Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church of Goessel, Kansas

Goessel, Kansas

Goessel is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. It was named after Captain Kurt von Goessel who went down with his ship, the Elbe, in the English Channel after it was rammed. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 539....

is a congregation affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA

Mennonite Church USA

The Mennonite Church USA, or MCUSA, is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century...

. The congregation has a continuous history dating from 16th century Europe.

Background

Alexanderwohl Church families trace their roots to the Dutch Anabaptist

Anabaptist

Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

s of the 16th century. From 1600 to 1650 these families, now called Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

s, migrated to West Prussia

West Prussia

West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...

, settling in the Danzig

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

area between the Vistula

Vistula

The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....

and Nogat

Nogat

-----------------The Nogat is a 62km long delta branch of the Vistula River and does not empty at Gdańsk Bay as the main river does.The Nogat has its origin near the city of Biała Góra as an anabranch of the Vistula River. Shortly after the river Liwa flows into the Nogat. Than the river passes...

Rivers. The Przechówko

Przechówko

Przechówko is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Świecie, within Świecie County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Świecie, north-east of Bydgoszcz, and north of Toruń.-References:...

church in West Prussia

West Prussia

West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...

, the mother church of Alexanderwohl, was composed of Mennonites who settled near Schwetz

Swiecie

Świecie is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants , situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship ; it was previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship . It is the capital of Świecie County.-History:...

and Culm on the Vistula River. Because of growing Prussian militarism and ongoing discrimination against Mennonites, a large portion of the Przechówko Church migrated in 1820-21 under the leadership of Peter Wedel to the Molotschna

Molotschna

Molotschna Colony was a Russian Mennonite settlement in what is now Zaporizhia Oblast in Ukraine. Today is called Molochansk with a population of under 10,000. The settlement is named after the Molochna River which forms its western boundary. Today the land mostly falls within the Tokmatskyi and...

Mennonite colony in South Russia. In Russia they would be granted exemption from military service

Nonresistance

Nonresistance is generally defined as "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy...

, the right to run their own schools and self-govern their villages. During this journey they met Czar Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

, who wished them well (German: "wohl"), prompting the naming of the new village, Alexanderwohl.

Immigration from Russia to Kansas

In 1870 the Russian government issued a proclamation stating the intention to end all special privileges granted to German colonists by 1880. Alarmed at the possibility of losing control of their schools and military exemption, a delegation of Mennonite leaders, including Jacob Buller, a minister of the Alexanderwohl congregation, visited North America in 1873 to investigate resettlement possibilities. The delegates split into separate parties, with Buller traveling to Kansas and Texas. When Buller returned in September his congregation had already decided they were ready to move to North America. Over the next nine months they prepared for the trip.

In May 1874, Eduard Totleben

Eduard Totleben

Eduard Ivanovich Totleben was a Baltic German military engineer and Imperial Russian Army general. He was in charge of fortification and sapping work during a number of important Russian military campaigns.-Early life:...

, representing the czar, visited the Molotschna Mennonite making verbal promises in an attempt to persuade them not to emigrate. Unconvinced, immigration plans proceeded. Disposing of property, they were able to get full price for grain and animals but land and other possessions went for half value or less. Passports were obtained on 15 July 1874 and distributed in the Alexanderwohl Church on the 18th. Travel arrangements were made on the Hamburg-American Line. The entire Alexanderwohl church membership plus other families (about 800 persons) embarked on two ships. Through the leadership and organization skills of Jacob Buller, financial arrangements were made so that even families with the least resources were able make the journey. As a result, this was the only large Mennonite group that migrated from Russia to North America as a complete congregation. Jacob Buller departed with a group on the Cimbria on 12 August 1874 and minister Dietrich Gaeddert led 130 families on the Teutonia which departed on 16 August 1874. The trip from Hamburg, Germany to New York lasted about 18 days and from there they proceeded in three groups to Topeka, Kansas

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

and Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

.

Arriving in Topeka on 10 September 1874, the Gaeddert group and the Buller group which arrived soon afterward, were housed by the Santa Fe Railroad

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...

for a month while they purchased horses, cattle, farm implements, building materials, food staples and other necessities for starting a new life on the prairie. The two groups had by this time separated from each other, with the Buller group settling near what is now Goessel, Kansas

Goessel, Kansas

and the Gaeddert group settling east of Buhler, Kansas

Buhler, Kansas

Buhler is a city in Reno County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,327.-Geography:Buhler is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,358...

.

