In this article, I will re-examine the oral tradition of Neubergthal’s origin, which suggests the village was founded in 1876.¹ This founding date has been challenged yet remains an active part of village history despite it predating the secondary migration of Mennonites from the East to the West Reserve by approximately two years. Through my research of new material, I propose that the oral tradition is incorrect, and advance an alternative founding timeline which closely aligns with the secondary migration of Mennonites from the East to the West Reserve in Manitoba.

Founding Fathers

In this re-examination, it is important to highlight its first residents. As recalled by early Neubergthal resident Peter G. Hamm, the founding fathers of Neubergthal consisted of nine men: brothers Bernhard and Peter Klippenstein, Martin Friesen, Martin Klaassen, Heinrich (Henry) Klassen, Bernhard Funk, Cornelius Dyck, Martin Kehler, and Gerhard Wall.² Examining the familial connections of these settlers, Frieda Esau Klippenstein writes: “Clearly [Neubergthal] was largely, if not entirely, constituted along kin lines… Peter and Bernhard Klippenstein were brothers; the wives of Heinrich Klassen and Martin Friesen, Katherina and Margaretha, were their sisters.”³ The family connections continued with the children of these settlers, many of whom filed the first land entries in Neubergthal.⁴

All these men were born in South Russia (present-day Ukraine) and immigrated to Canada and settled in the East Reserve between 1874 and 1876. Cornelius Dyck and Gerhard Wall were the first to arrive in Canada. On July 27, 1874, the S.S. Nova Scotian docked in Quebec, where Cornelius and Gerhard are listed with their families. Martin Kehler arrived with his family the same month, sailing on the S.S. Peruvian.

The families of Bernhard Klippenstein, Peter Klippenstein, Martin Friesen, Heinrich Klassen, and Bernhard Funk arrived July 6, 1875, aboard the S.S. Sarmatian. Martin Klaassen arrived with his family in July 1876.

The East Reserve

As E. K. Francis notes, “the East Reserve had never been meant to accommodate all Mennonite immigrants from Russia.”⁵ Mennonite delegates were initially skeptical regarding the East Reserve land, and “had requested the privilege of selecting, at a later date, some other portion of the country” resembling their previous agreement under terms with the Dominion Government.⁶ The land later known as the West Reserve was long understood to be desirable, and an Order-in-Council dated April 25, 1876, designated this area “for the exclusive use of Mennonites from Russia.”⁷ This accommodated Chortitza and Fürstenland Mennonites who in 1875 settled directly in the West Reserve’s western half, thereby leaving the eastern portion open for potential settlement.

One month before this Order-in-Council, Bergthal minister David Stoesz indicates in his diary that on March 9, 1876, “several men went to [Fort] Dufferin, on the American border, to get flour.”⁸ It is possible that on this trip, men from Bergthal, East Reserve – including the Klippenstein brothers, Peter and Bernhard, both of whom lived in the village – surveyed land near latter-day Neubergthal, located some twenty-five kilometers west of Fort Dufferin in the eastern portion of the West Reserve. The oral tradition of Neubergthal suggests a similar story involving the Klippenstein family, as Peter and Bernhard Klippenstein are said to have visited the West Reserve in 1876 in search of better land.⁹ To conflate this unverifiable scouting trip with the founding of Neubergthal is premature, and official records contrast the local oral tradition which suggests permanent settlement occurred when “the first families settling at ‘Neubergthal’ arrived in 1876.”¹⁰

Delbert Plett noted that “the oral tradition that Neubergthal was founded in 1876 is questionable,” especially considering that “the secondary migration of Bergthalers from the East to West Reserve only started in 1878.”¹¹ To establish a firm founding date for Neubergthal it is necessary to examine each founding father individually to determine their presence in the East Reserve after 1876.

Regarding the 1876 Chortitzer Brotschuld and the 1878 Chortitzer Gemeinde Buch, Ernest N. Braun writes that the former “constitutes the earliest ‘census’ of the Bergthal East Reserve villages,”¹² and the latter can be considered a “quasi ‘census’ of the Chortitzer element of the E. R. [East Reserve],”¹³ Seven of the nine founding fathers are listed in the Brotschuld as residing in the East Reserve villages of Bergthal, Ebenfeld, and Schoenwiese,¹⁴ while the Gemeinde Buch lists all nine founding fathers.

Of the nine men, Martin Friesen and Heinrich Klassen both applied for homesteads in the East Reserve in 1877, while Gerhard Wall, Peter Klippenstein, and Bernhard Klippenstein applied for homesteads in 1878. Wall, Friesen, and Klassen all later cancelled their East Reserve homestead entries.¹⁵ In addition to this evidence of their remaining in the East Reserve, the 1878–1879 Manitoba Directory lists seven of the nine founding fathers of Neubergthal as residing in the East Reserve. The traces of each founding father in the East Reserve after 1876, whether through land entries or church records, confirms they remained there after 1876 and likely participated in the secondary migration to the West Reserve with other Bergthaler Mennonites after 1878.

