IIGS Logo IIGS™ Newsletter - October 1998
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In Search Of My Mennonite Roots In Canada
By Don Fehr
I have been interested in my family tree for some years now, but only in the past year has it become a serious search. I started in the normal ways; I asked everyone I could questions and recorded their answers. No one seemed to know much information beyond my grandfather and that was a problem. What follows is how I went about obtaining more information. I hope that it will help others who are searching in Canada.

After talking to my father and various aunts and uncles, I knew that my ancestors had come to Canada from Russia. They settled in Manitoba and later moved to Saskatchewan. What I didn't know was whether or not they landed in the United States or Canada.

So I began my search on the World Wide Web. Without the Web I do not believe I would have learned anything further. I searched various web sites to see what was available and what would be of use to me.

I soon found that the bulk of information about Mennonites of any use to me was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; and that there were a number of web sites available for browsing. I started to search these sites but was getting more and more confused, you see my roots are Mennonite but I am not. So my next goal was to learn about Mennonites and to this end I joined three mail groups and bought a set of books about Mennonites in Canada.

For those interested in Canadian Mennonite information, there is a bookstore in Winnipeg called "Mennonite Books". They have a toll free telephone number, 1-800-465-6564, and a web site. The books that have helped me understand not only what happened in Russia and elsewhere, but also why they moved and a lot more about Mennonites in general is the three volume set Mennonites In Canada.

The three mail groups I joined were ger-rus, ger-rus2, and bess-gr. I found these groups very informative and helpful to me in understanding the ways of the Mennonites. Once I started to feel comfortable, I took the big step and posted a question. From the answers obtained, along with information I was finding on the web, I found a couple books: Reinlander Gemeinde Buch and Bergthal Gemeinde Buch.

These books have been invaluable. The Reinlander... is a book containing the Mennonite registries of the West Reserve in Manitoba and an excellent index sorted by husband's name. The Bergthal... book contains the following major areas:

  1. Bergthal Gemeinde Buch-Russia 1843-1876;
  2. Indexes To Chortitzer Church Registers 1878, 1887, 1907;
  3. Passenger lists 1874-1880 arriving in Quebec City; and
  4. 1881 Canada census records for the East and West Reserve in Manitoba.
Also included in this book is an index that cross-references the passenger ships, census and church records.

Also in surfing the web I found a site run by the California Mennonite Historical Society. At their site I found that they sell a CD called GRANDMA2 (Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry). The CD contains 267,864 names (in GEDCOM form and Brothers Keeper), various maps of South Russia and Prussia, ship lists indexes 1892 - 1904, and other miscellaneous files. This also has been a very valuable tool which contains not only Canadian information, but United States data.

Since obtaining these few items I have been able to add over 500 people to my database. I also have begun to obtain a feel about what the Mennonites have endured in their history. Believe me history DOES repeat itself.

It is my intention to obtain more books in the future and I would suggest to anyone doing research that they obtain whatever material they can in their area of research. It all does help. I have ordered a history about the area where my Dad was born and there is a second book out from the Reinlander... series.

This is a general outline of what I have done and I hope this will help others. Below are some URL's of various Mennonite organizations that may help you. At these sites are many many more links to other Mennonite information around the world. Enjoy.

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