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The patriarch for this Toews family was Johann Toews (1833-1904) who married Katharina Thielmann (1835-ca.1868). Together they had 4 children: Johann, Jacob, Heinrich, and Helene. After Katharina died Johann married Elisabeth Wieler. They had seven children together plus one son Jacob Warkentin that Elisabeth brought into the marriage from a previous marriage. These children were Wilhelm (1870-1962), Abram (1873-1941), Kornelius (1875-1953), Elise (1880-1970), Margarete (1883-1948), Maria (1885-1905), and Anna (1887-1985). They lived and grew up in Ohrloff, South Russia.

Elise Toews (1880-1970) married Heinrich Enns (1887-1935) in 1902. Together they had five children: Gerhard (1902-1996), Luise (1905-), Anna (1907-1930), Johann (1910-1986), and Henry (1912-1972). The family immigrated to Canada in 1924 and settled in Reesor, Ontario.

While in Ontario Elise carried on extensive correspondence with many friends and family in Canada, Russia, Germany, and Brazil.

Johann (John H.) Enns (1910-1986) was one of the last residents of the community of Reesor, Ontario. He has documented the history of the community. During the Second World War, he was a conscientious objector. He was an avid letter writer and historian. Not only did he correspond with many friends and relatives, he also collected the corresondence of his parents, Heinrich Enns and Elise (Toews) Enns, correspondence of his sister Luise (Enns) Martens and brother-in-law, Gerhard J. Martens (1908-1982). (Gerhard J. Martens had first married Anna Enns (1907-1930), Luise's younger sister.) John H. Enns also corresponded extensively with his 2nd cousin, Barbara (Enns) Bahnman (1918-2008) of Steinbach. Her father was David D. Enns (1886-1973) and her grandfather was David G. Enns (1847-1926), a brother to Gerhard Enns (1844-1911), John H. Enns' grandfather. Gerhard Enns (1844-1911) was married to Elizabeth Reimer (1849-1894).

Anna Toews (1887-1985), the sister of Elise (Toews) Enns, also carried on extensive correspondence with family and friends in Canada, Russia, Germany, and Brazil. She lived in Kitchener, Ontario and was married later in life to widower David Thiessen. For more information on family connections, see Töws Family History 1723-1999 compiled by Katherine (Klassen) Martens. Katherine is the daughter-in-law to Gerhard J. Martens (1908-1982) and Luise (Enns) Martens (1905-2012).

The patriarch of this family is Jacob Johann Goossen (1858-1920), owner of the large and prosperous Wintergruen estate, located about 32 km from the ancestral village of Schoensee, Molotschna Colony. He married Aganetha Kaethler (1861-1946), daughter of Johann Kaethler (1830-1889) from the village of Grossweide, Molotschna in 1884. Jacob and Aganetha had thirteen children, seven of which survived early childhood. Except for a first class holiday trip to Europe and the USA in 1906, to avoid civic unrest in Russia following the Russo-Japanese War, the family continued to live on the estate until October 1918 when they fled for their own safety. On December 10, 1918 the estate was pillaged by Machno bandits. Jacob Goossen died in Halbstadt, Molotschna in 1920.

Maria Goossen (1889-1934), daughter of estate owner Jacob Goossen, left Russia for Canada in 1922 to join and marry her fiancé Abraham A. "A.A." Friesen (1885-1948). Friesen was a member of the Studienkommission (study commission) sent to America by the Mennonites in Russia to investigate emigration possibities. Friesen became the business manager for the Rosthern-based Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBoC), established to facilitate the immigration. This board was responsible for helping over 20,000 Mennonites emigrate from Russia to Canada in the 1920s.

Aganetha (Kaethler) Goossen, the matriarch of this family immigrated to Canada in 1924 with the remaining children (with the exception of the oldest daughter Aganetha (Friesen) Willms who remained in the Soviet Union. She settled at Rabbit Lake, Saskatewan, where A.A. Friesen became manager of the Meilicke Lumber Company in 1927, after he left the CMBoC in 1926. After Maria (Goossen) Friesen died in 1934, A.A. Friesen married Maria's sister Helena in 1935. He died in 1948 in Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan and his second wife Helena (Goossen) Friesen died in 1985 in Winnipeg.

Jacob F. Guenter (1881-1964) was the second child born to Franz Guenter (1857-1946) and Katharina Heinrichs (1852-1911). He was about 14 years old when the family moved from Manitoba (Schoenwiese ?) to the Hague area of Saskatchewan. In 1904 he married Eva Bergen (? -1953) and they lived in the village of Hochstadt (south west of Hague). His father Franz Guenter (1857-1946) and siblings all moved to Mexico in the 1920s. The Jacob F. Guenther family was the only (?) family of the Franz and Katharina Guenter children who did not move to Mexico.

Jacob F. and Eva had eight sons and three daughters, of which one son and two daughters died in infancy.

For many years, Jacob F. Guenter was in charge of the Waisenamt, the institution which looked after the estate of orphans and settled their inheritance.

