Sara Becker 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.
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 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 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.
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
Comments Off on Langemann, Johann and Anna. – ca 1890-1989. – 50 cm
Accession 2024.007
Title and Physical Description
Johann and Anna Langemann fonds, c. 1890-1989, 50 cm.
Administrative/Biographical History
Johann and Anna Langemann were residents of Gnadenheim, Molotschna settlement, where the family had a well-established Wirtschaft. Johann was born on 13 December 1888 in Gnadenheim. Anna (Baerg) Langemann was born in in the same village on 3 September 1897. Both came from “blended” families in which their fathers’ first wives had died. They had then remarried. They migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1926 and established a small mixed farming operation in Coaldale, Alberta. Most of both Johann’s and Anna’s siblings, however, remained in the Soviet Union.
The fate of close family members who remained in the Soviet Union became a major concern for Johann and Anna Langemann. For at time after 1926 there was quite extensive correspondence with immediate family members and other relatiaves who were still living in the Soviet Union. That was disrupted in the mid-1930s, but resumed to a limited extent by some of the survivors after Stalin’s death. Despite their own difficult financial constraints, the Langemann family provided whatever support they could for their desperate, starving and oppressed relatives in the Soviet Union. They also preserved letters, written in cursive Gothic German script, which they received from those relatives. Specifically, Anna (Baerg) Langemann had 2 sisters, 2 brothers, 2 half sisters and 4 half-brothers. Only Anna and one half-sister migrated with their families to Canada. All of Anna’s other siblings remained in the Soviet Union where they suffered great harship. One of Anna (Baerg) Langemann’s half-brothers was exiled and died in Siberia in 1940. Two of her brothers also perished in the Gulag. One was taken away and died in a prison camp in 1940 and the other was taken in 1937 and shot on 5 February 1938. Johann Langemann had 4 half brothers, two of which came to Canada. The other 2 remained in Russia where one “disappeared” in 1937.
Johann Langemann died on 23 March 1945. The family then relocated, for a short time, to Sardis, British Columbia, but returned to Coaldale where Anna and her family lived until her death on 21 January 1983. They had three sons, one of whom died in infancy, and three daughters.
Scope and Content
The fonds includes some genealogical information, some documents pertaining to the migration and subsequent land acquisition in Coaldale, thirty-nine photographs, and a large collection of letters, most of which were written by siblings and relatives living in the Soviet Union. Many of the letters were translated by Johann and Anna’s children, Peter Langemann and Agnes (Langemann) Thibert. They apparently focused their efforts mainly on letters written by siblings or nieces and nephews of Johann and Anna (Baerg) Langemann and on letters written by Johann Langemann’s siblings and relatives. The translated letters are arranged somewhat sporadically, in chronological order. Many of the letters, however, either have no date, or only the day and month but not the year in which they were written. Often there is also no signature, and there are numerous fragmentary or incomplete letters. Included are several binders or folders of unprocessed letters or fragments of letters.
File List
o1.01 “Familien Chronik” taken from a damaged family Bible.
01.02 Langemann Genealogical Chart
01.03 Johann and Anna Langemann – Russian passports
01.04 Various legal documents related to the farm in Coaldale, Alberta
01.05 Binder of family photographs. Three oversized photographs are filed separately.
01.06 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from relatives of Anna (Baerg) Langemann. 1927-1931.
01.07 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from relatives of Anna (Baerg) Langemann, 1931-1934.
01.08 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly form relatives of Johann Langemann, 1927-1934.
01.09 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from Anna (Baerg) and Johann Langemann 1948-1989.
01.10 Binder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.
01.11 Binder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.
01.12 Folder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.
Comments Off on Highland Mennonite Brethren Church Calgary fonds. – 25 cm – 1995-2004
Accession 2024.005 and 2025.002 (filed with 2024.005)
Title and Physical Description
Highland Mennonite Brethren Church Calgary fonds. – 25 cm – 1995-2004
Administrative/Biographical History
Highland Mennonite Brethren Church in Calgary began as a Mennonite Brethren city mission in the 1950s. The group, meeting in rented facilities, was organized as the Calgary Mennonite Brethren Church in 1956. In 1962 they built their own sanctuary in the Highland district of Calgary at 4018 Centre B Street, N W., Calgary, T2K 0W2. The congregation was then renamed as the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church. In 1983 the congregation divided to form the Dalhousie Mennonite Brethren Church. The Highland Mennonite Brethren Church is affiliated with the Alberta, Canadian, and General Conferences of Mennonite Brethren Churches.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of church bulletins from 1995 to 2004 when Harry Heidebrecht served as the Senior Pastor of the Church. They were evidently kept by Harry Heidebrecht and include his sermon outlines and also some other notes and reports. The fonds includes only bulletins for the worship services in which Harry Heidebrecht preached or had a prominent role.
At the request of the MHSA archivist, the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church made available copies of the Council Meetings of the church during the time when Harry Heidebrecht was the pastor. These were years of transition and it is instructive to gain insight into Council and Sunday morning worship perspectives.
Source of Acquisition
The church bulletins and sermon notes were donated to the Mennonite Heritage Museum, Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Mennonite Heritage Museum donated them to the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta since the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church is an Alberta church.
The copies of Council Meetings were donated by the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church.
