52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 15 Prompt - On The Move

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 15

Prompt - On The Move

Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve; 1895-1995.  This tome was lent to me by my best friend whose husband (also a Peters) had received or inherited it from his family.  My father, (Jacob Peters) was born, Hague, Saskatchewan.   His father, Franz Peters was born in Ebenfeld Colony, Manitoba.  Franz' father, David Peters was born in Russia however he immigrated to Canada in 1875 settling in Ebenfeld Colony in The West Reserve of Manitoba.

For the longest time I was not sure when or how my Peters clan had come to Saskatchewan.  All that I knew came from Canada Censuses.  On April 6, 1891 The Canada Census listed him living in Rhineland, Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada.  Ten years later in 1901, I find his location listed as Hague, North West Territories, Canada.  Somewhere in those ten years he moved.

In the book, Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve, 1895-1995, I found the following story.  I have copied the story of the Village of Blumenthal in Saskatchewan.  

"Blumenthal

Blumenthal, meaning valley of the flowers, is located approximately three miles South East of the Town of Hague. It is located on the SW quarter section 33, Township 40, Range 4 W of the 3^rd Meridian. The village land was purchased from Osler, Hammond & Nactor in 1898 for the purpose of settling as a village.

The founder of the village of Blumenthal was David Peters Sr. He was born in Russia in 1835 and had come to Canada in the 1870's, settling at Ebenfeld, Manitoba. He had hoped to set aside this village land for himself and his family but within the first year many other settlers settled here as well.

If you were to stand at the south end of the village of Blumenthal and look north along the main street, you would see that it angles northwest. According to Mr. Jacob D. Braun of Hague, there was a peculiar saying circulating in Blumenthal in the early years about why this street angled this way. “The section where the village was to be located had to be surveyed and since the majority of people preferred Daylight Savings Time, or fast time as some would call it, this was done so that they could have dinner at 11 o'clock instead of at 12. So the street was surveyed on a 5 degree angle, so the sun at eleven would seem to them as twelve according to the street.”

According to another source, the village was measured out by using a woman's apron. The apron was three feet long and stretched out to measure the lots of the village. It is quite possible that this form of measurement was not accurate enough and caused the angle of the street.

The first settlers in the village were: David & Katharina (Miller) Peters Sr., David & Susanna (Goertsen) Peters Jr., David and Susanna (Peters) Woelke, Jacob and Judith (Peters) Ginther, Johann & Gertruda (Peters) Giesbrecht, John & Helena (Niessen) Guenther, Jacob & Susanna (Hamm) Unger, Peter & Helena (Reddekopp) Mandtler, Peter & Susanna (Miller) Thiessen, Heinrich & Katherina (Giesbrecht) Braun, Peter & Helena (Dyck) Braun, David & Elisabeth (Miller) Derksen, David & Katharina (Blatzer) Thiessen, Heinrich & Anna (Remple) Thiessen, Peter & Maria (Miller) Wiebe, Abram & Helena (Peters) Wiebe, Jacob W. & Katharina (Neufeld) Martens, and Isbrand & Katharina (Bueckert) Penner. Abraham & Anna (Dyck) Giesbrecht also lived here, they moved to Blumenthal from Neuanlange in 1899.

Many descendants of these original settlers reside in Mexico, Swan Plain, Saskatchewan, near LaCrete, Alberta and northern British Columbia.

There has been numerous migrations from The Hague-Osler area which included people from Blumenthal.

There was a German School located towards the centre of the village, which was also used for church services. Mr Peter Harder was the last teacher in The German School, teaching his last class there in 1930.

An English Public School was forced into the community and located at the south end of Blumenthal Village. Venice School District was formed 1919 when a sum of $39,000.00 was borrowed from the Department of Education for the purpose of building a one roomed school, two outside toilets, a teacher's residence and for materials and furnishings for them. A poll was taken by the government to get the ratepayers response to this. There was 42 opposed and none in favour, but the government went ahead and built it anyway. In 1921 the school was finally opened although few attended.

After the migration to Mexico, more students began to attend. In 1931 a second room was opened. The problem of overcrowding had to be addressed again in 1953, when the trustees requested aid to build a third room or a new school. A sum of $3,000.00 was borrowed from the department of education to build a new school to alleviate the overcrowding at the Venice and Renfrew Schools. Southwest Venice was erected in SW 16-40-3 w of 3 and opened in late 1953.

The Venice School #4117 was closed in 1967 and became part of the Hague School District. On September 4 and 5^th of 1982, a Venice School reunion was held at Blumenthal Sports Grounds for all former residents, teachers and students of the Venice District.

One of the most tragic events that occurred on The Hague-Osler Reserve was a house fire which took place near Blumenthal at the home of Johan Unruh. On Tuesday evening September 22, 1931, six children were burned to death when a fire engulfed the house of Johan P. Unruh, while he and his wife were out visiting neighbours. Only three children escaped when an overheated wood stove turned the house into a hellish inferno. Still half asleep when their upstairs bedrooms collapsed into the flames, the children were found huddled together, charred beyond recognition. They were buried together in a single coffin constructed by their father. The funeral was a major event, swelling the numbers in the village of Blumenthal in a manner that has been matched by nothing else since. Cars and buggies lined the single street from one end to the other.” 

I now know how the Peters clan came to Saskatchewan. Also I learned that my great grandfather, David Peters was a founder of the Village of Blumenthal.  

Wendy