Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

torical Sketches of the East Reserve 1874-
1910”. I must commend you on a great book.
We have found it very interesting and informative.
The reason for this letter is on page 711
among the endnotes #47 there is reference to a
family book-”Heinrich D. Friesen,
Familien=register (Inman, Kansas 1908), 45
pages.
The above title has really stirred up the curiosity.
We are working on my husband’s
mother’s history and Heinrich Delesky Friesen
was his great-grandfather. Gerhard
Schellenberg Friesen was his grandfather. Tina
(Koehler) Friesen was his mother. Tina was out
of the G. S. Friesen second family.
I’ve noticed that Gerhard’s sister Katharina
Loewen moved to Kansas and feel this book
may very well be some of her writings.
Now the big question—Do any of the members
know if there is a copy of the book still in
existence and if so where it may be found. I
would appreciate any information that you may
have regarding the book.
Thank-you for taking the time to read this
letter. We will deeply appreciate hearing from
some one in the Society.
“Mrs. J.D. Lorne Hood”
Editor’s Comment: Mrs. Hood was advised that
the Heinrich D. Friesen book she referred to,
is about a different Friesen line, actually the
major Abraham von Riesen line. But Heinrich
Delesky Friesen (1827-77) was the ancestor of
another prominent Kleine Gemeinde family
whose descendants include son Jakob S.
Friesen, pioneer publisher (Preservings, No. 9,
June 1996, Part Two, pages 10-13). Other
prominent descendants include great-grandson
Dr. Archie Penner, formerly of the Steinbach
Bible College and his nephew Wilmer Penner,
the renown Low German dramatist. Preservings
articles dealing with this family are: Issue No.
5, page 11; Issue 2, page 7; and Issue 6, page
25. Additional information may be found in the
Kleine Gemeinde Historical Series, particulary
Volumes 4 and 5.
______
James Urry
Dept. of Anthropology
Victoria University of Wellington
Box 600, Wellington
New Zealand
10th July, 1997
Dear Delbert,
The arrival of yet another feast of research
and writing in the latest Preservings, has stirred
my conscience and put finger to keyboard.
My sincere apologies for not writing and
acknowledging the receipt of the earlier volumes.
I can only plead pressure of work which
each year seems to get worse and worse. The
fact that the University is being “restructured”
has not helped. It is like having the builders in
when the relatives decide to come and stay.
All I can say is that the volumes are very
welcome and well received and prick my conscience
further to get back to my Grunthal
Preservings
manuscript.
The death of Roy Vogt was extremely sad
indeed! As you know we had become great
friends and his sudden passing shocked and
saddened me.
Roy Loewen and I keep in touch via email
and John Dyck and I also maintain irregular
contact on various issues using the same medium.
When are you getting on the email and
chasing KGs around the globe instead of seeking
them over the creek close by?
All the best for now.
Regards “James”
______
July 4, 1997
2605 Avebury Ave.
Victoria, B.C.
V8R 3W3
Dear Editor,
Your feature story on pioneer women in the
June, 1996 issue of Preservings made very interesting
reading. My home territory, therefore
of course interesting. I liked most of the article.
I’m worried about your attention grabbing
introduction. Not too many Mennonites will fly
to Karen Toole-Mitchell’s defense. Her remarks,
as you may know are not original and
not expressed by militant feminists only, Spong
comes to mind. If you are in part glossing over
the extent of oppression of women by developing
the fact that part of your study group had
controls for incorrect behaviour toward women,
you wrong those who were mistreated. Even a
quiet child can overhear in conversation how
Mennonites within your study group were not
immune to the perpetration of molestation and
the exercising of extreme mental cruelty towards
females both young and older.
Shunning not an important part of the culture?
“Any man’s death diminished me,” the
poet Donne said. One could say hurt for death.
It matters.
