Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

member of the KG. It appears that marriage may
have been his motivation in joining the KG as on
March 28, “Froese got married. Joh. Friesen officiated.”
The name of Franz Froeses’ first wife is not
known at the present time. But “soon after their
marriage he became very sick, nigh unto death.
At this time, his young devoted wife hung unto
his spirit with such strength, not letting his die.
He recovered and remained in good health ever
since. But his young wife was taken from him
through death a year or so later”—Froese book,
page 276. There were no descendants of this
marriage (Note Six).
In 1854 the Franz Froese family adopted a foster
daughter Margaretha Friesen, a 2 1/2 year-old
orphan whose parents had died within a year of
each other. She was the daughter of Klaas Friesen
(1813-56), a brother to pedagogue Cornelius
Friesen (1810-92) later Blumenort, Manitoba.
In 1862 Franz Froese married for the second
time to Anna Braun, daughter of Isaac and
Margaretha Loewen Braun of Mariawohl (see
Leaders, 514-5). The wedding ceremony was officiated
by KG Bishop Johann Friesen. Anna’s
mother was a sister to Cornelius Loewen, later of
Steinbach. Anna’s father was the son of Isaak
Braun (1795-1831) and Elisabeth Toews (1796-
1861) of Lindenau, Molotschna. Elisabeth Toews
was the aunt of KG Aeltester Peter Toews.
Franz Froese had an interest in spiritual matters
and in 1863 he acquired the Menno Simons
book. He may well have purchased the entire 3
volume set, but Volume Three is the only volume
currently available. In 1872 Franz also purchased
a Martyr Spiegel for 5 rubles when Peter Toews
ordered a shipment of books from John Funk,
Elkhart, Indiana. In December of 1872, Franz also
ordered 2 copies of Hoffart und Demut, a devotional
book also published by John Funk.
Franz Froese must have been a well-established
farmer as Abram P. Isaac, later minister in
Kleefeld, Manitoba, was employed with him for
a year, and came to regard him fondly as a surrogate
father (Note Six).
Sometime in the mid-1860s Franz moved to
the village of Heuboden in the Borosenko settlement
northwest of Nikopol, a new KG settlement
of 18,000 acres. On January 20, 1873, Franz received
1 vote in a ministerial election held in
Blumenhof. In 1873 foster daughter Margaretha
Friesen married David K. Hiebert.
By 1874 preparations were being made for
the emigration. On January 24, 1874, Abraham
F. Reimer, Steinbach, Borosenko, wrote that “10
colonists with 9 children have moved in with Franz
Froeses, Heuboden. Franz Froeses have moved
to ______ [name undecipherable].”
In 1874 Franz Froese emigrated from Russia.
The family travelled with the first contingent of
Mennonite settlers in arrive in Canada. Daughter
Katharina born April 22, 1874, died during the
ocean journey on June 12, and was buried at sea.
Franz must have had a solid constitution as
he did not succumb to sickness as did the others
in the group when they received their first meal
in Quebec. People were able to run outside “and
[where they were] relieved to do what was necessary.”
In fact, Franz and colleague Gerhard
Schellenberg cleaned up the mess all around their
No. 11, December, 1997
quarters.
Upon arrival in Manitoba the issue arose
where to settle. Cornelius Toews and most of the
Blumenhof group had selected the East Reserve,
being the present-day R. M. of Hanover. But David
Klassen and the Heuboden people were not satisfied
with this choice and wanted a parcel of land
on the Scratching River near present-day Morris.
Franz Froese belonged to the latter group and
stayed in Winnipeg together with 16 other families.
A few days later Froese was one of 5 men
delegated as scouts to go to investigate the land
which later became Rosenort. Franz Froese
and his family settled in Rosenort, Manitoba
where he and his descendants farmed. Franz
Froese and brother-in-law, Rev. Peter M. Kroeker,
were very close neighbours. They lived about 3/4
The Holland-style windmill at Rosenort, originally
built in Steinbach in 1877. Franz Froese was one of
the three owners who purchased the windmill in 1879
and moved it to Rosenort where they operated until
1890. Photo courtesy of Furrows in the Valley, page
339.
miles south of the present day village of Rosenort
and the Kroekers lived just south of the Froeses.
