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A History of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church of Manitoba 1874-1914

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A History of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church of Manitoba 1874-1914 A History of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church of Manitoba 1874-1914 by Dennis E. Stoesz A Thesis submitted to the De¡nrtment of History, University of Manitoba, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of a Master of Àrts Degree 8 September 1987 Wfnnlpeg, Manitoba Pernission ÌraE been granted L'autorisation a êtê accordêe to the Natlonal Llbrary of à Ia Bibliothèque nationale Canada to nicrofiln thie du Canada de nicrofilner thesis and to lend or sell cette thèse et de prêter ou copies of. the film. de vendre des exemplaires du filn. The author (copyright owner) L'auteur (titulaire du droit Ìras reserved other d t auteur ) se rêserve les publlcation rights, and autres droitE de publication; neither the thes i s nor ni la thèse ni de longs extensive extracts from it extraits de celle-cí ne may be printed or otherwiee doivent être inprinês ou reproduced without his/her autrement reproduits sans aon written permiseion. autorieation êcrite. r sBN 0-3L5-4 4J,82_8 A HISTORY OF lHE CHORÎITZER MENNONITE CHURCH OF MANTTOBA, Ig74-Lgt4 BY DENNIS E. STOESZ A thcsis submincd to thc Faculty of Graduatc Studies of thc univcrsity of Manitoba in partial fulfillmcnt of the rcquircmcnts ofthc degrce of MASTER OF ARTS o .t9B 7 Pcrmission has bcen gnnted to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- SITY OF MANTTOBA to lcnd or scll copics of this thcsis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfitm rhis thesis and to lcnd or scll copics of the film. and UNIVERSITY MTCROFILMS to publish an abstract of this thesis. Thc author rcscrves othcr publication rights, and neither the thcsis nor cxtcnsivc cxtracts from it may bc printcd or ottrer- wisc rcproduccd without thc author's writtc¡¡ permission. 4 ABSTRÀCT Thls study examines the chortitzer Mennonite church from the time of the emigration of most of its members from the Bergthal corony, Russia to the East Reserve, ManÍtoba in 1874-76 to the outbreak of Ì{orrd l{ar r in 1914. rt first responded to the estabrlshment of several sister and saterlite communÍties in the l{est Reserve, Manitoba, and in Minnesota, North Dakota and saskatchewan. The church further outlÍned its boundaries through iÈs worship centres on the EasÈ Reserve, carled meetingpraces. The Mfnísterlarrs involvement, in various economic, social and political organizations led Ít to reflect on its role in the communÍty and its adaptation to the Canadian setting: these involvements included borrowing large sums of money from its swiss brethren and the canadian government, maintaining schools for the community, and cooperating with the municipal government. A review of the rellgious readers helped deflne the maJor periods of change and,contlnufty for the church. The mlnisters were also forced to make some doctrinal deeisions as varfous evangelical and conservative influences \rere exerted on the community. The theologfcal posiÈlon of the church was more fully deflned by tts use of several rellgJ.ous books and lts lnterpretatl.on of some common Mennonite tenets of falth. RelJ.gious boundaries became Àbstract clearer as a resulÈ of these sÈruggres and geographlc and ethnic deflnitlons of the chortltzer community declined. The result was a sharper denominatÍonal identity of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church by 1 914. PREFACE This paper was sÈarted at the uncovery of Bishop David stoeszrs diary in 1973. ÀLthough it mostry recorded informatÍon on agricurture, on socÍar vÍsits with relatives and friends, and on the weather, it offered major clues to the history of the chorÈitzer Mennonite church. r had very littre prevlous knowledge about thls c.hurch since r grew up in the Altona Bergthaler Mennonite church, rocated across the Red River. The discovery of the diary prompted me to write a short biography of stoesz and to Èransliterate a guarter of it. soon after, Lawrence Krippenstein published an article on David Stoesz and his diary. The next few years were filred wÍth piecing together more of the early history of this MennonLte church in Manitoba. The chortitzer church registers became avairable on microfilm, more sermons and documenÈs were brought to light, visJ.ts to the chortitzer I{aisen vorsteher pointed to the wealth of the lfaisenamt documents, and trLps to North Newton, Goshen and ottawa proved successful. Finally, after some struggle, the narratl.ve of Èhis church was turned into a thesls. r need flrst to thank the David A. stoesz family, particularly Trudie (Stoesz) and Ì{illiam Harms, and Henry stoesz, for Èhe preservation of the stoesz manuscript and for transratlng the dlary. secondry, r want to thank the Preface chortltzer Mennonlte church for the opportunfty to write some Èhlngs about theLr earry hlstory in Manltoba, and for making avairable valuable research materíals. More speciflcally, r want to mention