Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

They also considered the US. Land agents,
having heard of their plans to leave Canada,
came to them with a number of proposals
for settling there. Again the Mennonites sent
delegations, visiting some half-a-dozen states.
A proposal from Mississippi was particularly
attractive. They met with the Governor of that
state and also with the US Attorney General
and at one point they committed themselves to
buying 100,000 acres there. But then, in June
of 1920, when another delegation was to make
further arrangements, it was not allowed to cross
the border into the US. The reason never became
clear but these groups took it as a sign from God
that they were not meant to move to the US.
That also meant that they had to get out of their
commitment to purchase that piece of land. This
proved difficult and costly in itself. 22
Some in these groups, in the fall of 1920,
also inquired about isolated areas in northern
Canada, including northern Manitoba and
northern Quebec. However, the government of
Manitoba was not encouraging. As for Quebec,
at this time it did not have a compulsory school
attendance law and Premier Taschereau seemed
hospitable to the delegates but gradually they
sensed that that province would prefer French
speaking settlers. 23 Also, in neither place was the
federal government willing to help them with
the broad school freedoms that they desired.
Interestingly, the Hague-Osler group did
not join in the delegations to Quebec. They
had decided to work with John D. F. Wiebe, a
Mennonite Brethren businessman from Herbert,
Saskatchewan who had made connections with
the family of the President of Mexico. Thus it
was that the first trip to Mexico was made by
the Hague-Osler delegates by themselves, in
the fall of 1920, without the participation of the
Swift Current and Manitoba groups. 24 When this
delegation returned with a positive report the
other groups dropped the northern Manitoba and
Quebec options. Now they all set their sights on
Mexico. (Incidentally, Jack Wiebe, who in recent
decades has served as Lieutenant Governor of
Saskatchewan and as a Senator in Ottawa, is
from the family of that John D. F. Wiebe.)
By January 1921 a full delegation with representatives
from all three Old Colony groups
was in Mexico. They met with the President. He
was not enthusiastic about their insistence on
separate schools in which the Spanish language
would not be taught. He said he hoped that
eventually they would learn Spanish too. 25 But
he was so eager to attract these farming people
that he agreed to a broad range of freedoms,
giving the delegates a letter that they accepted
as their new Privilegium. One report states that
Rev. Johann Loeppky from Hague, “extended
a heartfelt handshake to the President and with
tears in his eyes thanked him and the ministers
for the kind reception.” 26 The report continues:
“There was no doubt in their [the delegation’s]
minds that Mexico would be their promised
land” (See Johann Loeppky Journal, p. 37, this
issue of Preservings.)
The next task, after getting this Privilegium
from the Mexican government, was to find a
suitable piece of land in Mexico. This was challenge
enough but now a different issue arose.
While in Mexico to look at land, it became
apparent that the Manitoba and Swift Current
delegates felt that the Hague-Osler people, who
were less well-off, might not be able to put out as
much money, and that as a result, if they bought
land altogether and if difficulties arose then the
Manitoba and Swift Current people might be
left “holding the bag,” with a disproportionate
share of the financial burden. Apparently,
Rev. Johann P Wall from Hague and Mr. Klaas
Heide from Manitoba clashed on this issue. 27
As a result there was a parting-of-ways. The
Manitoba and Swift Current groups, helped by
John D. F. Wiebe, proceeded to purchase a total
of 225,000 acres in the state of Chihuahua in
September of 1921. And in March of 1922 six
chartered trains carrying nearly 5,000 people
left Manitoba for Mexico. 28
After the parting-of-ways in Mexico in the
fall of 1921, the Hague-Osler group was not
sure what it should do. Their exclusion must
have been a major disappointment for Rev.
Johann Loeppky who had been at the forefront
in exploring the Mexico option. Reportedly, the
Hague group now looked for land elsewhere. 29
As a result things became drawn out. And during
this time the economy in Canada went into
a slump and land prices fell, making it more
difficult to sell their land at prices that would
give them the large sums they needed to buy
land elsewhere. For the Hague-Osler group the
whole idea of moving was in doubt.
