Old News About Mennonites
Someone at the Home St. Mennonite Church recently handed me an issue of Free Press Evening Bulletin Winnipeg dated October 1920. Dorothy Peters told me a lady had given it her to see if she knew someone who might want it.
I thought I would check to see if it had any news about Mennonites in it.
A short note was titled "Houston Mennonites to Face Prosecution." It mentioned an announcement by Robert Fletcher,then Deputy Minister of Education, on October 6 that Mennonites of that district had received summons "according to the Manitoba School Act".
It stated further that five families were being tried on similar charges in the district of Schanzenfeld (that would be near Winkler) where the trial would be held on Saturday October 9. Representatives of the department would be arriving by train to participate in the trial.
The nature of the charges is not mentioned. In all likelihood it had to do with resisting new regulations related to setting up of public schools. Many Mennonites in southern Manitoba did not support the setting up of public schools in their areas.
Can anyone give us the names of the five families and more details about the event, and also of the families in Houston who were involved in these prosecutions?
There is one other possibly Mennonite-related item in the same issue. It mentions that nine persons (lawyers) were made King's Counsel in Orders on Oct. 6. Among them was an H.A. Bergman, it would seem from Winnipeg.
Can anyone provide more information about Bergman? Did he come from a Mennonite family? If so, who were his parents, and where were they from? Give information to Bert Friesen.
Lawrence Klippenstein
Book Notes
The autumn, 1998 issue of Prairie Fire, focused on young adult fiction. It is published by Prairie Fire Press Inc. in Winnipeg. It has contributions by Sarah
Klassen, Paul Krahn, Bernice Friesen, Gloria Hildebrand, Deborah Froese, and Sara Harms. It is dedicated to the memory of the late Dr. Victor Peters. To order the issue call 1-204-943-9066.
Gerhard Ratzlaff's Die Ruta Transchaco: Wie Sie Enstand (How the Transchaco Highway was Built), published in Asuncion, Paraguay (pb., 270 pp., 1998) includes the names of several Manitoba Paxmen and others who assisted in the project in the 1950s and later. Among them are Menno Wiebe, Winnipeg, Tony Braun (deceased), Altona, Jake Funk, Ile des Chenes, and John Janzen, Niverville. The book my be ordered from Mennonitische Post, Steinbach, MB, Canada, R0A 2A0, for C$20.00 plus shipping and GST.
For readers of Low German, Wolfgang W. and Melita A. Moelleken have written Aus dem Leben Niederdeutscher Mennoniten (pb., 325 pp.), published in 1996 by N.G. Elwert Verlag, in Marburg, Germany. Interviewees, whose responses are written in Low German include people like Abraham and Sarah R. form Gnadental, Chihuahua, Mexico, whose parents came from Manitoba, and Dr. Alfred Hecht, who studied at Winnipeg universities for some years and then went to teach in Waterloo, Ontario.
The June, 1998, issue of Preservings published by the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society, focuses on the Chortitzer Mennonites of the former East Reserve in Manitoba. Subscriptions to this journal may be ordered (for $20.00/yr.) from HSHS, Box 1960, Steinbach, MB, R0A 2A0. Family studies listed below are reviewed in this issue.
Recently published family studies include Gateway to the Past: The Cornelius D. and Maria Loewen Story (Morris, MB, 325 pp., 1997) by Nettie Brandt and Lorilee Scharfenberg; and The Jacob D.K. Plett Family 1926-1998, (Steinbach, MB, 72 pp.) by Beverley Lynn Penner.
Dr. Wilmer Harms' recently published book, The Odyssey of Escapes from Russia: The Saga of Anna K (Hillsboro, KS: Hearth Publishing, 1998, pb., 203 pp.) has an interesting Manitoba connection. Anna K. (Neufeld), later of North Newton, Kansas, U.S.A., escaped from the Soviet Union by crossing the Amur River to reach Harbin, China, in the company of several friends. One of them was Maria Reimer, known also as Mia who later met and married the late A.A. DeFehr of Winnipeg. Her life story, which also talks about this escape, was published in 1982 under the title Mia, The Story of a Remarkable Woman. Mia is available at Mennonite Books (1-204-668-7475). Escapes from Russia can be ordered from the author at 2904 - B Ivy Dr., North Newton, KS, U.S.A. 67117.
The second volume of Dr. George K. Epp's Geschichte der Mennoniten in Russland is now off the press. Send orders to Mennonite Books, 844K McLeod Ave., Winnipeg, MB R2G 2T7,
ph.1-204-668-7475, e-mail mennonitebooks@brandtfamily.com
SPECIAL FOR CHRISTMAS! Get two copies for the price of one of a fine folk art work titled Mennonites in Mexcio / Mennoniten in Mexiko by Sarah Unger de Peters. The text is in English and German. Cost: C$10.95, inc. shipping and GST. Order from: Mennonitische Post, Box 1120, Steinbach, MB R0A 2A0.
NEW ITEMS! The first issue of Rhubarb, (pb., 40 pp.) the journal of the Mennonite Literary Society, just reorganized, is now available from its editor, Victor Jerrett Enns, at 200 Lenore St., Winnipeg, MB R3G 2C5, or e-mail mennolit@mb.sympatico.ca
MCC(BC) Seniors for Peace have just published Alternative Service for Peace in Canada During World War II 1941-1946 (pb., 375 pp.). Order from: Seniors for Peace Editors Betty and A.J. Klassen, 1941 Valencia Court, Abbotsford, BC V2T 4M1, or e-mail ajbklassen@uniserve.com Price: C$24.95 (inc. shipping and handling).
A photocopies book entitled Das Mennonitentum und die Mennoniten, written by the late Peter J. Klassen, formerly of Barnaul in Siberia, Russia, and published in 1989 in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan (pb., 97 pp.), has recently been donated to the CMBC library, courtesy of Peter Letkemann of Winnipeg. It is written from a Marxist perspective. Peter Klassen was a Soviet German writer of Mennonite background who died recently in Germany.
The community of Chortitz, a few miles southeast of Winkler, will celebrate the 125th anniversary of Mennonites coming to Manitoba, on 9-11 July, 1999. For turther information on this homecoming event, contact Anne Thiessen, 1068 Hector Bay E., Winnipeg, MB R3M 3S1, or ph. 1-204-452-6836. According to Anne, three of the pioneer buildings at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach (church building, housebarn, and the old private school) all come from the village of Chortitz.