Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

time (Note One).
David Klassen (1813-1900).
But there was no religious fanaticism in
David Klassen. He was a quiet, hard-working,
sober-thinking, and humble man but he was also
determined and could make difficult decisions.
He was quite tall being 6 feet in height. The
story goes that he rode a stallion to Russia when
he emigrated from Prussian in 1833 leading a
group of immigrants. The story creates an image
of a take-charge, man of action.
The influence of his mother’s family is evident
by the fact that he first settled in Rückenau,
Molotschna, the village where his uncle Peter
had already established himself. In 1825 David
married Aganetha S. Brandt, daughter of Peter
Brandt (1770-1819) a well-to-do Molotschna
pioneer of Blumenort and later Tiege.
By 1850 David Klassen had acquired a
Wirtschaft in Margenau, Molotschna, where he
was known as a successful farmer. By the late
1860s he had moved to the village of Heuboden,
Borosenko, 30 kilometres northwest of Nikopol,
where he established a new Wirtschaft and
planted a beautiful orchard.
In 1873 David Klassen was elected by the
Heuboden branch of the KG as a delegate to
scout for new settlement opportunities in
America. In 1874 he served as co-leader of the
first group of 65 Mennonite families who arrived
at their new homes in Manitoba on August
1. He convinced his Heuboden group and
some others to settle in the Scratching River
settlement, now known as Rosenort, causing
considerable controversy at the time.
Together with his immediate family and
No. 11, December, 1997
some others, David established the village of
Rosenhof, 2 miles south of Rosenort. He served
as Brandaeltester or manager of the local branch
of the KG mutual insurance system from 1875
until 1881 when his son-in-law Heinrich L.
Friesen took over the position. David also
served his community as a facilitator with various
government officials.
David Klassen was an articulate man who
could express himself well. Some of his writings
are extant and have been translated and
published in Pioneers and Pilgrims, pages 105-
113.
David and his wife, Aganetha, had 10 children,
5 of whom died before they left Russia.
They farmed their homestead at Scratching
River steadily until his retirement. Then they
went to live with their son, Jacob who farmed
nearby, while another son, Abraham took over
his father’s original homestead. David lived
until 1900 and his wife survived him by four
years. Today their descendants number in the
thousands and are scattered all over the world.
David Klassen was a leader when his people
most needed someone whose judgement they
could trust. He typified those qualities which
distinguish the Mennonite people - co-operation,
hard work, democracy, service to others
and, above all, the values of their religion.
Donors.
Now the chest, or “kjist” in David’s Plaut-
Dietsch mother tongue, has been rescued from
obscurity and donated to the museum by Betty
Klassen Sawatzky. Her mother, Gertrude
Klassen, a famous Kleefeld chiropractor during
the 1940s and 50s, had inherited the “kjist”
97
from her father, Peter B. Klassen, another son
of David. Peter B. Klassen lived in Neuanlage
or Twincreek just 2 miles northwest of the Heritage
Village.
David Klassen’s “kjist” is a lasting memento
of his life and accomplishments. It came from
Russia and was used during the emigration to
Manitoba in 1874. It is a very important addition
to the Mennonite Heritage Village collection
because it came from the first group of
Mennonites to arrive in Manitoba on July 31,
1874.
Sources:
Plett, “David Klassen 1700-1780,” unpublished
paper, Steinbach, 1995, 39 pages.
Endnotes:
Note One: For the story of this ill-advised but
adventurous journey, full of visions and endtimes
fables to delight the heart of even the
most myopic American Fundamentalist: see
Richard Belk, The Great Trek of the Russian
Mennonites to Central Asia 1880-1884
(Scottdale, Pa., 1976), 241 pages.
Editor’s Note: Historian Lori
Scharfenberg, Rosenort, Manitoba, is
working on a full-length biography of her
great-great-great-grandparents, David
Klassen (1813-1900) and Aganetha
Brandt (1816-1904). Anyone with information
about these important Manitoba
pioneer leaders is asked to contact Lori
at Box 10, Group 1, R.R.1, Morris, Manitoba,
R0A 1K0.
Franz Froese’ Menno Simons Book
1833 Menno Simons’, “Foundation of Christain Doctrine,” and Franz Froese (1825-1913), Rudnerwiede, Molotschna Colony,
South Russia, and later Rosenort, Manitoba by Delbert F. Plett, Box 1960, Steinbach, Manitoba, R0A 2A0.
Introduction.
I was delighted recently when I discovered
among the holdings of our local Mennonite Heritage
Village Museum, an original copy of Volume
Three of Menno Simons’ “The Foundation
of Christian Doctrine” published by the Kleine
Gemeinde (KG) in 1833. This historical treasure
contains two stories: firstly, the story of the publication
of the book itself, and secondly, the story
of Franz Froese, the man who owned the book
and brought it from Russia to Manitoba.
The Foundation Book, 1833.
The formal title of the book is Die Fundamente
der seligmachenden Lehre unsers Herrn Jesu
Christi, aus Gottes Wort kurz zusammengefaszt
von M.S. (“The Fundamentals of the Salvation
Yielding Doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ,
briefly composed from the Word of God by M.S.”
(Danzig, 1833). In Dutch and Low German the
book was referred to as the “Fundamentabuch”.
The work was originally published in Dutch by
Menno Simons in 1539 (Note One).
The Franz Froese “Fundamentabuch” was part
of a three volume set (Vol. I, 335 pages; Vol. II,
278 pages; Vol. III, 414 pages) published by the
KG in 1833. Selections of Menno’s writings had
been published in 1758, in the so-called Deknatel
edition. It was also known as “Der Kleine Menno”
and consisted of pietistical selections of Menno’s
writings (Note Two). Notwithstanding that the
Prussian Mennonites had completed the
changeover from Dutch to German by the end of
the 18th century, the main core of Menno’s writings
were only available in Dutch.
The KG was restitutional in its theological disposition—their
vision was to reestablish the Apostolic
Church of the New Testament as seen
through the eyes of Reformation leaders such as
Menno Simons. Although the early KG-ers read
Menno in the Dutch editions, they saw it as a
travesty that these writings were not available in
German as most Mennonites no longer read
Dutch.
And so the decision was made to publish the
Foundation book which contained the core of
Menno’s teachings. In Russia the publication work
was sponsored by brothers, Abraham Friesen
(1782-1849), Ohrloff and Klaas Friesen (1793-
1870), Altona, both ministers of the KG.
The actual translation of the Foundation book
from Dutch to German was completed by another
brother, Peter von Riesen (1779-1847), a wealthy
estate owner in Rosenort, Prussia. Peter was also
in charge of having the books printed in Germany
in 1833 as there were no German printers available
in southern Russia at the time: see
Preservings, No. 10, June 1996, Part One, page
20, and Part Two, page 72, for information about
Peter’s daughter Helena (1822-97).
Distribution.
Unfortunately the publication of the first German
edition of the Foundation book did not meet
with approval among the Prussian Mennonites.
They were scared that these writings would create
hostile feelings among other religious confessions
against the Mennonites, many of whom were
desperately trying to shed their theological
distinctives and mainstream into Prussian society
by adopting Separatist Pietist beliefs.
As a result the Prussian Council of Mennonite
Bishops had the newly printed Menno Simons
books confisticated. Peter von Riesen was summoned
twice before the Council and threatened