Johann Peter B. Wiens

Johann Wiens' Wives Bergthal Colony, South Russia

A tragedy struck when Agatha Wiebe passed away on April 2, 1858 leaving Cornelius Wiebe with a family of 5 youngsters. In the same village another household bad been established after the marriage of Johann Wiens & Susanna Dueck - daughter of Jacob & Helena (Wall) Dueck on December 9, 1837. Sunsanna gave birth to 9 children - 5 died as infants or young children. Then on March 8, 1853 a set of twins - Helena & Franz was born. Susanna & 1 of the twins, Franz, died during childbirth. Johann was left with 6 small children. He found a wife and a mother for his children - a young lady, Helena Klassen (b 1832). They shared five years of married life and had one daughter, Anna, before Johann passed away in January of 1858. Helena (Klassen) Wiens was left a widow with 6 young children.

The widow, Helena, and the widower, Cornelius, must have met and decided to combine the 2 households. They were married on April 27, 1858 and shared many years.

Source: The Cornelius Wiebe Family 1821- 1989, M. Voth, 1989, p. 17

Out of the Past by Marjorie Voth 1836-1875 , Bergthal Colony, South Russia

Johann Wiens is said to have lived in Bergthal, Russia. This could refer to the colony or the village in the colony. According to historical books the at Bergthal was established by 145 landless families. There was a lack of land in the Chortitza colony to the north. This is the only clue we have as to where Cornelius Wiebe may have lived. This is based on the assumption that the Cornelius & Agatha Wiebes and Johann & Helena Wienses lived in the same general vicinity. The surviving spouses Cornelius & Helena married later.

No further reference to locality is found till we find the name of the place of Helena Klassen Wiens Wiebe's birth. It is listed as Friedensthal, Russia. Friedensthal was one of the villages of the Bergthal Colony. The Bergthal Colony at this point consisted of 5 villages: Bergthal, Schoental, Schoenfeld, Heuboden, and Friedensthal. Bergthal Colony was the first daughter colony of Chortitza Colony, founded in 1836.

Source: The Cornelius Family 1821-1989, M Voth, 1989, p. 15.

Bergthal Colony The Bergthal Colony was a Mennonite settlement in the southern part of the former Russian Empire, now Ukraine that emigrated to Manitoba, Canada. The colony consisted of five villages: Schoenfeld, Heuboden, Bergthal, Schoenthal, and Friedrichsthal. The villages were settled during the years 1836 to 1852 by 149 landless families from the Chortitza Colony. The settlement was located on the Bodni, a small tributary of the Berda River about 200 km southeast of Zaporizhia. During the 1870s, bishop Gerhard Wiebe persuaded the entire colony consisting of about 500 families, to emigrate to Manitoba.

About this time the Russian Count Rumiantsev-Zadunaisky, who had frequently been through the Mennonite settlements in the vicinity of Danzig, called the attention of the Russian government to them as prospective settlers. Georg von Trappe also called Potemkin's attention to the Mennonites whom he had met. In August 1786 an invitation was extended to the Mennonites, and von Trappe became the chief agent for their immigration into Russia.(Schroeder, William. The Bergthal Colony. 2nd ed. Winnipeg)

At first the Mennonites received this invitation with great reserve in order not to antagonize the Danzig city council, which was opposed to the emigration. Jakob Höppner and Johann Bartsch were sent to Russia to inspect the land and make necessary arrangements for the immigration. After inspecting the proffered land and interviewing Potemkin and Catherine II (13 May, 1787) and other authorities, they returned to report their findings to their constituency. Meanwhile von Trappe had been active in promoting the emigration in Danzig. In a printed broadside dated 29 December 1787 (Mennonite Life April 1951, 37), he praised the conditions of the settlement highly and invited those interested to meet on 19 January 1788 at the Russian Embassy in Danzig. During that year 228 families left for Russia, followed by additional groups, a total of 462 families (B. H. Unruh, 231) who established the first Mennonite settlement, Chortitza, in the province of Ekaterinoslav in the Ukraine. The Chortitza settlement is also known as the Old Colony since it was the first settlement. Between 1798 and 1802 the stream of immigrants subsided, until new difficulties in the home country caused a new wave of immigration to Russia.

