Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

SW 23-6-5E, east of Kleefeld, then known as
the Schoenfeld village district. After several
years of farming with very little success, and
us boys, ages 6 and 4, setting his barn on fire,
so that it burned to the ground with all the
winter feed, grandfather decided to pull us off
the farm and have us settle closer to his farmyard.
A son Heinrich S. Koop born May 18, 1918,
died here on December 3, 1918, and was buried
in the Schoenfeld cemetery on Section 14-
6-5E: see Preservings, No. 9, Dec 1996, Part
One, page 17. This farm was later sold to John
P. Friesen of Chortitz on October 6, 1923 for
the sum of $2,100.00.
On the 22nd of April 1919 Jakob B. Koop
bought 240 acres of land from Herbert Henry
Hayward of Pasadina, California, for
$4,560.00. The land was described as the
SE19-8-6E and the South half of NE19-8-6E.
This land was located in the Landmark district
and I believe this was the land that C. N.
Koop was farming.
Another parcel of land was acquired from
Thomas Mooney on 21st day June, 1909, being
the South half of SE18-8-6 for the sum of
$1,000.00 dollars, payable in four equal parts
over four years. I believe Uncle Abram farmed
on this land. Uncle David N. Koop farmed on
the SW18-8-6, for this confirmation I have no
record.
There is a record that Jacob B. Koop received
Letters Patent for NE 34-7-6E. I don’t
think grandfather ever lived on this homestead
and must have sold it. In his Journal, grandfather
had written that he had taken out a homestead
on NE34-7-6E and that he had traded with
his cousin Jakob B. Toews who had taken out a
Homestead on the SE16-7-6E. In this way,
Jakob was near to his father who had two quarters
on Section 17-7-6E.
Farming Practices.
Jakob B. Koop was cautious when it came
to Government sponsorship or assistance programs.
In the mid-30s some kind of dairy herd
improvement plan came up; one pure-bred
Holstein bull would be donated without charge
to a group of three part-time dairy farmers.
Each farmer had to build a pen and shelter
according to specifications. Isaac F. Loewen,
a neighbour, needed one more applicant to
make up a group of three, and my grandfather
did finally sign up. When the bull was rotated
among the three farmers, I noticed
grandpa did not take full advantage of this
opportunity to improve his herd. In the end of
this two-year period, grandpa raised only one
heifer and his reluctance was definitely a loss
to him. The home-base of another of these
sponsored bulls was at Mr. Mooney’s farm
near Giroux.
An Agriculture Exhibition was held annually
on the Kornelson school yard in Steinbach.
Farmers were asked to bring anything
of interest for this exhibition and prizes were
given to the best product. I was asked to bring
this huge bull to the show and reluctantly
agreed after Mr. Loewen told me, “this bull is
Preservings
The “Kjist” or dowry trunk of Johann M. Koop, father
of Jakob. This is a photograph of a model of this
chest made by grandson Peter S. Koop during the
winter of 1936. Aunt Margaret had wanted Peter to
build her a replica of the chest which he did. The original
chest was sold at an auction of the Jakob B. Koop
effects, after uncle Isaac N. Koop, was killed by a bull
in 1965. Photo courtesy of Peter S. Koop, Steinbach,
Manitoba.
very people friendly.” I think I found this to
be true.
With a light rope fastened to the bull’s nose
ring, we took off on our five-mile hike (one
way). I did a lot of talking to the animal and he
seemed to be listening. At the exhibition yard,
there were numerous other animals but he never
gave me trouble. This bull even won first prize
in his category. When the judge came to pin
the first prize ribbon to the animal, I held out
my chest but Mr. Loewen said, “No Peter, you
are not the bull.” I thought I needed some recognition
for leading it five miles there and five
miles back.
With the dairy herds being enlarged, the
problem of having enough grass acreage arose
so the farmers were encouraged to grow sweet
clover. The first kind was a white-blossom clover.
The stems of this clover were quite coarse
and had to be harvested early in blossom time.
Grandpa Koop was encouraged to grow some
clover for himself, but his answer was, “I will
not infest my farm with Willow bushes,” and
never did.
Only after Uncle Isaac took over the farm
was any sweet clover planted, but by then the
yellow-blossom clover was used as a forage.
This yellow Blossom clover was a much finer
plant.
Jakob B. Koop enjoyed horticultural and had
a large orchard: many choke cherry and plum
trees of different varieties, apples, raspberries,
gooseberries and red and yellow currants. There
were also 4 special choke cherry trees that no
one had permission to get close to.
[Sidebar story] The Koop Noise Disease:
Jakob’s son Johann S. Koop married Peter
W. Loewen’s maid, Aganetha Siemens, daughter
of Gerhard Siemens (1834-1908) at the time
from Herbert, Saskatchewan. There was no
work to be had in Saskatchewan and so
Aganetha got a job in Neuanlage (Twincreek)
working for Rev. Peter W. Loewen, formerly
married to Jakob’s aunt.
When Johann and Aganetha got married
they lived with his parents as was the custom.
One day Aganetha was singing to her-
46
self while she was making breakfast in the
kitchen. Her father-in-law came in and was
very upset.
“You can stop that crow shrieking,” he had
said, quite irritably.
Aganetha was shocked. Only later did she
realize that her father-in-law found noise hard
to bear. For this reason there was no singing at
the Jakob B. Koop home, even during
Christman or Easter get-to-gethers.
Grandson Gerhard S. Koop, Spanish
Lookout, Belize, also recalled that Jakob B.
Koop would purposely get to church late so
that he did not have to hear the opening songs
in the worship services, which bothered his
nerves.
Jakob B. Koop’s father, Johann M. Koop
(1831-97), also had the noise disease and was
unable to stand the shutters banging at night or
dishes clinking while they were being washed.
Johann M. Koop would get sick if he was not
busy from dawn to dusk, with his large farming
enterprise.
I personally know of at least one Johann M.
Koop descendant who also suffers from this
“noise” disease. How about you?
Editor’s Comments: A coffin photograph of
Jakob B. Koop (1858-1937) was published in
Preservings, No. 9, Dec 1996, Part Two, page
47. John Denver, the famous folk-singer who
died on October 12, 1997, was a distant relative
of Jakob B. Koop.
Johann N. Koop (1887-1963) and his young bride,
Aganetha Siemens (1886-1950), circa 1911. At the
time of their marriage, Aganetha was working as a
maid for Johann’s uncle, Rev. Peter W. Loewen.
Johann and Aganetha Koop were the parents of Peter
S. Koop and Gerhard S. Koop, authors of this article.
Photo courtesy of Peter S. Koop, Steinbach,
Manitoba.