mennonite Church, Springstein, Man. All ofthese men had receiv­ed ordination as AeJtesters (bishops or elders) in their respective groups.

Peter Regier

Part III

At the turn of the century Aeltester PeterRegier stood astride two new developmentsin the Western Canadian Mennonite com­munity. One was the formation of theKonferenz der Mennonlten In MlttlemKanada (Conference of Mennonites in Cen­tral Canada), and the other, the opening ofthe German-English Academy (laterRosthern Junior College) at Rosthern,Saskatchewan.

When two ministers, Benjamin Ewert andJohann M. Friesen, of the Bergthaler Men­nonite Church in Manitoba visited theRosthern area in July, 1902, Regier welcom­ed them at this own home. Here they metwith other local Rosenorter leaders to dis­cuss how Mennonites of the prairies mightestablish closer relationships and organizetheir work together.

A decision to meet again the following

New Studies Centre Plans

Winnipeg, Manitoba - During the recentmeetings of the Council of Boards of theConference of Mennonites in Canada. a vi­sion which has flickered among us for manyyears came a step closer to reality.

Peter W. Enns of Winkler, Manitoba,brought to the boards a proposal that looksforward to the establishment of an archives­library center for the benefit of the entireMennonite community. The P. W. EnnsFamily Foundation proposes to fund such acenter on the Canadian Mennonite BibleCollege campus to be operated by theConference of Mennonites in Canada for thebenefit of all Mennonites. It is understoodthat such a center should become arepository for the archival material of anyMennonite groups or organizations whochoose to do so.

The boards responded positively andenthusiastically to the proposal and tooksteps to appoint a committee to work withthe 1'. W. Enns Family Foundation toprepare a plan for presentation to the con­ference in July.

Mr. Enns, in his letter to the Conferencestates the intention as follows: "This com­plex would be for the use of all Mennonite.s.The prime intent of such a center would bean expression of gratitude for God'sguidance and our Canadian heritage; allow­ing future generations the opportunity tostudy and understand the Mennonite peopleas servants of God."

year resulted from these deliberations. Thuswere convened the first sessions of theKonferenz der Mennonlten In MlttlemKanada, held at the Hochstadt BergthalerChurch near Altona, Manitoba, on July 20­21, 1903. Fifteen or more representativesfrom the Bergthaler and Rosenorterchurches shared the study of several majorpapers (Referate) as well as a brief businessperiod which concluded the meetings.

Regier himself was apparently not present.The minutes do not mention his name, andone notes also that reports from the Rosen­orter Gemeinde were brought by J. E.Sprunger and Gerhard Epp. The Aeltesterwas, however, appointed to a five-man con­stitution committee, and preached the con­ference sermon at the second sessions heldat Eigenheim, Saskatchewan, in 1904.

Two years later, in 1906, Conferencerepresentatives appointed Regier and twoother persons to a Home Missions (earliercalled Relseprediger) committee. For sevenyears he held this office, withdrawing onlywhen illness made it difficult to continue. DerMlta~lter, a Conference periodical alsobegun in 1906, regularly carried hiscommittee treasurer's reports. In its earlyissues, the paper also carried a short histor­ical sketch of the Rosenorter MennoniteChurch written by Regier himself.

During this same period Regier began dis­cussing with other leaders the need for bettereducation. Four out of the five men invited toa special meeting on this topic joined him atthe William Abrams home in Rosthern on

January 24, 1903. Mennonite educationalstandards, all agreed, badly needed raising,and they decided to call for a publicberatende Versammluna (exploratorymeeting) regarding the establishment of aGerman-English teacher training centre inthe area.

Support for this idea was strong at theMarch 7 meeting which followed. The out­come ultimately was the official opening ofthe German-English Academy at Rosthernon Nov. 14, 1905. Regier's interest in itsprogress no doubt continued, but from hereon David Toews and others stood in theforefront of the enterprise as such.

Administrative and pastoral duties con­tinued to occupy a major portion ofAeltester Regier's daily schedule. Travellingincreased as the circuit of preaching pointswithin the Rosenorter church communitykept on expanding. Regier had led a newchurch building dedication at Eigenheim in1902, and additional meeting houses werebeing planned as well.

In April, 1903, Regier travelled to WestPrussia to visit family members, hoping alsoto bring back with him his beloved parents­in-law, the Johann Ennses. A GeneralConference minister, Rev. J. E. Sprunger,had agreed to serve the Rosenorter peopleduring their regular leader's absence.

Sprunger took over enthusiastically. Heshowed special interest in the idea, currentfor some time, that a church building wasneeded at Rosthern. The project began andprogressed rapidly, so that he was able to es­cort the Aeltester into a completed structurewhen he returned in early July.

