TrailsofthePast

Young Men and Women From Holdeman Families at Needles, B.C. approx. 1912. Picture digitally colourized and enhanced.
-Credits for Identification to Lloyd Penner

Young Men From Holdeman Families - Greenland, MB, 1905

https://www.thecarillon.com/local/2025/02/08/column-village-news-mennonite-reflections-well-done

Well Done
By Ernest N. Braun

The relief felt by the first Mennonites upon arrival at the immigration sheds in August 1874 morphed into disappointment when they realized there was no reliable water supply. In June, Jacob Shantz had intentionally positioned the sheds near a shallow pool likely fed by a spring (no longer active today), but it had largely dried up by mid-August. Digging shallow holes and using the water that gradually filled them was unsatisfactory, and as a dry August continued, they were left to haul water from the river. A decision was then made to dig a deep well between the two eastern sheds. Today we know that in the 1870s water could only be found past 60 feet, but assuming their experience in Imperial Russia to be normative, they believed they would strike water not much more than half that far down. Not familiar with the type of loose Emerson soil here, they neglected to shore up the sides of the shaft, and on August 15(1) when they reached 40-45 feet the well caved in on Johann Hiebert 18, and Johann Reimer 24, burying them up to their necks. Afraid that any further movement might dislodge even more soil and bury them completely, the men above momentarily stood frozen in indecision, hearing the faint cries for help, but afraid to do anything that might make things worse. Reimer’s wife Helena tried to jump in to help her husband and had to be restrained. She fainted.

(1) The specifics of date and other details are taken from Manitoba Free Press, 1874, August 22, page 5.

Time was short, for the two men would soon die of asphyxiation. Boards were hurriedly placed to prevent more earth from sliding down. One man quickly volunteered to be lowered over 35 feet into the well on a rope held by the others and attempt to dig them out. He dug around them with his spade until they could be hauled up, unconscious but alive. Hiebert had significant internal injuries, for he had just been bending over his shovel when the cave-in happened. Reimer suffered a broken leg. Doctor Hanson was brought to the site from Winnipeg a day later to examine both and to set the leg. Both men survived after some convalescence, although Hiebert was somewhat less than robust for the rest of his life. The well remained dry, and water was so scarce some immigrants moved back to the banks of the Red River. The accident fueled even more discontent.

The 28-year-old Old Colony man who kept his head and became a rock in the crisis, was suitably named, Peter Redekopp. He had arrived on the International on August 1st with the Kleine Gemeinde. “Peter” comes from the old word Petros, which means “rock”, a word Jesus used to rename the Apostle Peter. Even more significant, however, is his family name. Redekopp is composed of two Dutch words: “raad” meaning wise counsel and “kop” – meaning head, and in Low German is pronounced Raadekopp this day. Combined, the two parts of the name signify a person known to have his head in the right place. Coincidentally, on August 15, 1874 just such a level-headed person was present who, at great personal risk, simply did what had to be done, and changed a potential tragedy into a courageous pro-active rescue. Although the incident did not assuage the discontent, looking back now, there is a profoundly symbolic aspect to the coincidence that the very name of the man so aptly mirrors what happened. And that today the focus is not on the accident itself, but on the rescue, which represents a pivotal moment in the first days of settlement, and symbolized exactly what it would take to survive in this new land.

For serious readers. Until now this has only been available in German. A very in-depth study on our history and roots written last century by Benjamin H. Unruh.

For many, this was a most exciting event. Others tell stories of how it was one giant hairball. Eighty years later, one old eyewitness recounted how he could never eat a hot dog without thinking of the rabbit hair he had seen in his hot dog that long ago day in the Dust Bowl years...

Susie B. Koehn from Montezuma mentioned it in her interview, posted earlier.
Groups of people would get together and gather jackrabbits. They would club them to death. “It sounds rough, but they couldn’t use guns, there were too many people,” Susie said.

Menno Isaac also recalled similar events in a 1990 interview for the local Holdeman school newspaper, Gray County Express. “Dollars were scarce and jackrabbits were plentiful; they ate of the vegetation that was still left… I’ve seen them shot two at a shot with a shotgun.”

Have you heard of the Jackrabbit plague that descended on the plains of Kansas and Nebraska during the Dirty Thirties? How thousands of people hunted together, forming large circles and slowly tightening them until tens of thousands of rabbits were caught inside?
One such event in western Kansas covered approx. 64 square miles. Estimates suggested that there were 150,000 jackrabbits inside the circle. 6000 people forced the frightened creatures to a large pen where they met their end.
This must have been gruesome work. Some said the rabbits whined like babies, but there was no other option. What little food was left was too precious to let this new pest destroy

Work relief programs sponsored the construction of strong pens where the rabbits would be collected and clubbed to death. Locals could also receive money for taking part in such a “drive.” The dead rabbits were mostly ground into cattle feed, shipped away and sold, or had the ears cut off and collected for bounty money.

Here is the .mp3 file and transcript in .pdf of an interview done with Susie B. Koehn of Montezuma, KS in 2005. The topic was the Great Depression and credits for the interview go to Mindy Woods. Cimarron City Library Digital Archives

One of the most iconic images of the Dirty Thirties in Canada was a photograph of a Mennonite family in Edmonton. In 1933 the Abe Fehr family left Saskatchewan as Dust Bowl MIgrants, heading to Alberta to flee the drought and dust of Neuenlage, SK. The poverty-stricken family was unable to successfully set themselves up in the Peace Country and soon were returning back to the prairies.
Broken down in Edmonton in 1934, the couple sent the only English-speaking son begging while Abe set about to repair a broken axle on the car.
Finally, the police came to their rescue and they were given some clothing and food.