The 15 October 1874 Topeka Commonwealth reported:

One of the largest bona fide land sales ever made in Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, perhaps in America, has just been concluded by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company with a community of Russian Mennonites

Russian Mennonites

The Russian Mennonites are a group of Mennonites descended from Dutch and mainly Germanic Prussian Anabaptists who established colonies in South Russian Empire beginning in 1789. Since the late 19th century, many of them have come to countries throughout the Western Hemisphere...

who landed in New York during the month of September, with the steamers Cimbria, Teutonia, and City of Richmond, and most of whom have spent the last thirty days and a good many of their rubles in our city. Their land purchase amounts in round numbers to about 100 thousand acres (400 km²) of railroad land, aside from a number of improved farms, all lying north of the sections of Florence

Florence, Kansas

Florence is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. The city was named after the daughter of former Kansas Governor Samuel J. Crawford. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 465.-19th century:...

, Peabody

Peabody, Kansas

Peabody is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. It is named after F.H. Peabody, of Boston, former vice-president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Peabody is well known in the region for its Independence Day Celebration on July 4, and its historic 1880's downtown main street...

, Walton

Walton, Kansas

Walton is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. It is named in honor of one of the stockholders of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The population was 235 for the 2010 census.-19th century:...

, Newton

Newton, Kansas

Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...

, Halstead

Halstead, Kansas

Halstead is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. Halstead was named in honor of Murat Halstead, a respected Civil War correspondent and newspaper editor. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,085.-History:...

, Burrton

Burrton, Kansas

Burrton is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. It is named after Isaac T. Burr, former vice-president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 901.-Geography:...

, and Hutchinson

Hutchinson, Kansas

Hutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, United States, northwest of Wichita, on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch"...

. ... From the Cottonwood River to the Little Arkansas River

Little Arkansas River

The Little Arkansas River is a river located in south-central Kansas. It rises in northern Rice County just north of Lyons and flows southeast past Buhler and Halstead to meet the Arkansas River in Wichita....

... is now one colony, composed of the thriftiest and most intelligent class of foreigners that ever landed upon our shores; and 'in three years'—to use the language of one of their elders—'that ocean of grass will be transformed into an ocean of waving fields of grain, just as we left our Molotschna

Molotschna

colony.' Kansas will be to America what the country of the Black Sea of Azov is now to Europe—her wheat field.

Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...

built immigrant houses in Harvey

Harvey County, Kansas

Harvey County is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 34,684. Its county seat and most populous city is Newton. The county is a part of the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area which also includes Butler,...

, Marion

Marion County, Kansas

Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 12,660. The county seat is Marion...

, McPherson

McPherson County, Kansas

McPherson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 29,180. The largest city and county seat is McPherson. The county is named for Civil War General James B. McPherson...

, and Reno

Reno County, Kansas

Reno County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. The county's population was 64,511 for the 2010 census. The largest city and county seat is Hutchinson. The Hutchinson Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Reno County.-19th century:In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska...

counties for the families to stay in while houses were erected on their own land. The Gaeddert group organized a new congregation, Hoffnungsau. Its name was derived from a comment of J. C. Dick who, upon seeing the wide-open prairie that was to be his new home, exclaimed "" (This is here indeed a true meadow of hope).

Church building

Two of the immigrant structures were near the middle of the section on which the Alexanderwohl church now stands. After families moved to newly built homes of their own, the immigrant houses were moved together to form a place of worship. Alexanderwohl church membership grew rapidly from 265 in 1874 to 467 in 1880. Church leaders promoted cooperation with other Mennonites in Kansas for the purpose of creating a teacher training school and doing mission work. Toward this end, the congregation became part of the General Conference Mennonite Church

General Conference Mennonite Church

The General Conference Mennonite Church was an association of Mennonite congregations based in North America from 1860 to 2002. The conference was formed in 1860 when congregations in Iowa invited North American Mennonites to join together in order to pursue common goals such as higher education...

in 1878.

By the winter of 1874 the congregation had opened three schools and more followed. On 13 September 1882 the Emmental Central School for training Mennonite teachers was opened in one of these schools. This school was moved to Halstead, Kansas

Halstead, Kansas

the next year where it opened as Halstead Seminary and eventually became Bethel College

Bethel College (Kansas)

Bethel College is a private college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is located on the edge of the Flint Hills and the vast wheat fields of south central Kansas in the town of North Newton...

.

In 1886, a new church was completed on the present site. The church building, originally built in the Dutch Mennonite style, underwent a major remodeling project in 1928. An education wing was added in 1961, and a north addition in 1983. Today, Alexanderwohl has approximately 500 members and is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA and Western District Conference. It has active programs for youth, music, education, community outreach, and missions.

External links

Official website
Alexanderwohl in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to Mennonites and Anabaptism. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on anabaptist-related topics....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Background

Immigration from Russia to Kansas

Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church

Church building

See also

Further reading

External links