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Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta |
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Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta |
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Windows on the West Reserve: A Mennonite Heritage Preservation NewsletterNo. 24 - 5 Jun 2007
COMMUNITY NOTES AND NEWS ALTBERGTHAL The 90th anniversary of the passing in 1917 of a prominent Altbergthal resident, Aeltester Johann Funk, was celebrated on 17 March this year. Aeltester Funk and his third wife, Louise (d. 1926), were buried in the Altbergthal cemetery which still has the headstone placed for the couple by the Bergthaler Mennonite Church. Johann Funk, a minister since 1877, was ordained Aeltester in 1882, serving the West Lynne Mennonitengemeinde, and then continued to serve as Aeltester of the Bergthaler Mennonitengemeinde when it was formed on the West Reserve in 1892-93. He remained in that office till his retirement in 1911. He also led the Gemeinde to become part of a new Western Canadian church organization, Die Konferenz der Mennoniten im mittleren Kanada, in 1902. The early homesteading of four Altbergthal families who came to Manitoba in 1874, and then first settled near Gruenfeld on the East Reserve has been noted in a new book by Henry Fast titled Gruenfeld (now Kleefeld): First Mennonite Village in Western Canada, 1874-1910. These families included Jacob and Elizabeth Derksen Dyck (Dueck), Peter and Elizabeth Sawatzky Dyck, Jacob and Elizabeth Dyck Sawatzky, and Thomas and Elizabeth Harder Sawatzky (see pp. 107-108). It seems that all these families were closely related. ALTONA VILLAGE (Darp Aultneiv) This village was founded in 1879-1880. The homesteaders had come to Manitoba originally from the Bergthal colony in south Russia (later Ukraine), and been part of the emigration to the East Reserve of Manitoba in 1874-76. For further info on this story see Esther Epp-Tiessen (Altona: The Story of a Prairie Town. 1982, 19ff). Some of these families settled in the small village of Altona in the western part of the East Reserve (near present-day New Bothwell). This Altona village dissolved very early during the move of many families from the East Reserve to the West Reserve in 1878-1882. Ed Enns of Winnipeg has done considerable research on Henry Toews, one of the early teachers of the present village near the town of Altona. Abram Rempel from Bergthal in south Russia was one of the founding families of Darp Aultneiv. ALTONA Golden West Radio is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We have learned that the Low German Mennonite history lectures done on CFAM and CHSM for over 30 years by Gerhard Ens, are being continued by Gerhard Rempel of Winkler. Listen in at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday evenings to check it out. The Altona History Seekers, a local Mennonite history studies group, heard another series of presentation on Mennonite West Reserve villages in March earlier this year. Among the villages studied were Weidenfeld, Blumenort and Grossweide. For further info contact Ken Braun. The Local History Committee of Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society (MMHS) is creating a bibliography of published and unpublished written pieces on all former and current villages of the West Reserve. A similar project has been underway for some years in the East Reserve. Further research on a number of these villages is in progress. BLUMENFELD A history of the community, published in 1981, was entitled Blumenfeld: Where Land and People Meet. The authors were Irene Friesen Petkau and Peter A. Petkau. It is now out of print but remains a very helpful model for a way to write a village history. The book includes a communication routes map which shows the location of the Haskett-to-Morden rail line which ran past Blumenfeld somewhat to the west of the village (p.69). The village was one of the westernmost Reinlaender villages established on the West Reserve in 1875. BURWALDE A book on the Burwalde community titled Reflections on a Prairie Community: A Collection of Stories of Burwalde S.D. 529 (2004) has been reprinted.. To order a copy contact compiler and editor Marjorie Hildebrand of Winkler. EDENBURG The Gruenfeld book noted above also mentions three Edenburg homesteading families who first settled in the Gruenfeld, East Reserve, area. They included Abraham and Anna Dyck Schmidt, Heinrich and Maria Dyck Schmidt, and Jacob and Katharina Harms Hamm. A new historical cairn has been erected near the site of the former village of Edenburg northeast of Gretna, MB. Jim Wiebe of Edmonton, AB, has facilitated the project. HALBSTADT To order the recently-reprinted history of Halbstadt, The Halbstadt Heritage: Strassberg, Blumental (Houston) and Halbstadt S.D 1879 – 2005, contact David Sawatzky or the Town of Altona. HASKETT There are materials on the community of this area (including Haskett) in the vertical files of the Mennonite Heritage Centre archives. Contact the archives through Alf Redekopp if interested. See also the Blumenfeld book noted above. HORNDEAN A new Mennonite congregation has been meeting in Horndean for a number of years. This congregation belongs to the Conservative Mennonite Nationwide Fellowship of Churches. A number of its families come from Kleine Gemeinde communities in the Arborg-Riverton area. It is listed in the new book by John J. Friesen titled Building Communities: The Changing Face of Manitoba Mennonites (p. 