Village News

Wirtschaft 14 changed hands several times in the first few years of Steinbach settlement. In 1874, Jacob and Helena Defehr settled in the village, the only family who were not members of the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite. They chose Steinbach to be close to their daughter Helena, who was married to Cornelius Fast of Wirtschaft 19. By August of the next year, the Defehrs moved to Reinland in the West Reserve, accompanied by another daughter Catherine and her husband Bernhardt Bergen.

By 1875, Dietrich S. and Katharina Friesen came into possession of the property but didn’t appear to move in until 1877. Dietrich was the first schoolteacher hired in Gruenfeld (Kleefeld)in 1875, following in his father-in-law’s footsteps. Katharina’s father had taught in Annafeld, Borosenko in Russia. They only lived in Steinbach for two years before transferring the property to Dietrich’s brother Jacob in 1879 and moving to Blumenfeld. They returned to Steinbach in the 1880s and Dietrich was a school teacher in Steinbach intermittently until he passed away in 1901. Dietrich and Katharina’s son Cornelius was a machinist in Steinbach and Winnipeg and lived to be 104, a longevity not often seen in this era. He retired from his work as a lead recaster with Derksen Printers at the age of 89.

Jacob S. and Margaretha (Giesbrecht) Friesen took over the Wirtschaft in 1879 and have often been listed as original Steinbach settlers due to occupying the property for 16 years. They first settled in Blumenfeld along with Jacob’s parents, but looked to relocate after his father drowned alongside Reverend Jacob M. Barkman in 1875. Jacob and Margaretha joined the Holdeman church, along with other members of the Friesen family in 1882. They farmed their property in Steinbach until selling it for $1200 to Cornelius Ratzlaff in 1895 and moving to the John Peterson farm north of Steinbach. Jacob may have been part owner of a cheese factory built in Steinbach in 1908.