Reporting the event Regier wrote, "Tearsof joy came to my eyes. Deeply moved, Ifolded my hands, and inwardly thanked GodWho has accomplished great things." Headded in his comments, "Perhaps the out­standing debt of $50.00 can still be met thisfall!" The church building was dedicated inAugust. At Hochstadt, Manitoba, the 1903Conference participants had also agreed torecommend offerings in their congregationsto assist the Rosthern building program withfunds.

Regier's historical sketch of 1906 con­cludes with these words: "We meet everySunday for worship at Eigenheim andRosthern, as well as gathering every threeweeks in Hague, Waldheim, Tiefengrund andBergthal. Attendance at the services isgenerally good. Our tasks as ministers areheavy, but we carry them out with joy. Godgives us strength and our reward is inheaven." (to be concluded). LawrenceKlippenstein

Note: Space restrictions require a furthersection, Part IV, to complete this article. It isplanned for the June issue.

MENNONITE HISTORIAN is published quarterly by the History-Archives Committee of the Conference of all Mennonites in Canada. It isedited by Lawrence Klippenstein. All correspondence and unpublished manuscripts should be sent to the editorial office at 600 ShaftesburyBlvd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3P OM4. Subscription is free of charge till further notice. ISSN 0700-8066.

Reesor - An Extinct Community

A gathering ofearly Reesor settlers infront of the "Immigrantenhaus". This was the summer of1926.Infrom (l-r) Wilhelm Rempel. Heinrich £nns. and Corneliu Penner. Thomas Reesor. a visitor. is seenon the from right. .

J. Winfield Fretz.

In the long history of the Mennonitechurch there are literally thousands of ex­tinct Mennonite communities. Of these manyhave left barely a historical trace other thanname. The dates of e tablishment and of ex­tinction, the names and numbers and lengthof residence of members of the communityand all records of the sociological factorsand forces accounting for either their es­tablishment or extinction are totally missing.

The Reesor, Ontario community locatedbetween Kapuskasing and Hearst, Ontario,northwest of Timmins would likely be onemore such community were it not for thediligent and conscientious efforts of the lastremaining member, John H. Enns who spentpractically his entire lifetime in this com­munity. Enns was a colony school teacherfrom 1936-1966 except for the few waryears. He collected an amazing amount ofvaluable historical and sociological materialabout the families, their hardships andpioneering experiences of the institutions thatwere developed, a description of their meansof livelihood and a detailed account of thesocio-economic factors and forces that caus­ed the final breakup of the settlement. In ad­dition to the 84-page single-spaced historicalaccount he also has a 76-page album ofphotographs. These consist of families; theirearly log and later frame houses as well as anamazing assortment of pictures of everydaylife, of church and community activities.

It is a remarkable documented record of aMennonite community that once was homefor more than 300 people. The dates of theReesor community can be considered 1926­1947, the latter being the year when theReesor Mennonite Church was formerly dis­banded.

Pioneer BeaInnlnlsThe Reesor settlers were Mennonites who

had come to Canada from Rus ia in the mid­dle 1920's. At that time it was extremely dif­ficult to fmd employment and because of theimpoverished condition of the new im­migrants they were not able to purchasefarms. Those of their co-religionists whoattempted to do this in the prairie provincesfound the burden extremely heavy and manyof them gave up their farms altogether.

The reason for the settlement at Reesorwas the availability of government timberland that was being opened to new settlers.The livelihood was intended to be derivedfrom cutting pulpwood for the paper mills inOntario. Thomas Reesor, a Mennoniteleader in the Markham community north ofToronto, directed the Mennonite immigrantsto this location and gave them a great deal ofguidance and support in their settlement ef­forts. It is after this man that the communitywas named.

Mrs. Peter Dyck of Leamington, Ontario,then Erna Toews, a fourteen year old girlwith her father and her brother, Cornelius,fifteen years old, describes the arrival ofthe first nine group of settlers:

Thus at 11 p.m. on a pitch-dark night, in aheavy rain, greeted by scurrying rabbits andswarms of hungry mosquitoes, the group ofnine settlers got off the express which hadbeen stopped just for them in the midst ofnowhere, to begin their self-appointed task ofhewing a new home from the primeval forest.Mr. Toews, in his memoirs, admits that adreadful uneasiness descended upon themand that, if an opportunity had presenteditself, they would probably have beaten aquick retreat.

Culture TransplantedOne of the fascinating aspects of the

Reesor community is the way itdemonstrates the transplanting of culturefrom one country to another. The Reesorsettlers were poor in material things but richin that they had experienced a better way oflife and had ideas and hopes of what couldwith God's help be done in the future.

The flfst thing they did upon arrival wasprovide temporary shelter. Almost beforetheir own houses were completed they decid­ed to establish a school so that their childrenwould not be deprived of an education evenfor a single year. The Reesor settlers wereable to secure the services of DavidHeidebrecht who had completed a crashcourse at the Mennonite Collegiate Institutein Manitoba. When he arrived on the scenein Reesor, Heidebrecht found that aschoolhouse had not yet been built. Avacated log house two miles from therailroad station was improvised for both hisresidence and the first schoolroom.

