Americanization of the Russian Menaonites 
in Central Kansas* 
Submitted to the 
Department of Sociology and the Graduate Faculty 
of the University of Kansas, 
in partial requirement for the Degree of 
Master of Arts. 
June 1, 1914• 
Cornelius Cicero .Janzen. 
C0HTE1TI3 . 
PART I. Origin, Early History and life of Russian 
Llennonites. 
1. Introduction - - 3 
2. "Origin of the Llennonites - 5 
5. Direct Forefathers of Russian Llennonites 8 
4. Emigration to Russia - 12 
5* life in Russia - 17 
1. The Special Charter. 17 
2- The Village System - 18 
3. Llennonite local Government 20 
4. Economic Development 21 
5. Class Strug-le and landdivision 24 
6. Religious life in Russia - 29 
7. Education in Russia - 34 
6. Social life and Customs in Russia - - 37 
PART II. Life and Americanization of Russian 
Llennonites in Central Kansas. 
Section I. Emigration to, and settlement 
in, America. 
1. Introduction - 46 
2. Emigration to America 48 
Hie Gnadenau Village - 57 
4. Ebenfeld - - - - - - 65 
5. llillshoro Ir. Church - 67 
6 • Rise and Development of Association - 68 
Section II. Social Development and Social 
Organization - - 72 
1. The Social Hind - 73 
2. Religion ; Activities - 74 
3. Economic Activities - 07 
4. Regulative and Political Activities - 110 
5. Cultural Activities - - - 120 
6. Social Life: Customs, Standards, 
Changes - - 131 
7. Summary - - - - - 138 
PART I. 
Origin, Early History and 
life of Russian Mennonites. 
3. 
Introduction. 
A settlement of foreigners always is an important subject 
for a sociological study. Their manners, customs and habits 
are so different from ours and hence they are of interest 
to us. Still more interesting, it seems to me, is a study 
of such a settlement by one who comes from it and has been 
educated in an American environment and then notices the 
changes wllch his own people hav§ undergone. Such is the 
case with the writer. Another reason for such a study in 
the present instance is the fact that the Llennonites are a 
unique people with a checkered history, where fire and 
sword played a large part. They are a religious party that 
held itself for centuries against the most merciless perse-
cutions by Protestants and Catholics alike. On account of 
their refusal to bear arms they have been scattered over a 
number of countries, everywhere seeking exemption from such 
service. Then too, as a member of this religious party I 
am able to understand their ideals and habits of thot and 
can see very plainly where the new environment has wrought 
changes that centuries of oppression and persecution were 
not able to do. Having lived among Americans during the 
larger part of my higher education I belftive I am able to 
take the proper viewpoint in tracing social changes among 
my people. Finally, there are a good many of the early 
4. 
settlers still living and they have told me many a story 
while still a hoy, all of which has made it interesting and 
comparatively easy to get the necessary information for 
this thesis. 
The writer has been greatly helped and inspired 
by Prof. Y. E. Helleberg, to whom grateful acknowledgment is 
hereby made. Other persons to whom the writer is indebted 
for the successful completion of this thesis are Elder J. A. 
Wiebe of Lehigh, Eans., the founder of Gnadenau village, 
H. H. Block and Abr. Groening, also former members of the 
village. 
5. 
Chapter III. 
Origin of the Mennonites. 
The origin of the Llennonites must "be sought in the re-
ligious dissensions of the 12th and 13th centuries. In the 
Afipine mountain reeesses of Savoyen, Switzerland and the 
Lombaafcdy the followers of Petrus Waldus kept themselves from 
extermination thru Catholic persecutions. These people were 
very strict in religious matters, disavowing all obedience 
, to the papacy, emphasizing the exercise of the ea3:ly chris-
tian virtues, refusing the oath and military service and 
demanding baptism of adults only. They were generally known 
as Anabaptists and intensely hated by priesthood and layety. 
By the time of the Reformation they had become a very 
quiet sect, being now persecuted not only by the Catholics 
but also by Lutherans and Calvinists as well. Their number 
had dwindled down to a small remnaftt of what they had been 
before and these were scattered over a wide territory:. 
The man who was to be their great leader in 
later times and after whom finally the greatest number of 
their followers were to be named was not of Waldensian but 
of Catholic origin. Menno Simons was born at Vfitmarsun, 
Holland, in 1492. He was well eduaated, a fluent speaker, 
a pious man and possessed of great ability. He became a 
priest in the Catholic church and remained as such for several 
years. Thru private readings in the Bible he became convinced 
6. 
that many of the doctrines of the Catholic church were not 
right and that the people were not living as they ought to. 
The doctrine of infant baptism especially seemed to he based 
only on tradition and belief and not on scriptural grounds. 
In 1536 he renounced Catholicism and was baptized by a Wal-
densian bishop. On account of his ability, learning and 
piety he was chosen as bishop of a small church in 1537. Erom 
then on he taught and preached incessantly for 22 years in 
Prussia, Holland and other countries. Persecution was very 
severe and in 1543 the Catholic clergy secured the bloody 
patent from the civil authoritiesf in which he was declared 
an outlaw, a heavy sum placed on his head, and anyone who would 
harbor him should suffer death, and any criminal or mu&derer 
who would turn him over to the executioner would have the 
emperor's pardon. To evade his enemies and spies he had to 
use various means. One might meet a solitary wanderer in 
the forest, an ax on his shoulder, presumably returning to 
his little hovel after a day's work, when in reality it was 
Menno Simons going to some church at a secret place. 
Finally, when the persecution became so severe he 
withdrew from Holland and Prussia and took his family to 
Fresenburg, in Holstein, where Count Alefeld granted religious 
liberty to all oppressed Anabaptists. The count provided 
him with a printing press, free of expense, and here he 
7 • 
published his numerous works. His death occurred in 1559, 
at the age of 66. 
Menno had caused the spirit of the Waldensians to 
flame up far and wide and his followers were numerous. He 
was very strict in his teachings, and quite as intolerant as 
Luther, Calvin and contemporaries. He taught that one should 
show no spirit of revenge toward enemies, hut rather help 
them; that one should do his charitable deeds in quietness; 
he rejected infant baptism; refused the oath and military 
service; he opposed state religions, teaching that the state 
and the church ought to be separate; he opposed the holding 
of civil and military offices; but he was outrageously severe 
in the enforcement of the religious ban upon such members 
who had been excommunicated for any reason. Upon his death 
bed he regretted very bitterly to have been so severe. The 
direct result of Menno fs severity in this regard was the 
appearance of schisms among the different churches whifih 
exist until today. When in 1680 and later the greater jart 
of the llennonites emigrated to jSmerica the differences re-
mained. 
8. 
Chapter III. 
Direct Forefathers of the Russian Mennonites. 
The real forefathers of the Russian Mennonites wefe Dutch 
TTTaufgesinnteTT who emigrated to Prussia in the 16th century^ 
before and during the terrible Spanish-Jesuit inquisition 
under Philip II. ^hey scattered over vafcious parts of Prus-
sia, but the real place of activity was West Prussia and the 
territory of the free city of Danzig. Here the people from 
different parts of Germany and Poland Joined them and mixed 
with them. The mixture of Polish-Slavish Elements is shown 
by the presence of such names as Rogalsky, Koslowsky, Ratz-
laff, Savatsk$, etc. The Dutch element is indicated by such 
names as Friesen(Van Riesen) , Jansen(tfanzen) , Eidsen, Claas-
sen and others. Further evidence are also the Dutch customs 
and mode of living, knowledge of the Dutch language, and 
Dutch religious books found among Prussian Mennonites. To 
quote from Friesen (Gesch. D. Atl-Evang. Menn. Br. in RusslandHf 
"Thus we are, as llennonites, according to blood and spirit, 
the heirs of the Waldensians, of the Bohemian-IIaehrian Breth-
ren, of the South Germans and Swiss, and (by blood relation-
ship) principally of the Dutch "Taufgesinnten". 
These Hollanders were the first to be called llenno-
nites after their illustrious leader's first name* The prin-
cipal reason that they were tolerated in West Prussia was 
because of their ability as farmers. The earliest ones seem 
9. 
to have "been called to Prussia on account of their thrift 
and their knowledge and skill in draining off swampy regions. 
The terrible swamps of the Vistula River were drained off by 
them and turned into rich agricultural land, making their 
owners rich and becoming well-to-do themselves. These owners 
protected them from persecutions and later on secured previous 
priveleges for them-' 
Under Polish government the Mennonites haeL compa-
rative peace. They built huge dams to chec® the disastrous 
overflows of the Vistula, showed themselves as sober, thrifty 
people and were tolerated as a great economic asset of the 
hation. From time to time there were enemies in the Polish 
parliament who would have turned them out, but the govern-
ment never did so on account of their good reputation and 
general usefulness. They had their special priveleges renewed 
from time to time and in return, as peaceful citizens helped 
the government with large sums of money. 
When the warlike Hohenzollern^took possession of 
West Prussia the position of the Llennonites became more diffi-
cult, but even here they were tolerated for their great economic 
value. Frederick the Great was a great favorite with them. 
When his successor, his weak and pious nephew, Wilhelm II., 
came to the throne their difficulties began on account of the 
hostile policy he adopted toward them. They soon began 
10 • 
to emigrate, or rather to steal out of the country, since 
emigration was forbid en, going to America, to Polish Russia 
and to South Russia. 
Religious Organization and Customs in Prussia. 
The Mennonites had rather plain looking buildings for 
their churches. At the head fcf the local ehurch was the elder 
who could perform all the duties of a bishop. As assistants 
he had a greater or smallet, according to the needs, of preach-
ers, called "teachers", who took part in all the work that 
the elder did, except that tjiey could not preside at baptism 
or the Holy Supper. Besides these there were one or more 
deacons who looked after the poor of the parish, having 
charge of the welfare work and assisting at baptism and at 
the communion services, ^hese men together made up the church 
board or council. The ultimate authority, however, was with 
the brotherhood. They decided at their meetings, usually 
called at the discretion of their leader, about the church 
finances, excommunication or reception of members, acceptance 
or rejection of resolutions passed at the general conferences, 
etc. by majority vote. Only males over 21 were allowed to 
vote. The elder was always chosen from among the preachers, 
hence they may be said to have formed a Elass of "elder can-
didates". This church organisation was afterwards taken 
bodily over to Russia and is the existing order there even now. 
11 • 
Ehey had frequent weekly meetings in their homes at which 
they discussed the scriptures on the round table plan. The 
preachers generally read their sermons since they regarded 
it as a sign of self-exaltation to give a sermon off hand. 
The religious Mfe was noted more for its rigidity and formal-
ity than for any great depth of spirituality. The traditions 
of the past played herein a great part. A church that has 
been mercilessly persecuted for generations, when peace and 
prosperity come, naturally falls alseep on the deeds and 
sufferings and the reputation of the forefathers. 
12. 
Chapter IV. 
1. Emigration to Russia. 
During the last few years of Frederick1 s reign the Menno-
nites had not received the same kind treatment as formerly. 
In 1780 they received an imperial order that upon payment of 
5,000 Reichstaler they would he forever exempt from military 
service. Eight years later they were limited in the amount 
of land they could acquire,in addition to the above, This 
caused widespread pauperization. Emigration was at once thot 
of but it was forbidden so thaj they had to sneak out of the 
country. 
Just about this time, 1786, Empress Catherine II. of 
Russia being desirous of populating her newly acquired province 
of Taurida with examplary farmers, issued a special invitation 
to the Mennonites of Danzig, which was not under Prussian 
control. She sent Herr Trappe, a very capable and trustworthy 
man, to make a personal visit. The same year two deputies, 
Hoeppner and Parts eh, were sent by the Mennonites in answer 
to this invitation to investigate and inspect the land. They 
were courteously received by the empress, graciously presented 
to her official family, and shown over the land In the spring 
of 1787. Ho written agreement was entered in, but the Menno-
nites were promised religious freedom/ exemption from mili-
tary service for all times, complete local autonomy, 65 des-
jatines(about 180 acres) of land for each family and various 
other priveleges. 
13 • 
The person responsible for inviting the Mennonites to come 
to Russia seems to have heen a Russian general who became 
acquainted with them during the Seven YearSS War when the 
Russian army had its winter quarters each year among the Menno-
nites. He saw thetr industry, sobritey, economic independence 
and well managed farms and was favorably impressed by them. 
Being a member of the imperial council at the time when the 
empress proposed to settle those provinces and civilize the 
Tartars he related his former experiences with these people. 
2. First Settlement in South Russia. 
The deputies brot a favorable report and in the fall of 
1V88 a train of 228 families started to the distant province. 
2he poorer ones were the first to go. The following spring 
they arrived at the island of Chortiza, at the junction of 
the Dnjeper and Chortitza Rivers, the country was barren, 
treeless, seemingly waterless, with shallow stony soil, so 
that a mutiny bpoke out at once, but a retreat was impossible• 
They had received very ample help from the Russian government, 
but when they settled that stopped. Under such dreary and 
discouraging conditions they set to work to build homes in 
this wide wilderness among half civilized tribes, with nothing 
to protect them. The following years were fraught with much 
suffering and poverty. In 1797 a train of 118 families joined 
them, so that altogether around 400 families made up the first 
Mennonite colony in Russia. The first immigrants were %n 
14 • 
such a rush to get to the new country that not even a preacher 
was among them. Somehow the lowest elemnnts Y/ere the first 
to leave and they caused a great deal of the subsequent troubles. 
After untold sufferings and miseries on account of ignorance 
of the conditions, the unworthiness of many settlers, the dis-
honesty of many Russian colonial officers the colony seemed to 
to go to utter ruin. Added to this were the internal dissen-
sions of the colonyiitself. After some int^gueing o£ the part 
of the discontented ones the deputies who were the treasurers 
for the imperial donations to the colony were arrested for 
alleged irregularities and brot to trial. Complaint had been 
sent even to the imperial council, and now "to save themselves, 
the plaintiffs, twelve in number, had to give an oath that 
the complaints were true. One of the deputies upon asking 
forgiveness was accepted back into the church, but Hoeppner 
would not do so because he wao not conscious of having done 
any wrong, nor could he have come back on account of the above 
complaint. He was tried, found guilty upon the above malicious 
evidence and put into prison. His property was confiscated 
and sold at auction by the government to make up the defici-
ency in the treasury. Since there was very little money in 
the colony the neighboring nobility and landowners were in-
vited to tttend the auction. When enuf property had been 
sold to make up the alleged discrepancy the sale was stopped. 
The buyers themselves showed more mercy than the Mennonites. 
They returned a large proportion of the property they h&d just 
hot siid gave it to the Hoeppner family. Iloeppner himsfc&f 
would have "been sent to Siberia, but emperor Paul I. died and 
his successor, Alexander I., pardoned all criminals whose em-
bezzlement did not e::ceed 8,000 rubles. Hoeppner came back, 
but being excommunicated, he did not have the right to own 
any land. His property fell to his son and with him he lived 
to a great age. There is no doubt but what the deputies were 
entirely innocent of the charges. At the centennial the colony 
placed a monument upon Hoeppner1 s grave. The colony was only 
saved from utter ruin by the coming of more wealthy immigrants 
in 1804 who stayed with them during the winter and paid in 
cash for all services. 
Sgcond large Settlement. 
The next larger settlement of Mennonites in Russia 
began in 1804 when the above mentioned families, 342 in num-
ber came from Prussia, ^his party had many wealthy farmers 
and thru their aid the Old Colony, as it is now called, re-
ceived a new lease of life. The settlement was made about 
60 werst(40 miles) or more down stream on the Molotchna River 
(Milk River). The territory was level, covered with plenty 
of grass, but devoid of timber except along the rivers. The 
soil was better and water was not so deep and of better quali-
ty than in the old colony. The Nogaiens who lived near by 
proved to be a great difficulty. The poor horses of the 
colonists they hot for meat during the day and the good ones 
they got by night, without paying for them of course. 
The colony was a success from the start, ^he experi-
ence with" the soil that the first settlers had had helped them 
to avoid many costly errors. At the same time a Mr. Contenius, 
a senator, had "been appointed as a special overseer of the 
immigrants and he went to work in a systematic way to make 
this settlement a success from the very beginning. 
The second party of 99 families arrived in 1809, 
a third of 215 families in 1820 and a later one Strang out 
from 1835 to 1840 brot 80 families. 6£ all immigrants these 
latter were the most educated and as such hsve had the greatest 
influence of all the settlers. All told there were about 
750 families in the Molotschna district and about 400 families 
in the Chortitza colony, a total of 1150 families or approxi-
mately 6,000,members, antfaverage of 5.2 persons to the family. 
By 1824 the former colony had 40 villages, the latter 18; 
by 1860 the one had increased to 60, whereas the other load 
remained at 18. These 18 villages contained about 6,000 
families, or about 56,000 people. The increase load been 
five-fold in 70 years. 
17 • 
Chapter V. 
life in Russia. 
1. The Special Charter. 
When the first settlers had "been induced to come Russia 
they had received a promise of a special charter embodying all 
their special priveleges. Upon this verbal promise the first 
settlement was made in 588-89. It Y/as not until 1796 that 
two deputies we re sent to St. Petersburg to work for the char-
ter. They were delayed two years at the Russian capitol, com-
ing home in 1800 with the precious document in their possession. 
Its cintents, in brief, are the following: 
1. They were to be permitted to follow their own religious 
teachings undist^bed and should not be called upon tb 
render an oath in case of litigation, but affirmation 
should be sufficient. 
2. Every family should receive 65 desj.(180 acres) and have 
it forever. Sale or deeding it to a stranger could be 
done only upon express permission from prpper authorities. 
3. Freedom of trade and the right to build factories any-
where in the empire and also the right to join any trade 
guilds of the country. 
4. The special right to brew beer, vinegar and brandy or 
whisky on their lands, as well as the sale thereof. 
5. Ho stranger should have the right to erect a saloon upon 
* any land of the Mennonites without their permission* 
6. They were assured that neither they nor their followers 
18 • 
nor their offspring would he asked to do military or civil 
service without their consent. 
7.Freedom from military garrisoning and work for the crown, 
hut the duty to keep their bridges and roads in good order. 
8. The land hot from private sources could be dealt with as 
the Llennonites pleased. In cases of inheritance and the 
care of the orphans they could follow their own rules. 
9. They should be free from 10 to 15 years from all imperial 
taxes on account of their poverty. 
10.All civil and military authorities, as well as the courts, 
> 
were commanded to respect these special rights and* to lesse] 
them in arty way. 
This "Privelegium"^ as it was known among the Menno-
\ 
nites was confirmed by succeeding emperors and thus they 
were protected from interferences by the government. 
2. The Mir, or Tillage System. 
The llennonites settled in villages of from 15 to 50 fami-
lies. A wide street ran thru the village, preferably from 
east to west and on both sides of this road were the houses 
located. Each house stood a little back from the street to 
allow for the trees and flower beds which were very common 
among these people. The barn was generally an extension 
of the house so that the whole structure was under one roof. 
The long side of this house-barn generally faced the street. 
Behind this were the lesser buildings, such as the needs 
of each individual family would require. The piece of land con-
nected with the dwelling place was small, containing ahout 8 
acres. 
Farther away from the village was the land "complex" of 
the village. Each family had its assigned 65 desj. and could 
always farm it. The distance of the &and was never very great 
for the owners, hut later on when the proletariat arose these 
had to drive as far as 12 miles to their fields. These had 
their land allotted each year and could not have their fields 
together. One piece of land would he given over to rye one 
year and each man had to put in his share of that grain. The 
next field was perhaps given over to oats and was under the 
sane regulations. 
