52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 19 Prompt - Nurture

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 19

Prompt – Nurture

To nurture is to care for someone or something and also to encourage their growth and development. I believe that nurturing our children, for example, is a natural part of who we are as human beings. Throughout my blogs I suggest that the immigration of my ancestors was the result of seeking religious and political freedom and free abundant land. Underlying all of this has to be the want to nurture their children and give them land that was no longer available in their former countries. Owning land meant that they could grow and harvest more food to feed their growing families. Their new land allowed them to be together in their own language and culture which was important to them to encourage them to grow in their faith and be allowed to live according to their moral beliefs. Obviously this nurturing worked as we are here.

ME  >  JACOB PETERS (my father)  >  FRANZ PETERS (his father)  >  DAVID KLAAS PETERS (his father)  >  NIKOLAUS (KLAAS) PETERS (his father)  >  ARON PETERS. (his father).

Aron Peters, my 3^rd great – grandfather was born in 1745 in Pietzckendorf, Prussia. He was married 3 times. 

His first wife (unknown name) gave him two daughters. This wife died sometime on or before 1780. He married his second wife, Helena Krahn on September 14, 1780. It was not unusual for the remarriage to happen so quickly after the death of a wife because he had children that needed a mother to nurture them. Aron and Helena were married in Heubuden, Gross Werder, Prussia. Aron and Helena Peters are my direct ancestors (5 generations).

Aron and Helena had 3 children prior to moving to Russia. Anna Peters (1782 – 1802). Jacob Aaron Peters ( 1784 – 1856). Cornelius Aaron Peters ( 1786 – 1886).

In 1789 at the approximate age of 44 – Aron and Helena and their 3 children (and possibly Elizabeth from Aron's first marriage) immigrated to Russia. Aron Peters was among the first settlers to start Schoenhorst in Chortitza Colony of Mennonites in Russia.

They had 4 more children. Gertrude Peters (1791 – 1802). Aron Peters (1794 – 1856). Klaas Peters (1797 – 1866). David Aaron Peters (1798 – 1866). Klaas Peters is my direct ancestor.

Helena Peters (nee Krahn) died in April 1801. Leaving Aron with 8 children. It was little wonder that he remarried three months later in July 1801 to a women named Kristina (1754 – after 1802). Kristina and Aron had no children as far as I can tell. At the age of 57 Aron died in January 1802 along with his 20 year old daughter, Anna, and his 11 year old daughter Gertrude. I do not know if they died the same day as in some horrific tragic accident or whether they died in the same month due to some disease.

Let's look at Kristina and her history as it intersects the Peters Family. Kristina was born in Vistula Delta, Poland in 1754. She was married 4 times. 

 At 16 years of age she married Peter Reimer ( 1744 – 1795) in Poland. They had 5 children. Jacob Reimer (abt. 1771), Christina Reimer (abt. 1772), Anna Reimer (abt. 1782), Maria Reimer (abt. 1791), and Peter Reimer (abt. 1794). Kristina's husband, Peter Reimer died in either 1795 or 1797, none the less Kristina remarried. His name was Gerhard Doerksen (1774 – 1801), They had two children together. We know the second child as David Doerksen born about 1797. Gerhard Doerksen died in March of 1801. Kristina was widowed with 8 children from her first two marriages. Remember she married Aron Peters – her 3^rd husband who 8 of his own children. They married in July of 1801. Six months later Aron Peters dies and leaves Kristina with 14 children to nurture. Kristina goes on to marry her fourth husband, Aron Lepp on May 22, 1802. Kristina is listed as dying about 1802. I have no further information whether her 4^th husband remarried. My educated guess is that he did and not too long after the death of Kristina. There was about 14 children left behind at this time. And we think we invented the blended family!

In order to nurture their children my ancestors remarried quickly after the loss of a spouse. It was a necessity. It was expected.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 18 Prompt - Road Trip

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 18

Prompt – Road Trip 

My husband and I enjoy our holiday road trips. There is nothing like hitting the wide open road. We put on our favorite music or a audio book and watch the miles go by. For us it is all about the journey and not so much the destination.

I remember several road trips as a child with my parents. Often we were headed out to Vancouver to visit my paternal grandmother, Elisabeth Peters. My mom hated the drive through the high mountain passes so we went the southern route on what is now the #3 Highway. There was mountains but not as high. The particular trip I recall was about 1961 or 1962 when I was 6 or 7 years old. Dad could only get holidays in September because his seniority (or lack of seniority) at The Olympic Meat Processing Plant never allowed summer holidays. We got to start school late which was no big deal for me when I was younger, but later on it was kind of cool. Our family car was a small 4 door Chevy of some type. It was a tight fit for mom and dad and 6 of their 7 children. My oldest sister was in nursing school and never went along. These were the days of no seat belts. My 3 brothers and older sister crammed the back seat. My younger sister sometimes drove in between mom and dad in the front seat, but I recalled her sleep time being spent lying across the shelf of the rear window. And poor me – I got the back seat floor. The one with a hump in the middle of the floor and all my brother's stinky feet. Til this day I do not know how mom and dad survived us on that trip. We complained, screamed, fought, whined and begged to be let out for a bathroom break or a break for just walking around. Oh dad you were a saint to put up with the kicking feet in the back of your seat while driving all the way to Vancouver. 

