Comments Off on David Cornelius and Katharina (Unrau) Epp fonds
Accession 2026.020
Title and Physical Description
David Cornelius and Katharina (Unrau) Epp fonds. – ca 1968-79. – 1 cm
Administrative/Biographical History
David Cornelius Epp (GM#12714) and Katharina (Unrau) Epp (GM#12756) were born in southern Russia in 1890 and 1897 respectively. They were married in 1922, and immediately adopted three orphaned children of David Epp’s brother. They emigrated to Canada in 1924 where they first lived in Waterloo and then in Saskatchewan. In 1930 they moved first to Naco, Alberta, and then, in 1947, to Carstairs, Alberta. In 1958 they retired and moved to Clearbrook, British Columbia.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of a twelve page family history, genealogical information about their Epp and Unrau ancestors, a short tribute written by their daughter, Irene (Epp) Klassen, for her parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary, and several communications regarding an Epp family reunion in 1978-79.
Source of Acquisition
Donated by Louise Epp, Rosthern, throughSusan Kuzina
Notes
Much addition information about the Epp family is available in Anna (Epp) Ens, compiler and editor, The House of Heinrich. The Story of Heinrich Epp (1811-1863) Rosenort, Molotschna and His Descendants (Winnipeg:Epp History Committee, 1980.
See also Irene Klassen fonds held by the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.
Comments Off on Mennonite Brethren Youthfest and choirs. – 1948-1949. – 4 photographs
Title and Physical Description
Mennonite Brethen Youthfest and choirs. – 1948-1949. – 4 photographs
Administrative/Biographical History
A Youthwork and Choral Music committee of the Alberta Mennonite Brethren Conference sponsored special music training sessions and songfests (Saengerfeste) in the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1948 a Jugendfest was held in Gem. Alberta, and the following year one was held in Vauxhall, Alberta. Both attracted a very large group of Alberta Mennonite young people.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of two photographs of the large number of participants in the Youthfests in Gem in 1948 and Vauxhall in 1949. In addition there are two photographs of the choir of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Gem, Alberta. They are stored in the MHSA Images Oversize “A” Box 1.
Source of Acquisition
Gift of John Wiens, Edmonton. (Former Gem resident)
Comments Off on Jacob Retzlaff fonds. – 1926-1992. – 15 cm of textual material
Accession 2025.006
Title and Physical Description
Jacob Retzlaff fonds. – 1942-1973. – 12 cm of textual material
Administrative/Biographical History
Jacob Retzlaff (GM #667248) was born 8 March 1934 in Bassano, Alberta, the son of Heinrich B. Retzlaff and Elizabeth (Baerg) Retzlaff. Jacob’s parents had emigrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1926. They acquired a farm near Rosemary, Alberta, where Jacob grew up. Shortly after his marriage to Lydia Klassen in 1956 the couple moved to Calgary where Jacob worked as a bookkeeper and accountant. Both Jacob Retzlaff and his father maintained close contact with other Russian Mennonite migrants of the 1920s. Both at various times served in administrative positions of the Vertreterversammlung der Mennonitischen Gemeinden und Gruppen von Alberta and its successor organizations. The most important work of the Vertreterversammlung involved collection of funds to repay the burdensome transportation debts (Resieschuld), owed to the Canadian Pacific Railway which had been incurred by the Russian Mennonite immigrants of the 1920s. The Vertreterversammlung also served as a land settlement and colonization agency and charged all members a small levy or tax. It provided information, mutual support and some quite limited financial assistance as the immigrants settled into their new communities. After the outbreak of World War II and repayment of the transportation debt the Vertreterversammlung was reorganized and became an agency to assist the victims of war. After the war it collaborated with the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization to facilitate the immgration and resettlement of Mennonite refugees. Further reorganizations resulted in the establishment of the Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council as a successor agency of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization. It had an Alberta affiliate, the Alberta Mennonite Relief Committee which is referred to as the M.P.H.K. (Mennonitische Provincialle Hilfs Kasse) and was later renamed the Alberta Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council. This provincial committee became a succesor agency of the Alberta Vertreterversammlung. Further reorganization and restructuring resulted in establishment of the Mennonite Central Committee Canada and the Mennonite Central Committee, Alberta, which were affiliated with the United States based Mennonite Central Committee, International. Jacob Retzlaff, his father, and his father-in-law, Jacob J. Klassen who lived in Coaldale, Alberta, were all involved, often as treasurer or bookkeeper, during the years when changes in the work of various provincial and national Mennonite immigration, colonization and relief organizations resulted in major financial and organizational changes.