Franz must have been an enterprising individual
as he became one of the partners in a syndicate
which purchased the Steinbach windmill
in 1879 and moved it to Rosenort. The partners
were Jakob Toews, Isaac Loewen and Franz
Froese and the purchase price was $1550. They
did a good business until 1890 when the mill was
sold to Peter Toews (not the Bishop) (Note Seven).
Franz Froese is listed as owner of the SE32-
5-1E in the 1887 tax records of the R. M. of Morris.
In 1904, neighbour Johann W. Dueck described
Franz Froese as “an old but still erect man,
living in Rosenort.” Foster-daughter, Margaretha
Friesen Hiebert, died on March 13, 1909, and
Franz Froese, “...nearing his 84th birthday and a
widower since August, 1908, also came by sleigh
the 33 miles to attend her funeral in Hochstadt,
Manitoba.”
In his later years, Franz Froese lived with his
children, the Peter Braun Froeses, around 1910.
It was during this time, in 1911, that Franz gave
the Menno Simons’ book to his son Peter.
Bishop Peter Toews has written of his friend
Franz Froese that he “... died of weakness of old
age and was buried on January 25, 1913.” Franz
99
Froese is remembered as “a man of smaller (medium)
stature, a man of sound decisions.”
“The ... Franz Froese house was being used
for years after they were gone, several years as a
private school and later as a temporary home for
families that came to Canada from Russia after
WWI.”
Conclusion.
Those fortunate enough to be able to finger
the moldy, somewhat crumpling paper and decaying
spine of the 3/4 leather-bound, Menno
Simons book, Volume Three, should not judge
the artifact by its deteriorating physical condition.
Rather they should reflect on the miraculous story
of the book, a treasure of immense worth. Although
the book itself is worn and tattered, it
stands as evidence of the heroic struggle of the
KG people, including Franz Froese, in the pursuit
of their vision of God’s community on earth
and speaks of their noble courage and tenacity in
preserving and living out the teachings of their
faith.
The story of Franz Froese and his Menno
Simons book also illustrates what can happen
when people lose the knowledge and understanding
of their own faith and history. Many of the
Mennonites who departed from their faith and
adopted the “Waco” endtimes teachings and legalistic
“salvation plans” of Separatist Pietism,
paid the ultimate sacrifice for their degression.
Endnotes:
Note One: For the story of the Kleine Gemeinde
publication program of devotional books in Russia
see the chapter 17, Books and Publications,
in The Golden Years, pages 318-335.
Note Two: Robert Friedmann, Mennonite Piety
through the Centuries (Goshen, Indiana, 1949),
page 126.
Note Three: James Urry, None but Saints (Winnipeg,
1989), page 227; see also Erica Janzen,
“Mennonite Utopian Dreamers: Will there be
more?” in Mennonite Historian, Vol. XXIII, No.
3, Sep. 1997, page 5.
Note Four: Peter P. Isaac, “Stammbuch Meiner
Voreltern,”in Pioneers and Pilgrims 209.
Note Five: Letter of Alice Fast Kuenstig, 3001
Don Ray Dr., Jefferson City, Mo., 65109, April
30, 1991.
Note Six: His first wife may have been Maria
Penner (b. 1828), the first owner of the Menno
Simons book who probably received it as a baptismal
gift. Franz Froese would have kept the book
as a personal momento of his first wife after her
death. Of course, this proposition is speculative
as this time. It would, however, also explain how
Franz Froese got connected with the KG in the
first place.
Note Seven: Pioneers and Pilgrims, page 171.
Note Eight: Lenore Eidse, ed., Furrows in the Valley
(Morris, 1980), page 339.
Sources:
Goossen, David. Franz Froese (1825-1913)
and Anna Braun (1844-1908) Family Register
(Rosenort, Manitoba, 1994), 320 pp.
Peter P. Toews, Eine Seltsame Begebenheit
(Hochstadt, 1911), 22 pages.