Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

No. 11, December, 1997
Aron Schwartz Friesen and Anna Loeppky Friesen
Aron Schwartz Friesen (1848-1923) and Anna Loeppky Friesen (1850-1927): Strassburg Pioneers, by grandson John K.
Friesen, Box 303, Niverville, Manitoba, ROA IEO.
Introduction.
It is no easy task to write a biography about
people whom you never knew. Such is my case
as I write this article about my grandparents
Aron Schwartz Friesen 1848-1923 and Anna
Loeppky Friesen 1850-1927. They had both
passed from their earthly home to their heavenly
abode before I was born.
Friesen Family.
The first identification of Aron S. Friesen’s
ancestors is a Martin Dueck. I know nothing
else about this man and to speculate about him
at this time may not be of great significance.
We know, however, that his daughter, Anna
Dueck, married Abraham Friesen. There are
no dates available.
In 1818 this couple with their two year-old
son Abraham born August 13, 1816, and grandfather,
Martin Dueck, emigrated from Prussia
to Pastwa, Molotschna Colony, in Russia. The
aforementioned Abraham Friesen became a
teacher in the Molotschna colony, first in the
village of Münsterberg, then Tiege and finally,
in Pastwa where he died in 1825. His widow
was poor and so her son Abraham was fostered
to his aunt in Friedensdorf, to be nurtured into
adulthood. In the meantime his foster parents,
the Peter Friesens, had moved to Nieder-
Chortitza in the Chortitza colony.
In 1835 Abraham Jr. was baptized and received
into the Chortitza Gemeinde by Bishop
Jacob Dueck. On December 8, 1838, Abraham
and Katharina Schwartz were married by
Bishop David Epp. Katharina was born June
18, 1819, daughter of Johann Schwartz. The
following year they settled in Blumengard,
Chortitza Colony where Abraham taught school
for four years. In 1843 the couple moved to the
Bergthal Colony where Abraham taught in the
village of Schoenfeld for the next six years.
In his own words Abraham described himself
as a man with few talents and in his weakness
[little formal education] teaching the children
to live their lives according to the teachings
of the Holy Word. In January 1849, he became
a landholder in Bergthal acquiring his own
Wirtschaft something which only one in four
Russian Mennonites were able to achieve at
the time. On the tenth of March he was elected
as a minister in the Bergthal Gemeinde and
served his congregation continuously for
twenty-two years until his death on April, 187I.
During his ministry, he preached 346 times,
conducted 117 funerals and performed at 119
marriage ceremonies. His widow Katharina
Schwartz Friesen emigrated to Canada with her
family arriving in Quebec City on the S. S.
Moravian on July 1, 1875. She died in
Sommerfeld near Altona, Manitoba, on October
24, 1897, perhaps at the home of her son
Abraham.
Aron Schwartz Friesen (1848-1923) and Anna Loeppky Friesen (1850-1927): Strassburg Pioneers. Photo
courtesy Carillon News, October 23, 1985.
Loeppky Family.
Ancestor identification for Anna Loeppky
Friesen starts with a non-Mennonite name. Her
mother Eva Glockman Loeppky (1803-88) was
of German origin. Her father perhaps was a
farm machinery salesman in Russia.
Eva’s husband, Johann Loeppky (1804-62)
was born on the Island of Chortitza. Later Eva
Glockman Loeppky remarried to Gerhard Wall
(1802-70). She came to Manitoba as a widow,
probably prior to 30 July 1876 when the last
Bergthal migrants arrived. She died at the home
of her daughter Anna, Mrs. Aron S. Friesen.
presumably as a past resident of the Strassburg
community. Thus far the ancestry of my grandparents,
Aron Schwartz Friesen and Anna
Loeppky Friesen.
Bergthal Colony, 1836-76.
The Bergthal colony in Russia came into
existence in 1836. It was the first of many
daughter colonies which split from the two
original ones, Chortitza and Molotschna.
Bergthal consisted of five villages. There were
many hardships and trials during the first years.
Within three decades, population pressure made
it nearly impossible for the older generation to
purchase farm land for their sons and daughters
as they married and left home. This was a
problem experienced by all the Mennonite
Colonies in Russia. By the 1870s Bergthal had
500 families of whom one-third were owners
of a full Wirtschaft, probably slightly above
average compared to the two older colonies.
Through wise leaders such as Aeltester
51
Gerhard Wiebe (1827-1900) and Oberschulze
Jakob Peters (1813-84), Bergthal was able to
avoid most of the squabbling and religious disputation
which marked this period in the history
of the mother settlements.
Lack of available farm land in the area of
the colonies, the government compelling them
to teach Russian in their schools and termination
of military exemptions were a few of the
reasons why the Mennonites wanted to emigrate.
Another reason was the aggressiveness
of the Canadian government to lure colonists
to their young country.
By 1873 emigration to America was considered
as a viable option. After the delegates
returned from Canada later that year, definite
plans were made to emigrate. Starting in 1874
and over the next two years, all of the Bergthal
colony, including my grandparents, emigrated
to Canada.
Aron S. Friesen (1848-1923).
Aron S. Friesen was born February 19, 1848,
in Schönfeld, Bergthal colony. Anna Loeppky
was born April 10, 1850, also in Schönfeld.
They were married December 1, 1868. Likely
he worked on his father’s Wirtschaft until his
death in 1871. The young couple lived in the
village of Schönfeld for six years where together
with others they worshipped their spiritual Lord
and heavenly Father. In 1870, their first child,
Katharina was born.
This young family was among one of the
first emigrant groups to leave for Canada. Their
hope and prayer was to maintain and improve
their spiritual and material way of life.