The Rempel family story begins with Peter and Margaretha (Thiessen) Rempel who lived in the village of Rosengart in the Chortitza colony in Russia. They would move to the village of Neuenburg in Canada during the 1870s.¹ Peter P., the only son of Peter and Margaretha was thirteen years old when the family moved. He kept an informative diary of the trip from Russia to North America, writing: “On May 12, 1876 at 4:00 a.m., Peter and Margaretha began their journey across Europe. The family began their travels by boat, beginning in Chortitza, passing Nikopol, and Beryslav, and arriving at Kherson on the mouth of the Dnieper River. Seven hours after arrival they left for Odessa, arriving at 7:00 p.m. on March 13. Upon arrival in Odessa, they immediately drove to the railway station where they began the next leg of their travels by train. Peter’s family began a six-day train voyage which would take them to Berlin, Germany. Their passports were checked in Woloschenks during an hour stop, and with no apparent problems they continued on their way. The family arrived in Berlin on May 19, where they had a short four hour wait until the next boarding, which would take them to Hamburg. The family arrived in Hamburg in the evening of May 19. From Hamburg the family took a ship that brought them to Hull, England. They had a day wait before boarding the ship on May 21 for a two-day voyage. Peter and his family arrived in Hull and there they continued with a seven day train ride to Liverpool. At Liverpool there was another rest of two days. On May 27, Peter’s family boarded the SS Sardinian at 7:30 p.m. to embark on an eleven-day voyage to North America. They arrived in Ireland the next day where they were delayed six hours because of high winds. On average the ship would sail 250 miles in one day, varying with the weather conditions. When the winds lifted, there was tremendous fog, so much that on one occasion the ship hit an iceberg. One June 4 around noon, the sky was so foggy the ship hit an iceberg with such force that some ice landed on the deck of the ship. This ice was from 4.5 to 5 yards thick. […] Peter records in his journal the excitement of seeing land again before their arrival in Quebec. The land was hidden and then visible again the next day. The ship ported in Quebec on June 7 at 3:00 p.m. The total miles the ship sailed on the trip was 2,800.

The family left Quebec six and a half hours after they arrived. They travelled by train to Montreal where they arrived on June 8. From Montreal they travelled to Toronto and from Toronto to Collingwood. On June 10, they boarded a ship which was leaving port at 10:00 p.m. to cross Lake Huron. The family was on this ship until the 15 of June, for a total of five days. They passed through two locks on June 12, stopped in at Storei and Thunder Bay on June 14. They landed at Duluth, Minnesota at 12:30 p.m. on June 15. Peter and Margaretha’s family spent the night in Duluth and continued on their way the next day at noon. At 8:00 p.m. they arrived at Brennt where they spent the night. They arrived in Glyndon at 3:00 p.m. to complete their travels to Fargo. On June 18, Peter Rempel’s family arrived in Fargo and went to stay with their friends, the Jacob Siemens. […] From Fargo there was one more stop for the family in Maple River. Peter and Margaretha finally ended their thirty-eight-day pilgrimage to North America.”

Peter and Margaretha settled in the Maple River area with a large group of Mennonite families. The family likely remained in this area for at least four years before making the decision to move to Manitoba. Peter Rempel visited the West Reserve numerous times. Why they decided to move is not clear, but Peter had a brother-in-law, Peter Elias, living in Blumenfeld. They purchased the David Friesen property (Lot 20) in Neuenburg. They joined the Sommerfelder Gemeinde.

Peter P. Rempel

As the only son, Peter P. Rempel inherited the farm from his parents. Little is known about him. Johan Friesen, whose family was a neighbor to the Peter C. Rempels, before the exodus to Mexico, described him “as a wealthy man with a lot of land and machinery. His farm was well organized with a white house which paralleled the street and a red barn. He was often seen traveling in an expensive buggy and fine horses.”

