-being the Magazine/Journal of the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society Inc. Preservings $10.00 No. 14, June, 1999 “A people who have not the pride to record their own history will not long have the virtues to make their history worth recording; and no people who are indifferent to their past need hope to make their future great.” — Jan Gleysteen Happy Birthday - Hanover Steinbach - 1874-1999 125 Years Old Congratulations to their day-to-day pursuits--the rat race, making tember 15, 1889, “15 years in America” with Hanover Steinbach on the more money or whatever. And yet, the celebra- worship services in Grünfeld. More typical an- occasion of its 125th birth- tion of anniversaries is one thing which inexora- niversary celebrations were held by the East Re- day, August 1, 1999, bly separates us from animals, defining a state of serve community in 1924, 1934, 1949, and more orginally founded as the civilization, and elevating homo sapiens as a no- recently, the centennial celebrations in 1974. The East Reserve in 1874. The bler race, showing that human beings, for all history of these celebrations and those involved first ship load of settlers their failings, cruelty and imperfections are still would in itself fill an issue of Preservings. arrived in Winnipeg (Fort capable of focusing their intelligence to matters The Hanover Steinbach Historical Society and Garry) on July 31, 1874, with beyond immediate needs and gratification, to ex- Preservings is proud to promote the activities of 10 Old Kolony (OK) and 55 Kleine plore the reasons for being, and, through a com- our 125th anniversary. May 1999 be a time of Gemeinde (KG) families on board. Within sev- memoration of the past to better understand the prayerful reflection and appreciation for those eral weeks they were joined by a large Bergthaler future. who have gone before. contingent of 165 families so that by the end of The anniversary of settlement in 1874 has Cangratulations Hanover Steinbach: 125 August, 1874, all three founding denominations been celebrated numerous times over the years. Years, 1874 to 1999. Let us join together to “cel- of the Mennonite community in Manitoba had A record is noted in the journal of Abraham M. ebrate our heritage.” arrived. Friesen (1834-1908), Blumenort, Sunday, Sep- Editor D. Plett Q.C. After purchasing supplies the settlers returned to the landing site at the confluence of the Red and Rat River. From here they made their way to the immigration shelters south of present-day Niverville. Over the next few weeks they braved adversity such as prairie fires, selected their home- steads, and soon the foundations of close to 60 Strassendorf villages were laid. By the follow- ing year the community had grown to 4,000, approximately 20 per cent of Manitoba’s popula- tion. The extended Hanover Steinbach commu- nity today numbers 25,000 with a diaspora in the range of 75,000. The celebration of anniversaries is a drudg- ery for many people, a useless diversion from Inside This Issue Feature stories .............................. 1-26 President’s Report ............................ 27 Editorial ...................................... 28-36 In the August 1, 1934, issue of the Steinbach Post, the editor Gerhard G. Kornelsen, Steinbach, chose the photo of the S.S. International docking at the Forks in Winnipeg, August 1, 1874, as the featured Letters ........................................ 37-42 page one photograph. This is also the image appearing on the masthead of each issue of Preservings. News ........................................ 43-68 After some consideration I decided to follow in Kornelsen’s footsteps and feature the photo again Articles ..................................... 69-117 notwithstanding that it has already been reprinted in Preservings, No. 10, Part Two, page 32, and East Index .................................... 118-124 Reserve 125, page 11. The photograph has great historical significance being the first visual image of the Mennonite experience in Manitoba. Delegate David Klassen and wife Aganetha Brandt Klassen, Material Culture ..................... 125-133 are visible on the upper deck, right hand side. The event will be celebrated by a worship service at the Book Reviews ........................ 134-144 Forks organized by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society on August 1, 1999. (See page 2 for details.) Preservings Feature Story - The Pioneer Church The focus for the June and December 1999 vides a birdseye biew of the infant emigration Friedrichsthal, Bergthal, Imperial Russia, to Rev. issues of Preservings will be the pioneer era of movement in Russia. It counters the Pietist/ David Stoesz (1842-1903), Bergthal, E.R., our history in Manitoba commencing in 1874. Triumphalism which later historians used to in- Manitoba, provide a poignant farewell look at the This will follow the theme of the 125th anniver- gratiate themselves to Russian Government au- old homeland. The “Gleanings from the Bishop’s sary celebrations of the settlement