On 20 February 1804, Alexander I issued another Manifesto. During 1803-1806 some 365 Mennonite families went to Russia, some of which stopped at the Chortitza settlement. Beginning in 1804, they settled in the province of Taurida on the Molotschnaya, a river from which the name of the Molotschna settlement was derived, some 100 miles southeast of the Chortitza settlement. From time to time additional groups followed until gradually 60 villages were established. In 1835 the migration to the Molotschna came to a close with an estimated total of 1,200 families or 6,000 persons.

Chortitza and Molotschna constituted the two original Mennonite settlements of the Ukraine; from them most of the daughter settlements in Russia originated.

Although by this time the Russian government was no longer interested in settling foreigners in Russia, two more settlements, with some 500 families, were established in the province of Samara, viz., the Am Trakt settlement (begun in 1855) and the Alexandertal settlement (begun in 1859). The total immigration of Mennonites from Danzig and Prussia to Russia during the years 1788-1870 was about 2,300 families, of whom approximately 462 families went to Chortitza, 1,200 to the Molotschna, and 500 to Samara; 80 families supposedly remained in Vilna on their way to the Ukraine. B. H. Unruh (230) estimated that the total number of immigrants was 10,000. These families came from the following communities and churches: Danzig, Marienburg, Elbing, Tiegenhof, Heubuden, Orloff, Ladekopp, Fürstenwerder, Rosenort, and Tiegenhagen. By no means all the immigrants were experienced farmers. Particularly the first group settling in Chortitza was largely composed of poorer laborers, primarily because it was harder for the well-to-do class to obtain permission to leave the country. The Molotschna and Samara settlements, having numerous prosperous and experienced farmers and better land, made more rapid progress economically and culturally than did Chortitza.

Reasons for Migration The Mennonites of Danzig and Prussia had always been a minority in their homeland, tolerated at times because of the economic advantages which the rulers derived from them and at other times oppressed because of their peculiar religious views, their unwillingness to serve in the army, and their rapid spread in the rural areas. In the early days they had been welcomed as good farmers who drained and cultivated the uninhabited swamps of the Vistula River. As Mennonites, however, they were not considered full-fledged citizens. At any time when their service was not needed they were oppressed. The occupations open to them were restricted from time to time (see Danzig Edict of 10 November 1749, Mennonite Life, April 1951, 36). In 1789 a new "Mennonite Edict" prohibited the Mennonites from purchasing new land, basically because the Mennonites with their large families were buying large quantities of land and thus weakening the rural manpower available for military service. In 1748 the Mennonites in 21 villages of the Werder possessed 392 Hufen (a Hufe is about 40 acres) of the 2,418 of this territory; by 1788 they owned 683 Hufen, thus in 40 years nearly doubling their holdings. In 1772 they purchased a total of 400 farms in Prussia. In 1783-1787 the number of families increased from 2,240 to 2,894, which was an increase of 654 families or 3,083 persons in four years (H. Quiring, Mennonite Life, April 1951, 37).

Thus the reasons for the great interest of the Mennonites of the Vistula River in emigration become apparent. Their rapid increase in numbers, combined with the restrictions in the purchase of land and the occupations open to them, in addition to the uncertainties regarding the preservation of their religious heritage, e.g., the practice of nonresistance, induced them to consider invitations to other countries.

