Russian Mennonite Immigration digital files

Russian Mennonite (Russlaender) Immigrants to Ontario in the 1920s (digital files)

Note: This page is moving to a new website.

To commemorate the centenary of their arrival in Canada, this page provides links to digital files relevant to the immigration of Russian Mennonites ("Russlaender") from the Soviet Union to Canada in the 1920s. Most of these sources relate directly to immigrants who passed through Ontario (beginning in 1923) and settled in the province (beginning in 1924). All of the originals are located in the Mennonite Archives of Ontario. More items will be digitized as time allows.

• Ontario Sub-Committee of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization
   
  • Billeting lists and lists of immigrants. These documents relate primarily to the temporary billeting of Russian Mennonite families with local Mennonite families in southwestern Ontario and Niagara.
    • Lists of immigrants (PDF) who arrived in Waterloo, Ontario on 19 Jul 1924, 2 Aug 1924, 9 Aug 1924, 18 Aug 1924
    • List of congregations (PDF) and the number of families billeted by each
    • List of families (PDF) desired in Ontario
    • Revised list of families (PDF) for Ontario
    • Registry of Vineland (PDF) and Rainham district
    • Pupils at Biehn Mennonite Sunday School (PDF) from Russia, 1924
    • List of district representatives (PDF)
• Early Membership Records of the "Mennonite Refugee Congregation in Ontario"
  • The congregation became a conference of "United Mennonite Churches in Ontario" in 1926. The Archives has digitized the following from these records. More family register sheets have yet to be digitized from other congregations.
     
    • Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite Church family register sheets
      1. Index to Book I: Surnames A-L (PDF), Surnames M-Z (PDF)
      2. Index to Book II:  Surnames A-J (PDF), Surnames K-Z (PDF)

• Early lists of Russlaender families in the Vineland area
  Russlaender families arrived in the Vineland area as early as the summer of 1924 to help with the summer harvest. In the first years, there was much Russlaender movement in and out of the area. Until 1934 the congregation, still composed of United Mennonites (as the Kirchliche became called in Ontario) and Mennonite Brethren worshipped together. These lists are from the Vineland United Mennonite Church collection. Additional early lists remain undigitized; the lists below were chosen for their relative completeness.
  1. Vineland Group in Ontario, Canada from 19 July 1924 to about 1925 (PDF) Includes Winona
  2. Family register of the Vineland group, Ontario from January 1, 1932 (PDF) Includes Beamsville, Winona and Jordan 
• Reesor United Mennonite Church family registers
  The Reesor United Mennonite congregation began services about 1926, and formally organized in May 1927. The congregation dissolved in 1948 as many members had moved away. These lists are from the Reesor United Mennonite Church collection.
  1. Reesor United Mennonite Church Volume 1 (PDF) (to about 1928)
  2. Volume 2 (to about 1937, wth the last page having later dates)
     Volume 2 Part 1 (PDF)
     Volume 2 Part 2 (PDF)
  3. Volume 3 (to 1947)
     Volume 3 Part 1 (PDF)
     Volume 3 Part 2 (PDF)
• John Klassen's copy of the Reesor choir's choral book (PDF)

• Joseph B. Snyder Notebook of Collections to Aid Immigrants
   
  • This notebook (1924-1925) includes collection lists for underwear and other aid for Russian Mennonite immigrants (PDF) in 1924 with details from the Waterloo, St. Jacobs, Martins, Elmira, North Woolwich, South Peel and Conestogo congregations. The list is detailed for the Martins Old Order congregation.
• John H. Enns Scrapbook, "The Story of Reesor"
  "The Story of Reesor, Ontario" by long-time resident and community historian John E. Enns. Eighty-eight pages of photographs and commentary in scrapbook format.
   
  • The Story of Reesor, Ontario (part 1) (PDF)
  • The Story of Reesor, Ontario (part 2) (PDF)
  • The Story of Reesor, Ontario (part 3) (PDF)
• Margarethe (Kroeger) Regier's recipe book
  • Margarethe (1896-1988) was born in Rosenthal, south Russia to David and Margaretha (Krahn) Kroeger. She immigrated with her husband Abraham P. Regier in 1923 first to Edmonton, and then Lymburn, Alberta. The family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1943.
  • recipe book (PDF)
• Mennonite Immigrants from Russia Oral History Project
  From 1976-1978, 82 interviews with Mennonites who came to Canada from the Soviet Union in the 1920s were conducted.
   
  • A few of the interviews have been transcribed. Most of the interviews have been digitized. Consult the list to find out which ones, and contact the Archives for access.
  • Brief interview summaries (PDF) 
  • Brief biographical summaries (PDF)
• Photographs
  Digitized photographs held by the Mennonite Archives of Ontario related to the Russlaender can be found by searching the Mennonite Archival Information Database.
   
• Secondary and Published Sources, and Manuscripts
   
  • Braun, Mariechen (Maria) and Nancy Riediger Fehderau (trans.), "Journey form Russia to Canada, June 1924," Ontario Mennonite History (40) no. 1.
  • Epp, Frank H., Mennonites in Canada 1920-1940: A People's Struggle for Survival
  • Fehderau, Nicholas, Herbert Enns (trans.), "Nicholas Fehderau in Canada: My First Impressions and Experiences in My Adopted Land (PDF)," Ontario Mennonite History (22) no. 2, October 1999
  • Konrad, Annie Dick, "Finding Refuge Among Mennonites in Waterloo (PDF)," Ontario Mennonite History (10) no. 2, September 1992
  • Mennonite Archives of Ontario genealogy guide
  • Taves, Krista, "Reinterpreting the Old Mennonite/Russlaender Encounter (PDF)," Ontario Mennonite History (14) no. 1.
  • Wiebe, Anne, "The Mennonite Brethren Church of Ontario in Historical Perspective (PDF) ," XVII-1/2 MAO.