Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

No. 11, December, 1997
House of Jacobs 1787 - 1997
The House of Jacobs 1787-1997: The Gnadenfeld Brauns: Four Generations of the Braun Family: by Ernest Braun, Box 595,
Niverville, Manitoba, ROA 1E0.
Jacob Braun I.
Oddly enough, in a Mennonite family, for no
apparent reason Peter D. Braun (b. 1787 in
Lackendorf, Poland) named his only son, born in
1826, Jacob. Neither his father or father-in-law,
nor his grandfathers or even his great-grandfathers
bore that name. Perhaps some obscure ancestor
explains the choice. At any rate, the unusual
name became a tradition in the Braun family
to the present day, with the oldest son of the
family bearing the venerable name.
Young Jacob’s father died in Russia when the
son was only 6 months old, and his mother left
him orphaned completely in 1835 when he turned
9. Such an inauspicious start did not prevent Jacob
1926 - Jakob Braun II at Carey (St. Pierre), Manitoba,
with bundles of goods being loaded on the train.
With him, standing to his left, is Menno Doerksen, son
of delegate Doerksen. All photos for this article are
courtesy of Ernest Braun, Box 595, Niverville, Manitoba,
R0A 1E0.
I from living a full and productive life, eventually
establishing a family of descendants that runs into
the thousands.
He grew up with relatives in Kronsthal and
Rosenthal (among whom was the renowned
Oberschulz Jacob Peters family), married a girl
from Kronsthal and eventually settled in
Friedrichsthal, Bergthal Colony when that village
was established in the early 1850s. Here he and
Katherina Funk pioneered and prospered.
Children arrived, the first a son named Peter
in honour of his father, a son who tragically died
just after turning 21 years of age. A daughter,
Helena, was followed in 1853 by another son,
this one named Jacob out of respect for his father.
Other children followed, but Jacob was destined
to be the one carrying on the “Jacob” tradition.
Meanwhile, Jacob I took his place in the development
of the village, representing his colony on
the Agricultural Verein (Oberschulze, page 122),
and increasing his holdings to provide for his sons.
Jacob Braun II.
Jacob II, born 1853, probably in the new settlement,
became the embodiment of this new life and
continued all his life to personify the quest for new
experience. He received more than usual education
in Russia, worked hard to help develop the
homestead, and emigrated to Canada with his
parents and siblings in 1875. Jacob I and Jacob II
both took out a patent for a homestead in
Gnadenfeld, East Reserve, SW18-5-5E and SW
20-5-5E, respectively. Here Jacob I pioneered for
the second time in his 50 years. Jacob II also pioneered
for the second time, although the first time
he was probably conscripted.
Father and son set up two parallel homesteads
with house barns in adjacent lots on the south side
of the village road, and farmed into retirement, but
not before Jacob I became the largest and wealthiest
landowner in the area. Meanwhile, in Russia
his nephews, the Niebuhrs, established during these
same decades one of the greatest industrial fortunes
in Mennonite history up to that time. This
point may well be the high-water mark of the
family’s economy for the next 5 generations.
Already in Russia, Jacob I had developed inflamed
eyes as a result of cleaning grain and eventually
by the turn of the century, he became totally
blind. Although he spent the last 20 years in
darkness, that did not diminish his energy nor
cramp his lifestyle. Grandchildren remember him
heaving himself up from his bed by grasping a
knot on a long rope dangling from the ceiling,
gathering his strength with a characteristic
“harrauch” and hoisting himself erect with one
great effort. He died suddenly in 1919 at the age
of 93, a robust man until the end who strode confidently
along the village street despite his handicap.
His death certificate reads simply that he died
of “senile debility”, an ironic comment on a life
full of strength and courage.
Jacob II, who homesteaded right beside his
father, had been remarkably strong as a young
man, with the double advantage of a good education
obtained in Russia. He was appointed the
Auditor of the newly-formed Hanover Municipality
which at that time did most of its accounting
in German. He married Maria Funk of Gnadenfeld
and continued the tradition of naming the eldest
son, Jacob. However, shortly after his marriage
he developed a liver ailment which affected his
health and diet for the rest of his life. However,
that did not prevent him from becoming a prosperous,
influential fanner in his own right, paralleling
the success his brother Johann Braun of
“Braun & Krahn” was making of his business in
the neighbouring village of Grunthal.
For Jacob II, it was at retirement that things
became interesting. Since he no longer needed to
do the actual hands-on farm work, he had time
for the two activities he enjoyed most, discussion
and reading. He subscribed to the Nordwesten,
and obtained the first telephone in the village.
He could not wait to read the Nordwesten so he
was the one who always went to the Post Office
in Grunthal to fetch it, and would tie the reins to
the front of the buggy and let the horse find its
61
Jakob Braun II and Maria Funk Braun, 1926 passport
photograph.
way home, while he avidly read the paper. At
home, he was loath to miss any news, so he parked
his “Ruhbank” (sleeping bench or setee) right
underneath the telephone and took his nap there;
then when the phone rang he wouldn’t even have
to get up to answer it.
He was by far the most noted story teller in
the village; in fact, he was most willing to give
his opinion on anything. Some of those opinions
have survived: he was of the mind that the Soviet
Union’s time was limited, and that things would
again be as they had been in about fifty years
(which placed the prediction into the mid to late
1980s, just about the time the USSR actually
broke up). His voice can still be detected in his
often repeated vow that “if Russia would ever get
to be what it used to be, [he] would walk back
there on foot.” He often asserted that if one had
the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the
other, one would be prepared for any eventuality.
Needless to say, he was also an influential voice
in the matters surrounding the school question and
the military service issue that arose as a consequence
of WW I. He believed that the traditional
privileges were at risk, especially the language,
and that the best way to deal with the situation
was to emigrate again, this time to South America.
The contemporaneous situation in Russia which
robbed his wealthy cousins of their factories and
dachas, sending them penniless into exile in exactly
these years must have produced a heightened
urgency. Consequently, he placed the weight of his
opinion behind the emigration movement, and sold
his very considerable assets (he was the largest
landowner in the village), and prevailed upon his
sons (except Johann) to do likewise.
By this time he was 72 years old. It speaks of
his strength of character that he and his wife Maria