Stories of tragedy and trust: honouring the legacy we started with
In 1874 the first Mennonite immigrants were Kleine Gemeinde (EMC) who arrived via a paddlewheel river boat up the Red River from the U.S. (Mennonite Heritage Archives)
“We came in 1875,” my father tells me. Dad is 94, and a trip to the ER is giving him a sense of urgency to pass on the stories his mother shared.
"On the way, the baby dies. They find a box to put her in, and the ocean between their old home and their new land becomes her resting place. Still on the ship, their other child, a two, maybe three-year-old daughter gets sick. ‘Do not put me in the water’ she defiantly demands. They wait, quietly. When they reach Halifax, they bury her in the sand.” My mind races, “Why the sand?” Did they need to bury as quickly as possible? Sand shifts, though not as much as water. How many more die on this journey of hope that has become a death march?
When they reach Fort Dufferin, the Red River entrance to Manitoba, they wait again, quietly. Six weeks until their “farmland” is confirmed. Almost 1,000 Mennonites squat in barracks built for 300. Six weeks—every day another child, another funeral.
How dare my family forget? To forget what we went through, to cast aside the hard lessons and not appreciate what was sacrificed for the goodness we enjoy today—to think that we’re independent and self-made.
Mennonite settlement in Manitoba
From 1874–76, 7,000 Mennonites arrived in Manitoba. It was the largest immigration of a people group in Western Canada at that time. To set this migration in history, Canada was only formed as a formal Confederation in the summer of 1867. In the early summer of 1870, Louis Riel pushed Metis land rights with the Federal government which inspired the creation of Canada’s fifth province, Manitoba.
Treaty 1 with the Anishinaabe and Cree nations of the area was signed the summer of 1871. These original nations “believed it was a way for them to survive and adjust into a new way of living with the drastic changes that they could see coming to their land and that were already beginning to take shape. They believed a treaty with the Crown would help give them security when the large groups of settlers would make their way into the land” (Wikipedia, Treaty 1). How would it be for them within a few short years to see lines of people dressed in black clothes streaming across the land that had been theirs alone for centuries and centuries?
If it were not for these two agreements, every Mennonite emigrating from Imperial Russia would have ended up in the USA. There would have been no other suitable option. We were able to settle in Manitoba because Louis Riel and Treaty 1 made it possible. Treaties are beneficial to all people in Western Canada as they are considered to be mutual arrangements that guarantee a co-existence between the treaty parties.
There are misconceptions that only Indigenous peoples are part of the treaties, but that’s not the case. “We are all treaty people,” all of us who live and work in this land are treaty people, especially the Mennonites who have benefited so much from this precious land. The treaties are about having good relations and are to last “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow.” We have worked hard to benefit from the land and kept our hand to the plow, but now it is time to work hard for truth and reconciliation: to learn our neighbours’ perspectives, speak truth about our history and restore relationships we did not protect or honour.
Kleine Gemeinde (EMC) migration
In 1874 the first Mennonite immigrants were Kleine Gemeinde who arrived via a paddlewheel river boat up the Red River from the U.S. disembarking where the Rat River empties into the Red River (near Niverville). The peak of immigration was in 1875, when nearly half of the Mennonite immigrants arrived, including groups such as the Bergthaler.
Settlers quickly crowded Fort Dufferin, near Emerson, Manitoba. The East reserve was already full, and a new “West reserve” was being established.
Aeltester (elder) Johan Wiebe called a meeting for church organization and colony administration. This was not a time to be divided over the doctrines and practices of the different colonies and churches of Russia. It was time to come together into a single church community.
Wiebe emphasized that the blending process should begin immediately. “From 16 to 30 families were organized into groups and assigned village sites. By mid-August 1876, sixteen villages had been started and most families were at their village sites” (Heritage Posting, February 2024). Local administration was established, churches and schools were built, and community loans/insurance were established. This is the legacy we started with in Canada.
