Church Records
Church records are often the best substitute for determining the dates of vital events like births, marriages and deaths. They may include burial information and will also include baptismal information. They also situate a person in a particular place – at a particular time.
The MHSA has a number of church records in published form, in our archival fonds, and some have been indexed and placed here online. See below for a brief introduction to the availability of Mennonite church records. For a comprehensive listing of Mennonite church records available on the internet and offline, please consult the mennonites.ca website under the geography of interest.
Bergthaler / Sommerfelder / Reinlaender
The immigrants who came to Canada from Bergthal, Russia, settled in southern Manitoba and formed a religious entity known as the Bergthaler Mennonite church. Their church records span both the Russian and Canadian periods of existance. Some of these records have been published as Bergthal Gemeinde Buch (BGB) which is available for sale from the MHSA. An index of the BGB is on the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society website.
The Bergthal Church had several church groups which split off: the Sommerfelder and Reinlaender Mennonites among others. Both of those boides had their own “Gemeinde Buecher”, but only the latter has been published to date. It is now out of print, but available in Mennonite libraries such as the MHSA. The MHSA also has draft copies of much of the transcribed Sommerfelder Gemeinde Buch on it’s library shelves.
Several church indexes have been prepared for the MHSA. We hope to add others.
- Busau Mennonite Church, Crimea
- Karpovka Mennonite Brethren Church, Russia
- Plauschwarren Mennonite Church, East Prussia
- Vauxhall-Grantham Mennonite Church, Alberta