Peter C. Rempel

As the only son of Peter P. Rempel, Peter C. Rempel took over the farm when his father’s health began to fail. The Rempel family owned most of the lots on the south side of the village street. These lots were purchased during the 1920s after the exodus of some Mennonite families to Mexico. Peter C. Rempel was a successful farmer but the difficult ‘dirty thirties’ encouraged him to diversify and he began a blacksmith shop.

Family lore has it that Peter was much more interested in constructing gadgets than in farming. This diversification would allow him to explore his imagination to the fullest. With the encouragement and assistance of A. A. Kroeker he set up his first blacksmith shop on the west yard (west end of the Rempel property) during the 1930s. After Peter moved to the yard east of the first shop, he built a new shop in 1943–44. There was an increase in demand for his products. By this time his children began to look after the farming for him and he spent more time at his shop.

He constructed potato boxes for Kroeker farms. He also built barrels and stoves and equipment as needed. He rendered a valuable service to the community by meeting the needs of the many farmers in the area, including repairs required for his own farm. Jake Rempel described the shop in this way: “He had order in his shop and nobody messed with it.”

In 1945, the National Selective Service [Conscientious Objectors or COs] requested an outline of the Peter C. Rempel farming operation in connection with his appeal for the services of his son, John. He outlined his operation as follows: “Our total farm acreage is 459 acres, of which 259 acres will be in grain, 130 acres in corn and sunflowers and 25 acres in Argentina rape [seed] and 54 acres in pasture and farm site…Owing to the unusually wet fall, no fall plowing could be done and we will have to spring plow 213 acres and double disk 112 acres before seeding and planting. We also have to haul about 200 loads of manure before corn planting and sunflower seeding starts.

We are members of the Canadian Seed Growers Association and are specializing in the growing of registered and common seed corn and sunflower seeds. This necessitates a great deal of hand labour during the growing season. As well, this crop must be gone through, at least once, with hoes in order to kill any weeds that grow too close to the plants to be destroyed by the cultivator. One man on the tractor, cultivating between the rows five to six times during the growing season, has to work nearly all day for several months to prevent any weed growth. Sometimes, we have eight to ten helpers, hired among neighbours and with our own family helping and supervising the work, we have always been able to accomplish a very satisfactory job.

According to the Canadian Seed Growers Association (1943–1944) report, we were the only growers in the whole Dominion of Canada successfully growing a crop of about two hundred bushels of registered Rainbow Flint seed corn in 1943. In 1944 we grew about 625 bushels of the same variety of corn for seed purposes and about 1,500 bushels of another variety. In 1945 we planted about the same acreage as in 1944.

The picking of corn usually begins about October 1 and takes about fifteen to thirty days. Picking, which is done by mechanical corn pickers, involves the labour of four men and two teams for the whole time. After the picking is done the selecting of seed cobs starts. This is very tedious work as every cob has to be hand selected and closely inspected by expert graders and it takes from 195 to 225 cobs to make a bushel of seed. The quantity of the cobs to be selected can be easily figured out. After drying during the winter months, the selected seed cobs are shelled, cleaned, sacked, government tested and sealed during the months of February and March. It is then ready for market.

The sunflowers are usually harvested by a combine during the months of October and November. Due to a wet fall in 1945 we had our sunflowers combined on December 6. After combing, the seed is usually cleaned and graded before marketing in the fall or sometimes in the spring.

Since we have our own threshing machine we are unable to secure a permit for the purchase of a combine. We cut our grain with a power binder and stook it, later threshing it which requires six men, besides myself, to run the threshing machine.

This is a brief outline of the many phases of work connected with farming, especially the growing of corn and sunflowers for seed, not to mention the other hundred and one other jobs which include building wells, fence repairing, painting, tree planting and pruning, tending a vegetable garden of about one acres, etc. We have four work horses, thirteen head of cattle, thirty hogs, three brood sows and about one hundred twenty-five chickens. In April two hundred fifty chicks will arrive.