In the center of the village was a great building, the 
village magazine. Each farmer had to make a report when the 
harvest was over and contribute a certain part to this magazine 
to provide for the poor of the village and also to have supplies 
for the village in hard times. The poor received the food gratis! 
but were expected to work for it when they could and thus make 
a small return. ' The church was located nsar the center of the 
village, surrounded by beautiful shade trees. Sometimes several 
villages had one church together. The villages were from^to 
five werstf 2/3 to 3 miles4 apart. This gave many opportuni-
ties for social intercourse. Generally there was some sort of 
village rivalry and fights, jokes, etc. were not uncommon. 
20 • 
3. Mennonite Government. 
The llennonites had almost complete local autonomy. Only 3 
pfficers were appointed hy the crown minister from among the 
llennonites, all the others were elected "by the villagers them-
selves. At the head of the village was the "Schulz" or chief 
magistrate who generally had an assistant or two. He was ap-
pointed annually hy the crown minister. He was mayor, justice 
of the peace, treasurer, paid the village teacher, the village 
herdsman, whipped criminals with the knout and performed other 
executive and judicial duties. Whenever something of importance 
arose he called the landtmners together and discussed the mat-
ter with them. Y/hen some young fellow had committed a misde-
meanor the Schulz decided what the punishment shoUld he, whether 
prison, the knout or a fine. Such punishment with the knout 
was kept strictly secret, so that no one in the village might 
know that So-andSo had "been treated with the famous Buftsian 
knout. Ahove the village was the "Oberschulz", the chief magis-
trate of all the villages to whom all these men were directly 
responsiiile, and he in turn was responsible to the minister of tl* 
colonies and the interior. 
When the Mennonites first came to Russia, being altogether 
unaccustomed to having the govermient in their own hands, this 
local autonomy caused a dispute at once. It was beyond the 
comprehension of many how "brethren" could "reign" over breth-
ren in the sense that the "world" does. They believed the only 
way was the one of the church which they had fol?owed for so 
21 • 
many years. Yet there were so many among the first settlers 
who needed thoro disciplining, even with the knout, that it did 
not take long until it was evident that only such a government 
could hope to maintain peace even among "brethren". This sys-
tem has remained practically unaltered until today. 
4. Economic Development. 
The first settlers were very poor and had a very difficult 
time to get a foothold on the land, hut the secong colony had 
many men of great.wealth and this made such sufferings as the 
first colony had endured Tjuite impossible. The territory upon 
ifrhich the llennonites settled wrs a barren prarie, with no tim-
ber except along the rivers, with shallo?^stony soil and with 
water deep underground. All this made it difficult in the rigofc-
ous climate of the country to prosper in the early years. Hard 
times were also caused by a failure of crops in the early years 
so that the imperial government had to help considerably. 
The early agricultural tools which the settlers brot along 
were of a rather primitive type compared with out modern ma-
chinery of today, fhey still had the wooden plow, the wooden 
harrow, great heavy wagons with hubs 24 ihches long, wide tire-
less fallows, wheels that could stand the wear and tear of a 
generation, even tho they turned on wooden axles. It was next 
to the impossible to trun around with those clumsy nagons. They 
could be lengthened out so that an immense amount of grain could 
be loaded on them. They made their coming gnown for miles in 
advance unless the owner had plenty of grease with him. In the 
early 20ties iron axled, steel tired wagons came into use, since 
the old ones fefused to do service any longer. 
Up to the 40ties many a farmer mowed his own grass 
and grain with a hand scjrthe, woman and children following in\Kt. 
field and helping. Everything was hound at once in sheaves 
since it was thot that anything left over night was lost. Boys 
and girls often put the mown grain into little heaps and the 
fathirr would put the scythe away and hind the sheaves and put 
then into shocks of 15 "bundles each. 
Threshing was done with a flail and by treading out with 
horses. The grain was hauled from the field into the big gran-
ary and then the long and tedious process of separating the 
grains from the hulls began. It took nearly all winter to 
thresh the wheat, barley, oats and rye. Often the barley 
stacks would remaiw until the spring sowing had been done, 
"and then bore good interest for the mice" as Isaac puts it 
in his "Molotschna Henn." Panning machines did not come into 
use until the 40ties, and then only here ahd there, and rather 
poorly equipped. Often, after threshing a few days with horses 
a farmer would have to wait a week or more for a favorable 
wind to clean the grain from the loose hulls. During the 
same time the thresh stone, a large stcne running on a heavy 
axle, and constructed with ridges, came into use and slowly 
23 • 
displaced the treading out with horsew and the flail, but the 
scythe remained until the early 70ties when reapers came in. 
In the decade before this the "bugger plow" and the 3 and 4 
sheared gang plows, home made, came into use and displaced the 
wooden implements. later on these plows were manufactured in\ 
the factories of the Llennonites. 
At an early date there wasc a small number of factories 
at various places in the settlements which later on expanded in-
to large steam factories in which most of the implements of 
the settlers were made. There was also a good deal of commerce 
with the Russians and o$her neighboring people. 
The man who did perhaps most to make the Mennonite 
settlements in Russia a success was a Mennonite by the name of 
John Cornies. He came to Russia in 1805 as a youth of 16 and 
soon showed his marked abilities. At 27 he was appointed a kind 
of agricultural supervisor of the Mennonites. In 1830 the Agri-
cultural Association (landwirtschaftlicher Verein) was organized 
and he became its lifelong president. The association soon adop^ 
ted a very inclusive program of activity. Cornies passed regu-
lations in regard to servants who were becoming numerous in the 
colony, superintended the neglected children of the villages, put 
idle persons, whether married or single, to work applying the. 
knout occasionally to obstinate ones, introduced more cultural 
habits among the rude boors, worked toward the improvement of 
the general moral standards, required that all buildings and 
24 
fences around the "homos should he covered with a coat of white 
paint, ruled that blacksmith shops should be located on the 
maim street of the villages, caused water reservoirs to be built 
for the irrigation of the meadows, built watering places for 
the great village herds, did away with the festivities that had 
always been held at the end of each year when the officers of 
the Village struck a balance for the year and then celebrated 
the event in a hilarious fashion. Thus this great and strict 
man worked for 18 years and when he died in 1848 he left a per-
manent monument behind him in the form of beautiful villages, 
hundreds of streets lined with shade trees, and a general im-
provement in all lines. He insisted that the Mennonites should 
be a real example of thrift and industry to the neighboring 
Tartars as the Russian emperor wished them to be. He had many 
strong enemies who tibied in various ways to have him removed 
from office, but he had the confidence of the government so 
completely that all these attempts failed. His influence ex-
tended far beyond the limits of the German settlements. He was 
also a supervisor and an advisor of the Hogaiens who lived in 
the heighborhhod. When he died the storm broke loose. 
5. Glass Struggle and landdivision. 
That a class struggle should take place among so religious 
a people as the Mennonites seems strange, but it is a fact. The 
reasons for this were several in jrumber. After 1820 those who 
25 
could not pay traveling expenses were not allowed by the Russian 
government to come in any longer. As a result of this ruling the 
Mennonite churches of Prussia found it cheaper to give poor 
families enuf money to emigrate to Russia than to support them. 
In this way the weak settlements in Russia soon had a proleta-
riat in their midst that could not he placed in any separate 
settlement on account of their poverty. Another fceason was the 
rapid natural increase of the people, the population rising 
from 6,000 to 30,000 in less than 70 years. Connected with this 
was the failure to divide the land properly and in time, and the 
ignorance of the people in general that the land held by the Men-
nonite land barons was the property of all of them. 
The early families had all acquired land without diffi-
culty and the unoccupied J^ and around each village load been ren-
ted to the wealthy who paid a pittance of about 2/3 cents an 
acre. When the families increased faster than they were taken 
care of by settlement in new villages the holders of full 
farms sold small patches of about 1 l/2 acres each to these 
poor people and there they built their homes and made a living 
as laborers or renters. During all this time the wealthy were 
holding the land which really belonged to the villages, still 
paying the pittance of fomasr years and then renting the land 
out for $1 to $1.33 an acre to the poor. 
Thus long before 1860 the problem of the landless 
26 
proletariat had become very acute. She 450,000 acres of crowns-
land were directly or indirectly in the possession of less than 
l/3 of all families and this third deprived the landless major-
ity of all such priveleges with all the means and energies of 
a ruling class. Thus says Friesen in his "Gesch. d. Alt-Evang. 
Er. in Russland" :nThe difference s of these Glasses, tho re-
lated with one another thru the closest ties of religion and 
hlood relationship, where father and son, brother and brother, 
preacher and church member often opposed one another, whichever 
T7a$ fate had placed them, finally degenerated into a regular 
class hatred, playing itself out in the most pathetic way intte 
60ties, 70ties and 80ties, but which also disappeared more or 
less thru the final landassignment and repeated emigrations to 
private or to village tracts which the mother colonies acquired? 
As long as Cornies lived the poor had been taken care of, 
altho not quite adequately. When he died and the men who had 
worked with him, the wealthy got control of the Agricultural-
Association. By this time, 1848, the Association had also con-
trol of the school system and otherwise exercised wide control. 
The president of the Association, Peter Schmidt, was of the 
wealthy class and worked very willingly against landdivision. 
He was very strongly opposed to giving the poor people any 
land at all. He had rented a large tract from the village the 
plat at/rate of 1/3 cent an acre and charged these landless 
people s)l or more for it, a profit of between 30^000$ and 
27 
40,000$, n a rather comfortable income to live thus from the 
sweat of the poor", as Isaac puts it in his "Molotschnaer Henn." 
The chief magistrate of the district (Gebietsvorsteher) was 
David Friesen, alsojDf the wealthy class. He v/as in office 
from 1848 to 1865. 'Then the proletariat began to demand land 
he called them agitators and peace disturbers. Isaac claims 
that it was Friesen*s intention to reduce the landless people 
to the condition of serfs, of which xftissia had millions at 
that time. He argued that day laborers would be too scarce 
and high priced to the landowners if these people were per-
mitted to own land. 
In december of 1863 the agitation for land began in earn-
est. H. P. Wiebe, corresponding secretary of the "learned 
Council of the Empire" petitioned the Guardianship Committee 
(Fuersorge Komitee) in behalf of these poo^people. The inspec-
tor created a commission consisting of two representatives of 
the landless class from eac& colony to meet and formulate their 
demands. They met and issued a petition asking for land and 
telling of their wretched condition. They soon found out that 
they had a right to the village lands in the possession of the 
wealthy as well as the rights of citizens. The land in question 
had been due for distribution long ago. Heretofore only proper-
ty owners hf 65 desj. had the right to vote on municipal and 
civil affairs. This -state of classes was altogether contrary 
to what the government had intended for the settlers. The 
28 
agitation lasted for several years. During the process David 
Friesen was deposed from the chief magistracy for irregulari-
ties in office and the way cleared for action. The propertied 
class, with the full knowledge of Friesen before he was deposed, 
sent two blacklist petitions to the imperial government in 
which the landless class was branded as agitators. This had no 
success,however. Wiebe was finally successful and a settlement 
arrived at. T-^ ose who owned a small,place and were not in pover-
ty thru their own fault could take up land. The 5-and hereto-
fore held by the land barons was surveyed and divided into half 
and quarter farms. They could retain their homes and farm the 
land at a distance. This ranged all the way from 6 to 12 miles. 
Often the land of a village was in several tracts so that a 
man's fields would be in different directionsfrom his home. 
The result of this landdivision was good. The class 
hatred gradually died out and class distinctions became less 
prominent. Even so fchere are millionaires among the Mennonites 
who live on immense estates, have titles, hereditary or granted, 
and otherwise live on the style of the nobility. The poor did 
not disappear altogether, but the situation was relieved and 
the later emigration of 12,000 to 15,000 brot more favorable 
conditions. The harm had, however, been done, and Eussia has 
thousands of poor Mennonites as a result besides the few hundred 
we alt lay ones. It is also noteworthy that hardly any of these 
rich people emigrated to Ameirca. 
29 • 
6. Religious life in Russia? 
The Mennonites have always heen a religious party and as 
such the religious featmre has been the strongest among them. It 
has Ringed their lives more or less thru all the centuries of 
their existence. She religious life of the Russian Mennonites 
doe3 not reveal any great striking characterisitcs except that 
of continual separations into separate churches. The people 
that immigrated to Russia were of two types, one of which was 
more conservative than the other. Soon after settlement disputes 
arose and it came to a break, a characteristic^ of Mennonites 
the world over. The first separation occurred in 1812 aff^ ras 
completed by 1820. Those that branched off called themselves 
"Die Kleine Gemeinde" {Little Parish) and were noted for their 
extreme narrovmess in ideas of dress, conduct and religious 
teachings. They were utterly Apposed to education, read nothing 
but the Bible, were temperate in drinking, demanded strict ob-
servance of Sundays and were noted for their simplicity of dress. 
Thru the efforts of the big church these people were deprived of 
all the rights of an independent church until 1843 when the Rus-
sian government recognized it and commanded the local authori-
ties to do the same. 
later on some more disagreements occurred within the 
big fthurch and more divisions resulted. The greatest excite-
ment, however, was eaused in the latter 40ties and the middle 
50ties when Pa&tor vTuest, A lutheran Separatist, came into the 
settlement and began to preach everywhere and to every one, 
30 
whether at church, in the hone or behind the plow. He would 
insist that the person then and there make sure of his eternal 
welfare. As a result of his enthusiastic work a great revival 
swept the Lutheran and Mennonite settlements. At the same time 
looser elements came in. The religious excitement grew and 
passed beyond the control of reason. The movement that had 
promised so much began to show signs of excessive emotional! jew 
At the meetings the peoplfe went into wild ecstacy and finally 
all sorts of sensuality crept in. Pastor Wuest had been warned 
and requested several times to organize a regular church so 
that these forces would not go beyond reasonable bounds. This 
was his special duty since the greater number of converts were 
among the Lutherans. He refused at first and when he tried 
at a,big conference to stem the tide of emotionalism he was 
declared fallen from grace by the extreme emotionalists who 
were glorying in their newly found freedom. He died shortly 
after in 1858 and the whole thing broke up into separate 
factions. 
Origin of the Mennonite Brethren Church. 
The most lasting monument of Quest's influence is the 
present Mennonite Brethren Church which is represented both in 
Russia and America. Soon after W.Ts death there were gatherings 
of people who did not any longer believe in the formalism of 
the old church. For, altho the Mennonites had prospered im-
mensely financially their religious life had not kept pace with 
it, but had degenerated in vitality. John Cornies had made the 
31 • 
"beginning in "bringing civil authority to bear upon those who 
differed, widely in their views with him or with those who were 
in power. After Cornies1 death when Friesen became chief magis-
trate he made various use of his office to "bring political 
influence to bear upon religious matters. 
On the 6th of Jan., 1860, a band of at6 family heads 
met in the village of Ruecltenau and declared "themselves a sepa-
rate body from the big church because of the loose living at 
trade days and festivals, fearing that they would lose the 
speci&l priveleges if this went on much longer. They believed 
in the sacraments, the Holy Supper, washing of feet, choosing 
of leaders from among the congregation by majority vote and 
later on they decided upon immersion as the proper form of 
baptism. They met very strong opposition from an elder convent 
of seven members that existed at that time. Any religious 
body to have legal existence and have the right to hold meet-
ings must have the recognition of the imperial government. This 
the elders tried to prevent by all means. Friesen had several 
arrested and throvrn into prison for meeting "secretly in their 
homes". It was but a furtherance of the spirit which Cornies 
had brot in and which seems to go very well with all puritanic 
sects, namely that of extreme narrowness and intolerance to-
ward others. These newly separated people soon received the 
name of jjumpers"(Huepfer) for their demonstrations at the 
meetings. They would shout for joy, go into ecstacy, dance, 
lay the tamborine, and in other foolish ways manifest their 
22 • 
great "happiness in Christ". It was quite natural that some 
opposition should occur to such behavior. After several years 
of struggle and agitation the church was recognized by the 
government and its existence assured. 
This , however, did not do away with the emotionalism. 
The tendency to utter "freedom" was checked by some scandalous 
behavior of a few members in the early part of 1862. Soon this 
spirit manifested itself in a sort of spiritual tyranny of a 
few. The real leaders had very little to say. Two of the fore-
most of this "strong" element indulged in all sorts of wild 
spiritual excesses. They used the ban freely and extensively. 
One of these men, W., would ban the other, B., and B. in turn 
would ban W., thus giving one another over to the "devil", ac-
cording to St. Paul. Or, if they did agree between themselves 
they would excommunicate other members in the different vil-
lages who did not abide by their decisions or did not agree 
with them. Thus it came about that at one time over half were 
wither excommunicated or under the ban. This mad behavior in 
the latter part of 1864 and the early part of '65 is known as 
the "mad time". The more sensible men got together and de-
nounced such wild* fire activity. Accordingly, they met at a 
conference on June 27, 1865, formulated a protocoll and organized 
the church properly. All the high handed actions of a few ir-
responsible leaders were repudiated, the excommunitated received 
unconditionally, the wild leaders forced to apologize for their 
actions and the real leaders restricted in their activity so 
33 
that they could carry out only those measures which the congre-
gation would vote to have done. All dancing, tamhorining, shout-
ing and excessive emotionalism which had caused so much dis-
gust among decent people, was to cease and members of other 
churches yr®ve to he greeted with friendliness and not as out-
casts as it had been done formerly. Thus after five years of 
storm and unrest the church entered upon a different career. 
The effect of the June protocoll was greater than its 
mild wording would indicate. A reaction against emotionalism 
and instrumental music set in which has continued until today. 
During all this time fcf unrest the membership had increased 
continually so that from now on the personnel of the church 
became very different from what it had been before. Many came 
over from the old church, but at the same time they brot with 
them the old ideas of narrowness and intolerance. This narrow-
ness showed itself in the following years especially in regard 
to musical instrumentsin the church and social intercourse among 
the young people of both sexes. 
The religious life of the Russian Mennonites is thus 
marked by a tinge of intolerance, shown in the persecutions 
which the members of the various new churches experienced. In 
turn each new church was a little narrower tha^ its mother 
church had been so that there was an all around occasion for 
misunderstanding? Each believed that it he d THE correct way 
to get to the promised land. 
34 
7. Education in Russia. 
In the early period when the people had to use all their 
efforts to make a living education redeived very little atten-
tion. In fact, there were no places where school could bo 
taught nor any teachers for the children, so that tie first 
generation received all of its schooling from their mothers. 
The Dutch Mennonites who emigrated to Prussia were well edu-
cate^ut education had fallen off in Prussia, and now in Russia 
the pioneer period was still more unfavorable to it. After 
some time little school houses were built, but there were no 
teachers. We can bestiillustrate the condition of the early 
schools by quoting from Isaac's "Molotschnaer Mennoniten": TTBut 
where were teachers to obtained? There were none. The people 
had to help themselves the best they could. People were found 
to oversee such a profession, even tho they really had no in-
tellectual attainments acc or dinger© sent day ideas. If an in-
valid, no matter of what religious confession or how unfit for 
any physical work, could be found who was looking for his 
bread, if he could write legibly he was made the schoolmaster. 
A v ery different measure of a man was applied then than we do 
today. This had its reason not only in the fact that teaching 
was regarded as a low profession but also in the scarcity of 
men who came up to the standards of even that time. T/henever 
one was found who could read intelligently, could write ^ uite 
legibly and perhaps knew also tho four fundamental operations 
in arithmetic they were more than satisfaied, in fact had to be. 