Comments Off on Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee fonds
Accession 2002.019
Title and Physical Description
Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee fonds. – 1937-1974. – 3.5 cm of textual records
Administrative/Biographical History
The Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee was one of many local committees of the Vertreterversammlung der Mennonitischen Ansiedler Albertas (Representative Association of Mennonite Settlers in Alberta). It included Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonites who had migrated from a variety of places and churches in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Some had purchased and settled on Namaka Farm, an 8 square mile tract of land southeast of Strathmore, Alberta, and others on area farms. Repayment of the transportation debt incurred by the immigrants was the most urgent concern of the Vertreterversammlung, but various inter-Mennonite mutal aid social, healthcare, cultural and economic programs were also established. Members were assessed a levy or tax to cover operating costs of the Vertreterversammlung. The Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore district committee also estalished its own cemetery and burial society and negotiated contracts with a doctor and the hospital in Rosemary whereby membership fees covered pat of the doctor’s incom and the hospital operating costs in return for significantly reduced fees for services received by members. During and after World War II overseas aid and relief programs were created. In 1963 some of the programs were merged to form Mennonite Central Committee, Alberta, while others, at various times, were closed or spun off as stand-alone agencies.
Custodial History
The records were received from Henry Goerzen
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of membership lists, financial records, and minutes.
Source of Acquisition
Donated by Henry Goerzen
Associated Materials
Records of the Vertreterversammlung der Mennonitischen Ansiedler Alberta’s (see MHSA Accession
Related Materials
-Namaka Mennonite Brethren Church fonds, MHSA
-Goerzen Henry D., (2000) Namaka, 1925-2000:Celebrating God’s Faithfulness from Generation to Generation. Didsbury, AB:Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
–Trails to Little Corner: A Story of Namaka and Surrounding Districts (Calgary: Namaka Community Historical Committee, 1993.
Ralph Langemann lived in Coaldale, Alberta, where he met and married Fern Olson, the daughter of the local lumber yard. In 1955 the town of Coaldale published a 42-page booklet entitled Coaldale, 1905 Alberta Golden Jubilee 1955 which, as the title suggests, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the southern Alberta town. Fern (Olsen) Langemann drew and inserted into a copy of that booklet a map of all the business establishments in the town at that time. After Fern (Olsen) Langemann’s deathg, her husband, Ralph Langemann donated the booklet with the inserted map to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of the booklet Coaldale 1905 Alberta Golden Jubilee 1955 , together map drawn by Fern (Olsen) Langemann of all the business establishments in the t0wn in the 1950s.
Mennonite Society of Calgary, 1991-2006, 51 cm of textual records, 1 compact disc, 10 floppy discs.
Administrative and Biographical History
The Mennonite Society of Calgary was incorporated in 1996. The objective of the society was to develop a multi-faceted residential community, anchored around Mennonite/Anabapist sociology and philosophy, to serve the needs of mature adults in Calgary. A Steering Committee was appointed which developed a plan of action and initiated a search for a suitable plot of land in or around Calgary. After several unsuccessful efforts to acquire suitable land, a 14.7 acre plot of land just outside the north-west city limits of Calgary was acquired in 2005. It was to be held by anew corporation, MSC Land Corporation which was registered as Alberta Company 1196679. There were, however, problems in securing an appropriate connection for sewage disposal. That resulted in abandonment of the plan, selling of the land, and dissolution of the organization.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of organizational files, minutes, correspondence and supporting documents of membership, Board of Directors and Annual meetings, Also included are subject files providing relevant information about similar institutions and technical/engineering aspects of the proposed project. The fonds includes the minutes of some of the directors’ meetings of Alberta Company 1196679 but not on the sale of the land or the dissolution of the company.
Source of Acquisition
Donated by Mennonite Central Committee, Alberta, in whose offices the records were stored after dissolution of the Society.
Frieda (Prochnau) Claassen was born in Deutsch Wymyschle, Poland, the daughter of Daniel Prochnau and Wanda (Penner) Prochnau. Together with other family members, Frieda, fled to Germany in 1945 as refugees. In 1948-49 they lived in a refugee camp at Schuetzenhoff, Gronau, Westfalen, West Germany. Worship services, including a choir, were organized and multiple sheets of music were prepared, using number notations rather than notes. Frieda collected some of these and her father bound them together using material from an old suitcase for the covers.
The Prochnau family emigrated to Canada in 1949 where Frieda married Hans Claassen in 1952. They lived in Edmonton. Frieda donated the song-book, together, with an explanatory note, to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society in 2023.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of a bound volume of sheets of religious songs with numerical notations, together with a brief explanatory note on Frieda’s experiences and the creation and use of the songbook in the refugee camp.
Source of Acquisition
Donation to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta by Frieda Claassen
Peter A. Neufeld was born 2 August 1905 at Didsbury, Alberta, the son of Abram C. Neufeld and Elizabeth (Heinrichs) Neufeld. They moved to Didsbury when they retired in 1967 and opened an MCC Depot in the basement of their house and in one half of the garage in 1967. There they stored MCC fabric for layettes and quilts and received, washed, sorted clothes, doing many minor repairs, and replacing very many zippers. Beginning on 11 May 1970 they packed 600 lbs of clothing. On 16 July 1970 they shipped 1000 lbs of cleaned, sorted and repaired cloths to Yarrow, British Columbia.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of two photographs, one showing the interior of the Neufeld garage with Peter A. Neufeld, Abram A. Neufeld, and John A. Neufeld, and the second photograph shows them loading the truck headed for Yarrow, B. C.
Source of Acquisition
Gift by Alma Hildebrand, daughter of Peter A. Neufeld.