178). For information on this volume, or to order it, contact Alf Redekopp See below for a note on a book launch at McNally Robinson on June 19. KRONSFELD Alan Warkentin is gathering information on the extinct village of Kronsfeld originally located near the town of Haskett. You can contact Alan. NEUBERGTHAL A local newsletter, Neubergthal Notes, continues to bring family stories from the community. The summer issue of 2006 featured the story of the Neubergthal store, begun in 1928 by John W. Klippenstein. For further information contact P. Krahn. Info on the reconstruction of a heritage house-barn undertaken by the local Heritage Foundation, can be obtained at the same address. A Holdeman (Church of God in Christ Mennonite) congregation has been meeting for some years in Neubergthal. It is one of 15 Holdeman congregations active in Manitoba, with a total membership of 1800. See p. 179 in the J. J. Friesen volume noted above (the church is listed as an Altona congregation). NEUENBURG Henry Unger of Morden is gathering information on the village of Neuenburg, and the S.D. of Birkenhead. To connect with him, and supply information, you can contact Henry. He is also gathering bibliographical data on publications dealing with the full range of extinct and existing West Reserve villages. OSTERWICK Many village records, including those of Osterwick, were taken along to Mexico at the time of the Reinlaender Mennonite move to that country in the 1920s. A large number of these documents were borrowed from there and photocopied, so are now available for research at Mennonite Heritage Centre (contact Alf Redekopp). For further data on Osterwick see Peter Brown. The Brauns of Osterwick (Winnipeg, 1972). A copy of the book is available at the Mennonite Heritage Centre (contact Alf Redekopp). PLUM COULEE In the 1980s Jake C Fehr wrote a series of West Reserve school district sketches for the Red River Valley Echo. They may be researched at the Mennonite Heritage Centre which has them all on file. This was a project sponsored by the Rural Municipality of Rhineland to commemorate its centennial year in 1984. Further info on heritage developments in PC can be obtained from Cleo Heinrichs. REINFELD Sally Harms, editor of Legacy Links, is continuing her research on a history of the village of Reinfeld, located just east of the city of Winkler. She is looking for more information. REINLAND A number of families coming with the recent emigration of Aussiedler families from Germany to Manitoba have settled in Reinland, as well as other villages in the West Reserve. A Ukrainian historian, Dr. Natalya Venger, doing some research in Winnipeg, recently visited the House Barn Museum in the village. ROSENHEIM An album of photos and other data about the school district of Rosenheim not far from Rosenfeld has been deposited at the Altona and District Research Centre in Altona. The material was compiled by the late John Schroeder of Assiniboine Travel formerly, and deposited by his brother Bill recently. For further info contact Albert Schmidt. SCHANZENFELD With the West Reserve a current research theme and focus of commemoration (2006), one might note again that a cairn to remember Jacob Y. Shantz who first explored and recommended the area for Mennonite settlement, is located on the school grounds at Schanzenfeld just south of Winkler. A local committee led by Frank Sudermann, under the auspices of MMHS, erected the cairn. Not far away, perhaps a mile or so to the north, is a cairn set up in south Winkler in memory of the first Hoffnungsfeld residents of that nearby village. WALDHEIM Mavis Dyck is continuing her research on the early history of Waldheim. Some of her findings were exhibited at the Pembina Threshermen's Museum grounds during the Pembina Threshermen’s reunion there last September. Ed Hoeppner of Winnipeg has been working on the history of Waldheim also. WEIDENFELD Interesting new information on the early years of this community (once a village north and west of Altona), and nearby communities such as Schoenau, is now available in the published memoirs of a one-time teacher of Altona, and surrounding communities, Jac Schroeder. Jac was also deeply involved in the founding and development of the cooperative movement in southern Manitoba. WINKLER The new history of Winkler, written by Dr. Hans Werner, professor of history at the University of Winnipeg, is now in print. It is titled Living between Worlds: A History of Winkler (hdc., 226 pp., 50.00 plus postage). You can order a copy by contacting Ken Loewen. A local committee headed by Bernie Loeppky of Winkler is working on raising awareness about the service of conscientious objectors during WWII. It includes discussion of setting up two memorial cairns, one at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach, and the other on the former West Reserve at a site still to be chosen. The group has also been sponsoring Hutterite drama presentations on the conscientious objector theme. For further info contact Bernie. Sally Harms has just completed a family study entitled Legends and Legacy: Klaas Heide 1740-2007 (hdc, 300 pp, many photos). Heide was one of the main delegates that headed the emigration to Mexico in 1922. For more on the book contact Sally. A Heide family reunion is scheduled in La Crete, Alberta, for July 20 – 22, 2007. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
For further information on any items mentioned in this issue of WWR you may contact the editor
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