37 
That a school master needed any vigor of "body or mind was at 
that time not generally comprehended. Old craftsmen who plied 
a traffic on the side, not only after hut also during school 
hours were the teachers. The joiner's bench stood beside the 
school desk at which the pupils sat. If a tailor was teacher 
the pupils had to make room for him at the upper end, since the 
teacher could observe from there even during his work whether 
they were keeping their eyes on their books steadily. And why 
shouldn't a school master ply a trade9 They had to have some-
thing to do for a diversion, because they ieed only see to it 
that the children kept their eyes on the books continually and 
sat very quietly during their study period. And if the children 
were not willing to submit then the rod, kneeling upon peas, or 
the suspending of a, board with a big ear drawn upon it (langohr) 
did the necessary thing. Sometimes a man could not be found 
and then the children were sent to some old mother that they 
might learn the alphabet, and if possible a little more....Hot 
only during the first years but for mote thah a quarter of a 
century the pupils were supplied with various kinds of books. 
One had a Mennonite Catechism, another a Lutheran, a third had 
a book of the gospels, etc. The school desk was generally two 
feet wide and as long as the room would permit. The boys sat 
on one side of it and the girls on the other while the teacher 
had the upper end. Each child after it had learned its lesson 
or had sat for a while had to come to the teacher and recite. 
Naturally the recitations were poor, and so it was nothing 
36 • 
uncommon that the child received a parting blow as it left 
the teacher. Many a pupil went to the teacher with fear and 
trembling." (pp. 273-4,translated freely) 
Slowly better teachers took the place of these 
would-be teachers, and finally a preparatory school for teachers 
was opened. This work grew into greater proportions under the 
supervision of Corniew. The three pioneers of the Mennonite 
schools who achieved lasting fame were Tobias Vothl., Henry 
Heese, and Henry Pranz I. These men gave the Russian Mennonite 
school system the stamp of idealism andpiety. By the time 
of the middle 70ties there were a number of Central Schools 
very similar to the German lymnasi^f and the teachers of these 
V 
schools were Mennonites with university training. 
37 
Chapter 
Social life and Customs in Russia. 
That MennorPte social life must have some aspects different 
from those of other people may well be expected. In this res-
pect it might he well to quote some other authors besides 
Mennonites. Two Germans, Reiswitz and Wadsweck writing about 
182o give the following of the Mennonites; n It is rather diffi-
cult to give a general opinion of the character of a religious 
party so widely distributed and living among so many different 
nations as the Mennonites do. Yet it is clear that the pecu-
liarities of the nations among which the Mennonites live must 
ha#e some influence upon their customs and manners, so that 
the customs of the Russian Mennonites must be different from-t>io? 
of American and Swiss Mennonites, altho they may agree in doc-
trines of faith. In general it may be said that they have re-
ceived favorable criticisms in early times. The Dutch ambas-
sador in France in the 18.century said that they were the most 
honest and pleasing people Of the world. They did not tun 
after any offices of honor, nor need anyone fear a revolution 
from a sect which had for one of its articles of faith the one 
forbidding the bearing of arms. They paid all their taxes to 
the state and gave their neighbors a good example by their 
customs. They were strong patrons of art and trade and did 
not waste their inheritance or their acquired property. They 
never swore an oath, but that was so much better since the dig-
nity of the court did not suffer any by this. They felt them-
38 • 
selves obligated thru their promise to speak the truth as tho 
they had given an oath It is but natural that the teaching 
to avoid all vengeance, of subordination and obedience to church 
dignitaties and the entire parish, connected with their strict 
piety, their simple affirmation of the truth and their original 
simplicity and temperate habits must give the character of the 
individual Mennonite a peculiar gentleness and meekness. But 
also the treatment from their neighbors and the officials must 
have had a deciding influence upon the traits of their charac-
ter, as some claim to have noticed. Thus some claim that the 
Mennonite is cunning, slow, reserved and distrustful. In older 
times the Mennonites were hated and shunned a great deal and 
thru that forced to rely upon themselves. The fear in which 
they were continously held thus forced them to be cautious and 
deliberate. Their manners are simple and crimes and suicides 
are very rare among them. Simplicity, order, almost painful 
cleanliness and an absence of play and all noisy diversions are 
the principal characteristics of their family circle. In respect 
to progress in agriculture the Mennonites have not been equaled." 
The different countries in wiich the Mennonites have lived 
have given 'the different branches different customs. The learn-
ing and art which they brot from Holland was all Host in Prus-
sia and when they emigrated to Russia they underwent some more 
changes, altho these were not so great because of their prac-
tical isolation from outside inf?uenees« 
The social life naturally centered in the village group. 
59 
The closeness of neighbors permitted a great deal of social 
inter course. She neighboring villages were only a few miles 
away and that led to a great deal of friendly visiting as well 
as to rivalry. Occasionally the young^of one village went to 
the other to a dance whifch would often end up in a general 
fight. Or, if dances were not the occasion some hoys might go 
for the express reason of picking a quarrel and then come home 
with "blood; heads. The churches had their meetings-in the fore-
n 011s only and then the afternoon war: spent in singing, dancing 
and offcen^&rinking. In some villages church attendance was 
required thru force of public opinion, in others it mattered 
less whether attendance was regular or not, just so the person 
led a clean moral life. 
In the 50ties aid 60tios when many of the Mennonites had 
become wealthy and had much land under cultivation they re-
quired a great number -of helpers during the harvest time. The 
landless proletariat did not furnish a sufficient number of 
workers so that a large number of Russians were hired every 
year. For this purpose several men were sent to the neighbor-
ing Russian villages, preferably on Sunffay. In this connection 
we might relate an incident which is supposed to be true. At 
a certain village one Sunday morning the preacher was giving 
out the hymn, saying "lord God, we are all here" when one of 
the audience chimed in "and the rest are in Tokmack" \ a Rus-
sian village, hiring laborers). Wine and wofka (Russian whiskey) 
played and important part at harvest time. After harvest the 
40 
Russian laborers left for their homes again. Among many Menno&i 
nite families the hired hands and house servants ate at a special 
"servants' table" in the kitchen and many interesting stories 
are related concerning the treatment of servants. Many families, 
however, held their servants on a basis of social equality with 
themselves and permitted them to eat at the regular family 
table- The dismissal of a Russian servant always brot fear to 
the home, especially if the master and his servant had parted 
with hard feelings. Often robberies, fire or murder would re-
sult. The wealthy alwpys emfloyed, and still do, nightwatchmen 
to protect the home and yard. The thieveries of the Russians 
became rather bothersome at times. House and barn, always had 
to be locked for the night. All windows were fastened securely 
before the family retired, not sure whether they would wake 
up the next morning. 
Children did not always have a rosy time of it either. 
The industry of the Mennonites is well known, but in this their 
little children often h'd to bear a heavy burden. latural pa-
rents generally treated their children with kindness, altho they 
exacted a good deal of work from them, except the wealthy, but 
the children who lost their parents had a hard time. Many an 
old man has told the writer of his hard time as a small boy, when 
he had to rise at 4 a.m. in midwinter and do a lot of work, get 
poor food an(i -then run to school at the last minute. Some boys 
had to work for food and clothing until they were 16, and then 
the things were given only grudgingly. The writer does not 
41 
mean to say that all foster children were treated in this way, 
hnt from all information that he was able to get the above 
seems to be the correct one. Step-children received a some-
what better treatment, varying with the different families. 
The moral standard was everywhere the same for both 
sexes and pretty well lived up to. Anyone who committed an in-
discretion was looked down upon, altho not entirely unforgiving-
ly in case he reformed. Still, the stain went thru life and 
was a serious handicap in rising to any position of influence. 
The association of the young men and young women was ijuite free 
from restrictions. The striking characteristic about it was 
that friendships between young men and young women were not for 
the mere sake of friendship but always had possible matrimony 
as the ultimate end. Consequently the number of friendships 
between the youth was limited. The general opinion was that a 
fr^ndship of this kind was only permissible if it ended in 
marriage, and that friendship without "love" was quite unthink-
able . 
The family was regardas a divine institution, beginning 
with the presentation of Sve to Adam. It was a holy relation 
and anyone entering it could not willfully leave it without 
committing a gross wrong against God and perhaps cutting him-
self off from eternal happiness. Family life consequently was 
on a high plane. The husband was the head of theffamily, ac-
cording to the teachings of St. Paul, and the wife his help-
mate. Ho matter how they would get along with one another they 
42 
would not think of divorce nor even ask for it. A couple might 
separate for the time being hut it would not break the ties by 
divorce even tho the separation proved lifelong. The families 
were on the average very large. The number of children per 
family was high with a high deathrate. Children were regarded 
as a gift of God, but their economic value was by no means lost 
sight of. Courtship never lasted very long. Generally the 
parents of the suitor or some other friend would speak for the 
young man. If the girl was reluctant in giving her consent she 
was often persuaded or sometimes even forced to accept the 
e 
suitor, especially if he came from a'wealthy family. The genral 
policy was to "keep the property in the family" and as a result 
in some villages almost everyone was related to everybody else. 
This tended to increase the number of feebleminded and those of 
low mentality. By the above method young people were often 
married who had none of the qualities to form a reasonably 
happy union. In many families a troubled life was the result, 
but in others the wife, or sometimes the husband, submitted and 
accepted the lot as best they could. Sometimes such family life 
ended in the insane asylum or in suicide. Still, with the re-
ligious training of the home, with special emphasis upon Paul's 
teachings, the Mennonite family life was comparatively happy. 
"What God hath united let no man put asunder" was the central 
idea of this training. Weddings were preferably on Tuesdays 
and Thursdays. Generally a great number of people were invited 
and a social time enjoyed. The evening before the wedding the 
43 
young people would meet and enjoy a social time at the Mme 
of the "bride. The rougher element would often express itself 
in the form of charivari. After the ceremony was over in the 
afternoon, singing, dancing and eating would fill the rest of 
the evening. The outdoor performance of the evening before 
was often Reinstated with greater force. A certain amount of 
property was always given to the bride and groom from "both 
parents. Among the wealthier this might "be in the form of a 
home and land, among the poorer it consisted of some household 
articlecor other movable property. Generally the young couple 
lived with one of the parents for a year or two and then"moved 
out" and others would perhaps take their place. 
In the early years the village teacher was not exempt 
from acting as night herdsman in case he was not able to hire 
some one to take his place when his turn came. Thus Tobias 
Voth writes in his notes: "Sometimes the cattle tire cattle of the 
village must be watered at the River Suschanlee. This several 
times a year devolves upon me. Also the herding of the horses 
at night as well as riding over the steppes to keep off strange 
cattle comes to be my turn several times a year. Since day-
labotfres are scarce up here I am not able to get anyone and 
then I get into such difficulties each time that my stay up 
here becomes very unpleasant." ( Friesen, fiesch. d. A.4-E. M. 
in R.) 
Doctors were scarce and house remedies were chiefly re-
lied upon. There was a great distrust of educated doctors, 
44 ^ 
especially about their ability to set bones, a distrust which 
is still prevalent among the Mennonites who have lived in 
America for 38 years. 
During the Crimean War of 1853-55 the Mennonites rendered 
great services to the Russian army by hauling food and war 
material to the seat of war and taiing wounded soldiers back 
into their villages. The village magazines were turned into 
f 
hospitals and several hundred Russian soldiers were nursed back 
to health. They did everything free of charge, asking only 
for medicine, nurses and doctors. Among Mennonites'this time is 
known as the "Podwod tied". When the government offered to pay 
-for the services they declined it upon the ground that they 
had only fulfilled their duty toward their government. As a 
recognition of this service the Emperor Alexander II? gave them 
several medals and documents of honor. 
PART II 
life and Americanization 
of 
Russian Mennonites 
in 
Central Kansas. 
46 
Section I* Emigration to, and Settlement in 
America. 
Chapter I. Introduction. 
We have now shown the origin of the llennonites, described 
their migrations, customs and beliefs and traced the development 
of their social life in Russia from 1788 to 1870. We shall 
now in Part II attempt to trace their social development in a 
new environment. We shall discuss the causes for emigration 
and then take three small communities of llarion County, Kans?, 
and try to show their social development. The communities are 
only divided for the sake of treatment and according to the 
church whJsch is dominant in each community, h^e territory is 
contigious and in time the whole will form one closed community. 
The first of these, Gnadenau (Valley of Mercy) is located in 
Liberty Township, about 3 miles southeast of Hillsboro. The 
second, Ebenfeld(level Field), is about two and a half miles 
south of the Gnadenau village. Our thesis will deal mainly 
with these two. The third and last is the on- scattered around 
Hillsboro. The church at Ebenfeld ish^ranch of the same Con-
ference and is practically-the same in most respects, only it 
is older. The Mennonite Brethren Church(M. B. C. ) is repre-
sented at Ebenfeld and Hillsboro. We have discussed"origin in 
Russia* in chapter V. The other church, The Crimean Mennonite 
Brethren, (C.M. B. C. ©r simply C. is represented at Gnaden-
au and is closely related to the first, as will be evident 
from the following pages. 
We shall attempt to trace the rise and development of 
47 
association and show how Americanization has begun and is still 
going on/ in the religious, economic, political, cultural and 
social activities. Me shall try to show how the process of 
Americanization is broadening out and changing some of the funda-
mental teachings of the Mennonites. She community we have chosen 
for our study is the most conservative of all the Mennonite 
settlements in Kansas. 
The land upon which these people located is in the western 
part of Marion County, in the central part fif the state of Zans. 
A branch of the Santa Fe rail road from Florence to Sliinwood 
goes thru the n&rth part of the community. Several small streams 
wind thru the southern part, giving the land a rotpLing effect. 
The soil is mostly of a rich black loam, very "good for wheat, 
but not quite so well adapted for corn, water is found at vari-
ous depths, from 20 to 70 feet, depending upon the location. It 
is generally hard on account of the underlying lime stone beds. 
The grass is said to have been almost three feet high when the 
settlers came in 1874 and '76. There v/ere no trees anywhere 
e::cept a few along the creeks. The whole country was a wild 
prairie $ in 1874, on]y here and there a settlerTs cabin breaking 
the monotony. The nearest towns'were Marion, the county seat, 
about 10 miles east, and Peabody, about 14 miles south east. 
Hillsboro, 3 miles north of Gnadenau, sprang up in 1879 when 
the rail road was built. 
50 • 
Chapter II. Emigration to America. 
1. Causes and 3teps. 
In the latter part of 1C70 the Russian government proposed 
to pass a general military ]aw which would require military ser-
vice of every nationality and every social class in the empire. 
The Llennonites heard of this change in the latter part of '76 
and the early part of '71. According to Russian Ilennonite author, 
the news came thru the newspapers, hut these were very scarce 
at that time. According to American sources the first news came 
thru Consul Cornelius Jansen of Berdjansk. According to the 
latter, Russia and Prussia came to the following agreement 
during the Franco-Prussian 7/ar: Russia .which was very friendly 
to France agreed to remain neutral if Prussia would give up her 
guardianship of the three million* Germans in Russia. To t is 
Bismark made the counter demand that Russia give the settlers 
a ten year period during which the; could leave Russia if they 
did not want to do military service. Russian sourers do not 
mention this, hut simply say that Alexander wished to extend 
military service to all classes of the empire. The ten year 
period, however, which the Germans received seems to corroborate 
the statement of American sources. 
The proposed change caused great excitement among the 
llennonites. They had "been promised and it had h~en confirmed 
hy sudceoding emperors that their upecd&l priveleges were to 
he perpetual. Such news caused a rude awakening. Meetings were 
held at once and in the early part of 1871 several men delegated 
49 
to go to the imperial government and plead for further gracious 
suffranee an' stimulation "by law of the freedom from military 
service. The hatred of a few years ago, the narrowness and re-
ligious intolerance seemed all to have "been forgotten. The men 
went to the governo^general and he intimated that they might 
he left free from direct military service, hut not from sani-
tation and hospital service. They received a friendly reception 
from senators Halm and Gerngrosz, the latter of whoqrwas^assis-
tant to the minister of war and also a member of the comnision 
drafting the new military law. The net result of this depu-
tation was that thoy were given to understand that the pre ent 
generation would not he called upon to do such service hut the 
next would, perhaps hy 1894. The new law was not to go into 
effect until 1874. 
A year later a second deputation went to St.Petersburg, 
hut they learned nothing new except the striking news that the 
government was very well informed as to the activites of the 
llennonites in regard to emigration. They resented the charge 
that they were trying to get better conditions than they were 
enjoying. As to emigration efforts, however, they said that 
* 
such action was hot the work of the settlements as a whole hut 
that of individuals. A third and fourth deputation followed, 
hut neither one was successful. In 1873 a fifth and last depu-
tation was sent upon the request of senator Hahn, but it had 
no visible success. The law had been confirmed by the emperor 
and read as follows:" The Llennonites who are called in for 
5§ 
military service will not "be employed at tlie front "but only in 
hospitals and military workshops or similar establishments and 
are exempt from bearing arms. But this rule does not apply to 
such llennonites who join the sect after the publication of the 
law concerning the general military service, nor those who im-
migrate from a foreign country." (Isaac, llolotsch. Llenn. 3S2) . 
Meanwhile the Llennonites were considering the question of 
emigrating to andj/t)er country. A committee of 12 was sent to 
Asia and America sme^  look for a suitable place for settlement. 
Asia was not wuited "foVthe purpose so they directed their at-
tention to Anetica. They made a survey of the country from 
I.I; nit aha, Canada, to T§xas. They found favorable soil in Mani-
toba, Minnesota, lehraska and Eansas, of which the land in 
Llarion, McPherson, Reno, Harvey and Butler counties, Ean&as 
.was preferred. They went home and reported the results to their 
respective villages. As a result the emigration fever seized 
a great many people. 
2. Russian Efforts to Prevent Emigration. 
A direct result of these efforts toward emigration and the 
petitions of the various deputies was the appointment and send-
ing of a special confidant of the emperofc, General Adjutant 
Totlefce^.in the early part of 1874. He was well known among 
the Germans and well liked. He called the civil and religious 
authorities of the Llennonites together and explained that he 
had. come on a special mission to assure them of the emperor's 
QUu L. 
>4 NC 
F o -U 
"O © 
Hr 
52 
good will toward them, ^e said the emperor would deal tenderlj 
with their conscience and their faith to keep them if possible 
from emigrating to America. They should he exempt even from indL 
rect Mlitary service and v/ould he required to do only such 
service as would not be contrary to their faith. They could 
lieep the young men together in one or two places and have their 
own spiritual advisor. Ihey were to have a special position 
in the state and would not be under the Minister of 7/ar. The 
llennonites were to have the direction of their schools as here-
tofore and should educate their children as christian®. They 
had rendered valuable service in the Crimean War and that could 
not be forgotten. Then Totleben pictured the danger of war 
in America and the necessity of military service on account 
of the scarcity of people, ^e also pointed out the kindness 
with which they had been treated and that they could not espect 
to find a better place than Russia. 
The effect of Totleben's visit and talks was a great 
change in the Attitude of the llennonites. A circular of thanks 
was sent to the emporer thru Totleben in which they assured 
him of their allegiance. In most of the villages the people 
were instructed by their leaders to have faith in the imperial 
word, so that many of the leading men who had been in favor of 
emigration now began to work against it. A number of leaders 
however, could not be won over to this viewpoint. Among these 
were Leonard Suderman, speaker of the first deputation, Isaac 
Peters, Jacofe Suhler, Diedrich Gaeddert, Henry Bichert, Consul 
Jansen and Jacob A* 7/iebe, all of whom were conservative men. 
The llennonites offered to do service in forestry in 
South Russia, since they thot they could do this most efficiently 
This was accepted "by the imperial government, confirmed in 1875 
and published- a few months later. The law then read:nThe Llenno-
nites are exempt from bearing arms and . render - service 
in workshops of the marine service, in the fire department, ana 
in special mobile commands M the forest reserve according to 
special rules. This does not cover such Mennonites who have 
Joined the sect after 1875 or who have immigrated from abroad 1?. 
(Friesen, Gesch. d. A.-E. M. Br. in E.) According to this the 
first reserves were called out in 188C/ In spite of this liberal-
ity of the imperial government the emigration began. Still it 
had the effect that leas than a third of the Mennonites went to 
left 
America, whereas they would have/almost entirely en masse. 