I wonder also whether you have read Oskar
Kossmann who stated that by the 18th century
people in North Poland no longer were Netherlanders
but Germans due to intermarriages and
the resultant thinning of Dutch/lowland blood.
Your unfortunate choice of the word Germans
when referring to servants in the late 19th century
seems to miss this point.
Next. The use of one caption for a photo is
puzzling. “Note that Maria is wearing a
‘Haube’”. This is 1931. How long other women
in the western world wore a “Haube” I don’t
know. Suffice to say that as far as wearing a
“Haube” is concerned, so did Queen Victoria,
my grandmother and countless other non-Mennonite
women. I checked on usage of the
“Haube” with the Dugald costume museum in
the 1980s.
Lastly you speak of the obsession, my word,
of Mennonite academics with the 90 wealthy
Gutsbesitzer of Russia in 1910, and then make
an unfortunate claim about land in your matriarchy
article, wherein a Plett owns 3 morgen
of land (120 acres). The fact that this is 3 times
16
that of other landowners is interesting but...
According to my research with reference
material in my home:
- 3 morgen= 1.89 acres
- In Prussia (1909 and 1920s ref. in Meyer’s
Lexikon) older and then still valid 1 morgen=
2553.23 sq. metres
- 4047 sq. metres to an acre
- Morgen= German land measure which originally
could be ploughed in a forenoon-varied
with German states.....
- A HubW or Huben Wirt in Ernst Bahr appears
to mean proprietor of a Hube
- 10 3/4 sq ft= 1 sq metre
- sq “Rute”= sq rod/pole/perch (30 1/4 sq. yds)
As an aside, in some genealogical information
I saw at a young friend’s, (who asked for
and had received information on her von Riesen
and other ancestors) you were cited as a reference
person who stated in effect that likely for
reasons of simplicity Ab. von Riesen changed
his name to Friesen in Russia. In view of this
citation please note that vol. 2 of the 1793 “census”
in the region of Danzig by Ernst Bahr says
under Zeitemphiteoten, Pg. 281, that “Olim
Ebler, jetzt Abrah. Friesen HubW is using 1 H,
24M, 273 R emph. brauchbar Land a 60 Gr.p.M
etc. in Kalte Herberge” and furthermore in
Küchwerdersche Dämme und Quellungen pg
289, “Gregor Ellas (Ebler) jetzt Abrah. Friesen
von Kalte Herberge, unbebauet 2M, 199 R
emph. Zinsland.” (At the time I saw the citation
I told my young friend, if D. Plett said it, it
must be true-please don’t shatter my trust in
you!)....
Keep up the good work and accept this
Mennonite watchdog missile as a small contribution
to a better understanding of our common
heritage.
Sincerely Yours, “Hilda Matsuo”
P.S. Back from Winnipeg. People there seem
to be happy you are getting things down but
admit to seeing errors and feel your haste is in
part to blame. Don’t be discouraged but please
be careful, be aware that in years to come you
may quoted, errors and all.
Editor’s Comment:
The situation with Abr. v. Riesen of
Kalteherberge, Prussia, is confusing. According
to the research of Henry Schapansky, the
Abr. v. Riesen resident in Kalteherberge in 1793
was another (non-immigrant) Abr. v. Riesen
(1757-1829), son of Paul v. Riesen,
Fürstenwerder: H. Schapansky to author Aug.
31, 1990. This is the Abr. v. Riesen listed in
Bahr, Vol 2, page 281. “This family is not without
interest for Canadian historians, since
Margaretha Friesen, wife of David Toews, the
chairman of the Colonization Board in Canada,
was a relative....” By 1798 the Kleine
Gemeinde (KG) Abr. v. Riesen was resident in
Kalteherberge as son Peter was listed as being
from there on the occasion of his baptism. It is
my understanding that both A. v. Riesens were
prominent well-to-do landowners. The KG A.
v. R. also was a “Grutsmueller”(grist miller)
and had previously lived in Tiegenhagen where
son Peter was born in 1779.