Scope and Content
The fonds includes textual material related to the work of Jacob Retzlaff, and of his father, Heinrich B. Retzlaff, who died in 1969. The earlier financial documents related to the collection travel debt (Reiseschuld) and membership levies or taxes collected by the Alberta Vertreterversammlung. They were created by Heinrich B. Retzlaff while later records pertaining to the reorganization and subsequent activities of the successor agencies of the Vertreterversammlung were created or collected by Jacob Retzlaff. There were also several subject files. The fonds also included a large collection of the annual reports of the Alberta Vertreterversammlung, Mennonite Central Committee, Canada, Mennonite Central Committee, Alberta, and Canadian and Alberta Mennonite conferences. These printed reports have been deaccessioned since copies are readily available elsewhere in the library or archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.
Source of Aquisition
The fonds was donated by Chandra Janzen, daughter of Jacob Retzlaff.
Access restrictions
None
Related material
MHSA Accession 2004.060. Records of the Alberta Vertreterversamlung.
Records of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization are held in the archives of the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg.
File list
1-1 Notebook entitled, “Eingaenge der Reiseschuld und der Boardsteuern vom 1 Juli, 1942,” (Receipts for the transportation debt and Board taxes, fom 1 July 1942). It covers the period from 1942 to 1947.
1-2 “Monatliche Abrechnungen ueber den Fond der Einwanderung des M.P.H.K, 1947-1955,” (Monthly Reports of the operation of the Transportation Funds of the M.P.H.K.).
1-3 “Monatliche Abrechnungen ueber den Fond der Einwanderung des M.P.H.K., 1955-1959.”
1-4 Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council, minutes and reports, 1959-1960.
1-5 Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council, minutes and reports, 1961-1962.
1-6 Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council, minutes and reports, 1963-1965.
1-7 Alberta Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council, minutes and reports, 1963-1965.
1-8 Alberta Mennonite Central Committee, minutes and reports, 1965-1966.
1-9 Conference of Mennonites in Canada, Council of Boards records, 1970.
1-10 Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) Annual Meeting, 1972.
1-11 Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) Annual Meeting, 1973.
1-12 Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) Council of Boards, 1973.
1-13 Inter-Mennonite Leadership Conference, 1973.
1-14 Frank H. Epp, Mennonite Publishing Company, 1962.
1-15 Papers read at an Old Mennonite Stewardship Conference, 1962.
1-16 Bound set of “Referate und Berichte,” 1964.
Notes
For details on the various predecessor societies, organizations and agencies of the Mennonite Central Committee (Canada) and the Mennonite Central Committee (Alberta) see Esther Epp-Thiessen, Mennonite Central Committee. A History (Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2013).
Comments Off on Didsbury Men’s Curling Bonspiels. – 1984-2008. – ca. 160 photographs
Accession 2011.037
Title and Physcial Description
Didsbury Mennonite Men’s Curling Bonspiels. – 1984-2008. – ca 160 photographs. (filed in MHSA Images Box 2).
Administrative/Biographical History
In 1984 a group of sports-minded Mennonite men in Didsbury organized a curling bonspiel. Four teams competed that first year but in later years there were as many as eight teams. These bonspiels became major community events every winter for 25 years. Leadership was provided by Herman and Irene Epp. Herman was a local farmer who also worked for many years for the Mountain View County, including twelve years as County Commissioner. He was also a member of the Bergthal Mennonite Church Council and provided leadership in the church’s largest building projects. Irene, a teacher, also served in several church and civic organizations.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of more than 160 photographs of the various teams that competed each year, pictured with trophies they had won. They are arranged chronologically. There are sometimes four, usually six, and sometimes eight team pictures for each year.