54 
3. Immigration Efforts of the Snata Fe. 
In 1872 the Santa Fe rati road appointed 0. Schmidt of 
Lawrence, Kansas, as head of its immigration department. Schmidt 
had come to America in 18G4, had married in St. Louis, and comr 
to Lawrence at the beginning of the 76Sies. At this time the 
committee of 12 from Russia came over an inspected the land. 
•Schmidt showed them the land in central Kansas and gave them 
strong inducements to settle in Marion, McPherson, Harlrey>f Reno 
and Butler counties. In 1874 Shhnidt was ordered to make a 
trip to Russia right into the heart of the Mennonite settlements. 
The company was careful to fit him out with the right papers, 
passport, etc. so that in case of trouble he might call upon 
this government. He reached Russia in the early winter og T74 
and stayed several months. He first went to Consul Claassen 
and told him of his mission. Claassen, however, standing high 
in the estimation of the government was rather conservative and 
uncommunicative and intimated that the people were not thinking 
of emigration. Schmidt saw he had struck the wrong man. So 
the next morning he told Claassen that he had a few letters to 
deliver in several villages and that he would depart for America 
after that. On the way to the next village he inquired of the 
driver concerning the emigration to America and this man was 
full of it. He told S. that there was great excitement and that 
many were going to leave Russia. Upon tearing this S. laid his 
plans carefully so that he would touch most of the Mennonite 
villages. He visited 56 villages giving speeches and describing 
55 
the land and the condition^of settlement. During the winter 
some four hundred families, 1900 people, left Russia as a di-
rect result of this trip while S. continued his work. At various' 
villages he was told that Hussian officers were on his heels. 
One night he had to make a drive of some 60 miles in a lumber 
wagon while the temperature was around zero and the ground 
covered with several feet of snow. In one of the villages he 
met the magistrate who happened to have a son in America. He 
told this man 7/arkentin of his flight before the officers. 
"Your flight ends right here", said ¥., "no Hussian officer is 
going to arrest you under my roof." Upon l.'s word Schmidt 
discontinued his flight, turned back and completed his trip. 
Shortly before this letters had gone to America stating that 
Schmidt was being pursued by the government and that he was 
fleeing. In America this was interpreted to mean, and later 
letters confirmed it, that Schmidt had been arrested and sent 
to Siberia. (The company caused the U. S. government to demand 
his freedom at once. He returned to America in the spring of 
1875, having won the name of "Moses of the Mennonites". 
Consul Jansen who had advocated emigration rather 
strongly was expelled from Russia the year before Schmidt came 
and his property sold at ridiculously low prices. His family 
followed sonn after and located in Nebraska v/here hia son Peter 
Jansen rose to national prominence. 
The four hundred families mentioned above arrived in 
Topeka, Kansas, in the early part of 1875. They remained at 
56 
the Santa shops for aver a month. In their peculiar areos 
and with their strange tongue they were quite a novelty to the 
people of Topeka. They brot with them their little green wagons 
various household articles and 52,000,000 in goldf according 
to P. 7/. Black.ar's Hist': of Hans.). It waa just the year of 
the grasshoppers and farmers as far as a hundred miles away 
came to Topeka to sell their horses and cattle to these Menno-
nites since they were too poor to feed them. The governor 
gave a reception to these immigrants and they were impressed 
very greatly with his kindness. They were shown thru the 
state house and treated with great kindness. They hot sixty 
thousand acres of railroad land in central Kansas and settled 
on it in the.spring of 1875. More immigrants continued to ar-
rive for several years. Whole parishes came over and settled 
largely, tho not entirely, on the old village plan. In Marion 
county they settled Gnadenau (valley of m rcj4, Hoffnungstal 
{ hope valley 1 Hew Aleeanderwohl (new Alexander's health), 
Hochfeld (high field), Steinhach (stony hrook), Gruenfeld; in 
McPherson county they settled Sparta, Koffnungsau (valley of 
hope), Ehenezer, Hebron, Zoar and other crfep? communities. Some 
of these extended into Harvey and Reno counties. It is esti-
mated that by 1883, ten years after the immigration began about 
15,000 Mennonites had come from Russia, settling in Kansas, 
Uebraska, Minnesota and Manitoba. Even then this number com-
prised less than one third of all Mennonites in Russia, so that 
the main body of Russian Mennonites is still on the other side 
of the oeean. 
57 
Chapter III. The Gnadenau Tillage. 
As we stated on page 29 the Kleine Gemeinde separated from 
the general Hennonite church in 1612 and formed a parish of its 
own. These pnofle were very narrow, almost harsh along religious 
educational and social li£es. As the years went hy this church 
became more or less disrupted and a small body of its remnant 
moved to the Crimea about 1866 under the leadership of J. A. 
Y^iebe. Altho the soil is very rich they had several crop 
failures dlring the first years and this brot the poor people 
to the starvation point. In addition to this the region was in-
fested with little poisonous spiders. Eheir sting was almost 
*always fatal. Death occurred within three days. All this 
caused a religious revival to break out, and as if in answer 
to their prayers heavy crops followed and soon most of the g 
people were fairly prosperous. The Tartars were causing less 
trouble and all seemed to go well when the news 6'ftthe propesed 
change of the military' law became known. The whole body of 
settlers consisting of several villages decided to emigrate to 
America, ^heir property was sold at a very heavy loss since 
there were no buyers and the Tattars were not in a position to 
buy it. 
About thirty five families came over under the leadership 
of J. A. tfiebe in 1874. After many difficulties on ship and in 
Hew York they arrived in Elkhart, Indiana. Sere they left their 
famiTies and sent a number of men to Eansas to look for a suit-
able location. They decided upon Marion County, liberty Twraship* 
56 
Their Ojoi. twelve sctions of this rolling pratie land at §3 an 
acre. The land belonging to the railroad was in alternate 
sections. As far as the eye could see there was nothing hut 
tajl grass and rolling prarie. Buffalosmd antelopes had not 
disappeared altogether and even a deer was seen hy sofcmeof the 
settlers. Only here and there was a small cabin to be sern. 
Upon the return of the committee to Elkhart the whole 
body of immigrants took train to Peabody, Hans. Prom here they 
were hauled over land to the present site of Gnadenau. On 
Aug. 17, 1874 the first settlement was made on section 11,li-
berty Township. Section 1,3, 13 and 15 were to belong to the 
village. later settlers took the sections a little farther 
south and west. Section 11 was divided in the middle from 
east to west by a broad street. This was to be the main street 
of the village. The land on each side of this street was di-
vided into twenty strips containing sixteen acres each. These 
strips were numbered from the west to the center and from the 
east to the center, thus making ten strips on each side of the 
road for each half of the village. The land on the other four 
sections was likewise divided into twenty strips, each contain-
ing 32 acres and numbered in the same order as those in the 
village. Thus number 1 on the north side of the street in the 
east half of the village was to have strips number 1 in section 
1- number 2 on the same side of the street and same half of the 
village had strips number 2 in section 1. Again number 5 on the 
north side west half of the village was to have strips no. 5 

ill section 3, so that when the distance of a farmer to his land 
was added and averaged up he would not "be ,at a greater distance 
than anyone else. 
The first settlement was made on the notth side of the 
street. Eh© people lived in tents, sod houses and in small 
wedge shaped buildings with nothing "but a roof thatched with 
long prarie grass. A few who were better off "built frame houses. 
A store was opened pp on the south side of the street toward 
the center and later transferred to the nofcth side of the str et, 
hut in either case it did not last long. The first store keeper 
was A Russian "by the name of Dolgruky, a man fleeing from the 
Russian government. He was soon taken to the county seat for 
some kind of dishonesty or embezzlement and never returned. 
Another store opened up in 1876 about l/4 of a mile to the south 
0^ ; the village as may be se~n from Plate ^ . The church was 
on the south side of the street and was also of sod. The farm 
house was generally a little distance from the road and the barn 
and other buildings stood back of it. Between the house and the 
street there were flower beds of various kinds and sixes, and 
a small orchard to one side. 
As we stated above the people that settled this village came 
from the strictest and most religious Mennonites, and after the 
religious awakening in Russia they were even more so. Religion 
became the dominating idea. Sunday meetings were in the fore-
noon, afternoon and evening. During the week prayer meetings 
were held in the different homes. Ho work of any kind was done 
60. 
on Sunday. There was no dancing or drinking in the village. 
The church "ban warj not used as strictly as formerly, "but anyone 
who did not live according to their standards was reproved and 
finariy excommunicated i f no improvement was shown. No one 
remained outside of the church very long, however, hut soon 
came "back. Baptism was "by forward immersion, the candidate 
kneeling. It is said that the leading mem baptized one another 
in Russia in the absence of ordained men and thus the church 
had a start. Mr. Wiebe was the leader, preacher and later elder. 
They called themselves the Crimean Mennonite Brethren. The 
religious services were of a simple impressive kind, no great 
oratory being displayed but a simple straight forward exhorta-
tion toward righteous living,. faith.and good works 7/as made. 
Everywhere the Eible was the important book and every one was 
well read in it. newspapers were not taken, and really could 
not on account of their poverty, distance from Russia and the 
dearth of German papers of a religious nature. 
At the head of the village was the magistrate or T7SchulzTfi 
Two other men helped him in the regulation of the village af-
fairs. All disputes of any kind other than religious were settle; 
by them. All the business of the village was done during the 
week and not on Sunday as some early American editors reported. 
Ho liquor or tobacco were permitted to be used in the village-
The village was divided into the west and the east half 
and each had its shepherd who looked after the cattle and the 
horses of the respective parts. Since all the neighboring land 
61. 
was wild prarie they drove their herds somtimes to a great dis-
tance from their hones. For the night each man turned his hor-
ses out on the street and the village herder would take them 
out to the prarie and return them in the morning. 
The principal tracing places outside of the store at their' 
village were Peabody and Llarion, preferably the flo.vner since it 
had a railroad. When the/ came to town they would indicate to 
vie dealer what article they wanted and give him money and he 
would return the change as nearly correct as his conscience or 
the ignorance of the immigrant would permit* iloarly all the graij 
was hauled to Peabody and implements and other things bot in 
in return. 
The settlers had brot with them a fewsr Russian wagons, 
spades, forks, harnesses, etc., but these* were soon discarded 
for the .American which were far better and more serviceable. 
Other things they brot with them were silk worms, mulberry seeds, 
apricot seeds, cherry seeds, the Russian plum, sheep nose apple, 
several kinds of pears, gooseberries, the Russian sunflower 
and thirty or forty bushels of wheat. The silk industry was 
not tried very long but soon abandoned since the climate was 
not favorable to this industry. 
Jai&tKer thing they brot was the ability to build Russian 
ovens. This was a structure about 8 ft. long, 4 ft. wide and 
6 or 8 ft. high, and made of sun dried bricks. It was either 
a part of the wall or next to one, arltfeo it was eften right in 
the center of the room. It had a great firebox and in the 
G2 
chimney was a large chamber for the smoking of meats and bologna. 
Such ovens ./ere heated with straw, grass or wood and after once 
warm kept th^ room at a comfortable temperature all night long. 
The author himself had the privelege 9$ being warmed by ;/uch an 
oven for the first eight or nine years of his life. 
An interesting description of Gnadenau and the surround-
ing country is given by II. Prentiss in ;Ms Kansas Miscel-
lanies. Prentiss visited t ie whole Mennonite settlement in 
5*875 and has the following to say: " We left the Reimer settle-
ment for Gnadenau by way of Hoffnungstal. The Reimer settlement 
is called Hew Ale::anderwohl, or lew Alexander's health... A 
few miles further east along the south branch of the Cottonwood 
is a row of grass-thatched shanties called Hoffnungstal. The 
settlers here are poor, and the name of the town signifies TIThe 
Val&ey of Hope".* The settlers live in hope. Uext in order 
cQmes the admirably located town of Gnadenau.... "Valley of Grace11 
We drove across an immensity of newly broken prarie bof ore 
we arrived at the acres of sod corn and watermelons which mark 
the corporation line of Gnadenau. The houses of Gnadenau 
present every variety of architecture, but each house is deter-
mined on one thing, to keep on the north side of the one street 
of the town and to face the south. Some of the houses are 
shaped like a "wedge" tent, the inclining sides consisting of 
a frame of wood, thatched with long prarie grass, the ends be-
ing sometimes of sod, at others of boards and others of sun-
dried brick. Other houses resemble a wall tent, the sides being 
f 17 OO 
of sod laid up as regularly as a mason lays "brick, and the roof 
of grass. Some of these houses were in course of construction. 
Finally came substantial frame houses. At the east end of the 
street. in a red frame house with hoard windovf shutters painted 
green, lives Jacob Wiebe, the head man of Gnadenau. We found 
LIr. Wiebe a tall, powerfully bitf.lt man, with a more martial 
appearance than his brethren. This may arise from the circum-
stance that the Mennonite church is divided on the question 
of shaving and LIr. vTiebe adheres to the bearded persuasion. 
(The difference in opinion is in regard to the mustache. Author) 
LIr. STiebe came to Kansas from the Crimea, where a Mennonite 
colony was established some thirteen years ago... Mr. ^ iebe has 
built a house more nearly on the Russian model. He took us 
over the structure, a maze of small rooms and passages, the 
stable being under the same roof with the people and the gra-
naries over all, the wheat stacks being located at the back 
door. 
vVAn immense straw pile was intended, as Mr. TJiebe s&id, 
for fuel for the winter. The Mennonites are economists in the 
way of fuel, and at the houses large piles of chopped straw 
mixed with barnyard manure were stacked up for "firewood". 
This kind of fuel destroys one's idea of the "cheerful fireside" 
and "blazing hearth" In order to use it, however, the Menno-
nites discard staves, and use a Russian oven built in the wall 
of the house, which, once thoroly heated with light straw, will 
retain its warmth longer than young love itself. 
64. 
n0f course we visited the watermelon fields, which in the 
aggregate seemed ahout a quarter-section,.... As we have men-
tioned three Mennonite villages, we may say that the Mennonite 
system contemplates that the landholder shall live in the town 
and in the country at the same time. The villagers of Gnadenau 
and Hoffnungstal own fourteen sections of land, yet all the 
farmers live in the two towns, each of a single street. Hear 
are the gardens, and all around are the wide fields. Hear 
each house were immense stacks of grain raised on ground rented 
from men who were driven out last year hy the grasshoppers." 
PU tc UX 
65. 
Chapter IV. Ebenfeld. 
In the early part of 1875 two families of the M. B.C. came 
to Ebenfeld, a few miles south of Gnadenau. They found the 
C. LI. E. well established under J. A. Wiebe* It was a diffi-
cult matter for two families in a strange country to keep up 
in religious and other respects when alone, hence they tried 
to co-operate with the church at Gnadeanu. They would not join, 
however, since the latter people were much narrower. In the 
fall of the same year Peter Sckert came over with a number of 
families of Mennonite faith but of Lutheran extraction and 
joined these families. They did not try the village plan 
since it w? s not satisfactory and those that were living bji 
their own farms 7/ere strong advocates of the new system. The 
following year 75 more families came from Russia and in a few 
years a big settlement was located at Ebenfeld. All of these 
people lived b; themselves in preference to the Russian system. 
After various difficulties whieh we shall consider in another 
place , the church was regulaily organized and when the present 
elder, Mr. J. Foth, rame over in 1883 the organization worked 
smoothly. The meetings were held first in the homes and then 
in a school house until someone caused trouble and it v/as stopped 
and then a church \?as b ilt in 1885. This building v/as replaced 
by a larger and more commodious one about 9 years ago. Both 
buildings had a basement large enuf to permit several hundred 
at a ti ;e 14 take dinner. Such a basement is made use of at 
all of the festivals and most of the weddings when a little 
lunch is given to the guests. The services were generally 
66. 
held in the forenoon and Sunday School followed in the afternoon 
Since 1900 the membership has gone hack a little. We sh&ll 
give the reasons for this in another chapter. Bbenfel& is now 
noted for its extreme conservatism in the M. E. Conference. 
This may lie due to the fact that several of the original leaders 
in Russia came here with a number of ftiends, lived and died 
here . They were in large enuf numbers fo inculcate in their 
children very strongly "the faith of their fathers". 
67. 
Chapter Y. Hillsboro Church. 
7/hen we speak of 'lillsboro in this chapter we mean only 
its "biggest church. HiUDgboro has a population of about 1100 
and has six churches, whiih the M. E. C. is by frr the 
greatest, ^he members of this church live in and about town, 
those living south of it are right among the members of the 
Gnadenau church members and those living north of town are 
also scattered among other denominations, so that we cannoit 
draw an; hrrd and fast lines in defining the limits of this 
church membership. 
The Hillsboro M. E. Church began about 188C. 
It began thr a revival among the "old Mennonites" living north 
of the town. These soon allied themselves with the general 
movement of the II. E. and had one of its elders come and or-
ganize their church. The early meetings were held in a red 
barn, a picture of which may be seen on Plate . later on 
they built a small church in Ilillsboro which served until 1910 
when a big $10,000 frame structure was erected. The growth of 
this church has been within the last six years and may be ac-
counted for by $he presence of Eabor College. 
lEhe members of this church came from a different part 
of Russia and consequently had somewhat different views on social 
life. The recent influx of other minded people has not been 
able to check this influence very much. In general this church 
has be-n noted for its comparative"1 liberalism in contrast to 
other churches. \7e shall discuss it from on in connection with 
the other two churches. 
Yinr c on Courity 
o V * o N 
V l>Ly\(io{y\-vi\VzC\ 1 
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-r 
c 
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A M 
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o Towns. 
CoTnTn-uuv-ty DescrU^ 
p u r ? IT. 
Chapter V. Rise and Development of Association-
7e have seen in another chapter how these settlements 
sprang up. The people came in such large numbers that they did 
not have to go thru all the hardships of isolation which so 
many an Am or i can community hajf to do. The population was a 
homogenous one by religion, nationality, occupation and social 
customs. The only separating influences that did enter in were 
thoo~ of doctrine, not of religion itself. For convenience v/e 
shall treat association in three phases,ll) neighborhood associ-
ation, (2) int^r-neighborhood association and (3) association 
with the outside world. These forms of association exist at 
all times but during certain stages of development the one or 
the other in the more prominent. 
The early period was mainly one of neighborhood association." 
The people of this whole community were so much alike that as-
sociation among themselves was quite natural. They were stran-
a 
gers in a strange land, without knowledge of the language of 
the new country, so that they had to rely largely upon each other 
The family visits at that time wore largely tinged by religion. 
At the end of the visit a Bible passage v/as read and a few pray-
ers offered. It v/as ver;, coramn to treat visitors with a friend 
3y glass of wine and nobody thot anything of it. The young 
people associated with one another quite freely, "but the line \ 
of sez was o"bserve-1 Quite general?.". A.i eMorly lady expressed 
hor attitude of that time to the writer not so very lonr ago 
when, she siid "I wo Id not speak to a nan, if I did not have to, 
69. 
even tho I worked for him or with him." This w&o the attitude 
of most of the yo ng women. In the village, as re shew at anoth-
er pi a e, the e was much friendly visiting among the families, 
"but always along the lines indicated abovei 
Poverty was the lot of nearly all and this had a strong 
influence for various co-operative activities among the neigh-
bors. Perhaps the most striking one has be n the annual "hog 
buthhering" at which to the present time several neighbors 
come together and help gratis, expecting a return favor of course 
Harvesting was done much along this "gi'fee and take" method. As 
the people prospered, however, this fell away and each became 
more independent and association became more selective. Fami-
lies who acquired rote wealth thru frugality, industry or oppor-
tune circumstances sometimes regarded themselves as a little 
better than the rest. This was never outspoken but a sort of 
an undercurrent of opinion. The families who have contributed 
most of the leaders have alwc.yg been held in higher regard 
than others, especially if preachers and teachers ca.je from them. 