As a special treat, once we did get to stop for a roadside diner lunch and it was the first time that I had a“hot hamburger sandwich” plus a coke to drink. It was heaven. I do not know how mom and dad could afford it but maybe we all shared meals.

We could not afford hotels so we slept in campgrounds along the way. The tent was only 10 by 10 feet. We arrived late at night and dad and my brothers put up the tent using the car headlights to see. It didn't matter because it was always put up on the most uncomfortable tree trunks and rocks of the campground. That one particular night was super late and too late for a campfire so we got to eat sugar cubes and crackers for supper.

To say the least 8 of us in that one tent was uncomfortable. One of us slept across the top and the other slept crosswise at the zipper end of the tent. That person grumbled the most because they were always being stepped on as one or another of us had to leave to use the bathroom.

In the morning we had a campfire which had coffee on the go for dad. I don't remember what we ate for breakfast – probably cereal. I distinctly remember going to the a nearby stream / river to scoop up our water for consuming. No seat belts and drinking stream water; how did we ever survive?

We packed up very quickly after breakfast when the boys came running to tell mom and dad that they spotted a bear across the stream just hanging out. I knew very little about bears but it lit a fire under everyone else.

How did they fit a tent, camping cooking equipment, blankets, sleeping bags, suitcases or bag for the clothes into the trunk? There was sure no room in the car for any of it.

The cramped tent and car was the memorable part of the trip for me. It was so different from how we lived in the city.

Finding Grandmother Peters Home!

There was always tension for mom and dad once we got to Vancouver. We never knew where grandmother lived. She lived on Social Welfare and moved from place to place quite frequently. Dad had one family member who was more stable and as soon as we got to the city dad found a pay phone and called him for the address and directions. There was no GPS, cell phones or city maps. We depended on the directions given to us. It was never as easy to find them as they said it would be. We drove for what seemed like hours. Dad on several occasions went the wrong way down a one way street. This was something that Saskatoon did not have. However we always found grandmother Peters and her daughters Mary and Kate and several cousins of varying ages. I don't remember where we all slept but I am sure that it was just as cramped as the tent.

It was all so worth it because dad was a completely different man with his sisters and mother. He spoke German which blew me away. You must know that dad was a man of few words in English and we never heard him speak German except around his family. He smiled and joked. It was so beautiful to see him truly happy while with his family.

Going home was less memorable but seeing how it was September, mom always bought crates of apples to take home. Those ended up in the car on someone's lap or at the feet where I stayed. They were very special apples because they tasted so much sweeter than the store ones we got in Saskatoon. I got to take my teacher one on my first day back at school. She was so thrilled about it. I also gave her a present of a leaf of a Maple Leaf tree that I found in Vancouver Stanley Park. It was the size of my head. That hung around the classroom for sometime. 

 

I look back fondly at our road trips. Road trips are the thing that gives the family the best stories about themselves. Some of it was true, some of it became family legend and some stories turned into family folk lore that became impossible to believe. 

Wendy

52 ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 17 Prompt - At Worship

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 17

Prompt – At Worship

Church and worship was life's anchor for most of my ancestors. As noted before in my family, religion comes in several different denominations. My father was Mennonite and came from a long line of Mennonites. When dad married mom, Lydia Vivian Sullivan, he became Lutheran. My mother came from many generations of Lutherans. And on my husband's paternal side they are Catholic. His mother's side is Lutheran.

In order to be a family in good standing in their church, attending church to worship was a mandatory obligation for most of my ancestors. I want to say you would have to be dead not to attend church service, but aside from this being a bad joke, even the dead attended church for their funeral!

In genealogy many of the documents that we use were generated in the church. Mennonites kept exceptional records that have been kept and passed down to each new generation. However I think that most churches kept records of their parishioners regardless of their denomination. Many of these written records have been digitized and available on line. Some denominations keep their documents in a less central location and one must be lucky to try and track them down. I am very fortunate to have my mother's actual church certificates from her baptism, confirmation, wedding and her funeral.

Lydia Vivian Sullivan was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on April 19, 1922. 

My mother's baptismal certificate from May 22, 1922 is written in German. It is a large ornately printed certificate with the church's seal and suitable for framing. I have photocopied it for easy use in my genealogy scans. Generally speaking these documents are thought to be primary evidence as it is written very close to the actual event by the person who performed it and in this case the by the minister who performed the baptism.