Some of the hefty tree trunks were sawedinto bench-high and desk-high lengths.Poplar lumber was used to make necessarydesks. In pite of the fact that the flfstsettlers arrived in June and some in latesummer the first school was already un·derway by the middle of September. Shortlythereafter a new building was erected toserve the double purpose of a schoolroomand a church meeting place. In the lateryears a second school was erected so thatchildren would not have more than two milesto walk. (to be concluded)

News and Notes

Tbe spring meednl of tbe MennoniteHistorical Society of Ontario will be beld onJune 11 at tbe Ralnbam Mennonite Churchin Holdimand County. Sessions will beaIn at10:00 a.m. and close at 4:00 p.nt. The groupwill also tour historic sites of extinct Men­nonite churches.

The book Anna's Art written by E.Reginald Good, and published in 1976 byPochauna Publications of Kitchener, On­tario, is an important contribution to thestudy of Pennsylvania German Fraktur. Itcan be purchased at Mennonite bookstoresfor $10.95.

A reader draws attention to the fact theAeltester David Toews, of Rosthern,Saskatchewan, came to Kansas from Russia(not West Prussia as suggested in theDecember issue of MH). This is correct, ofcourse, although Toews' forebears did comefrom West Prussia earlier. The backgroundof his life story can be studied in a recentbook by Fred R. Belk entitled Tbe GreatTrek of the Russian Mennonites to CentralAlia, 1886-1884 (Herald Press, Scottdale,Pa., and Kitchener, Ont., 1976).

The material for this pale was contributedby tbe Mennonite Historical Society of On­tario. Photo credit locS to the archives atConrad Grebel CoDeae In Waterloo, Ont.

RecentPubUcadonl

This concludes our update listing of histor­ical publications by and about Mennonites inCanada. Several other related items wereadded as well. Information about materialsomitted will be appreciated.

Devlin, T.P. "Homesteading in NorthernBritish Columbia," Mennonite LifeXXXI, December, 1976, 16-20.

Dick, LaVernae, Who are the Mennonites?,a brochure published in 1976 by theHeritage Committee of the GeneralConference Mennonite Church. Write toBox 347, Newton, Kansas 67114.

,Dyck, C. J. compo Mennonite History BookV. SUllesdons. Prepared by th~ Herit~ge:; Committee of the GCMC. Wnte to FaIth

and Life Press, Box 347, Newton, Kan­sas, 67114. For church librarians.

Epp, George K. "Das Deutschtum in

I Kanada im Rahmen des kulturellen/Mosaiks," Mennonltllchel Jahrbuch

l/ 1977, 57-60,Friesen, Orly, and Irma Neudorf, eds. The

blstory of the Frledenlfeld scbool district.Winnipeg, Man., 1976. 123 pp. Paper­back. $5.00. Order from Orly Friesen, 26Watercress, Winnipeg, Man. Deals with aMennonite area of settlement nearRosthern, Sask.

Froese, Isaac, ed. Burwalde Album.. Newsletter No.2, January, 1977. ForI ,copies w?te. to I. Fr~se, 243 Morley

v/ Ave., WlOrupeg, Marutoba R3L OY2.Includes historical notes on the BurwaldeS.D. in southern'Manitoba. The first issueis still available.

Goertzen, Peter. Goertzen, Edmonton,Alberta, 1976. 176 pp. Hardcover.$14.50. A family study of the Gerhardand Helena Goertzen family. Order fromthe author, 12253-101 St., Edmonton,Alta.

Isaac, Frank. Descendants of FranzKomellus Isaak and Marla Braun, neeEns. Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1976. Paper­

II back, 97 pp. $10.00. Order from thev author at 1063 Brazier, Winnipeg,

Manitoba.Klassen, Agatha. Yarrow - A Portrait In

MOlalc. Yarrow, B.C., 1977. Hardcover.More than 200 photographs. 120 pp.$10.95. Order from Agatha Klassen, Box49, Yarrow, B.C.

Klaassen, Walter, "The Modern Relevanceof Anabaptism", UmstrlttenCl Taeufer­tum 1525-1975. Neue Forscbuolen, ed.by Hans-Juergen Goertz, Goettingen,1975, 290-304.

Klippenstein, Lawrence, "Western LocalMennonite Teachers' Conference - AnEarly Minute Book," Manitoba PaleantXXII, Winter, 1977, 8-11.

Kroeker, Nettie, Far Above Rubles. TheStory of Helena Wlenl. Winnipeg,Manitoba, 1976, 368 pp. Cloth. $10.00.Order from Fellowship Bookcentre, 302Kennedy, Winnipeg, Man.