Still, we would not say that any Mass distinctions have S; rung 
up, but in a rufcal community onr will find strong family prefer-
ences. And it is well that this is so, for In that way progress 
Is possible. 7/ith the passing of the years the lines of neigh-
borhood association have changed a great deal. 
There was very little association with other communities 
in the early years, ercept with other Tennonite people of the 
same creed or doctrine. The line was drawn sharply between 
those wh~ had heen immersed and those who had heen sprinkled. 
As time has passed these lines have dropped away a good deal and 
today they are 11,t noticeable to any extent. Of course aasoci.-' 
at ion is still along church preference. The association with 
Americans was very limited on account of the strange language 
and also because of the difference in social customs. The few 
Americans who held claims among the Ilennonites soon sold out 
and moved away. 
Interest in the different communities was more 
of a personal nature at' first and letters from distant friends 
would be read very eagerly. The first newspaper at Hillsboro 
was "The Phonography, printed in the English language,but it 
ran only 55 Issues and then was sold to another town. Evidently 
it;: appearance was premature in a German community, and very few 
reod it. When the "Anzeiger" cane out in the late SOties it 
fulfilled a demand and consequently had a good number of sub-
scribers. It contained many personal correspondences from 
different parts of Kansas as well as from other states? The 
political interest was never very strong until 1896 and from then 
on as we shall show in a later chapter it has increased in im-
portance. The economic interest was local at first until the 
railroad came in in 1879, when all the townships voted heavy 
bonds. Trade with other parts of the county and the state 
became quite general after that and today it is thoroly Ameri-
can in this respect. 
The association with the outside world in the earljr 
71. 
times was mainly tar# private letters that came from Bussia or 
frto other states or parts of the state. German newspapers 
printed in other states were the first to come In. Later on 
when the Anzeiger wo.s published these received less attention 
and after the R. F. D. was established English pajbers began to 
take the place of German papers. The chief German papers that 
are read today are several sectarian papers, a local, and here 
and there a German weekly from another state, like the Germanla 
or the Lincoln Freie Presse. In recent years travel has become 
a very important means of association with the outside world. 
Every Jfear a great many go to other states o± to Canada. Some 
visit Russia, but the instances are not many. The rural tele-
.f one is~ in almost every house since a few years ago and it af-
fords a great d al of friendly visiting of a new kind. 
Section II 
Social Development and Social 
Organization. 
72 
Section II. Social Development and Organization. 
Chapter I. The Social Hind. 
In speaking of the social mind we do not jagaa. anj completed 
thing, hut something that is alv/ays developing. It is heing 
influenced and altered constantly by the physical and social 
environment. It reacts to stimuli and these completed reactions 
* 
in turn influence it again in other situations. To find out 
what the social mind of any given community is it is only 
necessary to study its activities along the different lines of 
endeavor. We will find that this differs from one community 
to another, according to what activity predominates. In the 
community which we have chosen for our study we shall take 
tho :e activities first which have been the dominant ones and 
which have wielded the greatest influence in shaping the charac-
ter of the people of the community. We shall consider the 
social activities under the following heads: fl) Religious 
activities, (2) economic activities, (3) political and regu-
lative activities, (4) cultural activities and (5) the social 
activities in the narrower sense. 
79. 
Chapter II. 
Religions Activities. 
In an earlier chapter we have shown that religion Is the great 
moulding rower of the T*ennonites and that it goes "beyond lan-
guage and nationality in strength of influence. For it they 
have heen willing to sacrifice a thousand times the dearest and 
"best that they had. ileither wealth, friends nor country was 
considered whenever the religious side of their "being was seri-
ously threatened. ' This is what has given them a peculiar charac-
ter. In the following chapter we shall describe the influence 
that religion has exerted in America on these people in the 
three -arts of the community which we have chosen for this part 
of out treatise. Tie shall try to show how it has kept the 
people as such , intact from very rapid -Americanization and 
how some of the fundamental teachings have undergone some marked 
changes. 
From our discussion thus far it will he evident that 
among Ilennonites the church i ; the center around which the whole 
community clusters. In every new settlement the church is on 
the spot too as soon as the settlement is made. There is always 
great concern that outlying or new communities have some sort 
of religious services all the time, Mennonitesjseldom settle in 
isolated places, hut what otheis soon join them to f$£m a strong 
church, and if such is not the case the settlers move to some 
other place. The settlements under consideration present the 
same phenomena. 
In the early year - ®ha Gnadenau and Efeenfeld churches 
were on rather friendly terms until each became well organized 
when the relations became more formal. They remained for a 
long time as independent as they coul be, being practically 
strangers to one another, there was hardly any co-operation 
at all. Each followed its own course without much concern for 
the ether. Gnadenau was the first to feel the tooth of time 
distinctly. Ebenfeld came next, but there the changes were 
far less rapid. During the days when these two churches were 
the strongest in the community the Hillsboro was a very small 
affair and did not rise to any importance until 1S08 when the 
college was built. 
In gnadenau the religious element was by far the strong-
est of the whole community. These people had become still more 
conservative &fter the revival in Russia. All the things that 
had been permitted before and which had an element of pleasure 
in them were either forbidden or considered dangerous. Their 
dress was simple and Quaker-1 ike. When the young people' began 
to be a little freer with their clothing there were church 
actions against it. T/hen collars and ties came into use there 
was strong opposition, especially against the detachable collar. 
Bicycles met the same fate. Another local C. LI. B. church went 
so far actually*suspend two young men temporarily from mem-
bership for the crime of owning and riding a bicycle. Photo-
graphs were long considered as wrong according to the first 
commandmenti ^or many years the ladies, young and old, had to 
wear an apron at church, no hats, but only a black shawl or 
a small hood on the hack of the head. later on plain black 
hats came into use, "but they went only as far as the ante-room 
of the church and th~n the "black shawl had to take thoir place. 
$pon the hats were taken into the church also and then fitted 
£>ut more stylishly and finally gave way to the reigning styles, 
altho not to the extremes. The ahove transition began about 
1900 when the prosperous times came in. Instrumental music was 
long considered as wrong even tho the homes might have it. Even 
now there is no organ or piano in the Gnadenau church to help 
^in the singing. Old hymns were lined and then sung. In the 
latter SOties the German Gospel Hymns came, into general use 
in all the three churches under consideration. Occasionally 
men took pride in their simplicity and meekness. It is related 
of a man who hot a new pair of shoes and then had the cobbler 
put a patch over the side of the shoe to show his humility. She 
new buggies, and later a few carriages also, were daubed over 
with a coat of cheap paint to show the owner1s humility. 
Revivals were conducted very quietly. Ho evangelist 
would be engaged, but a series of Bible meetings would be held 
where various subjects would be discussed, preferably those 
dealing with^life beyond, the punishment of the ungodly, and 
similar subjects, ^he young folks generally took part and often 
a quiet revival would break out,* almost like a quiet rain steal-
ing over the slumbeting country. Regular ..meetings would then 
be held where little preaching would be done, but opportunity 
would be given to those who saw the nedd of a change in their 
82. 
life. Singing and praying would Interphase and thus others 
would he induced to join, ^he author remembers such a- revival 
in a neighboring church in whicft he himself took an activo 
part, altho he was very young at the time. A few weeks later 
baptism would follow, for which the nearby Cottonwood stream 
was available. In recent years,however, the church has realized 
the need of regular evangelistic work. The old church in the 
a 
vail age became too small and new structure was erected about 
1898 two miles wouthwest from the village, at a more centrally 
located place. On each church yard they had long sheds for the 
horses, since they always had afternoon meetings. The Sunday 
School is still held in the afternoon. 
The elder, Mr. J. A. Wiebe, resigned in 1903 on account 
of ill health and his brother H. A.Wiebe took his place. Mr. 
Wiebe moved to Lehigh a few Jjears later where he still lives 
as a good friend to all^those who have been hurt in some kind 
of an accident. Hundreds of persons in Eansas and other states 
are indebted to him. As long as the new elder lived there 
was very little change in the church, but when the college was 
built a change was felt. The church members began attending 
other churches more aixl more and a greater spirit of co-operation 
sprang up. When Mr. 7/iebefs sudden death occurred in the sum-
mer of 1910 the change was at hand. There was no strong leader 
to take his place and so the Hillsboro church began to attract 
large numbers. At one time it seemed as if the whole Gnadenau 
church would either be absorbed or would unite with the former 
83. 
church. A period of quietness set in, however, when the members 
were refused certificates of membership, but the church is 
rather weak compared to what it was "before* 
7fe indicated at another place that the Ebenfeld church 
be^an in the early part of 1875. As soon as Eckert came over 
he made a strong effort to have his followers and the Gnadenau 
church united into one, but there were a number of difficulties 
that had to be overcome first. ¥he first one was that of the 
form of baptism, the II. E. folding to backward immersion and 
the C.1I.B. holding to forward immersion. She latter finally 
gave in on this point, but in return the former was forbidden 
to speak of the Millenium, even tho tayone might believe in it. 
All instrumental musical was declared as sinful and done av/ay 
with. The most difficult p^ Lnt, however, was the "sister Siss", 
i. e. the practice of greeting men and woaen with a kiss pub-
licly. EckertTs followers were very Strong for this practice 
on Biblical ( ?) grounds. After much talking they gi.ve in and 
a day was arranged for the union of both churches. But a new 
difficulty arose as to which one of the two elders should be the 
leading one , and this seemed so great an obstacle that ^ Ider 
Tfiefce withdrew with nearly all of his followers 0:1 the very day 
when the union was to take place'. 
The following year some 75 families came ove, from Rus-
sia and joined the Ebenfeld church. Since the majority of these 
came from the Volga(lutheran extraction) the silly practice re-
ferred to above, began again. Even Ecfert changed his ideas on 
84. 
this end would liave everyone live "according to hi a faith, es-
pecially in regard to the sister kiss and music" I Friesen,p.8) 
The practice wac kept up for several years altho continual ef-
forts were made were-eede to throw it off- The advocates of 
the pracitce claimed scriptural grounds for it, "but that there 
wac another motive is evident from what efce withesses have told 
the author. At times this particular kind of a greeting would 
he repeated several times in succession and then with discri-
mination as to age also. 
Another man came two years later and tried to organize 
a church of his own, hut he did not succeed, and finally he 
joined the C.M. B. Bckert himself sold his farm a few years 
later and left the pastorate to more capable men. 7hen I!r. 
Foth came in 1883 he-became the leader and then all the silly 
practices were done away with. Host of the advocates^hese 
things later joined the Seven Day Advents and have since then 
left the community. 
The church services were always very simple, similar 
to those in Gnadenau. Unlike this church Ebenfeld ha& always 
had some sort of evangelistic campaigns. The plea In the early 
years was to escape eternal punishment, and the picturing of 
how glorious the life beyond would be. lar&e baptisms would 
result and great crowds would come from far and wide. For this 
purpose a nearby creek was used. At such times of revivals a 
tense earnestness would be evident everywhere. She converts 
themstt(4ves an& others would sing and pray at their occasional 
85. 
"visits and often when a few would he together they would kneel 
down in some secluded s; ot and pray. After the revival there 
generally was a let-up in the tense spirituality and everyone 
seemed to grow more-"cold" again, until another revival came 
along c,nd warmed them up again. In more recent years the appeal 
is not so strong on the retributory side hut there is more em-
phasis upon coming to Christ for His own sake. There is less 
emotion than formerly, and the old people say that conversions 
are not so thoro as they used to "be. The candid&teg cannot 
show the fears and tears of "being eternally lost as they did 
formerly and therefore the ahove conclusion. Everyone believes 
in a real hell, one withnfire and brimstone", and eternal punish-
ment, not for the sins so much as for the unbelief in not ac-
cepting Christ. The Bible is studied less than formerly, es-
pecially a. .ong the young people, who seem more interested in 
secualr things. At the Sunday and other meetings among young 
folks religious topics are left out altogether, unless it is 
a religious meeting. In its place we find more joy and good-
natured fan. Often when such young men go home they feel the 
"small voice" reprimanding them for their light living, but at 
the next meeting the same old course is followed again. Hor are 
the young people the only ones to show this loosening up In re-
ligion. The older people are very much the same way. The trgth 
is that materialism has made great inroads,anAreligion, tho 
still strong, is not nearly so dominant as formerly. Yet we 
must not say that the Ebenfeld church is liberal, but rather 
the most conservative of the three. This is largely "because 
the old people have been in control until now. Only last fall 
(191") ahout thirty youn- folks were summoned before the church 
to apologise for the sin of taking buggy rides together. Only 
a few months ago a man had to drop £ is life insurance policy 
on which he had paid aver "200 if he did not wish to lose church 
membership. Anyone who marries outside of the IT. £. or the 
0. Id. automatically excommiinirates himself thereby. This is 
the rulw of all three churches in this community. Thru the 
influence of the younger members the Sunday School has been 
changed from the afternoon to the forenoon. They succeeded In 
this only last summer. The 3. S. was kept in the afternoon so 
that the young boys and girls would not spend their Sunday after-
noons In "running around". For years one of the older men 
always attended the rehearsals of the choir, or sang with them 
so that unnecessary conversation and harmless amusements would 
be prevented by his presence. 
From time to time each year the different churches have 
great "harvest homes" and other large gatherings at which people 
come from far and wide, even from other states. In the early 
years there was very little visiting of preachers from one church 
to another but within the last fifteen years a feeling of friend-
ship has sprung up and now preachers are exchanged quite common-
ly at these festivals as well as at ordinary occasions. For 
these great festivals large tents with a seating capacity of 
2,000 to 5,0C0 are put up and even then they are not able to 
87. 
accommodate all the visitors. Several sermons are delivered 
in the fore-and afternoon, hut the one great thing is always a 
heavy mission offering. Generally the local church furnishes 
hot water for the dinner and often the eatables also. At such 
times the neighboring churches suspend most of their services 
and attend the festival. For the last thirteen years the church-
es of the LI. B. Conference of the Kansas district have rendered 
a song festival each spring at which the local qhoirs compete 
in a friendly way. Altho no choir is recognized as having 
render-d the best music It quite openly discussed whitfh 
one did the best singing. These festivals have done much to 
develop a love for music and also to overcome the conservatism 
In regard to instrumental music in churches. Up to the present 
the Hillsboro choir is the on:y one which has the help of a 
good organ, the others still sing without one. In the Ebenfeld 
and Hillsboro churches the choir sings almost every Sunday morn-
ing, but at Gnadeiiau this is still rare. 
Since the building of the college at Hillsboro the 
local church has grown so fast that a new building had to be 
erected a few years ago; pne that has a seating capacity of 
almost a thousand. In the early part of 1910 members of the 
Gnadenau church began to leave their own church only two miles 
from town and joined the Hillsboro II. E. The death of their 
leader was the psychological moment. So many asked for member-
ship certificates that out of self defense they were finally 
refused, whereupon the Hillsboro church received members Into 
88. 
its fold "I"tlxout certificates after they had inquired into 
the standing of these people at their home church. The reason 
for this change may he sought in the absence of a strong leader 
to hold the group together, the better preaching at Hillsboro, 
where an educated leader Is pastor and uses the teachers Of 
the college quite freely, the greater liberality of the church, 
but especially the college which has been a strong agent in 
bringing these two people together. Here the students of both 
denominations mingled freely and without any distinctions as 
to church membership. Gnadenau has always opposed higher edu-
cation and Its preachers, altho often old school teachers are 
relatively uneducated men and often very mediocre speakers. 
The whole present tendency shows a desire for sermons that 
&ive the hearer food for thot. The old sermons of all preachers 
had not outline, no central thot; preaching was a sort of ramb-
ling over a great part of the Bible, altho a certain passage 
had been chosen for a text, vie do not mean to speak irreverent-
ly of the old men who used to preach, but an educated mind 
needs something more than mrre ataoni swings to better living. 
'For their time those men performed their service, but with 
changed intellectual conditions methods of preaching must 
change too. This changed attitude is also felt by visiting 
preadhers who come to Hillsboro. They are rather timid in 
coming before that audience claiming that they are not learned 
enuf to speak to college students. 
The students are eagerly sought as teachers In the Sunday 
89. 
School classes and for work on other programs that may he 
given in the church, "but when it comes to voting on any question, 
on the conduct of the church affairs, the students are treated 
rather slightingly at times and it is put in a way as if the 
old men who gave most of the money for the building of the 
church ought to have the greater right to decide questions 
of importance. Privately peop&ejoften say "Ah, he is from the 
college and j/t tries to run everything", when as a matter of 
fact the college is trying to work in harmony with the church. 
11any of the old people are very strongly opposed to the stud-
ents1 practice hands when something is ren-
dered at the college programs. 
On the question of social Intercourse between the young 
men and young women the Hillsbopo church is more liberal than 
the one at Ebenfeld. The author does not remember any case 
in rec-nt years where anyone has been called upon to apologize 
for friendly association with the opposite sex. It is some-
times deplored by the conservative old people, but the average 
man pays little attention to it. Still, buggy-riding and other 
public association is not yet considered proper. The number of 
retired farmers who have become members of the Hillsboro 
church give it a more conservative tinge thann it would other-
side have. This is evidenced whenever a school event either 
of the college or of the high school is to be given in the 
church, since no other building is so large. At such occasions 
the younger members are generally in favor of it while the 
90. 
older members oppose it, especially if an admittance fee Is 
to "be charged. The pastor has at times favored the old men 
In this since they gave so much toward the building of the 
church. A little Incident may serve to illustrate the extreme 
no/ni) 
to which some old men go at times. When the^  graduating class 
of the college asked for the use of the church for a lecture 
by Dr. Sheldon wit& the express understanding thafe an admission 
fee would be charged an old man was highly wrought up about 
it and said that he would go in without paying even if he 
would have to force his way in. The church agreed to let the 
man to. go in free, but he did not have the courage when the 
lecture was given. 
In Ebenfeld conservatism has been able to hold itself 
so long on account of its strong leader, elder J. Eoth. Last 
Ilew Year he resigned, however, and the man who is to take his 
place is a very open minded, liberal, thoroly christian man 
who by self-education has acquired a knowledge on a wide range 
of subjects and who can understand the young people most readi-
ly. He has the support of the young members who are now by 
far in the majority. 
Having now discussed the three churches in detail 
4 
we shall from now on in this chapter a-al with all three of 
them In general. The Bible Is taken as the exact word of God 
and anyone who attempts an interpretation which is different 
from that given to it by former leaders is looked at with 
06 
grave suspicion. Higher criticism i& strongly opposed. In-
terpretations "based on human experience or scientific standards 
are not sanctioned. In this respect the college is talcing 
a very strong stand for the old doctrines. The theory of evo-
lution is accepted only in so far as it does not conflict with 
the Bible. She people In general know very little about the 
theory, except that it is supposed to mean that man has come 
from the monkey. She teachers either attempt 3ome kind of a 
correlatin^Vfehe theory and the report in Genesis, or they ig-
no re the subject altogether. would he dangerous for any 
of the teachers of the college to believe in evolution pure and 
simple and also profess it. In this fcegard the state universi-
ty is regarded by the people of the whole community as a place 
of loose religion and anyone thinking of going there is dis-
suaded from it, unless he or she is of mature judgment. 
The church membership includes the majority of the 
poeple of the community. The women are slightly In the major-
ity. In recent years those who go to no church or attend Ir-
regularly are slowly Increasing in number. Such people gener-
JU/ 
ally have various criticisms to make concerning some of the 
church members. Formerly such members who got into some kind 
of a trouble would withdraw from membership and then join a 
neighboring church, but that practice has been abolished . 
How old differences must first be settled before such people 
are accepted. 