Edith Regehr fonds. – ca 1920-1940. – 35 photograph
Administrative/Biographical History
Edith Regehr was born on 20 March 1927 in Davidson, Saskatchewan, and married Edward Regehr of Tofield in 1943. Edith was the daughter of Abraham Cornelius Epp and Maria “Maschinka” Thiessen. Her parents and older brother migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1924. They lived first in Waterloo, Ontario, and later in several places in rural Saskatchewan and Alberta before settling on a farm near Tofield, Alberta. Edith’s father was ordained as a minister when the family lived in Naco, Alberta, and served congregations in Lacombe, Tofield and Edmonton. Edith’s mother and infant sister died in 1938. Her father then married Maria Klassen Enns. Abraham and Maschinka Epp brought some photographs from Russia and added others during their early years in Canada. Identifying information, most but not all of which was apparently added at a later date by Edith Regehr, is written on the back of the various photographs. Edith (Epp) Regehr died on 3 June 2020. After her death the photographs passed to Edith’s sister-in-law, Alice (Regehr) Unrau.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of 35 photographs of various family members taken either before the family left the Soviet Union or in the early years of their life in Canada. One photgraph was taken in the 1950s and one in the 1970s.
Source of Aquision
The photographs were donated to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta by Alice (Regehr) Unrau, sister-in-law of Edith Regehr.
Comments Off on Gerhard Jacob Regehr fonds . – 21 photographs
Title and Physical Description
Gerhard Jacob Regehr fonds. – 21 photographs
Administative/Biographical History
Gerhard Jacob Regehr was born on 23 February 1932 at Cereal, Alberta, the son of Jacob Gerhard Regehr and Anna (Driedger) Regehr. The family had migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1926 and lived in New Brigden, Alberta, and Cereal, Alberta, before settling near Tofield, Alberta, in 1934.
Comments Off on Mary Burkholder fonds. – ca. 1900-2020. – 75 cm
Title
Mary Burkholder (GM956989) fond
Accession 2026-004
Title and Physica Description
Mary Burkholder fonds.-ca. 1900-2020. – 75 cm.
Biographical History
Mary Burkholder was born 26 October 1943 at Bassano, Alberta, the daughter to John van Bergen and Phyllis Millie Martin. She married Harold Edward Burkholder, a teacher, in 1962. They were the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy. The family lived in Duchess where Mary was, among many other things, active in the hotel and restaurant business. She was an avid genealogist who was also keenly interested in church and community histories, notably churches of the Northwest Mennonite Conference and other churches in the Duchess, Rosemary and Gem communities. She served as archivist of the North West Mennonite Conference and collected and documented family and community histories. She also had a keen interest and carefully documented histories of local cemeteries, including maps and photographs of gravestones and obituaries of those buried there.
Scope and Content
The fonds includes files on four somewhat distinctive aspects of Mary Burkholder’s work. The various files contain written, photographic, docummentary and published material which was collected and filed somewhat ecclectically, over a period of years.
1. There are, first of all, a series of files focusing on the genealogy and history of the Burkholder, the van Bergen, and related families. They contain a mix of detailed genealogical, biographical, photographic and documentary information, together with written and/or published diaries, recollections and contextual material.
2. Several files celebrating anniversaries and documenting the histories of Duchess and Gem.
3. Closely related are several files documenting special events of celebrations of North West Mennonite churches and church communities between 2004 and 2010.
4. Cemetery records, photographs of gravestones, maps, and background information, mainly of the cemeteries at Duchess, Rosemary and Gem.
Custodial History
The fonds was donated by Mary (von Bergen) Burkholder to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.
File list
I. Genealogical, biographical and autobiographical files
1-1 Obituaries of Mary and Harold Burkholder.
1-2 Burkholder genealogical file focusing mainly on the many descendants of Moses Burkholder who was born in Holmes County, Ohio of 27 October 1838. It includes extensive written, photographic, documentary and some published information about Moses Burkholder, his 17 chidren, 139 grandchildren and 387 great grandchldren.
1-3 Van Bergen genealogical file containing extensive written, photographic and documetary information about ancestors and members of the John van Bergen (GM1049913) family.
1-4 Passenger Declarations and genealogical information about Mary Burkholder’s grandparents, Heinrich von Bergen (GM636781) and Minna (Franz) (GM638861) Bergen and other family members.
1-5 File marked Descendants of Bernhard Van Bergen (GM 129032) and Aganetha Claassen (Klassen) (GM1290498) family but consisting mainly of photographs and brief biographical notes.
1-6 Bernhard Barg (GM667426) and Elizabeth (Warkentin) Barg (GM938804) biographies, genealogy and related information. Their son Philip married Ada Burkholder.
1-7 File marked “Geneaology of Johann Frantz (GM1049962) and Agnetha Eck (GM1049983), contains genealogical information and photographs.
1-8 Genealogical and biographical information about the Bernhard A. Friesen (GM323282) and Margaretha Woelk (GM63486) family.
