COLUMN: Village News – Steinbach’s First Families – Klaas B. & Maria (De Fehr) Friesen

This week we are winding up the exploration of the first families of Steinbach. This series has looked at the 18 families that settled on the 20 Wirtschaft that comprised the original town of Steinbach along what is today Elmdale street. There are many other individuals who contributed to the growth and development of the Steinbach and surrounding communities, and hopefully we will have an opportunity to share some of their stories in the future. Thankfully, many of these important stories have been recorded by family or local historians and we encourage you to come by the Village Books and Gifts to peruse our wealth of books covering stories of Mennonites both local and worldwide.

Klaas B. Friesen moved around the villages of the Molotschna colony as a child due to his father’s work as a school teacher. He married Maria de Fehr in 1861, and they moved to Annafeld, Borosenko to live near his father and stepmother. Together with his parents they travelled to Canada on the Austrian, arriving in Quebec on Aug. 31, 1874. Klaas’ parents settled in Blumenort, while he, Maria and their children settled on homestead SE25-6-6E on a gravel ridge east of Steinbach. Arriving late in the year, they had just enough time to construct a semlin (sod house) before winter and shared their home with a cow and some chickens.

In the spring of 1875 the Friesens moved to Wirtschaft 20 in Steinbach, the most north-west property in the town (where Victoria Plaza stands today). According to KJB Reimer’s history in Die Mennonitische Post, the bush was so thick in summer they could not see the lanterns of their neighbours, a testament to the difficulty of preparing the land around Steinbach for farming. In the late 1880s, Klaas and Maria built a housebarn which stood on the site until 1960, the last remaining example of its kind in Steinbach. It was torn down, to great protest, by A. D. Penner who owned a Dodge dealership and roadworks company (For more info, see: mennotoba.com/protest-medicine-cabinet). They farmed in the Steinbach area until 1909, when they retired and lived on their property until Maria’s death in 1916, after which their property was auctioned.

Klaas and Maria had five children, eldest Cornelius left the Kleine Gemeinde on marrying Maria Klassen and joined the Chortitzer Gemeinde, moving to Osterwick west of New Bothwell. Son Klaas married Anna Wiebe and moved to Greenland, north of Blumenort before leaving for the Mennonite community in Needles, B.C. They lived there less than a year before returning to farm near Friedensfeld. Son Jacob was a cheesemaker in the factory in Steinbach before moving to Kansas. Daughter Katharina married a Dutchman, Herman Krebs, and youngest Johann worked the farm and spoke English by the time he was school-age.

Upcoming events

Secret Treaty Book Launch, Sept. 22. Join the MHV in launching Jonathan Dyck and Elder Dave Scott’s book, The Secret Treaty: A Lost Story of Ojibwe and Mennonite Neighbours. Share stories of the West Reserve before Mennonite Settlement and first encounters between Ojibway and latecomers. How do we forge a different way of sharing this land? To purchase tickets, please visit www.mhv.ca or mennochurch.mb.ca.

Exhibit Grand Opening Event, “Mennonite Reflections: Arriving in Manitoba 150 Years Ago,” Sept. 24. Join the MHV in celebrating the opening of the new temporary exhibit exploring the mass immigration of Mennonite migrants to Manitoba in 1874.

Volunteer Appreciation, Oct. 2. We love to celebrate our volunteers, and we look forward to celebrating all those who contributed to the MHV this past year. Join us for an evening of stories and refreshments.

Ralph Friesen Book Launch, Oct. 7, 7 p.m. Come hear from author Ralph Friesen on the release of his new book Prosperity Ever – Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s. Published by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society this book examines stories of how Steinbach defied the odds and managed to grow through one of the most difficult decades in North American history.