52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 39 Prompt - Map it Out

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 39

Prompt – Map it Out

Does anyone use a map anymore? Bill and I still keep our maps in the car door side pocket. When I pull them out to check something I noticed how self conscious I feel. I unfold the map on my lap out of sight. Why? Maybe I didn't want to be judged by those in cars passing by using their phones!

This got me thinking of my ancestors in genealogy (and truly what doesn't ?) and their travels to Canada from Russia. It occurred to me that they would not have had maps to guide them. In the case of my Mennonite ancestors, they left en masse from the same colony. They had leaders or agents every step of the way to direct them on their travels. It is estimated that in the 1870's, 7,000 Mennonites emigrated to Canada. And among them was my great grandparents and their children.

The Mennonites in general left from the port of Hamburg, German39y. I have no information on how they got there from the Chortitza Colony. My guess is possibly train. In Hamburg they were met by a Canadian Immigration Agent, an Ontario Mennonite named Jacob Klotz who helped them exchange their money and get them onto their next ports which were Hull, England and then Liverpool, England. It was from Liverpool, England that the ships carrying Russian Mennonites left for Quebec City.

I know that my great grandparents, David and Katharina Peters and their 7 children left Hamburg, Germany on July 2, 1875 aboard the S.S. Canadian. And that they arrived in Quebec City on July 19, 1875. This is the transcription from the Hamburg Passenger List for David, Katherina and family. A passenger list is just that. It accounts for every “soul” on board of their ship.

 Ancestry's Description Of Passenger List
This database contains passenger lists of ships that departed from the port of Hamburg, Germany from 1850-1934 (with a gap from 1915-1919 due to World War I). The database includes images of the passenger lists digitized from microfilm in partnership with the Hamburg State Archive, available here for the first time online. It also includes a complete index for the years 1850-1914 (up to the start of World War I) and 1920-1926. 
 

The diary of Reverend Johann Wiebe who arrived a few weeks earlier than David Peters and family describes in great detail that portion of the trip from Quebec City to their landing in their new homes of East or West Reserve of Manitoba. I believe that grandfather and family probably had a similar experience. 

 “After we thanked and praised God, we had breakfast. Hence, we had floated on the ocean from 5.00 pm. June 19 to the early morning of July 1, or a total of twelve days. We entrained at 7 p.m., July 1, and arrived in Montreal at 6 a.m. the next morning. Here we had a breakfast of cold tea, fried potatoes, and beef. At 11.00 a.m. we departed for Toronto where we arrived at 6.00 a.m. the following morning, and remained until 10.00 a.m. Friday, July 4. Then we departed for Berlin (Kitchener, Ontario) and Aexanis (Sarnia?), where we em-barked at 9 p.m. From here we were told it was a distance of 818 miles by boat to Duluth. Now the weather was very nice. At 7 p.m. Tuesday night, July 8, we disembarked at Duluth and after spending the night were entrained and continued our journey at 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 9. We were advised that 253 miles to the west lay Moorhead, Minnesota, where we arrived at 4 a.m., Thursday morning, and 10 p.m. we boarded a steamer which was to take us another 150 miles north on the Red River to Manitoba. However, praise God, early Monday morning (July 14) we reached the immigration sheds at Dufferin a few miles north of the International Boundary. Here we already met many of our brethren and sisters in Christ who came to greet us and who had departed from Russia one week and two weeks before we left. ...”

Written in: 

Reserve (1875-1876)
by Lawrence Klippenstein
Manitoba Pageant, Autumn 1975, Volume 21, Number 1
This article was published originally in Manitoba Pageant by the
Manitoba Historical Society on the above date. We make it
available here as a free, public service.

The migration map looks like this map below.

David and family settled in the colony of Ebenfeld, Manitoba known as The West Reserve.  West Reserve was the second tract of land set aside by the government for the immigrating Mennonites.
The first Canadian born child to David and Katharina was my grandfather, Franz Peters.  His place of birth is Plum Coulee, Manitoba.  Ebenfeld no longer exists but it was very close to this village. And thus probably the closest place to register his birth.  As more immigrants came from Russia the Mennonite land ran out.  At some point in the 1890's David and his family moved onto Saskatchewan for more free land. 

They settled in Hague. David and Katharina lived out the rest of their lives in this area.  My grandfather Franz Peters married Elisabeth Dueck in 1902.

A Section of Frank and Elisabeth Marriage Registration

 At the time of their marriage Franz was from Blumenthal and Elisabeth was from Schoenthal.

Rosthern Reserve (Hague - Osler), Saskatchewan, Canada

With the help of the available resources on hand I was able to follow the path that my great grandparents, David Peters, Katharina Mueller and family had taken. 
I think that this gives me and hopefully you a much bigger picture than just saying they immigrated from South Russia to Canada.

Wendy