Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1940-1965 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
83 cm of textual material
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Cornelius J. Warkentin was born on January 28, 1899, to Jacob and Sara (Ginter) Warkentin in Nieder-Chortitza in South Russia. He attended the Zentralschule (secondary school) in Chortitza from 1912 to 1914, and then took a position working in a mill. In 1917, he became the village secretary for Nieder-Chortitza, a job he kept until emigration. He was baptized on May 11, 1919, by Isaak Dyck, and married on May 24, 1920, to Katherina Paetkau. They had eight children, four of whom died in childhood or infancy. The Warkentin family immigrated to Canada in 1923. Cornelius began his life in Canada as a farm labourer in Silberfeld, near Waldheim, Saskatchewan. In 1924, they settled on a farm at Herschel, Saskatchewan. The Ebenfeld Mennonite Church was founded on April 13, 1925. In addition to its congregation at Herschel, it also included congregations at Glidden-Kindersley, Superb and Fiske. At its inception, Cornelius was elected as a Sunday School Teacher, and was then called as a minister in 1926. He was ordained on January 23, 1927, by elder Jacob B. Wiens. After Elder Wiens died in 1939, the congregation elected Cornelius to be their leading minister, and he was elected to the position of Aeltester in 1943. The ordination ceremony took place on August 2, and was presided over by Elder J. J. Thiessen. Cornelius also served on the Committee of Foreign Missions of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada beginning in 1949.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This fonds consists of correspondence and other documents that were created or received by Warkentin in his capacity of Aeltester (elder) of the Ebenfelder Mennonite Church. The letters were exchanged with, and the other materials received from, a variety of church leaders and Mennonite institutions, including: the Conference of Mennonites in Canada and its subcommittees; the General Conference Mennonite Church and its subcommittees; the Rosthern Junior College and the Rosthern Bible School; Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Bethel College; the Mennonite Publication Office and Bookstore; the Rosthern Bookstore; the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization; the British Foreign Bible Society and the Canadian Bible Society; the Canadian Mennonite, the Mennonite Central Committee; the Mennonite Youth Farm; Mennonite Disaster Services; the Swift Current Bible Institute; Freeman Junior College; and various mission programs and mission fields. Some of the materials are filed alphabetically (1943-1948), some by month (1948-1955; 1963-1965), and some by year (1955-1962).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
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Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
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Script of material
Language and script notes
German and English
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Finding aids
Inventory file list
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
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Notes area
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Description control area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
By Jake Peters in "Resources for Canadian Mennonite Studies: an inventory guide to archival holdings at the Mennonite Heritage Centre, 1988, p. 128; by Joanne Moyer in March 2007.