2-9 Descendants and ancestors of Samuel Horst Martin.
2-10 Heinrich H. Neufeld (GM266946) biography
2-11 Published article on “The Branch of Johann Neufeldt.” (GM1751520)
2-12 Genealogy and additioanl information about the Kornelius Siemens (GM213411) and Gertrude (Friesen (GM213412).
2-13 Genealogy of the Joseph R. Stauffer, written by Paul Voegtlin.
2-14 Remeniscences, written by Olga Neumann (GM483352), the daughter of Heinrich and Minna von Bergen, together with genealogical information about the Neumann family.
2-15 Pearl M. (Porter) Stauffer.”Memoires Based in two five-year diaries, 1941-1950.”
2-16 Pearl M. (Porter) Stauffer, “The Watino Years, 1950 to 1955. The Times of Trial and Adventure.”
2-17 Pearl M. (Porter) Stauffer, “Wanderings. Times of Indecision. Times of Questioning.”
2-18 Peral M. (Porter) Stauffer, “Bluesky, 1957-1967. Poverty-Pain, Innocent Happiness. The Priceless Memories of a Growing Family.”
II. Community Histories
2-19 Duchess 75th Anniversary celebrations, 1997, and a great variety of other items related to the community.
3-20 50th Anniversary of the Gem Mennonite Brethren Church, 1979.
3-21 Gem, Family Registers, 1934 and 1938.
3-22 Gem Correspondence and documents related to the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization and the Zentrales Mennonitsches Immgrantenkomitee, including record of “Steuer” (taxes) paid by members to support the work of committees and help pay cost of mental health patients in Ponoka.
III Northwest Mennonite Conference Church Histories.
3-23 Sharon Mennonitee Church, Guernsey, Saskatchewan, historial information, including correspondence and numerous slides of the 99th anniversary celebration and closing of the church.
3-24 Salem Mennonite Church, Tofield, Alberta, Centennial celebration. 2010, includes numerous slides.
3-25 Northwest Mennonie Conference Annual Celebrations, Duchess, 2004, Edmonton Hispanic, 2005, and Carstairs, 2006. Also includes funeral information about four prominent leaders – Paul Voeglin, Paul Burkholder, Harry Stauffer and Richard Harder – who died in those years.
3-26 Bluesky Mennonite Church Dedication Service, 2004.
IV. Cemetery records, photographs and maps.
4-27 and 4-28 Duchess Cemetery. Two large folders with photographs and obituaries of all the people buried in the Duchess Cemetery.
4-28 Rosemary Cemetery, photographs of gravestones, registry and other information of those buried in the Rosemary Cemetery.
4-29 Rosemary Latter Day Saints cemetery, photographs of gravestones and lists of those buried in the LDS Section of the Rosemary Cemetery,
4-30 Old Roman Catholic cemetery west of Rosemary information and list of those buried in that cemetery
4-31 County of Newell cemeteries with information about the Duchess, West Duchess, Rosemary, Gem and Gallup Farm cemeteries which includes lists of those buried in some of these cemeteries.
4-32 Gallup Farm Cemetery near Rosemary, information and a list of those buried in that cemetery.
4-33 Mount View Cemetery with lists of those buried in that cemetery.
4-34 West Zion Mennonite Cemetery with list of those buried in that cemetery.
4-35 Van Bergen gravestone pictures and information.
Detailed maps of the Duchess, Rosemary and Gem Cemeteries, filed in long paper filing tube.
Sara Decker was born on 24 January 1921, the daughter of Peter Decker and Anna (Penner) Decker, in Kaltan, Neu Samara, Russia. The family immigrated to Canada in 1926. Sara attended the Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Bible School from 1940-1943 and completed the 3-year Bible Course. Grandma ID #591003.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of 15 photographs of students, teachers, and the building of the Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Bible School during the time when Sara Decker was a student there. Her later married name was Sara (Decker) Siple.
Source of Acquision
Donated by Ruth Vandenbor, Sara (Decker) Siple’s daughter.
