by Hans Werner

It must have been quite an experience, especially for children and young adults, to make the journey from the familiar villages of Russia to the plains of Canada. For Old Colony and Fürstenland migrants, the trip began with the painful parting on the banks of the Dnieper where there was a "leave-taking with no hope of again seeing each other." Jacob Fehr, a sixteen year-old at the time recalled the "crying and weeping" that accompanied the final whistle that signalled the start of the journey down the Dnieper by boat to its mouth at Kherson. Here the migrants transferred to a larger boat for the trip on the Black Sea to the city of Odessa where the journey continued across Europe by train.

The train trip across Europe to Hamburg gave the migrants the first glimpses of cities like they had never seen. Although the port of Bremen was the point of departure for most nineteenth century immigrants travelling to North America, the Canadian government had arranged for transportation for Russian Mennonites from Hamburg. Young Jacob Fehr could not remember how long the trip across the North Sea to Hull took but he remembered, "that we were heavily struck with seasickness." They travelled across England to Liverpool by train where they then boarded the ship that would take them to Canada.

The ocean trip took about eight days and at Quebec they disembarked and set off by train for Toronto. A stop at the Ontario Mennonites was often in store before taking the train to Collingwood where they boarded a steamer that took them across the Great Lakes to Duluth.

Jacob Fehr reported that the train that took them from Duluth stopped at a place called Fisher's Landing--likely present day Fisher, Minnesota, where Kansas Mennonites tried to dissuade them from continuing to Manitoba. The Red River steamer took the migrants to the immigration sheds at Dufferin before the settlers made their way to the Big Plain that would become their West Reserve home.

Although very different from the routine of peasant farm life, some of the rhythm of life continued unabated. A woman died giving birth while the ship waited to dock in Hull and babies were born and people died while at sea. Ultimately the families reached their allocated place in a West Reserve village to reconstruct family, community and church life.

Sources:

Hiebert, Clarence, ed.. Brothers in Deed to Brothers in Need: A Scrapbook about Mennonite Immigrants from Russia 1870-1885. Newton: Faith and Life Press, 1974.

Schroeder, William and Helmut T. Huebert. Mennonite Historical Atlas. Winnipeg: Springfield Publishers, 1990.

Zacharias, Peter D.. Reinland: An Experience in Community. Altona: Reinland Centennial Committee, 1976.