Machinery: two tractors, one drill, one double-disk, one tractor plow, one horse plow, two cultivators, one set of harrows, one power binder, one corn picker, one rake. One mower, one manure spreader, one thresher, one corn planter, four wagons, etcetera. We have our own workshop with a complete line of tools and machinery for our own repairing and overhauling.”

The New School

According to Abe Rempel, Peter C. was also involved in education in the village and favoured establishing the English school system even though many of the Old Colony were very much opposed to this system under provincial jurisdiction. The organization and formation of the public school in Neuenburg appears to have had problems from the very beginning. The construction of the buildings and the acquisition of equipment delayed the opening of classes. Attendance was also an issue. Finally, communication between the newly hired teacher and the Department of Education was tainted with misunderstanding.

The Birkenhead School was administered by J. F. Greenway until 1929 when a local board was established. During the interim between 1921 and 1929, Mr. Peter C. Rempel from the village represented the district in all communications with Mr. Greenway. The site on which the school was constructed was purchased from Peter P. Rempel for $300. In most districts the site was a three-acre square piece of land. Peter P. Rempel, however, favoured a rectangular shape measuring ten rods wide by forty-eight rods in length. Greenway accepted the plan.

Church Life After 1920

The Mexico migration left those that remained without a church and as a result a number of the families of Neuenburg opted to join the Sommerfeld Church. The Peter C. Rempel family was one of those families. Peter A. Rempel, oldest son of Peter C. Rempel, served the Sommerfeld Church as a Vorsänger at Reinland, Manitoba, before he was ordained to the ministry in 1948. According to his granddaughter, Tara Penner, Peter “felt he was inadequate to meet the needs of the church. His knowledge was small, he had received no special training and was skeptical of his ability to be a leader in the church. He knew he must trust God to guide him as he entered this new turn in the road. Peter realized he could not accomplish this new feat on his own strength, but with God’s.”

In 1957 the Sommerfeld Church split, creating the Reinland Mennonite Church. The Peter A. Rempel family joined the new fledgling church where he continued to serve as a minister. In 1959, after Bishop Nickel left for Bolivia, Peter was elected bishop.

Bishop Peter A. Rempel’s service was not confined to his church in Manitoba. In 1979, when the Old Colony Church in the Swift Current Colony, Mexico, experienced grave conditions, he was summoned by them for assistance. His daughter, Anne, describes her parents’ experience in Mexico as follows: “Rev. George Krahn, a Minister of Reinländer Church from Rainy River, Ontario, had many brothers and sisters who still lived in Mexico. He was therefore aware of the desperate situation in which the Old Colony people in Mexico found themselves. The churches had been closed because there were no ministers who were willing to serve in them. The buildings themselves were in a state of disrepair. There were many young couples who desired to be married but were not able to do so because the rule was that they need to become church members before a minister would marry them. A plea had come from Mexico for assistance so Rev. Krahn then approached Bishop Peter A. Rempel asking that he go to Mexico to give some assistance. Bishop Rempel’s initial response was: No! He could not go because he was not in the best of health, he had never been to Mexico, his big family needed him here, and there was farm work to be done.

[Then] the people from Mexico phoned Rev. Krahn asking whether Rev. Rempel was arriving and explaining that there were men who would be ready to meet Rev. and Mrs. Rempel at the airport when they arrived and stating that Rev. Rempel was to come as soon as possible. Rev. Rempel finally consented with the comment that if there was so great a need he would not leave those people without assistance.

Rev. and Mrs. Rempel consented to go on Friday. On Monday Jake, their son, took them to the airport in Grand Forks, North Dakota and they left for Mexico. Also travelling with them were Rev. George Krahn from Rainy River, Ontario, and Rev. George Klassen from Saskatchewan. They did not know who was to meet them in Mexico, but God directed them to the right person. That night they stayed in a hotel and in the morning they had to wait for their bus to be repaired before they could leave on it. The bus was overcrowded but they arrived at their destination, the Swift area, that evening. They stayed with a poor family that night. Since they had not eaten all except for a loaf of bread which they had purchased at a bus-stop during their trip, supper had to be prepared for them after they arrived.