Frieda Toews fonds, ca. 1888-1952, ca. 187 photographs
Administrative and Biographical History
Frieda Toews was born in Altona, Manitoba on 14 December 1947, the daughter of Jacob R. and Helena (Hiebert) Toews. Both the Toews and Hiebert families migrated from Russia to Manitoba in the 1870s. Both the Toews and Hiebert families were large and some family members, including Frieda, later moved to Alberta. Frieda created, or inherited from her mother, four family photograph albums. In 2016 she donated the photographs in these four albume to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta. The stories of the extended John R. Toews and Helena (Hiebert) Toews family are told in greater detail in a privately printed book entitled Jacob R. and Helena (Hiebert) Toews. A Pictorial Famly History. The book was compiled and published by Frieda Toews’s sister, Mary (Toews) Unger.
Scope and Content
The photographs were placed in numbered envelopes or archival sleeves in no immediately discernable order. Some numbered items are missing, but here are also 18 photographs for which no asigned number is now available. Frieda Toews and Mary (Toews) Unger have provided idenification of persons on the first 50 of these photographs and may be able to continue that work.
Source of Acquisition
Donated by Frieda Toews
Finding Aids
The smaller photographs are stored, in numerical order, in MHSA Images. Larger photographs, together with the list indentifying the first 50 photographs are stored in MHSA Images, Oversize “A” Box 1
Kathy Peters fonds, – 12 cm of textual material. – 40 photographs
Administrative/Biographical Description
Kathy Peters was the daughter of David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen. Kathy Peters parents had migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1924 and settled in the Didsbury area of Alberta. Kathy was born in 1933 at Crossfield, Alberta, and married Edward William Peters.
In 1987 Kathy Peters received from her mother, Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen, a large collection of letters which various family members had received from relatives still living and enduring severe hardships in the Soviet Union. These letters were written in the cursive German Gothic script but have been carefully transcribed and then translated. Expanatory notes are also provided where the dates, places, or relationships are not clearly defined in the letters. Kathy Peters added detailed genealogical information about the families living in Canada and those living in the Soviet Union. Most of the letters were written between 1924 and 1933, but some are dated as late as 1936. The letters provide much detailed information about the lives and conditions of those who remained in the Soviet Union.
Custodial History
The letters were either received directly by David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen, or collected by Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen from relatives in Canada who had received letters from mutual relatives living in the Soviet Union. Some items are only fragments of letters. They were donated by Kathy (Goerzen) Peters to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta in 2017.
The photographs came from a Peters family photograph album. Most of the photos were taken in the Soviet Union and brought to Canada by the parents of Edward William Peters (Kathy Peters’ husband). They were donated by Kathy (Goerzen) Peters to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta in 2017.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of four different sets of original letters, together with transcripts and translations and 40 photographs. The letters in each file are arranged chronologically.
1. 62 letters written by Maria Dueckman Goerzen to her son and daughter-in-law, David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen. They cover the period from 1924 to 1933, the year of Maria Dueckman’s death. Maria Dueckman was Kathy (Goerzen) Peters paternal grandmother.
2. 29 letters written by Anna (Goerzen) Fast to her brother and sister-in-law David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen. They cover the period from 1924 to 1936. Anna (Goerzen) Fast was Kathy (Goerzen) Peters aunt.
3. 33 letters written by David P. Goerzen’s brothers, Heinrich and Peter, and his sister Maria (Goerzen) Regehr. They cover the period from 1924-1933. These were Kathy (Goerzen) Peters uncles and aunt.
4. 29 letters from members of the Johann Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens family to the families of their daughters Susanna (David) Goerzen and Anna (Gerhard) Duerksen. They cover the period 1924-1933. Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens were Kathy (Goerzen) Peters maternal grandparents.
40 Peters family photographs, filed separately. The 40 photographs come from a Peters family album. Edward William Peters (Kathy Peters husband) was the son of Gerhard Jacob Peters and Susanna Peters. The Gerhard and Susanna Peters family lived in the Yazykovo Mennonite colony before migrating to Canada in 1924. In Canada they settled on the Burns Ranch near Didsbury, Alberta. There is identifying information for some of the photographs, but many do not have any identifying information.
Notes
Katharine (Goerzen) Peters GM158100
Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters mother GM413662
Maria (Duekman) Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters paternal grandmother GM207137
Anna (Goerzen) Fast – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters aunt GM1400383
David P. Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters father GM158098
Johann Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens, Kathy (Goerzen) Peters maternal grandparents GM413660 and GM413661
Edward William Peters – Kathy Peters husband GM158097
Gerhard Jacob Peters – Kathy Peters father-in-law GM158095
Susanna Peters GM – Kathy Peters mother-in-law GM158096