Why recollecting is important
These next three years are the 150th anniversary of the 1874–1876 mass Mennonite immigration from Imperial Russia to Western Canada with the Kleine Gemeinde (EMC) being the first to arrive. On top of that 2025 is the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement. It certainly is a time to recollect and commemorate, but why and how?
When I was executive director at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV), I had two types of people asking me about leaving a legacy. “What is the best way to leave a legacy?” asked the first camp, while others asked, “Should we even try to leave a legacy? Isn’t that prideful?”
If it is about our individual efforts and heroics, then I would agree that sounds prideful. Further, it is extremely rare that a person carves out a legacy that lasts beyond one or two generations (why even try so hard, for something so fleeting). However, if we build into a communal legacy, it becomes much more certain to last as it will then be carried by the group to the next generation. Finally, if the focus of the legacy is on how God has helped our family, clan and people in the recent past and over the centuries while acknowledging our human shortfalls it fulfills what we see written throughout the Scriptures (see sidebar).
Done well, there are several benefits in recollecting and commemorating our past:
1. It brings glory to God.
2. It inspires our faith, it comforts us in our personal challenges (we are not alone!).
3. It honours our predecessors and elders.
4. It provides positive identity and social cohesion to our family and community.
5. In a world of chaos, it provides grounding, well-being and direction for the future.
6. It humbles us and keeps us from being ignorant and proud.
We need to be intentional about the important work of remembering, recollecting, pondering and passing on. When the Israelites did this well, it went well for their offspring. When they forgot, they quickly lost their way. As Christians and Mennonites, not only do we have the amazing story of the Israelites, but we also have our own recent history to help us recollect and know God.
These next years are a good time to do the work of recollection and commemoration. When I was at MHV, I found the secret the heritage volunteers held: learn as you go, dig into what attracts you and then make it yours so you can help others make it theirs. At MHV there are genealogists who are willing to sit down with you and track your personal family history and a shopkeeper who can recommend books just for you. We should all know what year we arrived, from where, and the context of our arrival (including Truth and Reconciliation). Google “50 questions to ask a living relative” and do it before it is too late. Take a trip, whether it be to Europe, MHV, or the original family village in Canada.
Former Manitoban and now Duke Divinity professor Kate Bowler says: “North America culture values choice above all. People who choose are masters of their own destiny. They are the greatest of all mythical creatures: self-made. By contrast, people with fewer choices—less independence, more dependence—might begin to feel the sting of distinct kind of shame … The hard truth is that the most basic aspect of our humanity is not our determination, our talents, or whatever we accomplished during last year’s resolutions. We are united by our fragility. We all need shelter because we are soft and mushy and irritable in the elements—and we will need so much more than a bank loan because, sooner or later, we are left exposed. Time and chance, says the author of Ecclesiastes, happen to us all.”
Maria Dyck arrived in Canada on board the SS Sardinian with her third husband Johan Dyck, but she died on the riverboat journey from Minnesota to Manitoba. She was buried in a village in the Mennonite East Reserve. She is depicted here with two of her daughters in Imperial Russia. (Mennonite Heritage Archives)
The stories of the past remind us of our fragility, dependence, and how God helps us all.
As you recollect, ponder and commemorate you will be transformed by God and others. You will be inspired to keep your community going and humbled by it. We have started with an amazing legacy. The question is, how will we leave it?
Sidebar - The biblical foundation for recollecting history
Exodus 13:3 NLT: So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the Lord has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand.
Note: Some translations use the word “commemorate.” Also note the strong emphasis of “forever,” some translations use “always.”
Deuteronomy 32:7 NLT: Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
Note: When is the last time you asked your parents, grandparents, and other elders about the past and kept track of it to recollect later? It is the elders that should have a godly perspective on life as they can see the times God worked for their good throughout their life.
Psalm 143:5 NLT: I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done.
Note: To ponder means to go deeper than just listening. It means to dwell on a matter and let yourself be changed by it.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 ESV: So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
Note: “Tradition” in the Greek original has the meaning of “a giving over, passing on, which is done by word of mouth or in writing.” Spoken word could also include personal conversations and not just formal teaching.