The Mennonites, however, as noted above, were not the first to receive the invitation to settle in Russia. Catherine II and her agents had tried to attract citizens of many other countries before their attention was called to the Mennonites. And the Mennonites never constituted more than a minority in the total number of immigrants coming to Russia from Germany and other countries. The total population of people of German descent in Russia during World War I was estimated somewhere around 2,000,000, of whom only some 100 to 120 thousand (5 per cent) were Mennonites. Special "privileges" accorded Mennonites when they went to Russia have probably been overstated. There was, to be sure, some variation in the conditions under which settlements in general were established, but they were probably not due to the fact of differing religious faith (Mennonite or non-Mennonite). Even exemption from military service, which had already been offered as an inducement in the Manifesto of 1763, was granted also to non-Mennonite settlers. The ultimate differences in treatment between the Mennonites and others were possibly due rather to the fact that the Mennonites, because of their deeply rooted religious convictions, more persistently claimed exemption from military service when this "privilege" was threatened. However, 1874-1880 when one third of all Mennonites from Russia moved to the United States and Canada, many thousands of non-Mennonite Russo-Germans including Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, and Pietists also moved to North and South America partly because of the loss of their "privileges."

Privileges and Administration The rights, privileges, and administration of the foreign settlers were not stable and uniform throughout all times nor for all settlements. In general the settlers were under the laws and jurisdiction specifically made for "foreign colonists," who were originally responsible to the Bureau of Guardianship of Foreign Colonists, which had its quarters in St. Petersburg. In 1818 a Fürsorge Komitee (Guardian's Committee) was established by the Russian government, with its seat first at Kherson, later at Ekaterinoslav, and finally at Odessa, which was originally subject to the Minister of Interior. In 1871 the Fürsorge-Komitee was abolished and the foreign settlers including the Mennonites became subject to the local authorities of their respective districts. The German system of self-administration under a Schulze in the village and an Oberschulze of the settlement was practiced by the Mennonites from the beginning until the Revolution of 1917 removed all semblance of privilege and independence from the Mennonites of Russia.

The basic condition under which all colonists were admitted to Russia was Catherine's Manifesto of 22 July 1763 (for a complete text, see D. H. Epp, Chortitzer Mennoniten, 1889, 3). In general this remained the policy for all settlements, although the conditions were not always so generous. In recent times, particularly in America, the charge has been made that the Mennonites of Russia promised not to do any evangelistic or missionary work in Russia. The fact is, however, that none of the Mennonite "privileges" contained such a restriction. Hence this charge must have reference to the original Manifesto of 1763, which states (VI, 1) that the foreign colonists settling in Russia were to have the right to exercise their religion freely in accord with their church rules and practices without any molestation, but that "everyone is warned that none of the Christian believers residing in Russia should under any pretext be persuaded or misled to accept or join the faith and the church" of the foreign colonists. This restriction is followed by a statement that "all the nationalities of the Mohammedan faith living within Russia can be persuaded to accept the Christian religion without any restriction." This makes it clear that the restriction was meant to protect the Russian Orthodox Church against proselyting, but that the foreign settlers had ample opportunity to do mission work among non-Christian citizens of Russia. This Manifesto was dated 1763, and the first agreement made between the Mennonite settlers and the Russian government was dated 3 March 1788, which was 25 years later. Neither this first agreement of 1788 nor any of the following contains a clause restricting mission work in Russia. It is likely that very few Mennonites who settled in Russia ever heard of the restricting clause of the Manifesto of 1763.

The twenty articles (German text in D. H. Epp, 25 ff.) which Höppner and Bartsch presented to Potemkin and which were later confirmed by the government in St. Petersburg including Catherine II contain the terms under which the Mennonites would come to Russia; the first deals with religious freedom, the second with the settlement conditions, the third and fourth with tax exemptions, the fifth and sixth with the development of industry and a loan by the government, the seventh and eighth with the guarantee of freedom of religion and exemption from military service for "eternal ages." The remaining articles, the ninth to the twentieth, deal with the details of travel to Russia and the settlement there. On the margins the government representatives approved or qualified the requests. Articles seven and eight, pertaining to the guarantee of religious freedom and exemption from military service "for all times," are thus annotated, "This shall be done in accordance with their practice" and "they shall be exempted from military service." In 1800 the Mennonites of Russia received a Privilegium under Czar Paul I confirming the rights they had received before (printed by D. H. Epp, 97). Special rights were given to the Mennonites who settled later in the province of Samara.

