Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

No. 11, December, 1997
Jakob B. Peters 1869-1942
Jakob B. Peters 1869-1942, Ebenfeld - A Heritage of Community Service; by granddaughter Elma Peters Plett, Box 116,
Landmark, R0A 2A0.
Peter Peters 1777-1841, Kronsweide.
Our forefathers have left us a great heritage.
They were not reluctant to except
change, for the sake of religious freedom,
leaving the comfort of their homeland and
immigrating to a strange land, even though
it meant pioneering. There was an exceptional
quality of leadership in the Peters
family as well as in many people in the times
Jakob Friesen Peters (1845-1922) and his wife Maria
Buhr (1849-1919). Jakob F. Peters served as Reeve
of the R. M. of Hanover from 1894-96. Photo courtesy
of Elma Peters Plett. Jakob F. Peters was the son
of the famous Oberschulz Jakob Peters (1813-84.
past.
When the threat of losing special privileges
arose, and an offer was made by
Catherine II to the people of Prussia, to immigrate
to Russia, my great-great-greatgrandfather
Peter Peters (1771-1843) moved
from Prussia to Russia and settled in the
Chortitza Colony in the village of
Kronsweide. He had to assume responsibility
as head of the family household at the
early age of eighteen. Later he married
Katharina Siemens. The Peter Peters
Wirtschaft in Kronsweide was a successful
operation with 8 head of cattle, 2 wagons,
etc.
Oberschulz Jakob Peters 1813-84,
Bergthal.
My great-great-grandfather Jacob Peters
was born in Kronsweide in 1813. In 1834
he married Elizabeth Friesen, daughter of
Jakob Friesen. Her mother later remarried
to Peter Hildebrandt, Aeltester of the
Kronsweide Gemeinde. When the demand
for more farmland arose, Jakob Peters, together
with others, moved to the Bergthal
Colony founded in 1836, where they settled
in the village of Heuboden. Many of these
families were assisted by well-to-parents
who had the vision and foresight to use this
strategy to establish sons and daughters on
Wirtschaften of their own, something which
only 1 in 4 Russian Mennonite families
could aspire to as the time.
This meant change and anticipation for
a new start and an opportunity to be land
owners, as land in the mother colony had
become scare and unattainable for all but
the wealthiest families. Each move meant
pioneering in a new district.
The leadership abilities of Jakob Peters
were quickly recognized by his brethren and
by 1845 he was serving as Beisitzer or Assistant
Mayor of the entire Bergthal Colony
“and before the decade was over” he was
elected as Oberschulz or District Mayor.
This meant that he was the most senior local
official and his position was also approved
or acknowledged by the Russian government.
In the colony he was responsible
for many tasks like hiring teachers, church
attendance, settling disputes, roads, bridges
and many other decisions.
In the 1870s the threat to religious freedoms
became a concern to the Mennonites
in Russia. In 1873 Oberschultz Peters was
one of the delegates to go to Canada in
search of this land. When the delegates came
back to Russia it was decided to immigrate
to Canada. This move meant selling all the
land and properties in Russia. This was a
great task because the Russian government
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did not approve of this move.
It was decided to move in three groups,
and one reason was that there would always
be a minister in each group, also good leadership.
In the years 1874-75-76 these moves
were made. In 1875 my great-grandfather
Jacob Friesen Peters and brother Peter F.
Peters came to Canada and established the
village of Vollwerk/Reichenbach (now
Mitchell).
In 1876 after all the land of the Bergthal
Colony was sold and all the disputes settled,
Oberschultz Jacob Peters, by now a widower
together with his foster son Johann (known
as the rejected child) immigrated to Canada
and settled in the Vollwerk district. One year
later Oberschultz Peters applied for titles
to the land, and divided the land, and gave
his land to his two sons— Jacob and Peter
F. Peters.
Jakob F. Peters 1844-1922, Vollwerk.
My great-grandfather Jacob F. Peters
(1844-1922) married for the first time to
Katharina Wiebe, sister to the wives of
Jakob, Cornelius and David Stoesz, all of
whom held positions of considerable influence,
BGB A119. After her death, Jakob
married Maria Buhr (1850-1919), daughter
of Erdman Buhr (b. 1824).
Early typical Mennonite housebarn owned by Jakob F. Peters (1845-1922) in Vollwerk (“country estate”),
situated near the corner of the present-day Reichenbach Road and P.T.H. 52—75 Year Gedenkfeier, page 161.
The Oberschulz’s vision of a country estate as now been fulfilled more than a hundred fold, as the modern-day
hamlet of Mitchell has grown from this dream and consists of hundreds of attractive acreages treed with oak
and aspen attracting people from miles around to live there, and is now one of Manitoba’s fastest growing
communities.
Jakob F. Peters homesteaded on the NE
1/4 Section 31-6-6E, now known as the
Oakenwald Drive subdivision. His
housebarn was a good example of early
Mennonite building construction in Manitoba
and was photographed before being