92. 
YoungpEeople1 s SoMfcties hatfe sprung up within the last 
10 or 12 years in all the three churches and hold bi-weekly 
or tri-weekly sessions. Those at Ebenfeld and Hillsboro 
support one or more native missionaries in India. The 
Gnadenau church has a mission of its own in Hotth Carolina 
among the negroes. The meetings of these societies take up 
the whole evening and a number of the older members take 
part in them too. Regular programs are posted in advance 
and a good cro/d attends whenever something special is 
given. Only the stoQiety in Hillsboro permits a lady to be 
secretary. The chatrman and his secrectary preside over 
the meeting and it is alY/ays a little disagreeable to the 
old* people to see "a woman sitting with a man In front of 
the meeting". 
^he mission spirit is strong in this community. Mise 
sions in India and China, are supported very strongly. The 
leading missionary of this denomination in India holds his 
membership at Hillsboro. One of the lady missionaries 
from Ebenfeld, a school mate of the author, died In India 
last summer and another young lady from Hillsboro goes to 
take her place this summer. The college is strengthening 
j 
this spirit very materially "by its missionary hand which 
goes into the neighboring churches and gives missionary pro-
grams. The Y. LI. C. I. and Y. W. C. A. are the all oversha-
do\7ing organizations o_ the school. They enroll about 90$ 
93. 
of all the students- The Y. ;7. C. A. gives annual mission 
sales at which ;-)200 to Q300 are realized and forwarded to 
foreign fields- The city missions are supported also, hut 
the foreign field holds the first place in the minds andf 
hearts of these people. 
Ministers have thus far receiv d no salary, except 
when they traveled or conducted evangelistic campaigns. 
The Hillshoro congregation has feegun with paying its minis-
ter a small salary hut the old members are still strongly 
opposed to it. Some of them would rather have any kind of 
a preacher whom they need not support than^ have a good 
one and pair him a salary. Generally the minister is a far-
mer who has his farm to support him and does the ministerial 
work gratis. A change of attitude is slowly taking place 
because they begin to realize that it is not right to take 
a man's time and not pay him for it. 
Sermons containing huMprous stories were strongly 
condemned until recently. A sermon is a serious affair and 
humor is not In place. In this respect the Americans are 
often severely criticized. 2he members of the congregation 
are always seated acceding to sex. Each has one side of the 
church. Occasionally strangers come in with their lady 
friends, but they are always separated if the ushers can help 
it. TJhen the II. E. church was dedicated in 1910 a prominent 
"business man of the town caiae in and sat down with his wife. 
The ushers at once made such urgent requests to separate 
that the man and his wife went home immediately rather in-
sulted. Since then a slow change Is noticeable and members 
of the church are beginning to do it too, especially in the 
evening meetings. It would be shocking beyond comprehension 
fcr a young unmarried man of good standing to come iii with 
a lady friend and sit with her all evening. The above change 
has begun only in the Hillsboro church but it will soon 
spread to the others too. 
Religion is not quite so serious an affair as it used 
to be. The author has heard frequent protests among the 
younger folks wlio obje&ted to be held to such narrow lines. 
They argue that one can be religious and still be happy and 
show it too. The old belief was that of happines "In the 
Iordft with no visible signs of the professed happiness. Every-
where there is a relaxation noticeable In this respect. r£he~ 
people onojpmeets on the street are far more jolly than for-
merly end they Indulge in harmless joking too^ which was 
proscribed not so very long ago. 
The religious customs in the home have changedt only 
slightly. The Bible Is still read efery morning at the break-
fast table by most of the families, and thanks are always 
returned before partaking of a meal. Mmy families are 
95. 
beginning to do this without rising , but the majority has 
not yet adopted this practice. Some even kneel down at the 
morning meal and some few even sing a verse after the meal. 
The evening family prayer has passed away in many places and 
change 
each one retires as he pleases. This is also noticeable in 
their friendly vi si tings among one another. Occasionally one 
hears someone lament the times and praise the good old times 
when every one was a "brothers. 
The- women have the right tit speak at the informal meet-
ings, at programs and so on, bpt they are not allowed, to 
preach the gospel from the pulpit like the. men, on account 
of the Paulinian admonition. The rule of covering the head 
during prayer is now seldom observed b; the younger women, while 
the older ones still adhere to it from sheer habit. At the 
Church meetings they are allowed to vote, but that right is 
very seldom ussd b; the few who attend atj* all. £he attitude 
of the men Is net one of ^quality in this respect and so thef* 
women are timid about this. They are elceted as Sunday School 
teachers just as the men and no difference is made. 
litigations are still under the ban, but here and there 
Individuals go to court anyway, especially if it is against 
r corporation where no redress is possible without such a 
procesr; of la?/. She Gnadenau church is the m st conservative 
in this regard. The author does not know of «tiay lav/ suits 
96. 
from among this denomination. 
The standard of morality is the same as it was 5G years 
ago, and is the same for both sexes. A yone who mates a mis-rr 
step is brrcLecl for life and any later advance in life is al-
ways hindered by such a youthful error. Even so a few cases 
of sexual immorality have occurred in this community but 
only* one was taken to court a few ye^rs ago. Generally ex-
communication from church is the result and that carries 
such c stigma with it that such individuals soon come back 
repentant. The cases of Immorality have been mostly bwtween 
married men and their hired maid servants, and have stirred 
up a great deal of talk. Such an occurrence always causes 
a great moral shock. The church as a whole generally deals 
with such cases and so such a happening spreads far beyond 
the community in a very short time. 
In the middle 90ties and for some time adfter the 
Gnadenau church imported a number of Chicago waifs and dis-
tributed them over a largo territory. The education of these 
unfortunate children brot many disappointments with it. Very 
few have become anything near to the standard of their foster 
parents. Most of these boys and girls have long ago gone 
back to the city and have been lost. Only a few remained and 
have made good in a small degree: These children were too 
old when they v/ere brot in and they were always looked down 
upon by the people. Then too the social environment was not 
97. 
a favorable one. Coming out of the &ity life and heing 
used to freedom they found it doubly hard to abide by the 
strict rules of these people. Almost every school had Its 
"tough" in the person of one of these waifs. Mr. 2. A. Wiebe 
had many painful experiences with boys whom he tried to edu-
cate according th the prevalent views. An orphanage was 
built just north of Gnadeanu and here many boys and girls 
were kept for some time. Recently it was changed into a 
home for the old. A few children remain with these old out-
worn remnants of humanity and the whole presents a pitiful 
spectacle. There is not proper supervision and cases of 
immorality happen now tod then. There is no one to take 
these children so they must remain there. The people remem-
ber only too well the experiences of earlier years and so 
they are all unwilling to take them. 
The teacher and the preacher is never separated very 
long among Ilennonites. Whoever becomes a good school teacher 
has a good chance to become a preacher some day. This is also 
tr<*e of the community of which we have been speaking. Most 
of the preachers have been school teachers and a number of 
jfoung men who are In that profession,,esp#©4illy those that 
are getting a college training ate expected to fill the pul-
pit or go to some foreign field as missionaries. The teacher 
either develops,or is forced into this work by circumstances. 
A change is coming, however, and within a generation or less 
only those with some theological training will "be direct 
candidates. All the professors of the college were elected 
as preachers beofope they had completed the college course. 
The religious atmosphere of this community is also very 
strongly eixpressed in their Christmas pfograms. long elabor-
ate programs are made up and carried out. The recititi:ns 
center principally around the "birth of the new King, altho 
occasionally a iece celebrating the Christmas tree is slipped 
in too. The Hillsboro church has its program always on the 
evsning of the 24th of December and generally has "beautiful 
docotations in connection with the tree. In the other tY/o 
churches there is no tree nor are there any decorations made. 
They have their programs iin the afternoon of the 25th and 
have far less di'ill connected with them. Besides the pro?-
grams in the churches most of the schools have similar exer-
cises. Here the decorations are very elaborate. large crowds 
attend such evening programs. All these exercises are in 
German, altho occasionally an English piece is given in the 
schools, but it is not received very kindly. A* characteris-
tic remark is "Ah, that did not mean anything, that was Eng-
lish". 
The Sunday School is a very strong ally of the churches. 
Young an§"old take part. In number of people attending it Is 
99. 
considerably ahead of the American neighbors, but not in 
the amount of coMetions. The Hillsboro S. S. meets in the 
morn*ng at 9..SO and lasts one hour- It has an enrolment of 
about 550. The Gnadenau S. 3. meets in the afternoon and 
has as a result a small enrolment. The people stay for dinner 
at the church and meet shortly after. Ebenfeld had its S. 3. 
or-/ 
in the afternoon until last summer when the heat of the after-
noons became unbearable. When fall came they put it back to 
the afternoon, but only for one Sunday. The people liked 
the forenoon too well by this time and it has remained at 
that time since. Thus the great heat of last summer accom-
plished what the agitation of the young people for 15 years 
was unable to do. Since then the enrolment has nearly doubled. 
The S|ate Sunday School Conventions are generally at-
tended by a delegate andafew others from each 3. S. Afterwards 
a report is given and comment is made on the way the "Ameri-
cans" conduct their S. 3. The general attitude of these 
people toward the American methods is not the very friendliest, 
especially toward the social side of it. They want religious 
instruction in the Sunday School, not a mere sociable time. 
^he religious services of these three churches &re the n 
same. T£he manner of organization is similar to ^ ftiat it was 
a huAdred years ago and which we described in ctsapter III, 
p. 10. Candidates for the pulpit are elected by majority 
"95 
vote and are knovm as,Tteachers", serving as assistants ti> 
the regular elder or .leader. After some time theya may Toe 
ordained and then they are preachers with full rank and 
all the rights of an elder in the ordinary church affairs. 
If a vacancy occurs for sane reason these preachers are 
called upon to fill it. At an ordination people from a con-
siderable distance attend. If an elder moves into another 
community the people there are at liberty whether they will 
K^  Is 
permit him to preach or not, hut usually (they ar$ accorded 
that right. 
The pulpit of all these three churches is now open for 
men of other denominations, altho a certain hesitance is 
displayed at times. The fences have heen lowered consider-
ably and it is not so much a question anymore of how a per-
son came to his religion. The preachers from other ITenno-
nite churches are no longer larred from filling the pulpit 
occasionally. The IT* E. and the C. LI. E. now exchange 
speakers quite freely, a practice which they did'not sanction 
formerly. The right which these churches denied one another 
was freely extended to the Baptists from the very beginning, 
and to the Methodists too if they dould speak German. 3o it 
seems that rivalry more than anything else caused these rules 
to be made, so as to avoid absorption. On the v?hole, however, 
we must say that these churches are far more conservative 
101. 
than the 32. B. of Russia. That this should he so may have 
its cause in the fact that the most conservative people 
move to America and here lived mostly in closed communi-
ties, so that changes did not come very frst. 
102. 
Chapter III. Economic Activities. 
In the preceding chapter we have shown the influence of 
religion in the community, in this chapter we shall try to 
show the developments along economic lines. The Mennonites 
have heen known for centuries as a financially well situated 
people on account of their thrift and industry and hence 
it will he interesting to see how they prospered in the new 
country where there was all the freedom they might desire 
and where no oppressive government would limit them in their 
economic activities. For convenience we may divide the time 
from 1874 to the present into three periods, (l) from 1874 
to 1892, the early period,(2) the middle period from 1692, 
and (3) the present period from 1900 to 1914. There are 
no hard and fast lines between these periods, "but there is 
sufficient difference to warrant this division for the sake 
of a clear presentation-
(1) This pioneer period extended over almost twenty 
years. \'Je have shown elsewhere that this was a time of 
equality and privation. 2he people that came over from 
Russia were not of the well-to-do classes, hut rather mostly 
of the proletariat who had either very little land or none 
at all. The money they hrot along generally did not last 
very long after settlement. Everyone who could possibly do 
so invested some money in land so that a permanent abode 
103. 
would be secured. Up to 1878 the Russian rouble brot 74 
cents in exchange, but after that it slumped in value until 
the immigrants could not get more than 48 cents for it. 
Coming here the;; found nothing but a wild prarie and it took 
courage to get started in thos grasshopper years. An 
idee of the country may be gained from Plate 2T . 
The settlers had various household articles as well as 
some implements along. Among the latter were the Russian 
wagon, "noticeable for its short coupling,narow 'track', 
flaring bed painted gre~n, and a profusion of blacksmith's 
work all over',' the hand scythe with which they intended to 
cut their grass and grain, spades, harnesses, etc. They 
found very soon, however, that the American implements were 
much better and so they discarded their old implements. Some 
few of the 'e Russian wagons are still standing behind hed-
ges as reminders of old days. In some places several fami-
lies lived in one house for a year or more until the: e was 
enuf money or help to build a home of their own. The early 
houses wex-e nearly all built of sod or sundries brick, with 
grass thatched roofs. The outside walls were whitewashed 
frequently so that feueh a house had a pretty, nice appearance. 
She houses were all of a long'cracker box. shape, with only 
one story. Sone few lived in "wedge" shaped houses for a 
slaort time. Buildings of this kind may be seen in Plate X • 
104. 
The people of Gnadenau, and those of other villages 
also, soon found out that their village system trot with it 
all hinds of unnecessary inconveniences and difficulties. 
They saw the ilmericans and a few Llemionites jiving separate-
ly on their own farms without the trouble of going a mile 
or two to the land or working a narrow strip of land along 
the whole section. There was no need of such close living 
to- ether since there were not the dangers to which such 
families would have hern e::yo; ed in Rus:;ia and so the village 
began to disintegrate two years after settlement. The 
farmers of the village began to exchange the small strips 
with one another and thus they finally got some of their 
land in one piece, or at least nearly so. There wa;: a great 
deal of dissatisfaction during this process of disintegra-
tion! readjustment, since the land was not everywhere of the 
same value, and some individuals valued their land higher 
than it really was worth. The leaders generally took the 
short end of the bargain to avoid quarrels. Two of the men 
who have been lifelong leaders have very Tittle land today 
compared with the rest of the village poep&e. A few of the 
hedges on the different sections are the only things that 
indicate some of the smaller divisions. 
The early trading was done largely at the store abuflot 
a fourth of a mile south of the village, as shown in IlateiT. 
105. 
J&jL i • > > tl^t 
The store in the village itself went out of commission 
the first or seco3id year. The one outside of the village 
lasted from f76 to T79, when the railroad came thru and 
the trading center moved to Hillsboro abo-.:t three miles 
liofcth. C&ose to the store was a blacksmith shop where the 
people came together to have their work done. The store 
was a sort of a news exchange altho not to the extent that 
it would hnve been intfan American community. Another 
blacksmith shop was in the west part of the village, but 
we do not know how long it lasted. The remainder of the 
trading was done at Peabody, about 14 miles southeast. A 
little of the trade went tt other towns, but it was not 
very important. The grain was hauled mostly to Peabody 
since it was the nearrst town with a railroad, but some 
farmers drove as far as Ilewton, a distance of about 25 
miles. 'She reason for this may have been the presence of 
a German flour mill at that place, and also that there were 
really better bargains to be^made. 
The sorghum mills performed a very important service 
in that time. One was located about two milm south of the 
village and here people came from a great distance with their 
cane. Some families made as much as hundred gallons a year 
"and it was all eaten up too", as one man told the writer. 
The fare consisted of syrup, salt, bread and pork. Limited 
tho this bill of iff are was, a good many of the boys v/ere 
P U t c . x : 
101. 
glad to hare a oliance to work for it and have a place to 
stay. 
The si He industry did not prosper very long. It was 
kept up for a for/ years, hut the climate was not favorable 
and the market not good enuf to make it profitable. Water-
melons yielded better returns and large patches of this 
vegetable could be seen closc to every home. 
The change that these Kennonites brot about in a few 
years on this wild prarie is brot out quite strikingly in 
Hr. II. Prentis1 "Southwestern-letter" of 1882 in which 
he tells of his second trip thru the Mennonite settlements 
in central Kansas. Everywhere he found thrift and frugal 
habits winning a living from the new soil. The barren praries 
with their people Just as plain had given away to more 
scenic views, ffrees were everhwhere growing lustily and the 
plain houses with tlieir thatched roofs were being replaced 
by more American structures. Everywhere the people seemed 
to be happy. 
The grasshoppers which came to Kansas the same year 
that these settlers did, troubled the new settlements con-
siderably A good deal of their work was rendered useless 
by this pest for a few years in succession. . The drouth 
thc.t came along in the latter 70ties was also a hard blow^ 
^uithru it all they persevered. Good crops followed in due time 
10 2. 
and the hard tines disappeared slowly. Most of the people 
who had hot farms tried to pay off the dehts as soon as 
possible, but it was5,difficult task when they had to pay 
24^ and more for interest on money that they "borrowed from 
local bankers-or agents. Implements and horses were very 
high. Many of the horses soon succumbed to the new country, 
perhaps as much as on account of the hard work. A good 
many used ox teams for a number of years. 
During this,period the neighbors helped one another 
at harvest time, men and women working in the field all day 
long. Tbere was very little money in the settlement and 
so labor was the article of exchange. Many of the girls 
were employed at the threshing machines, being put on the 
straw stack often, the worst place at such a machine. Many 
girls were overworked during this, pioneer period as their 
later ill health clearly showed. Girls did everything that 
boys could'do in those days and the stories that the older 
ladies tell of th4ir sufferings in the heat and dust speak 
very eloquently against this farm of labor for women* 
(2) By 1892 the whole settlement was on a solid 
footing. The pioneer period was over and relative pros-
perity began to spread thru the community. The old Russian 
implements and methods had all been discarded and replaeed 
by the more modern American implements and ways of farming. 
The thatched roofs had disappeared and givei^ *^to houses of 
103. 
a "better appearance. Hany of the old sod houses were used 
as sheds or "barns. The household industries such as 
spinning, knitting, and the making of men's clothes were 
beginning to disappear. 
A good deal of speculation was engaged in at this 
time and when the panic came in 1893 it struck some very 
hard. Some were living heyond their means, or had incurred 
debts and were therefore the ones to feel the the panic 
most strongly. Farm products became almost valueless. Corn 
sold at IE cents a bushel, and even then there was no good 
demand for it. In a few exceptional cases, we have heard, it 
was used for fuel. Wheat sold at 25 cents per'bushel. The 
period of depression lasted for several years. The opening 
of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma gave many a new oppor-
tunity. A good many moved to Oklahoma during that time. 
Another reason that contributed to failures in a num-
ber of cases was the fact thrt religion interfered with 
sound business methods. Often some fellows had gotten into 
debt thru some fault of their own and then they would go 
to the "brethren" for help. "Brother help" was interpreted 
to mean that one had to risk M s own financial, standing to 
get someone else out of trouble. Since every one who belonged 
to church was a "brother" .it was one's duty to help. Vfith 
such motives men became security for other people's debts 
104. 
with the result that in some cases fhe farm and almost every-
thing- else had to "be sold in order to pay some "brother' s" 
dehts. Shis taught the people a good lesson in "religion 
applied to business". 
By the time of the Spanish American TTar the community 
had recovered almost entirely from the hard times. Good 
crops followed, creameries were opened-and'vperiod of general 
prosperity began to dawn. The war itself tended to raise 
the prices of farm products and thus helped in this artificial 
way. 
