California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin

No. 33: March 1996


Early Mennonite Brethren Membership Lists
found in St. Petersburg Archives

By John B. Toews

The current microfilming project in the Russian imperial archives in St. Petersburg, spearheaded by St. Petersburg Christian College, promises a rich supply of documents for future historians and genealogists. The first microfilm reel from this project contained an unexpected surprise for researchers interested in the early Mennonite Brethren Church. On this reel were two membership lists for that group: the first compiled on February 29, 1860, and the second on January 5, 1861.

We have always know about some of the founding persons thanks to documents published by Franz Isaac and Peter M. Friesen.1 Our only knowledge of the other earliest Mennonite Brethren members, however, derives from the eighteen signatories to the secession document of January 6, 1860, and the fifteen additional names attached to the March 30 letter addressed to the leadership of the Ohrloff and Halbstadt churches.2 These two documents account for all but one of the names--Johann Hubert of Wernersdorf--compiled on the newly-discovered list of February 29, 1860. In the patriarchal fashion of the day, district officials listed only the male heads of families, but it seems reasonable to believe that their wives shared their convictions. The register, while containing mostly known names, nevertheless provides new perspective--the early Mennonite Brethren Church did not consist of 25 family heads, but of 130 persons, both male and female. Obviously there were other "mothers in Christ" like Katherine Reimer Claassen (the wife of Johann Claassen), some of whose letters were published by P. M. Friesen.3 We can only speculate what role the wives of Abraham Cornelsen, Dietrich Klassen or Jacob Reimer played in discipling their large families to become the next generation of Mennonite Brethren.

The listing of February 29, 1860 clearly delineates the demographics of the early Mennonite Brethren movement. Most of the dissidents were concentrated in the southeastern villages along the Jushanlee River: Elisabethtal, Schardau, Marienthal, Rudnerweide and Pastwa. Three of the four families in Waldheim and Gnadenfeld are connected with Gottlieb Strauss. His two sons, Friedrich and Johann, signed the letter of March 19, 1860, while daughters Karolina and Wilhelmine married David Duerksen and Jacob Reimer respectively.4 "Outposts" like Liebenau and Wernersdorf had increased their numbers by 1861, but geographically the 1861 listing shows that the distribution of church members had changed little. Two villages--Grossweide, where the January 6, 1860 signatory Abraham Cornelsen relocated, and Sparrau--were added to the sphere of Mennonite Brethren influence. Rather astounding are the number of families in Rudnerweide by 1861.

The 1861 compiler specifically commented on seven single Mennonites joining the Brethren. He also found it significant that the new movement was causing family divisions: three men joined without their families, and a wife joined without her husband. In the case of Anna Penner, her son Bernhard--already a member in February 1860--obviously provided spiritual direction.

There are some unexplained omissions in the 1861 list. The original signatories Peter Stobbe, Jakob Wall and Martin Klassen, as well as the adherent Jakob Kroeker, are not mentioned. The omissions must have been an oversight on the part of the volost secretary. Peter Stobbe's signature appeared on several official Mennonite Brethren documents dating from 1860 to 1863.5 Similarly, Jakob Wall,6 Martin Klassen7 and Jakob Kroeker8 likewise continued to be active. The 1861 compilation should therefore list 34 families and 190 people.

These early Brethren listings possibly allow two further observations. First, the early Brethren primarily functioned in the context of village house churches, which expanded very gradually. Second, the Brethren initially constituted a very small movement. Little wonder that district authorities tried to squelch the dissidents through civil law.

The compilers of these documents obviously took some liberties with the spelling of personal and village names. The original spellings have not been changed in the translation.

Notes

1. Franz Isaac, Die Molotschnaer Mennoniten (Halbstadt: H. J. Braun, 1908), 174 ff.; Peter M. Friesen, Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Bruederschaft in Russland, 1789-1910 (Halbstadt: Raduga, 1911), 189 ff.

2. Friesen, 198-199.

3. Ibid., 313, 331, 355.

4. See Alan Peters, "Brotherhood and Family: Implications of Kinship in Mennonite Brethren History," in P. M. Friesen and His History: Understanding Mennonite Brethren Beginnings, ed. Abraham Friesen, Perspectives on Mennonite Life and Thought, no. 2 (Fresno, Calif.: Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 1979), 35-60. There has been some speculation that there were two Johann Strausses among the early Brethren. The 1860 and 1861 registries would seem to suggest that there was only one. See James Urry, "The Social Background to the Emergence of the Mennonite Brethren in Nineteenth-Century Russia," Journal of Mennonite Studies 6 (1988): 27.

5. Friesen, 192, 199, 295, 337, 343, 364.

6. Ibid., 192, 199, 202. See also John B. Toews, ed. and trans., "Mennonite Brethren Founders Relate Their Conversion," Direction 23 (Fall 1994): 31-37.

7. Friesen, 191, 199, 295, 338, 350.

8. Ibid., 199, 295, 338, 343.

John B. Toews is Professor of Church History and Anabaptist Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.


