The Founding Families of
Waldheim
by Edwin D. Hoeppner
"A Provisional History of the Village of Waldheim" was presented verbally at the village cemetery on Monday, 24 July 2000 at an open air "afterglow" following the end of the Heppner/Hoeppner Reunion 2000, (see no.30, Sept.2000, p.6) and again at the MMHS Local History Workshop at the Thresherman's Museum on Saturday, 28 October 2000 (see no.31, Dec.2000, p.5). For reasons of time and purpose, those presentations contained little information on the families of Waldheim. This article is an attempt to remedy that omission; it is also an opportunity to correct and/or fine-tune some of the information presented earlier and to suggest appropriate corrections to existing reference works.
Waldheim was a single street "Straßendorf" with the 24 house-lots arranged on both sides of the north-south street with the post road approaching from Osterwick to the southeast and emerging from the north end of the village and curving to the west toward Mountain City. Inspection of a map of the area, prepared by the Dominion Land Surveyor (DLS) William Pearce in November 1877 in connection with the Menno-Canuck Difficulty indicates that this village street was about 300 m. long east of the section line separating 22-2-5W and 15-2-5W from 23-2-5W and 14-2-5W with Four (4) lots (two on either side of the street) south of the east-west section line separating 23-2-5W and 14-2-5W. Referring readers to the village plan, on p.126 of MMHS 1880 West Reserve Village Census (WRC), this would require the cemetery to be located just south of the putative "Herdsman's House" lot. The church, which was moved to the village after being sawn in half at Hoffnungsfeld in late 1914, stood just north of the cemetery which would place it on the Herdsman's lot. This lot would no longer have served that purpose by 1914 since the village broke up in 1885. The Post Road Information Lectern Number 11 is located just outside the western fence of the cemetery.
In the following discussion village lot numbers and family heads will be referred to by the designations used on the village map in WRC on p.126. Since space is limited only the names of the husbands and wives for each family will be used. For further details on birthdays, baptismal dates, marriage dates, death dates, names of children, etc. the reader is referred to the WRC, Reinländer Gemeinde Buch (RGB) as appropriate. The author welcomes any additional information and photos which readers may have; this can be mailed to the Heritage Posting address (see bottom of p.2).
Lot Wa01 (WRC 287): Peter Penner/Sara Rempel - Sarmatian June 1877. Peter could be a son of Heinrich Penner and Anna Hoeppner (daughter of Delegate Jakob H (1748-1826); if so he would be a brother of Elisabeth (Penner) Hoeppner Wa19. This suggests a Chortitza or Fürstenland Colony connection.
Lot Wa02 (WRC 322 & 231): Peter Sawatzky/Elisabeth Hoeppner - Peruvian June 1878. Elisabeth was a sister of Jakob H. (Wa13), Peter H. (Wa19), Heinrich H. (Wa09), Gerhard H. (Wa18).
Lot Wa03 (WRC 229/230): Jakob Hoeppner/Helena Epp - Québec June 1876. Jakob was a son of Peter H. (Wa19), hence a brother of Peter H. (Wa11), and of Johann H. (Wa12).
Lot Wa04 (WRC 136): Katharina (Kornelius) Banman - Québec June 1876. From Fürstenland Colony. Two sons moved to Burwalde.
Lot Wa05 (WRC 167) (RGB 159-1): Agatha (Peter) Dueck (should be Aganetha) - Sardinian June 1876. Agatha/Aganetha's first husband was Johann Klassen. Their children included Johann Klassen (Wa23). She married Peter Dueck in 1852 - and their two children were Julius Dueck Wa24 and Aganetha (Abraham) Unrau (Wa08). RBG 159-1 Remarks: Departed.
Lot Wa06 (WRC 282) (RGB 166-1): Wilhelm Niessen/Maria Bergen - Canadian 1875. Maria's first husband was Gerhard Dueck. Notation on church records: Hoffnungsfeld. Wilhelm was a cousin of Rev. Isaac de Veer of Schönhorst, Chortitza.
Lot Wa07 (WRC 310/311) (RGB 161-1): Jakob Reimer/Maria Wiens - Sardinian June 1876. Maria's first husband was Heinrich Unger who had moved from Schönhorst, Chortitza to Bergthal. Heinrich died shortly after arrival in Manitoba and on 28 October 1876 Maria married Jakob Reimer. Notation: Departed.
Lot Wa08 (WRC 337) (RGB 158-1) Abram Unrau/Aganetha Dueck - Sardinian June 1876. Abram was a brother of Katharina (Julius) Dueck (Wa24). Aganetha was a daughter of Aganetha (Peter) Dueck (Wa05).
Lot Wa09 (WRC 228): Heinrich Hoeppner/Judith Isaac- Peruvian June 1878. See note for Wa02.
Lot Wa10 (WRC 311) (RGB 164-2): Peter Reimer/Elisabeth Wiens - Sardinian June 1876. Peter was a son of Isaac Reimer (Wa20) (WRC 309/311). Moved to Swift Current.
Lot Wa11 (WRC 231/232): Peter Hoeppner/Katharina Braun - Québec June 1876. Peter was the son of Peter H. (Wa19); Peter, great-grandfather of the author, is buried on his homestead WE15-2-5W. Katharina Braun was a sister of Gerhard Braun of Burwalde and a daughter of Jacob Braun of Osterwick (RGB 229-2) (the Brauns of Osterwick). From Fürstenland. See note for Wa02.