During the next few days meetings were held with some of the men in the area. The church building was repaired and prepared for services. Early on Sunday morning people heading for the church walked past the place where the Peter Rempels were staying. There were no pews in the church; the seating consisted of planks. Many had come early so that they would have a place to sit. Before the service began the Choristers (“Vorsänger”) as well as some of the congregation felt the need to take a break from sitting so they walked out of the church to have a smoke.

Rev. Rempel preached in Low German and for many this was the first time they had heard a sermon preached in Low German. They were able to understand the Word of God and were excited about that. Their singing was from the Old Hymnal but the style of singing was the drawn out chanting (Lange Wies) which they were used to but which was unfamiliar to the Rempels.

The Rempels remained in Mexico for three weeks, during which time there were many meetings. Two ministers, Rev. George Neufeld and Rev. Peter Bueckert, were elected and ordained. These men found it very difficult to lead the congregation after Rev. Rempel left since they had no experience in doing this. Later, in spring of that year, Rev. Rempel went back to Mexico to conduct baptism and serve communion. In November, the Rempels went back once more to oversee the election of more ministers, a deacon, and a bishop. George Krahn was chosen as deacon, George Neufeld as bishop, and Peter Bueckert and Heinrich Wall as ministers. The name of the congregation was not Old Colony as before but rather Reinländer, just as Rev. Rempel’s church in Manitoba was called. In 1982, Rev. and Mrs. Rempel returned to Mexico to check on the growth of the congregation. The congregation had grown and worshipped in several different church buildings in different villages when the Rempels returned to Mexico in February of 1985. While they were there this time, Rev. Rempel officiated at a funeral and conducted communion in churches on Sunday mornings and afternoons.

While they were there in 1985, the Rempels received the news that Anna Neufeld, Mrs. Rempel’s sister, had passed away, and since Rev. Rempel had power of attorney for her estate, they had to return to Canada. That was their last visit to Mexico. The church grew and many lives were changed during and following the visits of the Rempels.”

As Anne also recalled, “… My parents lived in Neuenburg for fifty-two years and moved to Winkler in 1986. My father had promised grandfather that the farm would stay in the family. My brothers bought the land and after a long and difficult decision, he let my sister move onto the farmyard. He wanted so badly that one of the boys would move onto the yard to carry on the Rempel name. My parents moved to Winkler on 3rd Street South and bought a house without consulting any of the children. We were very sorry they had bought such an old house as my mother had always lived in an old house. Father bought an extra lot behind the house so the children would be able to park their cars when they came to visit. The family gatherings became less frequent as the family was getting so big that there was not enough room for everyone in their house.

My father’s health started to deteriorate. He had small strokes and Alzheimer’s started to set in… He was in Salem [Home] for four years. He slowly deteriorated to the point where he lost all his speech but when he heard the familiar songs and the sermons on his speaker he would cry. In his last days the family was sitting with him day and night. I sat with him some of the last nights and read the Gospel of John to him. We felt the presence of the Lord with us. We, his children, sang one of his favourite songs, “Es geht nach Haus zum Vater’s Hause, wer Weiss vielleicht schon Morgen,” while he was dying. He had served in the church as minister for twenty-two years and as bishop for twenty years. He had been in the ministry for forty-two years. He reached the age of eighty-five years and three days. He died on March 28, 1996 and was buried in the Schanzenfeld cemetery.”

1. This text was compiled by Abe Rempel from Henry Unger, The Survival of a Community: A History of Neuenburg and Birkenhead School District (Morden, MB: self-published, 2012). Used with permission. ↩︎