Names of the Members
of the Molotschna Mennonite District
who have left the Existing Church

Compiled on February 29, 1860

Name and place of residence  Place of official registry  No. of families  Male  Female  Total 
Elisabeththal
Abraham Cornelson Grossweide 1 8 1 9
Isaak Coop Elisabeththal 1 3 3 6
Cornelius Wiens Elisabeththal 1 2 2 4
Franz Klaassen Rudnerweide 1 3 2 5
Abraham Wiens Elisabeththal 1 2 2 4
Lichtfelde 
Martin Claassen Fuerstenau 1 3 3 6
Abraham Wiens Muntau 1 2 1 3
Jakob Kroeker Blumstein 1 4 3 7
Schardau
Daniel Hoppe not registered 1 1 5 6
Rudnerweide
Jacob Bekker Waldheim 1 1 1 2
Pastwa
Isaak Regier Rudnerweide 1 2 2 4
Andreas Voth Walheim 1 2 1 3
Jacob Wall Lichtfelde 1 3 2 5
Liebenau
Johann Klaassen Sparau 1 4 1 5
Heinrich Huebert Muensterberg 1 2 2 4
Ladekop
Peter Stobbe Shardau 1 2 1 3
Abraham Peters Blumenort 1 1 3 4
Marienthal
Dietrich Klassen Sparau 1 6 5 11
Schardau
August Strauss Gnadenfeld 1 1 2 3
Waldheim
Gottlieb Strauss
Johann Strauss
Friedrich Strauss
Waldheim 1 3 2 5
David Durksen Lichtenau 1 1 3 4
Gnadenfeld
Jacob Reimer Schoensee 1 7 3 10
Bernhard Penner Gnadenfeld 1 5 2 7
Berdjansk
Wilhelm Bartel Gnadenfeld 1 2 5 7
Wernersdorf
Johann Huebert Wernersdorf 1 2 1 3
Total 25 72 58 130

Note: In addition to those mentioned here, the movement is said to consist of additional members, concerning whom the district office awaits further information.

District Head--David [Friesen]

District Council Member--Heinrich [Wiebe]?

Secretary--?

Names of Members Belonging to the
Religious Group founded in the Molotschna Mennonite District

Compiled on January 5, 1861

Name and place of residence Place of official registry No. of families  Male  Female  Total 
Elisabeththal
Kornelius Wiens Elisabeththal 1 2 2 4
Isaak Koop Elisabeththal 1 3 3 6
Abraham Wiens Elisabeththal 1 1 2 3
Franz Klaassen Ruderweide 1 3 2 5
Shardau
Daniel Hoppe Fuerstenau 1 1 5 6
August Strauss Gnadenfeld 1 1 3 4
Heinrich Flaming Marienthal 1 2 2 4
Waldheim
Johann Strauss Waldheim 1 1 1 2
Gottlieb Strauss Waldheim 1 2 2 4
David Durksen Lichtenau 1 2 3 5
Liebenau
Johann Klaassen Sparau 1 4 2 6
Benjamin Bekker Liebenau 1 1 1 2
Simon Harms Shardau 1 2 2 4
Heinrich Huebert Muensterberg 1 1 2 3
Gnadenfeld
Jacob Reimer Schoensee 1 1 2 3
Susana Unruh Gnadenfeld 1 1
Agatha Pankratz Gnadenfeld 1 1
Elizabeth Pankratz Gnadenfeld 1 1
Anna Penner and
son--Bernhard
daughter--Anna
Gnadenfeld 1 1 2 3
Heinrich Bartel Gnadenfeld 1 1
Ladekopp
David Klaassen Sparau 1 3 3 6
Abraham Peters Blumenort 1 2 2 4
Grossweide
Abraham Kornelsen Grossweide 1 8 1 9
Gerhard Wall Grossweide 1 1
Rudnerweide
Jacob Bekker Waldheim 1 1
Isaak Mathies Rudnerweide 1 1
Siebert Goerz Rudnerweide 1 3 1 4
David Block Franzthal 1 3 9 12
Abraham Regier Rudnerweide 1 2 3 5
Peter Regier Rudnerweide 1 2 4 6
Marienthal
Dirk Klaassen Sparau 1 5 5 10
Wernersdorf
Johann Hubert Wernersdorf 1 2 1 3
Peter Dueck Neukirch 1 3 4 7
Sparau
Johann Thiessen Sparau 1 4 4 8
Johann Neufeld Sparau 1 1
Pastwa
Agatha Schmidt Shardau 1 1
Isaak Regier Rudnerweide 1 2 2 4
Andreas Voth Waldheim 1 3 2 5
Abraham Dueck Pastwa 1 1
Lichtfelde
Abraham Wiens Muntau 1 2 1 3
Berdjansk
Wilhelm Bartel Gnadenfeld 1 2 5 7
Total 30 81 88 169

Observations:

1. The Mennonites in the following colonies are single: Gnadenfeld, Susan Unruh, Agatha and Elisabeth Pankratz, Heinrich Bartel; Schardau, Agatha Schmidt; Pastwa, Abraham Dueck; Waldheim, Benjamin Bekker.

2. The Mennonite Anna Penner in the colony Gnadenfeld has joined the new sect with a son and daughter but without her husband.

3. The Mennonites in the following colonies have joined the new sect without their families: Grossweide, Gerhard Wall; Rudnerweide, Isaak Mathies; Sparau, Johann Neufeld.

4. The Mennonite in the colony Waldheim, Jacob Bekker is a widower and has no children.


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