Lot Wa12 (WRC 231): Johann Hoeppner/Katharina Reimer - Québec June 1876. Johann was a brother of Jakob H. (Wa03) and Peter H. (Wa11). Following the death of Peter H. widower Johann then married Katharina (Braun) H. From Fürstenland.
Lot Wa13 (WRC 229): Jakob Hoeppner/Katharina Thiessen - Québec June 1876. See note for Wa02. Also the father of the late Bergthaler Church Ältester Jakob H. (Wa14). From Fürstenland.
Lot Wa14 (WRC 230): Jakob Hoeppner/Aganetha Dyck - Québec June 1876. Jakob H. was born on Insel Chortitz and Aganetha Dyck in Schönberg, Chortitza. He lived in Waldheim only a short time before becoming first a teacher and later a minister and then Ältester. He was the son of Jakob H. (Wa13) and therefore a cousin of Peter H. (Wa11) and of Jakob H. (Wa03). From Fürstenland.
Lot Wa15 (WRC 312/313): Dietrich Rempel/Helena Rempel - Peruvian July 1875. Helena Rempel was first married to Jakob Pries with whom she had a daughter Katharina (Jakob) Banman who lived in Burwalde: this Jakob B. was a son of Katharina (Kornelius) Banman (Wa04) (WRC 138). WRC 313 is in error in attributing this daughter Katharina as having married Jakob Braun. Dietrich and Helena lived in Fürstenland, came to a farm near Waterloo, Ontario for a year, then came to Manitoba in 1876 where they stayed with Jakob Friesens at Osterwick for one month before settling at Waldheim with a group of people from Fürstenland. One of their children was a son, Gerhard Rempel, who at one time was Schultz (Mayor) of Waldheim and probably presided at the dissolution of the village in 1885.
Lot Wa16 (WRC 309): Dietrich Reimer/Aganetha Schellenberg - Sardinian June 1876. Their children are listed in WRC; no other information is available.
Lot Wa17 (WRC 226/227) RGB 165-1A): Isaac Hildebrand/Katharina Bergen - Peruvian June 1878. Daughter Katharina married Anton Hoeppner (RGB 167-1), a son of Peter H. (Wa19). The WRC has a photograph of their house-barn at Waldheim. From Neuendorf, Chortitza.
Lot Wa18 (WRC 228): Gerhard Hoeppner/Katharina Klassen - Mississippi June 1876. See note for Wa02. Moved to Saskatchewan.
Lot Wa19 (WRC 231): Peter Hoeppner/Elisabeth Penner - Québec June 1876. Peter H. and Elisabeth P. were first cousins. See note for Wa02. Elisabeth may be a sister to Peter Penner (Wa01). From Michaelsburg, Fürstenland.
Lot Wa20 (WRC 309/310) (RGB 164-1): Isaac Reimer/Margaretha Wiens - Sardinian June 1876. From Adelsheim, Yazykovo Colony. Likely originally from Chortitza Colony. Their son was Peter R. (Wa10) (WRC 309,310,311).
Lot Wa21 (WRC 343) RGB 228-1) (RGB 192, p.139): Friedrich Wall/Maria Dueck (Dyck) - Québec June 1876. Friedrich's parents lived in Bergthal Colony. Maria came from Neuendorf, Chortitza. The Wall family came to Canada with emigrants from the Chortitza Colony and settled in Waldheim. Thanks to L. Klippenstein for alerting me to this Bergthal connection.
Lot Wa22 (WRC 280/281): Johann Nickel/Margaretha Fehr - Moravian July 1876. From Schönberg, Chortitza.
Lot Wa23 (WRC 245) (RGB 159-2): Johann Klassen/ Elisabeth Allert - Sardinian June 1876. Johann's mother was Aganetha (Peter) Dueck (Wa05).
Lot Wa24 (WRC 166) (RGB 160-1A, p.190): Julius Dyck (Dueck)/Katharina Unrau - Sardinian June 1876. Julius was a son of Agatha (Aganetha) Dueck (Wa05) and therefore aa half brother of Johann Klassen (Wa23). Katharina was a sister of Abram Unrau (Wa08).
Of the 24 first families of Waldheim 19 can be documented as having arrived and/or settled there in 1876 - the founding year. Two (2) families have a Bergthal Colony connection - which is new information.
Many, probably all, of the village houses were of oak logs. Excellent documentation confirms that the woods, that were the source of those oak logs, were an historic land mark. From Metis days earlier in the nineteenth century, the woods were known as "Allard's Point". Julius Dyck's house has survived and is now at the Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach, as the last dwelling made from Allard's Point timber. What intense labour it must have been to fashion oak logs with hand tools and human muscle!
Endnotes / Bibliography
1. NAC RG15, vol.232, file 3129-1.
2. John Dyck and William Harms, eds.; MMHS Village Census of the Mennonite West Reserve, 1998 (WRC).
3. John Rempel and William Harms; Mennonite West Reserve Atlas (D.W. Friesen & Sons, Altona, 1990).
4. John Dyck and William Harms, eds., MMHS Reinländer Gemeinde Buch 1880-1903 (MMHS, 1994) (RGB).
5. John Dyck, ed., Bergthal Gemeinde Buch (HSHS, 1992) (BGB).
It has been established that two families moved out of the village to their homesteads, Peter Hoeppner (Wa19) to SW 16-2-5W in 1877 and Julius Dueck (Dyck) (Wa24) to SE 21-2-5W.
Only a ruin, fragments, remain of the Peter Hoeppner house, but many people have made some remarkable artefacts from portions of the logs which, after 124 years of exposure, are still quite sound below the surface.
Family traditions indicate that the logs were first numbered with Roman numerals, then disassembled.