The West Reserve

A local hypothesis suggests that work in Neubergthal, inferred as a sign of permanent settlement, began as early as 1876,¹⁶ with families travelling back and forth between the East and West Reserve as they prepared to settle the village. This is unlikely considering Klaas Peters’ writings about these years. Peters’ book, The Bergthaler Mennonites, is a first-hand account of the Mennonite immigration to and life in Canada. Discussing the East Reserve, Peters writes that even after the devastating failures of 1875 and 1876, “we were determined to stay and cultivate this land. Not until the question whether we could endure it here in the long run became urgent, did some begin to look around for better land.”¹⁷ While Neubergthal’s oral tradition suggests that Margaretha Klippenstein, Peter’s daughter, travelled by covered wagon to the West Reserve with two of her brothers and settled in the village, where they lived out of a wagon and “began to break the virgin soil,” to have done so before 1878 would have been a significant signal to some in the East Reserve, or simply the Bergthal village, that their prospects of success were best pursued elsewhere.¹⁸

Lawrence Klippenstein outlines the impetus for moving, writing that “rainfall in 1878 was even worse and several settlers decided to move to higher ground in the West Reserve while others strongly urged people to stay.”¹⁹ Further wet years in 1879 and 1880 meant “there was no stemming the determination to move,” Klippenstein posits.²⁰ The move itself was difficult, according to Peters, as “the 65 to 70-mile trip had to be made with ox carts – some had little travel money and some none at all.”²¹ Peters writes that many did visit the West Reserve to preselect their land, before settling permanently, although the limited resources and his observations of these Mennonites suggests it is unlikely preparations in Neubergthal occurred before 1878.²²

The earliest documented reference of Neubergthal in diary entries and miscellaneous documents is in a nineteenth-century sermon book. An inscription on the second last page reads “Peter Klippenstein Neu Bergthal 1878” in consecutive lines.²³

This minimally suggests that Peter Klippenstein seriously considered, made preparations for, or even visited the West Reserve in 1878, going as far as to name his future home community before it had actually been formed. It also confirms former Neubergthal resident Jake Krueger’s claim that “the Neubergthal people had already chosen the name of the village they were going to establish” before settling the village.²⁴ Nevertheless, evidence of Peter’s connection to Neubergthal in 1878 is apparent, and aligns with the death of his sister and re-marriage of his brother-in-law, Heinrich (Henry Klassen) to Helena Kauenhofen. Helena had been widowed twice, first by Jacob Braun and then by Johann Sawatzky. After travelling from Mapleton, North Dakota, to the West Reserve in 1878–1879, the Braun family registry states Helena married Heinrich Klassen in Neubergthal on February 4, 1879,²⁵ suggesting Heinrich settled or visited Neubergthal during the winter of 1878–1879. His first wife, Katharina Klippenstein, sister of Peter and Bernhard Klippenstein, died on November 6, 1878, though it is not clear where this occurred.²⁶

After an initial land purchase by Peter Klippenstein from the Canadian Pacific Railway on July 26, 1879, the first land purchases and homestead entries were filed for land in and around Neubergthal in September by the following men: Henry (Heinrich) Klassen, Gerhard Wall Sr., Gerhard Wall Jr., Bernhard Klippenstein, Peter Klippenstein, John Klippenstein, Jacob Hamm, Johann Hamm, Gerhard Hamm, and Bernhard Funk.²⁷ Homestead patent applications filed by Johann and Gerhard Hamm state that they began residing and cultivating land around Neubergthal in August and September, respectively, of 1879, signaling the second wave of Neubergthal’s settlement. While they may have begun to break the land, it cannot be inferred to suggest that all of these families settled in Neubergthal in 1879. Of the men listed above, only five filed homestead entries that year: Johann Hamm, Gerhard Hamm, Bernhard Funk, Gerhard Wall Sr. and Gerhard Wall Jr. The remainder, having purchased land near Neubergthal in 1879, returned in 1880 when they filed their own homestead entries. Cornelius Dyck, Bernhard Funk, Jacob Hamm, Bernhard Klippenstein, Peter Klippenstein, Martin Klaassen, and Martin Friesen all state in their applications initial residencies beginning in 1880.²⁸ Neubergthal resident Johann Funk, Bernhard Funk’s father, wrote in an 1893 letter to the Minister of the Interior that he first homesteaded the land in the fall of 1880.²⁹

In an 1897 letter to the Minister of the Interior regarding a land arrangement between himself, Bernhard Funk, and Johann Hamm, Martin Kehler states the three settled in Neubergthal between 1881 and 1882.³⁰ While these dates conflict with Hamm and Funk’s own correspondence, it may indeed have taken some time for the first villagers to establish themselves in the West Reserve. The ‘Commons Barn’ – a heritage building now used by the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation as an event venue and tourism destination – is said to have been built by Peter Klippenstein in 1877 in Bergthal, East Reserve, disassembled, and brought to the West Reserve sometime around 1880–1881, where it was reassembled in Neubergthal.³¹ The Klippenstein brothers, Peter and Bernhard, only cancelled their East Reserve fire insurance in 1881, suggesting both families maintained connections to their prior home for some time after moving to the West Reserve.

