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Mennonite Archives of OntarioConrad Grebel University College
140 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6
Phone: 519-885-0220 x24238
Title: John H. and Helen (Bergen) Dick family fonds
Physical description: 28 cm of textual records ; 2 scrapbooks ; 28 audio cassette tapes ; 7 reel-to-reel audio tapes ; 9 8mm film reels ; 5 audio compact discs ; 6 digital video discs ; 3 Mini-DVDs ; 13 video cassette tapes ; 250 photographs (col. slides) ; 1 photograph (digital)
Dates of creation: ca. 1905-2020 (predominantly 1942-2005)
Biographical sketch: John H. Dick (1921-2020) was born in Alexanderkrone, South Russia to John J. (1893-1986) and Maria (Wiens) Dick (1898-1984). His paternal grandfather was Johann P. Dück (1857-1914). John and Maria and their family immigrated to Canada in 1924, and after a brief time in the Tavistock area settled in Essex County in 1926, where they purchased a farm near Ruthven in 1940. Helen Bergen (b. 1924) came to Canada with her parents (Wilhelm and Maria (Ens) Bergen) in 1926 and lived in Saskatchewan and Manitoba before settling in Ontario. John H. and Helen married in 1945; they had five children.
Due to his mother's illness, John left school at age 12 but retained a lifelong interest in learning. A member of Leamington United Mennonite Church, he served a term as a conscientious objector in the Alternative Service program at Montreal River work camp in 1942. Shortly after their marriage, John and Helen bought a run-down farm on the 6th concession which they turned into a prosperous fruit and vegetable farm ("Sandy Acres").
John Dick took an active role in the community, serving on local public school boards and on the board of Conrad Grebel University College and United Mennonite Educational Institute. He was also a reeve with the Mersea Township Council and later served on the Essex County Council. John and Helen were also active volunteers with Mennonite Central Committee. After 53 years of farming, the couple retired to Leamington in 1999.
Custodial history: Donated to the Archives by Ernest J. Dick in 2016
Scope and content: The fonds reflects the active interest in the family history of Johann P. Dück and his descendants on the part of John H. Dick and his son Ernest. It includes family documents, recollections of family members in written and interview formats, and audio and audiovisual recordings of family events. The fonds also details family farm life in Essex County in the later half of the 20th century. Ernest Dick's involvement with Canadian Mennonite history and public policy projects in Ottawa in the 1960s and 1970s is also reflected.
Notes: Archival description created by Laureen Harder-Gissing in 2020.
See also: Dick, Ernest J. Courage, Courage, the Lord Will Help : the Family History of Johann P. Dück and Descendants from Schönfeld, Southern Russia. Leamington, Ont: John H. Dick, 1990.
File list:
Sub-series 1: Johann P. Dück family history
Note: This sub-series consists contains information gathered by Ernest Dick for Courage, Courage the Lord will Help, a family history book recounting the lives of Johann P. Dück and his two wives Anna Driedger (1864-1889) Margarethe Enns (1865-1919) and their 12 children. The family settled in Schoenbrun, in the Schoenfeld Mennonite settlement. The family name was spelled "Dück" before immigration to Canada, where members chose the variant spellings Dick, Dueck or Dyck.
Sub-series 2: John H. Dick
Sub-series 3: Ernest J. Dick
Note: Ernest Dick is the son of John H. Dick and grandson of John J. Dick. Files in this sub-series include research papers, correspondence and reports from various projects relating to Mennonite history and Mennonites and public policy. Textual records of his family film project "Sandy Acres Farewell" are also located here. Dick had a career as an audiovisual archivist.
Sub-series 1: Interviews
Note: This sub-series consists of interviews of family members and others on audio cassette tapes
Sub-series 2: Celebrations, etc.
Note: This sub-series consists of audio cassette tapes
Sub-series 3: Reel-to-reel audio tapes
Sub-series 4: Compact discs
Sub-series 1: 8 mm films
Note: This sub-series consists of home movies of vacations, farm and family life, 1958-1970. An itemized listing is in file Hist.Mss.1.330.1.3/10
Sub-series 2: Mini DVs
Note: This sub-series consists of copies of the 8 mm films listed above, in DV format.
Sub-series 3: Digital video discs
Sub-series 4: Video cassettes
Generally 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Monday to Friday. An appointment in advance is recommended.
Phone: 519-885-0220 x24238
Conrad Grebel University College
140 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G6
519-885-0220
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