of the East Re- thorities, seeking to marginalize those who left as desk” of Aeltester David Stoesz, illustrate the ex- serve, Hanover Steinbach area, taking place the “uneducated and landless,” the opposite of ac- tensive duties and obligations of pioneer leaders, throughout the summer of 1999. tual reality. who set out to conquer the wilds of nature and In 1986 Peter D. Zacharias, Gretna, wrote a The recollections of Peter P. Epp, Morden, establish European civilization in the East Reserve. biography of Johann Wiebe (1837-1906), Manitoba, and the immigration record of Johann The articles in this issue will provide enlight- Rosengart, founding Aeltester of the Reinlander R. Dueck (1863-1937), Rosenhof, Manitoba, add enment of the pioneer community in Manitoba, Gemeinde, also known as the Old Kolony (OK) an element of dramatic realism to the undertaking. truly a heritage all should be proud of. Church. This paper was first presented at a sym- The 1875 and 1876 letters of Franz Dyck, Editor D. Plett, Q.C. posium of the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society in Altona, October 23, 1986. It is repub- lished here in order to make the reader better ac- quainted with Wiebe, undoubtedly one of the most Calling all artists - Art Contest. important Mennonite leaders of the 19th century. The Hanover Steinbach Historical Society prize awarded. Send a copy of the artwork to With some 100,000 adherents and descendants announces an art contest. Artists are asked to be submitted to the editor, HSHS, Box 1960, scattered across North and South America, the reproduce historical scenes from the history of Steinbach, Manitoba, R0A 2A0. A committee Old Kolony Gemeinde (OKG) is one of the larg- the East Reserve, Hanover Steinbach. The re- will select the art pieces which will be accepted est and most significant denominations of Rus- production can be by sketching, paint, wood- as eligible for the contest. sian Mennonite origin. It is one of the few which cutting, etc. and can be of a landscape, a farm- still attempts to live out the orthodox Anabaptist- yard or village scene, or a depection of a dra- Mennonite faith as practiced by the pioneers in matic historical event. Each art work must be Manitoba. historical based to some degree, representing Too often Mennonites have blindly followed the artist’s depiction. The winning painting will leaders wishing to adopt alien forms of religious be featured on the cover of the December culture without even listening to the vision of those Preservings and artist recognized and a $50.00 committed to preserving the constructs of the past. In his 1986 presentation, Zacharias noted how a particular Mennonite Encyclopedia article referred to one denomination in southern Manitoba as “ul- tra-conservative” as if this was the basis to ignore An interesting visual image of the pioneer days, and disparage any further contribution which this wolves beset a settler’s Semlin, a sod dug-out. group might have made to the kingdom of God. Courtesy 60=Jahrige Jubiläum, page 36/37. The Zacharias stated that we should at least see Aeltester sketch labled 1865 is reminiscent of the anec- Wiebe as “he saw himself.” “Wiebe did not see dote about delegate Cornelius P. Toews (1836- himself as a conservative, rather believed himself 1908), who in 1863 built a semlin after moving to be a reformer, seeking to restore again the New to the new Kleine Gemeinde settlement of Testament vision of the Church...where all of life Markusland, Imperial Russia where “... it oc- was to come under the Lordship of the Gospels” Fighting the prairie fire, August, 1874. Johann curred that wolves ascended upon the roof of (see Menn. Post, Feb. 6, 1987 report). W. Dueck (1865-1932), Grünfeld later Rosenort, our miserable dwelling place whereupon they Henry Schapansky, world expert on the Prus- Manitoba, writes about fighting a raging prai- taunted us with their howling and growling. Pres- sian Gemeindebücher, provides a paper, “From rie fire while they were at the immigration shel- ently father [Cornelius P. Toews] and...[and Prussia to Russia” setting forth an Old Kolony ters, south of present-day Niverville. By valient cousin Cornelius P. Goossen] armed themselves (OK) interpretation of Russian Mennonite his- efforts and plowing a fire guard with oxen, the with pitchforks and carefully stepped outside in tory, a valuable counterpoint to the “Molotschna settlers managed to fight off the wall of fire. order to chase them away”--as recalled by son triumphalist” school which has dominated the his- History and Events, page 111. This drawing is Johann F. Toews (1858-1931), grandfather of courtesy of They Seek a Country, page 88, artist Earl and Norman Toews, Steinbach, published toriography for the past century. The 1872 letter unknown. in Pioneers and Pilgrims, page 157. by Johann Nickel, Hamberg, Molotschna, pro- why they have chosen to come to Canada. After main building for a display on Mennonites com- 1874 Reenactment a number of stories have been told a minister will ing to Canada.