(3) The present period is a fuller development of 
1 
the prosperity that began during the last few years of the 
previous period. Farm values rose from §4,000 to ^ 16,000 
and more in less than ten years. The continued high prices 
of farm products brot in a high degree of prosperity, llany 
farms were hot, old mortgages were paid off and numerous 
improvements made, ^he homes that once had earth floors, 
thatched roofs, sod walls, and few and scanty furniture have 
been replaced by big two story buildings with carpets, rugs, 
organs, pianos, pictures and high priced furnitjxre. The 
farm buildings are enormous in size compared with trie little 
she s of 35 years ago. Silos, elevators, and big feed 
barns are tailing the place of the old buildings. The feed 
is not pitched into the hay loft with forks anymore, but 
most of the farmers haul it up with "nets". The implements 
105 
are of tlr best and latest make. In the home the modern 
cream separator has replace! the old tedious methods of 
gathering cream. The walking plow was relegated to the 
scrap heap fifteen or more years ago. Sulky and gang plows 
have taken its place. The riding corn plow is fast taking 
the 
the place of walking c£>rn plow. Carriages came in ah out 
20 years ago and. today the automobile is beginning to take 
their place. One dealer of Hillsboro said over forty cars 
last year and a good number of nee, of which several found 
their way into this com unity. The bicycle,once very com-
mon is being replaced by the motor«=cycle. The telephone 
was introduced in 1205 and since 1909 there is scarcely a 
home without it. 
Moreover there has begun a movement of old farmers 
to the town. The movement was eiHienced by the building of 
the college. This has introduced a system of absentee 
landlordism to some extent. In most places the son or the 
dmghter lives on the parental place. Scientific farming 
has not made very much f a start yet. -he reason may be 
perhaps in the fact that Ilennonites have always regarded them-
selves as good farmers. The soil has been depleted con-
siderably, however, and since farms are so high the owners 
are of necessity forced to look around for better methods 
of farming. she increase in the number of faring papers 
is good evidence of this. 2he farmer institutes are being 
better attended than formerly and everything points to the 
106. 
conclusion that scientific farming v/il] shortly take a hoia 
in the community. All that is needed just now is a good 
leader to take the initiative. 
The women seldom work on the land anymore. In the 
early years it was a necessity and they did it cheerfully, 
hut at present the economic conditions do not require their 
presence on the fii&d. There is a growing sentiment against 
the practice, co that a farmer who still adheres to it out 
of penury meets with strong disapproval, especially if he ia 
well situated. The hoys are generally the most strongly op-
posed to seeing their sisters do such hard work. 
Good roads are coming in too. Increasingly the farm 
products area stored and sS&M when the market is favorable. 
The former argument against good roads that they would serve 
01113- "fchs pesky automobilesf as'they were, regarded before 
the farmers could afford one of their own) is hardly* ever 
heard anymore. 
A good deal of trading is done with mail order houses. 
The farmers claim they can get better goods at cheapo: pr<:<:«S 
thain at the local stores. This may bo true in some instances, 
but not entirely. The business men are awakening to their 
task and trying to keep the trade at home. The two big de-
partment stores at Hillsboro are doing much in this line 
by their extensive' advertising as well as by their reasonable 
107. 
prices for articles of good quality. That the standard of 
living has risen is sfaGwn.by the fact that these merchants 
are carrying a higher grade of goods than formerly, as one 
of them told the writer. 
The household industries, such as spinning, knitting, 
crocheting, making of men's clothes have disappeared almost 
completely, and women's clothing are increasingly tailor 
made. Whatever is left of the first nai ed industries is 
done anly here and there by some old grandma more for a di-
version than anything else. All this has freed the women 
to a large extent and has given them more time for refinement. 
The Ilennonites migrate just as much as ever, "but 
at pre ent the motives are very different. Formerly it was 
on account of religion that they wandered from one country 
to another, hut now it is Vcause of the desire for land. 
In German it is called "landhunger". She population of the 
community has gone hack during the past 15 years for this 
very reason. Its members have migrated to a number of differ-
ent states of the Union, or to Canada. This desire for land 
was fostered grer.t:y by a certain landagent during the years 
of 1907 and 191" . At first he conducted a campaign for 
Hamilton County, Zansas, and hundreds of Ilennonites bot land. 
Quite 'a few moved to that county too. 7<hen the bankers' panic 
of 1907 caae the whole thing went to pieces. ?he land had 
114. 
"been hot at speculative prices and hence a great lose hap-
pened to th last buyers. There are several of this community 
who arc still pay in- for land, or have sold it at a heavy 
loss. That affair was scarcely over when this same gentle-
nan be|an to conduct a more vigorous campaign for Califor-
nia land. He intended to make a lar~-c settlement close to 
lakersfield, Cal. The hare land, without water, wells, ir-
rigation ditches or anything else was finally sold as high 
as vl50 an acre. A great many of Kansas, "but especifllj^ of 
Okla. ,hot large portions of the precious land. At the end 
of 1910 the "bubble broke. It turned out that the agent 
had nothing but a contract for the Irnd for which the people 
had been deeding their farms away. A great many were 
plunged in-to the meanest poverty and manj/ others lost 
heavily. The agent was sought by several Okla. sheriffs 
but he was aide" and thus made his escape. Since then he 
has not been se-n publicly. This man was a member of the 
Hillsboro church until shortly before his flight. The fact 
that he belonged to the K. B. church was worth thousands to 
him, for the people thot that such a man surely could not 
be crooked. 
If we take a look back to 1874 and compare the 
Ilennonites of that day with those of today we notice a 
great change along economic lines. Only seme old buildings 
109. 
or ruins of them , some scattered,.rusting implements,some 
isolated threshstones, a few old household articles here and 
there are the only visible reminders of the past. The 
young llennonite listens with interest to the description 
of thingft that were used on]/^  such a short time ago, and 
contrasting what he hears with what he sees he smiles and 
is glad that "he is an American". 
110. 
Chapter IV. Regulative and Political 
Activities. 
In Bussia the Ilennonites had complete local autonomy 
and all their affairs were dealt with in their own peculiar 
way. 7/hen they came to America the situation was quite 
different. Here everyone was sMd to "be free and a local 
government as it had existed in Russia was not possible. 
Gnadenau tried the old village government "but that "broke 
a own in two or three years. Che other parts of this com-
munity did not try it at all. The stories of the pioneer 
methods of dealing with offenders and evil-doers found 
a 
theit way into the settlement quite early. It had queer 
influence on these people. The exaggerated ideas of what 
American freedom reealy meant acted as strong checks upon 
their political activities. Hanging of horse thieves was 
not so very uncommon at that time and even tho these things 
happened remote settlements they did not fail to leave 
a strong impression upon their minds. Such things served 
as a check upon such of the young fellows as would other-
wise have he^n more reckless than they were. In the vil-
lages of Gnadenau and Hoffhungstal where the association 
between the people was a very close one they soon had a 
gang of toughs who played various tricks o£ the village 
people * For about five years the gang fetayed together and 
Ill 
then those that remained changed their methods. These boys 
were a rea] problem to the settlers. The customayy way of 
dealing with offenders was thru the church authority or 
thru the village magistrate, hut since the hoys did not be-
and 
long to the church, he cause th-p knew the magistrate , os 
long as they had one, had no power they were comparatively 
safe. Ho one dared to take such a matter to court and so 
the immunity of the boys was rather pronounced. The parents 
generally did not believe that their boys were so mean as 
their neighbors reported them to be. 
Ebenfeld had a gang similar to the Hope ¥alley (Hoff-
nungstal) gang, but much later. They showed their worst 
tricks at the weddings at which they were the terror of the 
people. At the charivaris they made a scanda: ous noise 
with tinpans, tanks, old rusty muzzle loaders, and anything 
el ;e that they were able to find. They generally left "after 
they had seen the groom and his bride and had received some->r 
thing to tor preferably to,fdrinkM. At one time the father 
of the bride ca ;e out instead of the groom and since the 
boys had it in for the old men they greeted him with a vo71ey 
from their guns. Cne of the fellows aimed low enuf to shoot 
the cap from the old man's head. His fear and terror can. 
be imagined. At another instance the fathers of the couple 
came out with whips and chased the boys a half mile or more. 
112. 
To one got oauglit, hut it was close enuf to afford them the 
excitement they were rfter. Such gangs were generally 
broken up when a big revival broke out at which the leaders 
were often the first ones to change their life. How snd 
then one or two fellows would not join, and being out of 
harmony with their comrades and the rest of the community 
they left or sought other companions. It is significant, 
however, that of those who r-fused to join the church not 
a one has risen to any prominence anywhere, whereas many of 
the others %ho did change their v/ays are highly respected 
men today. 
Since that time the peo le have changed their 
ideas of long suffering with such fellows. If anyone attempts 
anything like that todajfhe is very promptly reported to 
the county seat and placed under arrest and fined. Several 
such incidents have happened only two or three years ago. 
Hoy; no gang exists and no one goes over the country playing 
rude horse jokes on people while they are at church or at 
some other place. 
Politics were left entirely alone during the early 
years. Only the sfthool and township affairs were attended 
to. She Gnadenau church as late as 1907 opposed the holding 
of any offices, or evenjroting at the general elections. 
In Ebenfeld and Hillsboro the change has been much more 
113. 
rapid. Here men have voted for a good number of years, 
and the church has not taken any action against voting 
or the holding of offices. 
As early as 1874 or 1875 the state legislature 
passed a law exempting the Mennonites from any military 
service, as other states had done previously in regard to 
the Quakers . Accordingly many registered in the respective 
county seats and took out these exe&ption licenses? How, 
vfaether the legislature passed this law in good faith of 
only to make the Mennonites feci safe in coming here, is 
a question that the writer cannot decide definitely. But 
that 
it is his Opinion the lav; was passed only so as to get 
these people to come here, for it seems to him that no 
state legislature has the constitutional right to pass such 
laws. It certainly iaad the desired effect in attracting 
the greatest number of Mennonites to Kansas. 
The Ilennonites of our community took very little 
part in politics^ef ore 1896. Here and there the younger 
men who load received a part or all of their schooling in 
this country voted and some few held offices. It was the 
custom of the Republican Party to have one Mennonite in 
office at the county seat of Marion altho their voting 
strength would have entitled them to a better representation. 
The great change came in 1896 when 7/. J. Bryan was candidate 
for the presidency. The election of Cleveland had not 
114. 
effected these people very much, hut the following panic 
had impressed them very strongly, '^'he Democrats were 
hlamed for th hard times and the new policies of Bryan 
were regarded as visionary. Republican stump speakers were 
at hand to give the darkest coloring to whrt would happen 
if another Democrat was elected president. Sonic even feared 
slavery would come, altho it Is not clear why they did not 
fear the same thing when Cleveland was elected. The strong-
est factor, however, was the economic feature. The Ilennonites 
have always heen very sensitive on this sid- and anything 
which hurtr; their economic interests, or might do so, is 
resented at once. The election had the result to "bring out 
many who had never voted before. Quite a few of the Gnaden-
au and Ebenfeld people laid their religious scruples aside 
and went to the polls to register their protest against 
cheap money and hard times. The money plank of the Demo-
crats was not understood at all by the great majority. 
The next great event that stirred the community was 
the Spanish American !7ar. Many who had permitted their • 
exemption licenses to lapse went to nation and registered 
again as people who Are opposed to war. The more enlightened 
majority, however, we Y/ould venture to say, ridiculed the 
idea of such a thing as that they would be called upon to 
do any military service in that war. The keenest interest 
115. 
was manifested everywhere thru out all Mennonite settlements. 
The reports of how our navy was taking one Spanish ship 
after another were received with gladness and pride. It 
was with them now as Jacob A. Eiis says in his "The Making 
of an American" they had found out that they were Ameri-
cans. In some churches the people prayed for the victory 
of the American amis and for a speedy cessation of hostili-
ties. Ho hoys enlisted from this community, but there 
were a number from other Mennonite settlements who w&wt to 
tho F&ilipine Islands. Most of the old people were ac-
quainted with scenes of war from their services in the 
Crimean War and many a story of long ago was revived when 
friends me$. As a whole the Spanish American TJ&x has served 
to arouse in this community a consciousness that it is 
American and that our flag stands for freedom. Just as 
the war cemented the North and South together so it bas 
fastened these Mennonite people to our country. They have 
become proud of a country that can wbip alnost any power 
and at the same time make good its word of honor which it 
chooses to give at any time. 
Since that time several young men have joined either 
the ICans. Hat. Guard or the U. S. Army. One of these boys 
is the son of a preacher. War is still opposed, but there 
is not such pronounced opposition to it as formerly. The 
116. 
boys w" 10 have jcined have been such who did not stand ver„ 
high in the estimation of the community. 
Since 1900 the Americanization of the Mennonites 
in this com unity in political respects hrs been almost 
entirely completed. All parties are represented, ^he 
Republicans were always far in the majority until the break 
in 1912, when the Progressives took the lead with th- Demo-
crats a close second. Hillsboro has always been a progres-
sive town. It gave Stubbs great majorities at all elections. 
"Then in 191" the candidate on the Republican ticket for the 
county attorney's office was fou.nd out to have given secret 
aid to the notorious landagent 11. whom we have mentioned 
in the preceding chapter, and had also received financial 
returns for it,a wave of antagonism set in. Altho he wc.s 
a resident of the town at the time, a petition for an in-
dependent .man was circulated just in time to permit the 
new man'3 name to appear on the ballot. The independent 
man was elected by a good majority. This all goes to show 
that the Mennonites of this community are not "straight 
party" voters anymore. The candidates are discussed in 
their paper and also in private circles and if thefc are 
not good in their estimation they are not supported. Some 
vote en every ticket, picking the men which they think 
are most able to fill the office. Formerly the Republicans 
117. 
gave the Gftrmans one county office and had the rest of 
the spoils to themselves, but that is changing too. They 
demand "better representation, and holding the balance of 
power they ?re getting it tfto. In 1912 the community 
went Semonratic for the first time in its history. The 
groat argument urc the reduction of taxes which Mr. Hodges 
promised and the failure of the Republicans to mate good 
on the tariff revision under Taft. Pres. Taft was very 
unpopular in this community , but men like Eoosevelt and 
Wilson who have shown themselves to be on the side of the 
people get strong support. It d6es not matter so much 
to which party Mae man belongs, but if ho is a man of the 
"people" he can count on their support. 
On the question of woman suffrage the community 
tool: a conservative attitude. A woman's place is in the 
home, according to German ideals. Consequently the vote 
0:1 the suffrage amendment r$\1912 wa3 about 7 to 1 opposed 
to the adoption of the amendment. The educated of the 
community voted for the amendment. It was not uncommon 
tt see a father vote against the amendment and his Son for 
it. 
During the last few years the women occasionally 
take part in municipal elections too, but generally only 
when the race is rather close and each candidate hopes to 
win. The author knows women* who voted at such at election 
118. 
a year ago who had never seen a voting booth before altho 
they had lived in this country for 37 years. 
Quite a few of the immigrants did not take out the 
naturalization papers during the ealry years and so when 
the new naturalisation law was pasedd a few year3 ago hundreds 
of Ilennonites from the various parts of the state rushed to 
the district coutts to get their papers. Ther<^some who had 
lived here 30 years or more but had not taken out any papers 
at all. And we venture to say £hat quite a few of the Rus-
sian IlennoniteS died expatriated prior to 1907. It would ^ e 
difficult to say how many there are who have not yet taken 
put their papers, but their number musi^Very small. Russia 
gave emigration passes only trill 188° and after that only 
traveling passes, so that any family that comes over nfiw is 
really only on a visit. It has the effect of causing each 
newcomer to-take out the papers soon after arrival, so that 
they may go back to Russia on a visit sometime and not be 
molested by that government. The new law requiring a know-
ledge of the English and an understanding of the Constitution 
has had the result that those who become citizens now know 
more about the workings of our Jpyernment and can speak a 
better English than many of those who came over 38 years 
ago. This one factor alontf has served to a great extent to 
keep this community so thoroly German until today. 
119. 
At present we may say that the Uennonites are no lon-
ger opposed to holding office. Their newspapers work very 
strongly against such narrow views. At election day the 
keenest interest is manifested in the results of the day. 
At a recent German Teachers1 Association Vw> of the leading 
men made the statement that they would have their "boys hold 
any office except that of a governor or a presidentf since 
these men are at the head of our armed forces, theoretically 
at least. The majority hold this view, we believe, but there 
are a good many already who would take even the excepted 
offices without anj^  scruples of conscience. So we see that 
religious belief which could not be influenced to any extent 
for 300 years in Europe has been completely changed in .Ameri-
ca in less than 40 years, and this mainly because here they 
were obliged to take a part in governmental affairs. Then 
too the education had some to do with this, but of this we 
shall speak in another chapter. 
120. 
Chapter 7. Cultural Activities. 
At the time of settlement in 1874 there were only here 
and there a few school h uses. Coming from a foreign countiy 
they were in great need of the English and hence small even-
ing schools for the adults sprang up very soon after settle-
ment, in which most of the older men acquired enuf of the 
nev/ language to enable them to deal with their neighbors. 
After a few years, however, when the population had increased 
a good deal and the Americans had nearly all left the com-
munity and the stores in the trading centers employed German 
clerics the need f: r these schools disappeared. Consequently 
the sohoo1s*discontinued. 
The village of Gnadenau was almost in the center of 
a large school district and one of the shhool houses was 
just east of the village, later another building was erected, 
some distance west of the village, as may be seen from Plate 
JZ • The district was never divided,however, even tho 
there was school in two se arat^loxl^several years. During 
the first two winters the children of Gnadeaau we e not sent 
to the public school since it was thot wrong to do that, but 
they were taught in a private German school in the village 
itself. After the seconi winter the children were permitted 
to attend the district school to learn some English. The 
school term was about 4 months of the English and 3 of German. 
121 
Che schools in the remainder of the community were of about 
the same length. It was the purpose of these people to hrve 
their children learn some English "because it was required, 
hut by all means were they to have a good knowledge of the 
German, because only in that way could old customs and be-
1 ^.X-f n> "be preserved. ' Che benches of those early schools 
wer- made without any special regr.rd to the size and form 
of the chilarenls "bodies, and thus wern regular instruments 
of torture. As late as 1900 there were some schools yet 
that had not discarded all of the old bonches. Chose old 
beiiches were so substantially built that they could last a 
generation or more • 
The wages of the ear?y teachcr was about $20 a month. 
Boarding around of the teacher has never been practiced in 
this com amity. As soon as it was possible German teachers 
were employed to teach both languages. The efficiency of 
these country schools was necessarily low for years. As late 
as 1898 many schools had pupils who were 21 or over and were 
doing only 6th or 7th grade work. It was indeed difficult 
to get very far in four months with irregular attendance. 
Boys a:::d girls were Sept at home a ,^ ood deal to help in the 
work on the farm. 
curriculum of the German schools v/as quite in-
clusive during the early years. Such subjects as Geography, 
122. 
Arithmetic, Heading, Grammar and Composition, Church History, 
and the Bible were taught. Of these the last one was the 
principal study. As time has passed some have "been dropped 
A. 
and present only Heading, Grammar and the Bible ate taught; 
once in a while church history also. In some of the schools 
it is difficult now to have even these few branches. 
The compulsory school law of 1903 has raised the 
eff iciency of the country schools greatly. Formerly it was 
a hopeless thing to expect any pupil to finish the co.rse, hut 
after 1903 the number of such pupils began to increase. V/lien 
the school lav/ of 1909 was passed providing a term of T&r uJL'Y 
months of English there was a good^dissatisfaction. With the 
former 5 month's term ther^ had always been & months of Ger-
manjyet, but now that was impossible if they wanted to adhere 
to the old policy of having only 7 months for the whole year. 
Consequently,in order to "save the German language" ways 
were sought to get around the lav;. For several school boards 
had agreements with the county superintendent thrt they 
could run their school on the old plan. A number of schools 
hav.~ been running in exact contravention of the law,w^ile 
others put German in as a part of each day's work, to which 
the state superintendent did not make any serious objection. 
There are still-a few schools in this community that do not 
live up t the spitit of the law. The leading German teachers 
of the state call such methods of securing the German out-
123. 
right dishonesty. They claim &hat any community can afford 
to have 9 months of school each year. 