Jacob F. Guenter's daughter, Eva, born in 1908, took much responsibility in household and garden activities in the home because mother Eva (Bergen) Guenter often suffered from epileptic seizures. Eva Guenter remained single until 1968 when she married Jacob R. Schellenberg of Aberdeen, Saskatchewan. Jacob R. Schellenberg died in 1989. Eva (Guenter) Schellenberg died in 1995.

This Stoesz family in Canada traces back to three brothers that immigrated from Russia in 1874, settling in Manitoba. (There also were female siblings that moved to Manitoba, and a fourth brother that settled in Mountian Lake, Minnesota. A brother Peter remained in Russia.) Their parents were Jacob Stoesz (1779-1859) and Barbara Wiens (1803-1878).

Jacob Stoesz (1834-1892) was the Brandaeltester (fire chief). Cornelius Stoesz (1836-1900) was elected a minister in 1864. David Stoesz (1842-1903), was elected a minister in 1869. The Stoesz family came from the Mennonite Bergthal Colony in Russia and settled in a village in Manitoba that was called Bergthal. Because their church leader lived in the village of Chortitz, their church in Manitoba was called the Choritizer Mennonite Church of Manitoba.

David Stoesz (1842-1903), the youngest brother, was elected to serve as assistant bishop of the Chortitzer Mennonite Church in 1879. In 1882 he succeeded Gerhard Wiebe as bishop. Bishop David Stoesz served the church with communion, baptisms and ordinations in various communities including Fargo, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. He died in 1903 and was buried in the Bergthal village cemetery (Manitioba East Reserve).

David M. Stoesz (1870-1934), son of Bishop David Stoesz (1842-1903), married Agatha Kehler (1870-1952) in 1890. In 1891 David and Agatha moved to the Mennonite West Reserve where land was better suited for farming, and bought eighty acres at the village of Gnadenfeld. David M. Stoesz was elected as a minister in 1912. The church he served was called the Sommerfeld Mennonite Church. In 1922 he emigrated to Mexico with portions of this church and founded the Santa Clara Colony. Dissatisfied with life in Mexico, he and his family returned to Canada within a year and settled in the village of Kronsthal, Manitoba. Here he died in 1934. His wife, Agatha (Kehler) Stoesz, who wrote her memoirs in 1948, and died in 1952.

Minister Cornelius Stoesz (1836-1900) had a son Cornelius W. Stoesz (1869-1925) and a grandson Cornelius G. Stoesz (1892-1976) who also were ministers. Donald Stoesz (1954- ), a career prison chaplain in Alberta, another descendant of minister Cornelius Stoesz published a study of some of the Stoesz sermons.

This Wiens family begins traces its history back to Herman Wiens (b. ca. 1731), their earliest known ancestor who lived in Czattkau, Prussia, and had a number of children including these three that have a further documented hsitory -- Agatha (1764-1839), Jacob (1767-1845) and Peter (1770-?). Peter was a teacher in Czattkau, Prussia and started an arithmetic book used as a textbook in his teaching. The book was augmented with multihued fraktur artwork. According to the family Peter Wiens one day disappeared without a trace.

Peter’s older brother Jacob Wiens (1767-1845) joined the Mennonite migration to Russia in 1795 and settled in the village of Schoenhorst, Chortitza Colony. His first wife, Sara Dicken, died in 1795. They had one daughter, Maria (1792-1815). Jacob Wiens then married Sara Brandt (1772-1861) in December 1795. Jacob and Sara had 14 children, 7 of which survived into adulthood. Between 1809 and 1814 the family moved from Schoenhorst to the village of Osterwick. Jacob became relatively well-to-do, owning farm properties #14 and # 5 (Wirtschaften). In 1824 he is listed as having 23 mature rams, 4 young rams, and 14 lambs. Jacob was wealthy enough to lend money to various people and he kept a record of these debts. After he died in 1845, his son Jacob (1816-1888) collected the outstanding debts.

Jacob Wiens jr. (1816-1888) was born in the village of Osterwick, Chortitza Colony and baptized on May 20, 1835. In 1836 he married Katherina Klassen (1817-1885). Jacob was a school teacher in Osterwick and in 1841 moved to the village of Kronsthal where he continued to teach. In 1844 Jacob purchased half a Wirtschaft from Hermann Neufeld for 1000 rubles. Jacob continued the practice of journaling and filled the last half of the book started by his uncle Peter Wiens.

In June 1876 Jacob Wiens immigrated to Canada, settling his family in the village of Hoffnungsfeld, Manitoba in the Mennonite West Reserve (near current day Winkler, Manitoba). Jacob recorded his immigration experience. While in Hoffnugsfeld Jacob became a "news correspondent" for the community and submitted regular letters to Mennonitische Rundschau, a weekly newspaper widely read by Mennonites in Europe and North America. Jacob Wiens died July 9, 1888 in Hoffungsfeld, Manitoba.

Nettie Kroeker (1900-1989), a granddaughter of Jacob Wiens (1816-1888), published parts of the Wiens writings.