~ A Journal of the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation Inc. Preservings $20 Issue No. 32, 2012 “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 In this Issue .................................................... 2 Articles ......................................................... 31 Reviews ........................................................ 77 Table of Contents ........................................... 2 Reflections .................................................... 45 News............................................................. 81 Editorial .......................................................... 3 Local Histories ............................................. 50 Feature Articles .............................................. 4 Around the Mennonite World ...................... 58 In this Issue PRESERVINGS 2012 Table of Contents It is not saying anything new that too often the experiences of women have not made it into the stories we tell about the In this Issue ............................................................................................ 2 past. This issue’s feature articles have as their subject the stories of women. Royden Loewen uses two women’s diaries to draw Editorial .................................................................................................. 3 out how women found their own unique places in the process of transplanting communities from Russia to Manitoba in the FEATURE ARTICLES: MENNONITE WOMEN 1870s. Similarly, Jody Marten’s article focuses on two women, Mennonite Prairie Women Writers, by Royden Loewen ....................... 4 but in her case she examines women who were single, often She is Worthy: An Exploration of Singleness Identity for a marginal identity in Mennonite life. She concludes that the 20th century Mennonite Women, by Jody Martens................................. 8 two single women of her story maintained rich and fulfilling lives, not suffering the loneliness that is often attributed to Midwifery and Medicine in Bolivia, by Martha Hiebert ..................... 14 the single life. Martha Hiebert retells us the stories she heard in Bolivia—remarkable stories of women as midwives and FEATURE ARTICLES: FAMILY LIFE healers. A second group of two articles looks at family life. The Changing Nature of Hutterite Family Life, Suzanne Smith takes us into the changing world of Hutterite by Suzanne Smith ................................................................................ 19 family life, while Glen Klassen shares with us his interesting Deaths of Mennonite children in first two decades in work on health and illness among early Manitoba Mennonites Manitoba, West Reserve, by Glen Klassen .......................................... 24 with a study of childhood illness and death. Other articles include Titus Guenther’s sojourn in Paraguay ARTICLES and his story of European Mennonite interactions with Para- Mennonites in Paraguay: Witness Through Vibrant Interdependence, guay’s indigenous peoples, a relationship he characterizes as by Titus Guenther ................................................................................. 31 “witness through interdependence.” Bruce Wiebe delves fur- A Politically Risky Land Sale, Bruce Wiebe ....................................... 35 ther into the land transactions that brought the first Hutterites Going to Yermo, Durango, Mexico, by Aiden Dueck .......................... 38 to Canada in 1918. The theme is not unfamiliar to us—the intermingling of political and profit interests, in this case a Prime Minister and a Senator. Arden Dueck’s records of his REFLECTIONS parent’s recollections of a Kleine Gemeinde family moving to Salvation, the Ordnung, and Self Esteem, by Ralph Friesen ............... 45 an Old Colony settlement to teach are featured in his article “Going to Yermo.” A “Reflection” article by Ralph Friesen, LOCAL HISTORIES a Foundation Board member, offers some food for thought as Researching Schoenthal, Manitoba West Reserve, he delves into the question of “Salvation, the Ordnung, and by Mary Neufeld .................................................................................. 50 Self Esteem.” Teaching at Wilson Prairie School, La Crete, Most of us live locally and our neighbourhoods, where by Frieda-Marie Elias .......................................................................... 56 we grew up, the circles of people we have come to know, are our world. Mary Neufeld tells us about how she uncovered AROUND THE MENNONITE WORLD the history of Schoenthal in Manitoba’s West Reserve, while Report on a History Trip to Europe, by Jesse Hofer ............................ 58 Frieda-Marie Elias remembers for us what it was like to be a Mennonites in the Land of the Maya, Campeche, Mexico, young teacher from Saskatchewan who arrives in La Crete, by Hans Werner .................................................................................... 65 Alberta to take up a teaching position. A regular feature in the last number of issues, “Around the 90th Anniversary Celebrations in Mexico, by David Friesen ............... 68 Mennonite World,” has four contributions. David Friesen tells The Low German Mennonites of Argentina, by Kennert Giesbrecht ..... 72 us about the 90th Anniversary celebrations in the Manitoba Mennonite Women and the Burden of Dress, by Hans Werner ........... 75 Colony in Mexico; Jesse Hofer takes us on a trip to Germany and Austria to learn more about Hutterite roots, while Kennert Giesbrecht and I each have a report of our visits to Horse and BOOK REVIEWS ...................................................................77 Buggy Mennonites. Finally there are book reviews and, for this issue, there were NEWS .......................................................................................81 more books than we could find reviewers and space for. We are always looking for contributors to Preservings and want to encourage your continued support by submitting your stories Our Cover of the Mennonite past. The richness of each issue is a credit to our faithful contributors and I want to thank them heartily. Our cover features a collage of images of women that are part of the stories in this issue of Preservings. Hans Werner, co-edtor Preservings, a journal of the D.F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, Inc., is published annually. Co-editors are Hans Werner 1.204.786.9352 [email protected] and John J. Friesen, 1.204.488.8128, [email protected]. The annual subscription fee is $20.00, and cheques should be made out to the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, and mailed to Hans Werner, D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation, Inc., University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9. Reader responses are welcome. Please send manuscripts, articles, and/or photographs to the above address at the University of Winnipeg. Our mission is to inform our readers about Mennonite history, and in particular to promote a respectful under- standing and appreciation of the contribution made by the so-called conservatives. 2 - Preservings No. 32, 2012 renewal through conversion cuts the converts off from their by John J. Friesen earlier church and faith experience, negates what was positive Editorial co-editor in their experience, and leaves the people rootless in their new faith commitment. Often it is the marginal or the disaffected How is a faith heritage renewed? members of the churches who respond to these invitations. One of the issues faced by all denominations, churches, and Many who have responded to the call of evangelism, have Gemeinden is how to renew their faith heritage. Over the years, reflected positively on their experience, so for some this form both internal and external conditions change. New challenges of renewal seems to have been beneficial. The conservative arise. The young need to be inspired to make the faith heritage churches, however, see such mission efforts as negative, and their own. Older members need to be challenged. Rivalries destructive of community. It may help individuals, but it does need to be managed so they do not tear the community apart. not help to renew the church. Rather, it often causes the church How does a church renew itself so these challenges can be to become even more defensive and resistant to change. met successfully? A third form of renewal comes through education. The Old The so-called conservative Mennonite, Amish and Hutterite Order Amish of North America have improved their schools, churches have faced the matter of renewal in a variety of ways. created new devotional literature, adopted a newsletter, and Some of the most conservative have emphasized keeping the brought about a renewal that is from within. They have not tradition. New leaders are required to commit to faithfully compromised who they are, but through improved education follow the traditional practices. And yet, as researchers have have strengthened their leaders and community. The Menno shown, even the most conservative among the Amish, Hutterite, Colony which was established in Paraguay in the late 1920s Old Order Mennonites, and the Old Colony do change practices had leaders who encouraged the church to embrace education over time. In some cases the changes may be a measure of by improving their schools. The leaders were visionary, but adaptation