MANITOBA is a Provincie in CANADA...

Jeannette,

Canada is part of the North American continent.

Manitoba was the 5th province that either joined Confederation or was created out of Canadian owned land.

Russell is a Town in Manitoba that is near to the Saskatchewan border with Manitoba. It is located near the Canadian Pacific Railway line that runs across Manitoba.

Kevin

ah, a railway station, that's interesting, for I never ever travelled with a horse, you see, only my Bike is able to be token in the train, so maybe, some time, some day, I can come across, ok?

Just bought a book in Dutch about the FEHR-family and there is also a story about the religional-Mennonieten-diaspora people in Canada-MANITOBA. Is there a connexxion between the Children from Europe->Canada in these projects and the dispersion of the followers of Menno SIMONS 1496-1561.

* Menno Simons
* http://www.geni.com/projects/Ⓓutch-◦-Doops-gezinden-◦-Mennonites/7486

Yes, you are correct. It would be lovely to build his tree - all that is known is:

in full Menno Simonszoon, or Simonsz. also spelled Simons (b. 1496, Witmarsum, Friesland [Netherlands] — d. Jan. 31, 1561, near Lubeck, Holstein [Germany]), Dutch priest, an early leader of the peaceful wing of Dutch Anabaptism, whose followers formed the Mennonite church.

Life

Little is known about Menno's early life. He was born into a Dutch peasant family; his father's name was Simon. At an early age he was enrolled in a monastic school, possibly at the Franciscan monastery in Bolsward, to prepare for the priesthood. In March 1524, at the age of 28, he was ordained at Utrecht and assigned to the parish at Pingjum near the place of his birth. Seven years later, in 1531, he became the village priest in his home parish at Witmarsum. ...

(etcetera )

However Kevin can explain the orphans. That is different from the Mennonite migration.

So, for the origin of MENONITE-families i have to start a project about a MONASTERY in BOLSWARD-FL-NLD of Franciskanians - Roman Catholic - kloosterlingen a/o PRIEST's ? We have already some projects to Pro-Active these kinds of aspects:

* http://www.geni.com/projects/Zoeken-in-FRIESLAND-Nederland/4098
* http://www.geni.com/projects/Predikanten-in-de-familie/4739
* http://www.geni.com/projects/Kloosters-in-Nederland/14343
* http://www.geni.com/projects/Memorials-Monuments-%E2%80%A7-the-Neth...
* ... and we are interested to make some more if necessary for others abroad to help finding, searching & documentate in our country

P.S. Private
Weet jij nog wat godsdienst-projectjes die we hier kunnen DELEN ~ SHARE with our geni-collegae ?

Jeannette please excuse my very little knowledge on the Mennonite migrations which are significant to both USA & Canada - I just don't happen to have in my tree (I don't think). But I believe that although Menno was Dutch origin, the religious movement gained most converts among Swiss & Germans.

But I could be wrong ... And certainly Menno himself was from Friesland & to find his origins more would be wonderful

My father's family from Switzerland had many Mennonites back in Colonial times, and my partner comes from a Mennonite family from Switzerland and Alsace. Very sad the persecutions they went through.

In the US in 1800s it was reasonably common for Mennonite families to name a child Menno Simons. There are quite a few of them in my partner's tree.

In order to escape religious prosecution and persecution my father's parent's families and their friends came here from Switzerland as a family group in the very early 1700's after being invited by William Penn to purchase vast tracts of land. It's called Lancaster County today, in PA.

Justin Durand

Maybe someone is able to offer a translation of her book to the author of:
* ISBN 978-90-450-2001-3
about the FEHR-family diaspora from NLD-Friesland---Canada---MEXICO---PRUISSEN---South AMErica--et.Cetera.

SUMMERY in NL : In het gortdroge noorden van MEXICO rijden rijtuigen op onverharde zandwegen. In de koetsjes zitten mannen in tuinbroeken, vrouwen met lange jurken en hoeden. Ze hebben verweerde koppen, heten Wiebe, Klassen en Friesen, en spreken een aan het middeleeuws Nederlands ontleend taaltje. Het zijn mennonieten, nazaten van Nederlandse wederdopers. Volgelingen van Menno SIMONS, die in de zestiende eeuw als ketters werden vermoord. Ze weken uit naar Pruisen, vervolgens naar Oekraïne en de prairies van Canada om voorlopig te eindigen in de woestijn van Noord-Mexico. Deze onbekende Nederlandse geschiedenis komt tot leven bij het lezen van de dramatische lotgevallen van vele generaties van de doopsgezinde familie FEHR. Hun geschiedenis voert terug tot de zestiende-eeuwse Amsterdamse graanhandelaar Gijsbert de VEER. Een verhaal over jeneverstokers, over boeren, pioniers, autoritaire leiders, drugshandelaren en alcoholverslaafden, maar vooral over een eindeloze zoektocht naar verlossing.

In the bone-dry northern MEXICO drive vehicles on unpaved dirt roads. The carriages men sitting in dungarees, women in long dresses and hats. They have weathered heads, called Wiebe, Classes and Friesen, and speak one derived from the medieval Dutch language. They are Mennonites, descendants of Dutch Anabaptists. Followers of Menno Simons, who were murdered. In the sixteenth century as heretics She fled to Prussia, then to Ukraine and the prairies of Canada to temporarily end up in the desert of northern Mexico. This unknown Dutch history comes alive when reading the tragic fate of many generations of Mennonite family FEHR. Their history dates back to the sixteenth-century Amsterdam grain merchant Gijsbert FEATHER. A story about gin distillers, about farmers, pioneers, authoritarian leaders, drug dealers and alcoholics, but especially on an endless quest for redemption.