No further documentation discusses the secondary migration to Neubergthal. Furthermore, entries in Die Mennonitische Rundschau regarding Neubergthal or its founding families do not mention when the village was founded. Therefore, we can conclude that the first members of Neubergthal likely arrived during the winter of 1878–1879, with others following between 1879 and 1882.

Conclusion

It would be unfair to completely disregard the oral tradition of Neubergthal, as it is partially correct. Community members from Bergthal, East Reserve, did travel to Fort Dufferin in 1876, although we cannot infer that this relates to the founding of Neubergthal. Too much evidence contrary to the oral tradition suggests that the settlement and founding of Neubergthal was closely aligned with the secondary migration of Bergthaler Mennonites from the East to West Reserve after 1878. What is of the utmost importance is to remember that regardless of when Neubergthal was founded, it remains a National Historic Site of Canada because it represents early pioneer and Mennonite life in Western Canada.

1. Frieda Esau Klippenstein, Neubergthal National Historic Site: A Cultural Landscape History (Winnipeg: Western Canada Service Centre, Parks Canada, 1997), 27. ↩︎
2. Joyce Friesen and Rose Hildebrand, Neubergthal: A Mennonite Street Village, A Sense of Place with Deep Roots (Neubergthal: Neubergthal History Book Committee, 2013), ix. ↩︎
3. Frieda Esau Klippenstein, 30. ↩︎
4. Ibid. ↩︎
5. E. K. Francis, In Search of Utopia: The Mennonites in Manitoba, 2nd ed. (Steinbach, MB: Crossway Publications, 2001), 61. ↩︎
6. Francis, 61. ↩︎
7. Francis, 61-62. ↩︎
8. Jacob Doerksen, “Bergthal,” in Working Papers of the East Reserve Village Histories, 1874-1910, ed. John Dyck (Steinbach, MB: The Hanover Steinbach Historical Society, 1990), 17. ↩︎
9. J. C. Fehr, “Neubergthal a pretty village,” The Red River Valley Echo, August 22, 1984, https://www.mharchives.ca/holdings/JCFehr/No%2029%20Neubergthal.pdf. ↩︎
10. Frieda Esau Klippenstein, 31. ↩︎
11. John Dyck, “Hamm Family Journals,” Preservings 26 (December 2006): 57. ↩︎
12. Ernest N. Braun, “Index to the 1876 Chortitzer Brotschuld Register,” in Settlers of the East Reserve: Moving in – Moving out – Staying, ed. Adolf Ens, Ernest N. Braun, and Henry N. Fast (Winnipeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, 2009), 71. ↩︎
13. Regarding the Gemeinde Buch, Braun notes that when the move to the West Reserve occurred, “for the first number of years the Bishop served both sides of the river and so there would not have been any change in the church register…even if the family had moved to the W. R. [West Reserve] by that time.” Ernest N. Braun, e-mail to author, November 21, 2018. ↩︎
14. Considering Bernhard Funk was twenty-one upon the move to Canada, his presence is inferred through his father Johann, who is listed in the Brotschuld and made a homestead entry in the East Reserve in 1876. A Martin Klassen is listed in the Brotschuld under Schoensee, though the author is unable to confirm whether this is the same person who later moved to Neubergthal. ↩︎
15. The Klippenstein brothers received the title for their 1878 homestead entries in 1884 and cancelled their fire insurance in the East Reserve in 1881. ↩︎
16. Ray Hamm, private conversations with the author, 2018. ↩︎
17. Klaas Peters, The Bergthaler Mennonites (Winnipeg: CMBC Publications, 1988), 37. ↩︎
18. Friesen and Hildebrand, Neubergthal: A Mennonite Street , 10. ↩︎
19. Lawrence Klippenstein, “Bergthaler Mennonite Resettlement to the West Reserve, 1878 to 1882,” in Settlers of the East Reserve, 306. ↩︎
20. Lawrence Klippenstein, 306-307. ↩︎
21. Peters, 37. ↩︎
22. Ibid. ↩︎
23. The book was uncovered in Neubergthal while researching. ↩︎
24. Jake Krueger, Memorabilia (Altona, MB: Friesen Fast Print, 1998), 154. ↩︎
25. Mapleton is located a few miles west of Fargo, North Dakota. Wm R. Braun, De Schwoate Bruhne, Johann and Sara Schwartz Braun (Winnipeg: by the author, n.d.), 5. ↩︎
26. No burial site for Katharina Klippenstein is known to exist in Neubergthal. ↩︎
27. John Klippenstein is likely the son of Peter Klippenstein. Frieda Esau Klippenstein, 78–80. ↩︎
28. The author is unable to locate the homestead patent application indicating initial residency for Gerhard Wall Sr. ↩︎
29. Johann Funk, letter to the Minister of the Interior, May 31, 1893, microfilm, MHA, reel 638. Digitized by Bruce Wiebe. ↩︎
30. Martin Kehler, letter to the Minister of the Interior, July 14, 1897, microfilm, MHA, reel 638. ↩︎
31. Shaun Friesen, Ray Hamm, and Joe Braun, private conversations with author, 2018. ↩︎