by Bert Friesen

Anna and Gerhard Dyck arrived inManitoba from Russia and homesteaded in the street village of Blumstein on the West Reserve in 1877. They acquired title to the quarter section NW 1-3-5w. They had twelve children who reached adulthood, nine daughters and three sons, and one daughter who died at age eight. All the children were born in Manitoba.

As the children grew up and married, they started their own lives, but often not close to their parents. There was just not enough land available in the area around Blumstein from the mid 1880s on. Some found land on the reserves in Saskatchewan. However, Anna and Gerhard longed to have all their children close by. So they started looking for a suitable place where more land would be available.

Gerhard finally settled on land 3-4-6. He moved here in 1897. This was land just north of the northern boundary of the West Reserve, so it was actually not in the West Reserve. Their youngest child, Margareta, was the only child born here. That same year the Rosewell School was built in this area. This building was used as for church services until 1920. Over the next ten years from 1897 on, he continued buying land for his family. Eventually all of them lived in the area. His son Peter married Lena Sudermann from Vanderhoof, B.C. His youngest son, Abram, Peter's brother, was going to marry Lena's sister. The two brothers travelled to B.C. in 1918 for the wedding. Both caught the flu there, and in that epidemic, both died there in July. Abram (1894-1918) was 24 years old, and his brother, Peter (1889-1918) was 29 years old. So, instead of a wedding, there were two funerals in B.C.

Peter had already settled in the area near his parents before he died. His only surviving brother, Gerhard, also settled in the area after his marriage to Katharina Bueckert. Gerhard's son, grandson of Anna and Gerhard, still farms on this land.

The sisters were: Elisabeth m. Peter Labun; Katharina m. Jacob Penner; Sarah m. Jacob Wiebe; Maria m. Peter Born; Justina m. Peter Banmann; Susanna m. Abram Heide; Anna m. Cornelius Enns; Lena m. Henry Banmann; Margaret m. John Giesbrecht. They all owned land in this area where they farmed.

This became the village of Kronsgart, the same name as a street village on the West Reserve which had disintegrated by this time. What gave it viability as a village was that the railway came through here from Plum Coulee. It was built by the Midland Railway Co. of Manitoba and passed through 3-4-6 which became the station of Kronsgart in 1906. The Great Northern Railway from St. Paul and Grand Forks wanted to cross into Canada. It was decided to build the line to cross north into Canada at Gretna. From there it angled northwest connecting up with the line to Portage la Prairie in Plum Coulee. The Gretna station was built in 1906 by the Midland Railway Co. of Manitoba. This company was bought by the Great Northern Railway from St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1907. The Great Northern's first run to Portage la Prairie was in June, 1907. It operated the line until 1925 and then sold the line to the Brandon, Saskatchewan, & Hudson's Bay Railway Co. on 1 Oct. 1927.

Near the railway station, a general store was built. The first church building was erected in 1920. This was used as an M.B. church until 1954. However, families lived on their farm land, not in the village. Only two farm yards were in the immediate vicinity. The congregants had outgrown that building by 1954 so a second building was erected and this was used until 1972 when the village began to disintegrate. The railway had ceased to provide service there and members of the M.B. Church scattered to other churches in the area. Descendants of those original families still farm in the area although few live there.

Bert Fiesen is a member of the MMHS Membership and Publicity Committee