© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Last updated May 15, 2009)

Historical note

Anna Penner was born on January 21, 1856 to Bernhard Penner (1831-1912) and Elizabeth Redekopp (1829-1893) in the village of Nieder Chortitza, Chortitza Colony, South Russia. In July 1875 the Penner family immigrated with other Mennonite families to the Manitoba Mennonite West Reserve and settled in the village of Schoenweise (south east of present day Winkler). Here they became part of the Reinlaender Mennonite Church (known as the Altkolonier or Old Colony Mennonite people). On March 16, 1880 Anna Penner married Bernhard Krahn who was born January 26, 1857 to Peter Krahn (1820-) and Helena Peters (1826-). Bernhard was born in the village of Neuenburg, Chortitza and immigrated with his mother in July 1879 to Manitoba. (His father Peter had died in Russia.)  Bernhard and Anna Krahn made their home in the village of Kronsfeld, near Haskett, about six miles west of Schoenweise. Here the family made their living farming. Sometime in the late 1880s or 1890s the Bernhard Krahn family joined the Sommerfeld Mennonite Church.

In the Mennonite tradition of the day when a person died their body was prepared for burial by the family and a casket was made by a family or community member. The body in the casket remained in the home for a few days until the funeral took place. Here people came to pay their last respects and offer condolences to the family. To notify friends and family a letter stating who had died was written and placed in an envelope, often with a black edging to notify the receiver that this was a notice of a death. With this notice of death was a list of people to whom the letter should be passed. Closest family and friends were on the list and often these people constituted the core group who attended the funeral in the home.

Scope and content note

The materials in the collection consist of handwritten letters notifying friends and family of a death, a few wedding invitations, pattern for a skirt and a recipe. A list of people in several villages are noted at the end signifying to whom the notice should be passed. The collection is helpful in understanding funeral practices in the Mennonite community, verifying and supplementing vital records already recorded in church and government sources. In addition some information as to the residents of some villages can be gleaned. Most common villages mentioned in the letters include Schoenweise, Reinland, Kronsfeld, Blumenfeld, Haskett, and Gnadenthal.

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