The Mennonite Heritage Village is a museum set out to preserve and tell the stories of Mennonite migrants to Manitoba from the areas of Imperial Russia in what is now Ukraine, and this includes both the East and West reserves.
With summer coming to an end, we have wrapped up the exploration of the first 18 families that settled Steinbach in 1874.
This week we are winding up the exploration of the first families of Steinbach. This series has looked at the 18 families that settled on the 20 Wirtschaft that comprised the original town of Steinbach along what is today Elmdale Street.
In 1855, at the age of 15, Cornelius Fast was left with the responsibility of taking care of his widowed mother and younger siblings.
Wirtschaft 18 was left unoccupied for the first year of settlement, as Gerhard Warkentin arrived much later than the other Steinbach settlers.
Heinrich R. Brandt had an interesting youth, beginning with his unique birth.
Jacob Barkman already had four children when his first wife Elisabeth Giesbrecht died in childbirth. Shortly after he married Katherina Thiessen, the widow of Peter Warkentin.
Cornelius Goossen married Katharina Barkman, daughter of Reverend Jacob M. Barkman, in 1874 shortly before sailing for Canada.
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.
Abraham S. Friesen is a name that should resonate with any long-time Steinbach resident. He and his children would go on to hold many prominent positions in the community and leave a legacy of businesses that lasts to this day.