Neufeld, Arnie, "The Origin and EarlyGrowth of the MB Church in SouthernManitoba," unpublished MA thesis, MBBiblical Seminary, Fresno, Calif., 1976.

Patterson, Nancy-Lou, "Anna Weber hatdas gemacht", Mennonite Life XXX,December, 1975, 15-19. Anna Weber(1814-1888) was a Fraktur painter inWaterloo County, Ontario.

· .. "1m Zeichen der Zwillinge," WaterlooHistorical Society LXIII, 1975, 52-62.

Penner, Peter, "Mennonites in the AtlanticProvinces," Mennonite Life XXXI,

· December, 1976, 16-20.A>eniter, William. My Experlencel In Camp

Vv"'Llfe. Ste. Anne, Man. n.d. 15 pp. Paper­back. 50t.W.W. II CO camp experiences.

Peters, Elizabeth, trans. "Two Letters" byArnold Dyck in Journal of Canadian Flc­don, 1976 issue, 17-32.

Peters, Katie, ed. GenealolY of JohannJanzen 1752·1977. Winnipeg, Canada,1977,408 pp. Paperback. $10.00. Orderfrom E. J. Klassen, 467 Park, Winnipeg,Manitoba.

Regehr, Ted, ed. "Mennonite Beginnings inRosthern," Mennonite Life XXXI,December, 1976,4-15. The author of thismemoir is thought to be Peter Klassen, apioneer resident and teacher of theRosthern area.

Sawatsky, Walter, "A call for Union ofBaptists and Mennonites," MennoniteQuarterly Review L (July, 1976), 230­239.

Schroeder, Bill, "A Visit to the FormerBergthal Colony in Russia," TbeCarillon, Steinbach, Man., Nov. 3, 1976.Sec. 3 p. 1.

Toews, John B., "Documents on MennoniteLife in Russia 1930-1940: The GreatTerror," American Historical Society ofGermans from Russia Work Paper No.19. December, 1975, 3-12.

· .. "Documents on Mennonite Life inRussia 1930-1940: Cultural and Intellec­tual Life," AHSGR Work Paper No. 20.Spring, 1976, 36-43.

Photo: Dennis SlOesz

Historian-archivist Lawrence K/ippenstein ex­amines some o[ the flies o[ the recent MCC(Canada) deposit at the CMC archives.

Toews, Julius G., "Reflections", TheCarillon, Steinbach, Manitoba. A seriesof autobiographical articles beginning onMarch 31, 1976.

In Search of AncestorsEdwin D. Hoeppner

Looking for ancestors is one thing andfinding them is another. Yet the search is ofvalue for its own sake partly because it con­strains one to acquire some knowledge of thehistory of our people and of our Iiteratur~.

You never know in advance what you willfind - that's after all the primary reason for'the search.

During the past year we have had modestsuccess in establishing the identity of thegreat-grandparents of my mother who wasborn Margaretha Reimer, the sixth of eightchildren. When she was not quite eight yearsold, the children lost their faiher, theirmother having passed away somewhatearlier. The names and birthdates of herparents and grandparents were known to usas well as the story that her father and beenbrought initially to the East Reserve as asmall boy by her grandparents when theyemigrated to Canada.

A search of Peter Brown's copy of the"Ship Lists of Manitoba Mennonite Im­migrants" failed to yield any record of theappropriate Johann Reimer with a fi~e-year

old son Dietrich. Thanks to an artICle onAeltester David Stoesz in Mennonite Life,(April, 1976) we learned of the existence .ofthe Bergthal Colony church records at Stem­bach, Manitoba. As a result of these recordswe have established Mother's family recordback to her great-grandfather, Derk Reimer,who was born in 1814, i.e. prior to the es­tablishment of Bergthal in 1836. Thereforehe was probably born in the Old Colony"centered" on Chortitza. Now, if we onlyhad records of the Old Colony ... !

Currently I am attempting to establish theidentity of the parents of Delegate JakobHoeppner of Bohnsack/Danzig as well a~ todocument the entire Hoeppner famIly.Copies of old letters, diaries, photographs, aswell as other help would be appreciated. Theearliest reference I have found is to a PeterHapner in Klein Lubin in 1632. This couldwell be "ein plautdietscher Hapner."

Note. The author's present address is 16Dunelm, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Hoeppnerfamily studies are also being pursued byother researchers including Pauline Heppner,45135 Haig Dr., R.R. 4, Sardis, B.C.; P. M.Hoeppner, Winkler, Manitoba; andLawrence Friesen, 2-865 LaSalle Blvd., Sud­bury, Ontario.

URGENTLY NEEDEDIBack copies of "Mennonite Historian"for tbe Orst two issues: Sept., 1975, andMarch, 1976. Requested by universitylibraries. Use address given on pase 2.