However, the Saskatchewan school situation
remained bleak. As a result, in 1924, they again
turned their eyes to Mexico and purchased a
piece of land in the state of Durango, 500 miles
south of Cuauhtemoc where the Manitoba and
Swift Current people had settled. 30 The first
chartered train left Hague on June 4, 1924
with approximately 140 people. Another seven
trains left at different times over the next two
and one-half years. Others left in small groups
even later, the last one in 1934. 31 But the total
number of people who moved from here was
just under one thousand, far below the Manitoba
number. It represented only one quarter of the
Old Colonists of this area. For Swift Current
the percentage who moved was higher and in
Manitoba the vast majority moved. 32
The purchase of the land was complicated
too, or rather, the selling of the land here. In
each of the three areas - Hague-Osler, Swift
Current, and Manitoba - the initial intent was
to sell the land in one large block to one large
buyer. That would keep the people together; it
would give the church a large sum of money
with which to buy a new block; and it would
dissuade individuals who might be tempted
to stay back in order to buy the land of those
leaving in what could be “a buyer’s market”.
In each of the three areas they entered into
dealings with a large buyer but in each case the
plan fell through, resulting in legal wrangling,
major financial costs, and, particularly in the
Hague-Osler area, a loss of internal unity as
key people were blamed for not preventing that
outcome. Not surprisingly, this led some people
to back away from the idea of moving.In the
Hague-Osler area when the block sale was being
planned, all the people who owned land and
who were committed to moving, signed their
land titles over to four leaders, - Rev. Johann P.
Wall, Jacob Friesen, Benjamin Goertzen, and
Peter Reddekopp. These leaders could then, on
behalf of the group, enter into dealings with a
land company. The agreement, signed in 1921,
has 27 pages and lists over 400 pieces of land
from south of Osler to north of Hague, from east
of the South Saskatchewan river to near the old
number 11 highway in the west. 33
When no migration materialized at the time
that the agreement was signed and when future
steps seemed uncertain, many of the original
landowners wanted their titles back. This was
allowed but apparently the process caused so
much frustration that some people including
my father’s parents decided not to join in the
migration, meaning also, that they would now
send their children to the public school. 34 Those
who did eventually move sold their land on an
individual basis. One positive consequence of
this was that it enabled the newly arriving Russlander
Mennonites, who were fleeing from the
Soviet Union, to buy some of the farms of those
leaving for Mexico. In the decades that followed
the Russlander presence in these communities
had many positive effects.
(b) The Continuing Burden of School Fines
The school fines continued to be a major
burden in the period from 1919 to 1924 while
the search for a new homeland went on. To
describe it I will read excerpts from three
letters from Old Colony leaders. They are no
longer pleading to have the 1873 commitment
to unrestricted freedom in school matters honoured.
They are only asking the government
to suspend the fining for about two years to
make it a little easier for them to settle their
affairs and move away. The first letter, written
on April 13, 1920, is from Johann F. Peters, a
leader here from Neuanlage. He appealed to the
Premier stating:
“We cannot send our children to public
schools because it is contrary to our religious
belief. It is against the laws of God according to
our faith. We would have to trespass the promise
given to our God and Redeemer at the time of
baptism... Is the Premier’s intention to force us
to disobey God’s commandments ... in that case
our Redeemer would say: ‘If you are trespassing
my commandments and not remain true unto
them, you will become unworthy of me,’...If
you knew how hard it is to be a true Mennonite,
.... If you had been here and seen the conditions
you would not have had the heart to exact money
from these poor people. I beg you, Honourable
Sir, to be good enough to grant us two years time
to leave this country if you consider us a bad
class of people. We believe that we are worthy
of such a privilege at least.” 35
The second letter, a petition to the provincial
legislative assembly, was sent on January 7,
1922. It was signed by the Swift Current Old
Colony Aeltester and all six ministers there.
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