It is becoming more difficult to get teachers who are 
willing to teach both languages since the English pays often 
twice as much as the German. They also say that it is much 
easier to teach the English since there is a definite system, 
modern books,plenty of work, and more time to do real work, 
whereas in the Gexman school books are user! that were written 
40, years ago, so few studies are taught that the work is 
monotonous, and with only two months each year the pupils 
get no working knowledge of the German to do anything beyond 
reading or composition. 
The enrolment in the district schools is less than it 
was 15 years ago since the rura? population has gone back. 
There are no consolidated schools in the community, but the 
Gnadenau district is large enuf to have two teachers. A 
number of years ago the two buildings were moved and another 
structure erected on the site where the old church stood. 
This is centrally located for the district and allows a two 
room school. The play ground Contains about 6 acfces. The 
playground of the other schools is raiOfcer small. The Gnaden-
au district has turned out more teachers, professors, 
preachers, and educated people than any other district of 
its size teiong Mennonite settlements of Kansas, so one of 
the men who domes from that district t&ld the author. It 
124. 
is true that more than 40 teachers have come frfim there, 
of whom almost a third have received higher degrees. Host 
of the teachers,however, have not had much more than one or 
two years of schooling above the the common school, so that 
tssrfc the above figure is not so very surprising after it 
has be^n properly evaluated. All the teachers of the college 
except a few come from this community, so that the college, 
altho representative of the 11. E. Conference, is directly a 
pr6duct of this com ".unity. The rural school buildings are 
in fair condition of repair, but they are all old . Hone of 
them are used as socializing centers in the large sense. 
In fact anything which sounds like social or socializing is 
religiously tabooed. 
Higher education received'no attention for years. 
It was always opposed more or ~ess as unnecessary. A common 
school education with a good knowledge of the Bible was deemed 
a sufficient preparation for life. Slowly, however, in spite 
of this attitude of the commtoity young men began to go to 
higher institutions of learning and soon more followed. From 
1899 to 1905 the General Conference of the M, B. maintained 
a small German Department at McPherson College and a number 
of young men and young women fron this community attended 
there. The department was dropped in 1905 for lack of 
financial support and for several! there was no special place 
to attract the students, so they went whereever they pleased. 
125. 
The need of a higher education was beginning to be felt and 
in order to keep the young men and women from gfiing to other 
schools and leaving their church two men from Ebenfeld began 
to wor;: for a school association which was to last(for) five 
years, after which they hoped to have the school well launched. 
She support was good and by the fall of 1908 the present 
building of Tabor College was erected. She enrolment of 
the first yerr was about 90. Prom then on it has been 
increasing slowly and this year they reported an enrolment 
of about 170. -he constitution of the association provided 
that only members of the II. E. and the C. I.I. E. could belong 
to the association and this cut off a large local support. 
Che constitution further'provides that all teachers shall 
belong t>n- of the above named denominations. It soon ap-
iJX l A 
peared that „were not sufficient men to be obtained from among 
the members of these denominations and so men from religious 
bodies ••ere hired. This caused a great deal of trouble. 
She people were reall; dissatisfied with the ccurfte whifch dU-
Vfcook. They had ixpected that it would be only a Bible school 
and now the other branches soemed to be the more important 
part of the curriculum. Llany people refused to pay their 
pledged sums on account of the above. The financial diffi-
culties of the college have been greet. The salaries of the 
teachers are very low, but they "work for their people" and 
decline better offers from bigger schools. There are several 
126 
small colleges nearby and it would seem that this last one 
would not he needed, hut each denomination wishes to remain 
intact and to heep its youth and thus the "need" arises. 
Hie college has been the greatest factor in bringing the two 
denominations together. The attitude of the churches of the 
community toward the college was not the very best for a 
few years, because the college was "too liberal". This atti-
tude was not justified, however. It is true the students 
tried to be more liberal in soclfrl intercouree during the 
first years, but latt<nly this has hern checked. The reason 
for the former freedom was the presence of several students 
who had been away to other colleges and who did not like the 
conservative atmosphere of the school. Such things a3 clap-
ping of hands, yells, parties, and other social amusements 
are still opposed. The students, however, indulge in clapping 
of hands whenever it suits them, but the yelling has not made 
any progress yet. TTith the passing of the first liberal 
students a more religious element has come in and being care-
fully nurtured by the different religi*ous organizations 
the college has now a strong religious tendency. A consider-
able per cent of the students are preparing either for the 
ministry or for some other missionary work. The largest per 
cent, however, prepare foi? the teaching profession. 
The ideal of the college is to fit students out for 
127. 
"service". Hence religious devotion and moral rectitude 
are strongly upheld. The teachers are- also almost without 
exception preachers. Intellectual ability is regarded as 
higlil; desirable, but without religion it is deemed insuf-
ficient. The religious life fostered is not a critically 
intellectual one, but rather one of unswerving belief in the 
religious teachings. Truth iz considered as unchanging and 
the views of modern science are strongly combatted wherever 
they conflict with the religious teachings, or they are 
quietly passed over. The sending out of one of the graduates 
to the foreign field this summer is having a strong influence 
upon others to fit themselves for the same work. 
Democracy is strongly intrenched, and everyone is 
given a fair chance. The atmosphere among the students is 
one of good Ijawfaffi comradeship. There are no fraternities 
or other exclusive organizations. There is only one literary 
society and it has always been a great success. During the 
second and third years of its existence people came from as 
far as 8 and 10 miles to "take in'the programs. At present 
such is not the case, however, and only the young people of 
the i.mediate neighborhood Come to the programs. lecture 
courses were given for two years, but the directors of the 
college prohibited them, since a few of the numbers were"too 
worldly" and had too much fun. 
128. 
The college is in a somewhat difficult position. Its 
students are constantly demanding more liberty in social lines. 
The sup: orters, however, think: that the school is already 
too liberal and going "too fast". It is somathing of a prob-
lem to Ireep the good will of the students and<Hhe people 
too. Ihis also explains the efforts of the faculty to direct 
the energies of the students into the field of religious 
activity. Athletics are encouraged in a moderate way. An 
effort of the students a year ago to raise funds for a small 
gymnasium was.dealt with summarily,by the directors, altho 
over half of the amount had been piftdged already. Shay 
argued if the students were so enthusiastic about raising 
money they might help a little toward paying the debt which 
still rested on the college, altho it is only a small amount. 
The local students make up over 40$ of the enrol-
ment. By" local "we include this whole community. Of this 
number Ebenfeld contributes a small, altho a growing, part. 
Thf people at Ebenfeld are somewhat antagonistic toward the 
college. The wife of one of the preachers remarked a year 
ago that she thanked God that her children did not go to 
such a school. The students that have left and gone to 
larger institution have made Eery good records at the new 
places. The instruction is good and the work done of a 
high quality. The crying need of the school, as that of 
every other small college, is a greater amount of financial 
129. 
support. It goes without saying that the school could have 
a great deal more of wholesome social life. 
She college has quickened the intellectual life of the 
community wonderfully. A general desire for higher edu-
cation is making itself manifest. For men it is very favor-
able and for women it is fast becoming so. She young 
women make up about 40^ of the students of the college. 
Board and tuition are low and so many attend who would other-
wi e be barred. There are students from Kans., Okla.t Utb., 
Ilinn., Colo.,Calif.,the Dakotas, and Saskatchewan, repre-
senting the various local churches of the M. B. and C. LI. E. 
of Horth America. 
2he firrflpaewspapers of this community were mostly 
sectarian and printed in other states. In later years 
the common weeklies, nearly all German, found their way into 
the community. In the latir 80ties a German weekly, the 
Anzeiger, v/as published at Hillsboro for about 8 or 10 years. 
The 2ions-Eote, the official paper of the II. E. Conference, 
was a? so published here and. had a good circulation, wfhen 
the Anzeiger v/as sold to another town another weekly sprang 
up and it has countinued until the present under §ifferint 
names, varying with the owner and editor. The policy of 
the paper has always been thoroly German, always a little 
questioning as to the social customs of the Americans, if 
136. 
not positively critical. In fact, it cannot be denied 
thpt the editorial policy lies been rather narrow for the last 
fovi years, especially so the last two or three. Young men 
who go to other institutions of learning, especially since 
the erection of the college, are often belittled, sarcastically 
reported or ignored altogether. This, however, has reference 
only to young men whose parents belong to either one of the 
denominations supporting the school. Community shaping 
persons seldom get the publicity that their work merits, 
hut such things as hare elbows of ladies in church and simil-
ar personalities are faithfully reported and duly(t) criti-
cized. The C. M. E. church published a little paper of its 
own for a few years, but it was discontinued several years 
ago. There was too little demand for it. 
The II. E. Publishing House is located at Hills-
boro and is contemplating the erection of a §7,000 structure 
this summer. A socialist paper appeared a few times this 
year and then was discontinued. The number of English 
papers is growing, especially is this true of the dallies. 
The people are taking more and more interest in the outside 
world and read more accordingly. In general we may say that 
the people of this community are fairly well read on the 
great issues of the day. In this way the newspaper is 
acting as a great agency toward acquainting these people 
with the American customs, standards and ideals. 
131. 
Chapter VI. Social life: Customs, Standards, 
Changes. 
In his thesis on "The Development of an American 
Town11 Mr. H. ;/. Thompson has this to say when comparing: 
the German and the Swedish immigrants; "Cf the different 
elements the American lias "been the most initiative, the 
Swede has "been, the most assimilative, and the Mennonite 
the least imitative and amenable to socialization. While 
the Swedes have been exceedingly clannish they have adopted 
6he American customs within the clan. The Mennonites, on 
the other hand, have had $ very strong tendency to retain 
their national f3itten and GebraucheT . As a result of this 
the second generation of the Swedes have "become so Ameri-
canized that there is often a serious gulf betv/een their 
attitudes and the attitudes cf their parents, while the 
second generation of the Hennonites assume an attitude 
v/hich is a happy medium between the attitude of their 
parents and the American mode of thinking. The second 
generation of the Swedes are really Americans while the 
second generation of the Hennonites retain their national 
traits.n The above gives in short the character of the 
second generation of the Hennonites quite correctly. Ameri-
can customs began to come in slowly from the earliest times 
onf but the greatest change was mainly economic and not so 
1 o 2 * 
much social. Wherever the American customs were better 
in this respect they were immediately adopted, but beyond 
that they did not go. These people came here with the 
firm intention of remaining German Ilennonites and of living 
according to the faith of their fathers. Accordingly, they 
have resisted by various methods quite effectually any great 
changes along social lines. The principal method has been 
that of religious coercion thru the church, and the other 
methods have sprung from the desire to retain the old and 
tried and has found its strongest expression i^ the schools. 
Perhaps the most interesting change has been in the 
matter of social intercourse between the young men and the 
young women, as wel] as in the matter of courtship. During 
the eerly years there was almost nbthing of social inter-
course between the youth of both sexes. It was forbidden 
because it was thot #rong. Such association, it v/as assumed, 
led almost invariably to sexual immorality, since the "flesh 
v/as weakTT, and therefore a christian had no right to subject 
himself to sfeuch temptation. The few missteps that happened 
occasionally were cited as strong cases to prove the argu-
ment. Then too it was considered worldly and Paul's admonition 
in this regard was cited. With the passing of time there 
has been a general^loosening wjf in this regard. Association 
is becoming freer and more common, and is more on the basis 
139. 
of friendship. If one Inquires of the older people what 
they think of such association they say that the church 
is against it, and that it is not right. If one asks 
the younger people, however, they say quite the opposite, 
and if one notices the children of such people evw^pho are 
opposed to it one sees that paternal doctrine and filial 
practice do not agree. Since the younger generation is 
everywhere coming Into control there is a growth in liber-
ty. Still, we must not $hink that the freedom of Americans 
prevails already. Far from it. Visiting is generally per-
mitted only in the homes of the parents and evening walks 
and tides are still tabooed, altho there is^beginning of 
this too• 
In the matter of courtship there has been a ^ 
greater change, altho it goes hand in hand with the above. 
In former times the father, a friend, or some acquaintance 
was generally the go-between for the young man, and marsiage 
was proposed upon the first visit to the young woman. If 
accepted, the wedding occurred within a week or two. If 
the reply was unfavorable he night try at another place the 
same day and so on, until fce either th& object sought was 
obtained, or he lost heart and went home, to go out some e-
other time. This manner of courtship lias passed away 
almost completely. How the young man gets acquainted 
134. 
with the young woman at least to a limited ertent. Court-
ship may last from a few months to two or three years, 
altho the latter is net favored very much. The young man 
"oes not get to see his fiancee so very often even in a 
protracted courtship. Public rides in car or buggy are 
seldom indulged in, but visits to £er home may be made 
several times a month. In Ebenfeld there is still strong 
opposition to this, but it is only from the old people 
who cannot adjust t&emstl/^ ve s to the changed conditions. 
In the case of widowers, however, the old method is largely 
adhered to even now. As a result second marriage is seldom 
happy among these people. There is too little regard for 
the characteristics of the prospective bride end groom, and 
shortly, after marriage the life-long difficulties begin. 
Second marriage follows often very soon after the funeral. 
xt has happened that elderly people married three weeks after 
the funeral of the ot'-er partner, but this practice is con-
deriHftd very • strongly. The average time between first and 
second marriage is close to a year. The old men are the 
principal sinners in this respect. It is not so very un-
common to sec some undesirable old widower going from one 
settle lent to another looking for suitable widows or spinsters, 
gathering refusals as he sojourns, but perhaps finally suc-
cessful. The resulting domestic infelicity is easily 
135. 
imaginable. 
Che families are still very large. There are still 
families with 10 to 15 children and a few with even a greater 
number than that. Che dcathrate, however, is^pretty^high 
so that the average family is not much abotfe six persons. 
There is at present a tendency toward Smaller families; and 
"race suicide" is often heard of, but the size of the fami-
liesjioes not warrant that expression. 
The children are trained to respect parents, 
teachers and older people. r^ he foiwardne3s of the young 
American is not noticeable yet, altiio there are slight beginn-
ings here and there. The children are generally backward 
until they are about 15 of age, after which they become 
a little boldrr. 
Theaters, dances, and operas are still under the ban 
rmong the ordinary people,- altho the educated young people 
have no scruplos whatever in going to see a good play. They 
do that away from home, of course. The moving picture sfiow 
in Hillsboro is not patronized to any extent by members of 
the churches which we hav discussed. A few go, but no 
action is taken against them. Still, any person of influence 
will not go thereT just to keep his reputation. Shows are 
being better attended than fomerly. There have been 
church actions against such offenders ,but it is of no 
136. 
avail. Ebenfeld lias been the severest in this mattr. It is 
only a few years ago that a number of young men were called 
upon to apologize for riding on the merry-go-round. There 
is a strong reaction against this narrowness, however, and 
these church actions are generally ridiculed. Picnies are 
steadily increasing in number. In this the stud-nts are 
tailing the lead. Ice cream parties are becoming quite 
common and afford a good deal of amusement in simmer. The 
number of social parties lias decreased in the college since 
the religious wave has been ushered in. During the first 
years they were quite numerous, but the faculty went pretty 
strongly after such offenders and so they are less firequent. 
Surprise parties play a very important role just now, but 
that form of amusement hrs been almost overworked already. 
The Y. II. and Y. \7. C. A. give several joint socials 
during the school year, but these gatherings go by other 
innocent names. In the past the old people have taken 
great offonse at these gatherings, altho there was nothing 
harmful about any of them. Ignorance and misunderstanding 
are at^ottom of much of the criticism to which the college 
has been subjected. 
The Liennonites are known for their honesty in their 
business dealings, but also for their property to drive 
close and shrewd bargains, ^he farmers are still largely 
137. 
in the hahit of doing credit business at the local stores. 
Any store of Hillsboro that would attempt to soli for cash 
only would not run very long. Ehere is a slow change, how-
ever, and people are beginning to pay as they go. It is 
on?y in extreme cases that a farmer will let the merchant 
wait for months for his money while he has a bank: account 
bearing interest. 
In many of the homes there are firearms of some 
kind. In former years it was forbidden but at present 
one may find guns and rifles in the homes of preachers as 
well as in those of laymen. A few accidents have happened 4 wave in 
which caused an anti-weapon to set for a short while, but 
soon people had their arms again. Hunting used to be quite 
popular, but the present game laws have spoiled the spott 
quite effectually. 
138. 
Chapter VII. Summary. 
7Jo have now dome to a close of our study of the 
Russian Mennonites who settled in Ivlarion County during the 
latter 70ties and later. In summarizing this study we may 
note the following facts. flhe people that came to this 
community were of the same nationality and the same interests. 
They were a very religious people and have^such for centuries. 
They are a peculiar people in reppect to their attitude 
toward the holding of offices, andthe hearing of arms. Shey 
settled in closed communities and tried to retain their 
national customs and habits thru German schools, thru re-
ligious instruction and by repression of association of the 
youth with Americans. The first settlers tried the village 
system, but that broke down in two or three years. These 
people were industrious, and frugal and as a result have 
become well-to-do and prosperous. The changes noticeable 
are greatest in economic and political lines, fhey have 
dropped their narrow views on politics thru intercommunication 
with their American neighbors and thru the press and are 
taking an active part in them. In social eustoms they are 
still quite different from their American neighbors and 
even $ride themselves on that. They still regard intermar-
riage with English speaking peoples as undesirable and any-
one who dies so passed oiit of the social group. Higher 
139. 
education has gained a firm hold upon the community and in 
order to keep the youth of the churches a college has been 
built. The social energies of the students are directed 
into religious channels and the too free social intercourse 
of the sexes is still repressed,, "for the sake of those who 
made the school possible". There is a broadening but among 
the people and they have become real^Troud of our nation. 
Anyone who has resided here any length of time returns 
again to this country after he has given Russia a second 
trial- The general social atmosphere is such that "once 
an American" comes to mean "always an American". The 
visitors from Russia notice the great changes in customs, 
habits, mode of living and even in the language. Hany 
English words have been taken up into the everyday life of 
the people and in time all will be English speaking. It 
is only a question of time. The educated people realize 
this and try to push this as far into the future as possible . 
The old immigrants view the future with gloomy forebodings, 
but the young people look to it with more or legs of in-
terest and think that day is still quite distant. 
In concluding, it seems to the writer that 
it is correct to say that the community is beginning to 
realize that /the changes will go on until the people have 
been entirely Americanised in habits, customs and language. 
140. 
Since this settlement is a closed one it may take a genera-
tion or so, hut in outlying settlements it is happening 
already. Uhe efforts of the community are therefore to 
accept the good of the American and combine It with the 
good of the German Ilennonite, hut discard the useless 
things of the past and avoid the "light and undesirable" 
of the American. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
Andreas, County History of Kansas. 
Bart sell, . Die Llennoniten in Hussland. pp. 128-141. 
Blackmar, P. '„'. History of Kansas. Vol. II. 
Cassel, D. II. ' ~Tistory of the I.Iennonites, Philadelphia, 
1888. 
Priesen, P. LI. Bie Alt-Evangelische llennoniten Brueder-
schaft in Bussland. (1789-1910). Halbstadt, 
Eaurien. 
Iloch, E. u . All About llarion County. Marion Be cord, 
Aug. 11, 1876. 
Isaak, Pranz. Die Holotschnaer llennoniten. llenn. Pub. 
, House, Elkhart, Ind. 1908. 
Kansas Historical Collection, Vol. IX, 1905-06. 
Prentis, IT. I. Kansas Miscellanies. 1888. 
Schmidt, C. B. Western Erail, Hot., 1907. 
Slosson, 77. B. Eopeka Daily Capital, Oct. 1898. 
V/edel, C. II. Abriss der Geschichte der Ivleimoiiiten. 
Baende 1-4. ilev/ton Kansas.