My mother was confirmed in Lutheran faith on March 21, 1937 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 

It is more of a booklet than a certificate. It is written in English. The booklet is titled - “In Remembrance of My Confirmation.” . The central page is the actual Certificate of Confirmation. It includes all the pertinent information of the confirmation. Interestingly my mother is listed as McLaughlin. She was never adopted by her step father (Benjamin F. McLaughlin) like her brother was. It could have been grandmother's choice to list her as a McLaughlin instead of a Sullivan due the nature of the dissolution of the first marriage. This could be the beginning of confusion over what mom's real maiden name was. After all as a document it is considered primary evidence of the event.

My mother and father were married November 20, 1938 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 

Again the church document is a beautiful booklet named; “Our Wedding Day”. It is tied together with a ribbon. The pages throughout are filled with bible passages. The central page states “This Certifies that ...” and has the seal of the church and is signed by Pastor A. Eissfeldt. The last page of the booklet is signed by their wedding guests. Such a special document.

My mother died January 24, 1987 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 

The official death records are actually government issued documents registering her death to the Saskatchewan Department of Health, Vital Statistic Division. There is also a Funeral Director's Statement of Death. For the funeral there is a church bulletin that was printed for all those in attendance. It may not be the official government documents, but it does give us much more information. It states when and where the funeral service was held. The name of the pastor is listed along with the funeral Order of Service including hymns and bible readings. There is a list of pallbearers. The site of interment is listed. So much more information is given with the included obituary. There is no seal or signature of the pastor on this church document. The government has taken over the official documents of death from the church, however the church bulletin for the worship of my mother's funeral has more details that is of greater interest to me.

Mom and dad were not regular church goers. They were more the “C and E” kind of church attenders. That is Christmas and Easter and for those special life events such as baptism, confirmation, marriages, and funerals.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 16 Prompt - Out of Place

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 16

Prompt – Out of Place

My husband and I are essentially homeless. Or put another way we are between homes right now. We have moved out of our condo in Kelowna, but our new home in Calgary is not quite ready. It is a disconcerting feeling to say the least. It occurs to me that this feeling may have been what my ancestors experienced when they immigrated to North America but in their case in a much grander way. Unlike my husband and I our ancestors had little idea of what their new home looked like or what traveling weeks on a ship would be like.

My mother's mother, Mary McLaughlin nee; Krikau (1903 to 1987) was born in Russia and immigrated (with her family) to Canada through New York when she was 8 years old in the fall of 1911. Just old enough to have some faint memories of the trip and their new home. Mary McLaughlin stated in her oral history that the reason their family moved to Canada was as follows.

 On a wider scope, many Germans from Russia were disgruntled with Russia. Catherine the Great promised free land, religious freedom,  exemption from military service, allowed them to teach in their own language and their own curriculum. By the 1870's these privileges were being revoked due to Russian political upheaval and the need for able bodied men to serve in their armies. Those fortunate enough, got out of Russia searching for the same freedom that they had once been granted originally in Russia. Generally speaking they found the freedoms they were hoping for in America. Of course they would feel out of place. It was all brand new to them.  For the most part they stayed with families and friends who already lived here and had welcomed them to Canada. They were able to communicate in their German language and attend German church services and teach their children in German. I believe that this type of cultural community helped my grandmother and other immigrants feel less out of place in their new home.

Similarly, my father's grandparents immigrated to Canada in 1875 from Russia to Canada for much the same reason. They were Mennonites and like the protestants they moved to Russia for free land, tax exemption, freedom of language and religion and being pacifists they looked for military exemption. As these privileges were being rescinded in Russia they looked to America for a better life. The Mennonites sent out trusted members of their clergy to scout out and eventually negotiate for the American and Canadian land. Mennonites are communal and when it was decided to go to America, they did en-mass. Whole communities ended up on the same ship and traveled together with the agents to the same place. My father's grandparents, David Peters (1935 - 1919) and Katherina Mueller (1836 - 1913) traveled to the Manitoba and settled in the land set aside for the Mennonites. I would assume that the feeling of being out of place would have been somewhat mitigated by their community. They split their land as they did in Russia which was long narrow strips of land. They built similar house barns in the same type of village streets as they had used in Russia. They had their own Mennonite schools and churches and it was not necessary to interact with Canadians except in those cases where the men were looking for local advice on farming the unfamiliar land.  The Mennonites huddled together in their communities trying their best to make it like their former homes and villages in Russia. Some of the villages were called by the same name as they were in Russia.  Initially they enjoyed all the freedoms promised to them by Canadian government. However by WWI the Mennonites were hassled for their pacifism beliefs. They were enlisted to do work in the country of a non military nature but helping the cause. In the early 1900's they were no longer allowed to teach their children at their schools in their language. Provincial law was passed and the children of the Mennonites and in fact all children regardless of their affiliation were to be taught in English in the government approved schools. This assimilation was not what the Mennonites wanted as it eroded their Mennonite life which was to stay as they always had. For the Mennonites they were okay with being out of place if it meant that their way of life was not assimilated into the Canadian life.

Our reasons for moving were not as grandiose as religious freedoms, language freedoms or political. Simply we wanted to move back to a place we thought of as home which was closer to family and friends. We wanted to move back to Calgary and feel a sense of being in a place we knew and loved.

Wendy