Early Developments (1789-1850) The Chortitza settlement, being the first, established in an entirely new environment, under the most primitive conditions differing greatly from those of the Vistula Delta, and by settlers who were poor and inexperienced in agriculture, underwent the greatest hardships, affecting the economic, cultural, and religious life. The leaders Bartsch and Höppner were not trusted, and there were no ordained religious leaders. Only under the greatest privations were the early difficulties of pioneering overcome. The promises of the government were either not fulfilled at all or not according to schedule. Theft by officials was common. The Molotschna settlers, many of whom had stopped at the Chortitza settlement, gained much information and experience and settled under more favorable conditions. Many of them were more prosperous to begin with and of a better cultural and spiritual background. This second settlement soon made greater cultural, economic, and religious advances.

A great promoter was Johann Cornies (1789-1848). Through his personal work and as the chairman of the Agricultural Association he did much to improve the economic and educational life of both settlements, particularly of the Molotschna. Gradually the Mennonites shifted the emphasis from the raising of cattle, sheep, and horses to that of grains, particularly winter wheat. Primitive agricultural machinery was replaced by advanced implements produced in Mennonite factories. Chortitza, Alexandrovsk, Halbstadt, and Orloff were leading towns in industrial enterprises and in cultural development. By the time of the death of Johann Cornies the foundation for this development had been laid. But in the matter of providing settlement opportunities for the landless population of both settlements only a beginning had been made by a spear-heading group. The conservative landowning class of farmers did not yet realize their responsibility toward the less fortunate majority of the population of both settlements. Only gradually was the traditional system of mutual aid broadened, which enabled the Mennonites of Russia to establish many daughter settlements not only in the Ukraine, but also in other provinces of European Russia and Siberia, through co-operative purchase of land and loans to new settlers.

In educational and religious practices the pioneers in Russia were extremely conservative, preserving the practices of the old homeland. Ministers read their sermons monotonously. Very little progress was made in challenging the congregations and individuals in their ethical and religious practices and in awakening their social, missionary, and evangelistic responsibilities. The schools were primitive and restricted to the teaching and reading of the Bible and Bible stories, the catechism, the primer, and elementary arithmetic. Teachers were poorly prepared and the school buildings and equipment inadequate.

Daughter Settlements The number of landless Mennonites increased from generation to generation, particularly since the government did not permit the subdivision of a farm, which consisted as a rule of 176 acres (65 dessiatines). The large surplus land tracts in connection with the settlements were generally rented by the well-to-do farmers. The landless usually obtained a small parcel of land at one end of the village and worked as farm hands, industrial workers, etc. They were known as Anwohner. A typical situation was that in the Molotschna settlement in 1865, when there were 1,384 landed farmers and 2,356 landless workers in the villages. Only the landowners, comprising less than one third of the population, had civic and economic rights; the other two thirds had none. A committee known as the Landlosen-Kommission was formed in 1863 to represent the cause of the landless and appeal to the Fürsorge Komitee for remedial action. Finally the surplus land of the Molotschna settlement was distributed among the landless. In addition to this, a fund was established for the purchase of land for oncoming generations. By painful experience the Mennonites of the Molotschna and Chortitza learned to help and to provide for the new generations of landless by establishing daughter colonies.