The Shattuck Monitor, Shattuck, Oklahoma, 19 Apr 1917, p 6.

Follow this link to view the site of the colony. Minonite Road
- https://maps.app.goo.gl/hfHeMdRepHDfCYCo9

From 1914 - 1916, Texas fever gripped the Manitoba Holdeman congregations. In addition to Manitoba, there were members from Langdon, North Dakota, and HIllsboro, Kansas.This picture shows the first group getting ready to leave Hillsboro. Later, the Mennonite Brethren would follow but the first ones were the Holdemans.
The second picture shows some of our people from Manitoba and North Dakota investigating the territory. Water was a big concern and this picture shows their interest in the large wells which were used for irrigation.
The third picture is probably the combined Holdeman and MB investigative committees.
If you have family stories to share on the short-lived Littlefield excursion, I'd be happy to hear them. You would be welcome to email me at [email protected].

I’m not involved with this event but I thought I’d post the link here in case anyone wants to attend virtually.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83802103611?pwd=zcT3Pfutqz2uwa2C1TK421CugVlcVu.1

Friends from Poland visiting friends in Kansas. It would be nice to be there!

The recent harvest of the Turkey Red Wheat at the outdoor Mennonite museum near Torun, Poland.

Yesterday we followed an old trade and travel route, one that for centuries was familiar to our Mennonite parents. From Amsterdam to Danzig. Hundreds of years ago, a ship a day came from Amsterdam and docked in Danzig. Many times it had Mennonites on board. These church records from Amsterdam show some of the visitors from Danzig who were baptized in the Netherlands in 1703. Toews (Tewes), Friesen (Vriesen) Thiessen (Tiessen), Jantzen, and Dycks (van Dyck).
While the earlier fore parents of ours came for religious freedom and economic opportunity, these later ones simply testify to the deep ties that existed between the churches of the Old Flemish conference, even though national borders separated them.

Musical Instruments in Mennonite History- Pipe Organs in Churches- The .pdf below tells the story how some Mennonite churches accepted musical instruments while others didn't.

Although Menno and other early Anabaptist leaders were educated men, many of those who joined the Anabaptist movement were not and in years to come they formed the body of the church. Here are some comments on the leaders that emerged from this body in the late 1500’s. This is from the “Conference on Mennonite Cultural Problems, held at North Newton, Kansas, August 18 and 19, 1944.”

Unlearned Anabaptist Successors

The emphasis on sincerity, simple statement, and Biblical truth as found in the Bible and as illuminated by the Holy Spirit continued during the years of the persecution and migration and martyrdom. In the early debates on religious questions the trained leaders were more than a match for their opponents. By the end of the sixteenth century the situation was much changed; leaders had been killed or had been forced to flee. The later leaders or spokesmen had been denied the opportunities of special ' training. The Frankental [1571] debates in South Germany are an example. “In many ways this was an unequal contest. The Mennonite spokesmen were simple working men, and although in exact knowledge of the Scriptures they excelled the state church representatives, they were no theologians. “We are not able to answer your questions,” said one of them, “except in the simple language of the Bible. It seems strange to us that you should persist in asking us many questions that are beyond us.’”

“They represented their beliefs in plain words of the Bible, Although they agreed with their opponents in a number of doctrines they could not agree on questions regarding infant baptism, nonresistance, government and others. The Mennonites, rooted deeply in the Bible, could not be persuaded to join the established church.”

August 21, 1914
-Slowly, the moon's dim shadow moved in on the bright sun, gradually covering it, until the view of the midday sun was but a dim circle in the sky. At first, the light was too bright, so we had to shield our eyes with our hands. Then, when the shadow came, we didn't even have to squint. It seemed like evening was settling in everywhere. All was darkened. The chickens in the barnyard began making their way to the henhouse as they always did at dusk. Even the dog curled up before us on the front porch.

Of course, the eclipse didn't last very long, but it did arouse talk in the village afterwards. With great curiosity, the people wondered about the meaning of the sun's darkening. There was amazement on the streets. "The sun lost its shine," they gossiped. Some of the villagers were struck with fear, interpreting this midday darkening as God's warning to an unbelieving world, quoting the Bible to verify their point.

"It was fulfillment of a prophecy," they said with conviction, strongly reminding their bystanders that the world would surely come to a sudden end. The eclipse was for them a cosmic sign from God for all people to see.

Others were less alarmed. My father, taking a more sober approach, simply told us that the eclipse belonged to the natural order of the universe. He told us that we should regard the eclipse as part of God's direction in guiding the heavenly bodies. That is how I remember the amazing happening, an experience that captured our fascination. Although the eclipse in Russia came and went, the memory remains. -Margaretha (Ens) Wiebe of Gnadenthal, Baratov Russia, from her book, Mamma, Mother of Ten:

“Today, July 28, 1851, we had a total eclipse of the sun. Superstitious people thought the end of the world had come, and harvesters sang hymns in the field…. This year a revivalist, Minna Lange, often spoke at Neuteich. She gave good talks and urged repentance and predicted hard times. People came from Elbing and Koenigsberg 100 wagons at a time and many also came on horseback and on foot…. I too heard her gladly....” Marie Fast Wiebe Entz (1827-1891)
-from the Mennonite communities of Prussia