Abraham A. Klassen

My great-great grandfather, Abraham A. Klassen was born on October 5, 1830 and died in 1888. In 1853, he married Marie Schroeder (1834-1903). Marie inherited an estate from her father (David D. Schroeder, 1808-1877) called "Davidsfeld". They kept livestock and grew grain. In many places their land was quite sandy. For this reason they had a large flock of sheep because sheep can survive on poor grazing land. They also had large herds of cattle and oxen and they bred horses as well. Their many acres of land were cultivated by the use of oxen and horses. 

They lived in Blumenort and later Gnadenfeld. Around 1900, Marie decided to divide her properties among her children. She called them together and sorted her property into three parts. Then they knelt down and prayed. The three sons selected a lot, blindly, from their mother's hand. Three years later, in 1903, Marie died from cancer.

They had five kids:

 (i) Marie (1857-1917), the eldest, married Heinrich Suderman, 

(ii) David (1858-1945), married Luise Hesse, lived on the estate Prigorje. Eventually they, along with most of their family emigrated to Canada, where they settled in Culross, Manitoba.  David lived to be over 90 years old. In 1936, David and Luise celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. My grandparents, together with their three eldest children (not my father Harry), traveled to Manitoba from Saskatchewan in their Durant car for this event.

(iii) Gerhard (1862-1944), married Agnes Fast. She, however, died in 1906 and left him with a family of five small children. During the time of his widowhood, Gerhard traveled to the United States and visited the Chicago exposition. There, he met Mr. Swift of the Swift Meat Packing Plant. In 1909, Gerhard married Barbara Neufeld and they and their family came to Canada in 1924, settling in Fannystelle, Manitoba, in the close vicinity of the David Klassen family.

(iv) Heinrich A. ,my great grandfather, (1866-1923)

(v) Agnes (1871-1944), married Heinrich Reimer. Heinrich died in Russia but Agnes and her unmarried daughters and son, David, also emigrated to Canada and eventually settled in Winnipeg.

The three manitoba branches of the family had a very close and happy family relationship in the early years in the new land.