J. Ewert's study of the increase of the population and the land owned by Mennonites from 1789 to 1910 revealed that approximately 8,500 (the estimate is now 10,000) immigrants established the Chortitza, Molotschna, Alexandertal, and Am Trakt settlements, which had a population of 34,500 by 1859, while the occupied land area remained the same, viz., 501,400 acres. After the great emigration of the Mennonites to America in 1874-1880, the population again rapidly increased. In 1910 Ewert estimated the population of Mennonites in Russia as 100,000, owning a total acreage of 1,798,948, or an average of 18 acres per person (Der Praktische Landwirt, December 1926, No. 12, pp. 12 ff.) (some estimates are higher; see Agriculture among the Mennonites of Russia). Adolf Ehrt estimated that in 1860 the Mennonites averaged 14 acres per person, and in 1914 16 acres. However, this land increase took place primarily in the daughter settlements. The acreage of the mother settlements remained more or less unchanged (Ehrt, 84). In 1860 the mother colonies owned seven times as much land as the daughter colonies, and in 1914 they owned equal amounts (Ehrt, 83).

The increase in property owned by the Mennonites of Russia can be estimated from the taxation for the maintenance of the forestry service or alternative service program. The records reveal that in 1908 the reported property value was 194,000,000 rubles, while by 1914 this had increased to 276,000,000 rubles (Ehrt, 70). No doubt this is an underestimate, since probably not all persons had been reached by the census. Land holdings by Mennonites increased proportionally beyond the growth of the population. The large increase of land ownership was partly due to the purchase of scattered large estates outside the main settlements. Before World War I there were 384 large Mennonite estate owners, who owned 810,000 acres, making an average of 283 acres; the average evaluation of such an estate in 1914 was 200,000 rubles. The large estate owners, though numbering only 1.9 per cent of the Mennonite population, contributed one third of the total, or 80,000 rubles, annually for the maintenance of the forestry service on the basis of an assessment on owned land. The largest Mennonite estate consisted of 50,000 acres (Ehrt, 87).

During the second half of the 19th century the establishment of daughter settlements was restricted primarily to European Russia, first in the territories immediately surrounding the two settlements, then in the Crimea, then in the foothills of the Caucasian Mountains, and later (after 1890 except for Turkestan 1882, 1884) in the eastern provinces of Central European Russia, such as Orenburg, and in Asiatic Russia. Following is a list of the settlements with name, province, the year of founding, number of villages, acreage, and population. Separate articles on each of the settlements will be found in GAMEO. The Russian names, usually Germanized, appear here in an Anglicized form, while the German ones have been retained.

Individual Profile Johann Wiens

1. 176633

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	  Birth:	4 Feb 1811, Rosenort, Gross Werder, Prussia Death:	15 Jan 1858, Bergthal Colony, South Russia Family:	SPOUSE: Dueck, Susanna, 31 May 1817 Married: 9 Dec 1837; South Russia 1 --   Wiens, Jacob, 15 Sep 1838 2 --   Wiens, Helena, 29 Jul 1840 3 -- +Wiens, Maria, 13 Nov 1841 4 --   Wiens, Helena, 15 Feb 1843 5 -- +Wiens, Johann, 1 Aug 1844 6 -- +Wiens, Jacob, 2 Oct 1846 7 --   Wiens, Franz, 23 Jul 1848 8 --   Wiens, Peter, 1 Jan 1850 9 --   Wiens, Susanna, 27 Mar 1851 10 -- +Wiens, Helena, 25 Feb 1853 11 --   Wiens, Franz, 25 Feb 1853 Family:	SPOUSE: Klassen, Helena, 1 Jun 1832 Married: 10 May 1853; South Russia 1 -- +Wiens, Anna, 9 Jul 1857 Father:	Wiens, Peter, 1773 Mother:	Bueckert, Maria, 30 Aug 1779 Notes:	 Marriage Source:  Bergthal Gemeinde Buch, page A87, page A87 Birth Source:  Dalke, James & Betty, page 13 Sept 2010 Death Source:  Dalke, James & Betty, page 13 Sept 2010 Notes:  b42 Last update:	18 Sep 2010            This date covers only this individual's personal data and not family data (marriages, children, etc.) To display more data and links for individuals on this page, a subscription is required.