the asslstance of former Bishop Henry K. schellenb€r9r BÍshop wÍtllam Hildebrandt, I{aisen vorsteher D. M. Fríesen and D. F. Wiebe, and Gus Dueck. Thirdly, f am gratefur to Lawrence KrÍppenstein of the Mennonite Heritage centre Archíves for hÍs support in this project. r arso want to acknowredge the gracious herp r received from Margaret Franzr Mennonlte Historlcar LÍbrary, from the staff at various libraries and archlves, including the Mennonite Library and Archíves, the Àrchives of Èhe Mennonite church, t'he Pubric Àrchives of canada, and from individuals rike Ed wÍebe and Henry Fast. Fourthry, r wourd rike to thank my colleagues for theír suggestions, criticisms, patience and support at various stages of this paper. rncluded among the rist names peters, of is Jake Àdorf Ens, Leonard Doerrr John Frlesen, Royden Loewen and Reg Good. r arso want to say a thank-you to my advisor, professor Gerard Friesen, for turnÍng this narrative inÈo a thesis and for hls patlence while doing so- Finarry, r am deepry apprecr.ative of Rhoda (Lehman) stoeszr rny friend, companion and wlfe, for her support and understanding throughout this project. she arso provlded the maln maps for this thesLs and helped edit the final nanuscript. r take alr res¡rcnsibtrittes for any errors Ln fact or interpretatlon in Èhfs paper, and would appiecfate Preface lf they Yrere polnted out Èo me. Dennis E. Stoesz TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL FORM . o . ili COPYRTGHT PÀGE. - - - - - . o . iv ABSTRACT. o . o . o . V PREFACEo . o . o . .Vii M'LPS AND TÀBLES . - - . - - . xiii rNTRoDUcrroN . o . - - . - . - - . o . o . 14 CHAPTER 1: coMMUNrrY . o . 29 À. ltligration and settlernent, 1974-82 . 29 B. MÍgratÍon and settrement,, lBBz-1914 . 36 c- Disintegration of vilrages . 44 D. Conclusion . o . o . 4Z CHAPTER 2: BOUNDARTES . o . Ò . 4g A- I{ountainLake, MÍnngsota .... ... 4g B- Fargor North Dakota . o . o . 54 c- contacts inRussia .. ... o ... .. 55 D. Bergthaler Mennonite Church, lgg}_92 . E. Sommerfelder Mennonite Church, 1994 . 62 F- chortltzer MennonLte church . 67 G. Bergrtharer Mennonlte church, saskatchewan . 70 H. Hgrbgrt, saskatchgwan . 7s I. Conclusl,on . 76 CHÀPTER 3: MEETTNGPLACES . 79 A- centrar Placgs, 1874-92. 79 B. changl,ng settlement patterns, 1gg3 . g5 c- central Places, 1882-1900 . gg D- changing settrenent patterns, 1gg2-1900 . : . 93 E. centrar Placgs, 1900-14 . o . gz F. Conclusion . 100 10 Table of Contents CHAPTER 4: wArsENÀ!{T . 103 À. Emigration . 103 B. Loan from the OnÈario Swlss Mennonltes, 1974 . 108 C. Loan from the Canadian Government, 1g75 . o 115 D. Repayment of the Loans, 1g7g-94 : . o . 119 E. Response to ReceÍving HeIp . ...125 F. Conclusion . o . .....129 CHAPTER 5: EDUcÀTroN . o o . o . 131 À. Establishment of schoors, 1g7s-7g . o . 131 B. JolnÍng the Manltoba public school system, lgTg . 134 withdrawar from the pubrÍc schoot syåtem, 1g7g- 81 . .. 136 D. Private schoolsr lBBl-1914 . o . 141 E. Pressures to for¡n pubric schoor DLstricts F . l 4s ConclusÍon . o o . o . 1SO CHAPTER 6: PoLrrrcs . - . 153 À. VolOst . 153 B. Municipal Goverrungnt . o . 1S5 c. Relationship between the chorti-tzer church and Local Govgrnment . o . o . 160 D. cÍtizenslip and Federar Elect,ions . 161 E. status of the East Reserve . o o . 166 F. Conclusfon . 176 GHÀPTER 7: LEADERSHTP . 178 A- office_of Bishop, Minister and Deacon . 178 B- The Role of the Minister in the conrnunity . 186 c- The !{iebe Yearst 1874-Bz . yearsr . 1gg D. The stoesz 18g2-1903 . 196 E- The Togws Yearsr 1903-15 . 202 F. ConclusLon ................. ! . 204 CHÀPTER 8¡ TDENTTTY . o . 206 A. Evangelical rnfluences, lggz-1992 . 206 B. conservatLve rnfluences: Reinlaender MennonLie Church o . Z1g C. ConclusLon . o . 226 CHÀPTER 9: THEOLOGY . o . o . zzg A. The Use of Four RelJ.glous Books . ..229 B. Ggngral Theology . ...241 e. Concluslon . ...250 CONCLUSION . r . o . 253 11 Table of Contents BIBLfOGRAPHY . o . 261 APPENDfCES . 278 12 MÀPS AND TABLES l'lAPS 1. Mennonite Reserves in Manitoba 38 2- chortitzer Mennonite vilrages and Meetingpraces, 1974-92 . 80 3- chortitzer Mennonite virrages and r'teetingplaces, 1 883-1 900 . 87 4. Chortitzer Mennonite Irfeetingplaces, 1926 . 98 TABLES 1. Voting Patterns on the East Reserve, Manitoba for Federal 1 gg7-1 Elections, 91 l aa . 164 2. Summary of Ministers for years 1976, 1882, 1 903 and 1915 . .O " 189 3. Chronology of Ministerial El_ections, Resignations and Deaths, 1876-1915 . 195 13 INTRODUCTION This study examines the Chortitzer Mennonite Church, l,lanitoba, from the time of the emigration of most of its members from Russia to Manitoba ln 1874-76 to the outbreak of Íùorld War I in 1914. The main thesis is that the church underwent an important transition in identity from an ethnic communÍty to a religious denomination during these forty years. The first, chapÈer describes the migration of this community and Íts sett.lement on the East Reserve, located in the vicinity of steinbach. The next two chapters examine how the church establÍshed its boundaries in the wider Bergthaler community and on the EasL Reserve.
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