Fonds PP - Cornelius Plett

Identity area

Reference code

CA MHC PP

Title

Cornelius Plett

Date(s)

  • 1917-1934 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

16 cm of textual records

Context area

Name of creator

(1846-1935)

Biographical history

Cornelius L. Plett was born on October 29, 1846, in Lindenau, Molotschna, Russia, and passed away on January 3, 1935, in Satanta, Kansas, U.S.A. On September 21, 1869, he married Sara Enns (1849 – 1872). Three years later Sarah passed away in September of 1872, leaving behind her husband and two children (Heinrich, 1870 – 1953, and Sarah, 1871 – 1948). In March of 1873, Cornelius married Helena Rempel (1843 – 1913). Three children were born in this marriage (Helena, 1874 – 1874, Helena, 1875 – 1967, and Cornelius, 1879 – 1909). In May of 1875, Cornelius and Helena Plett and Cornelius’ parents Cornelius and Sarah (Loewen) Plett migrated to Manitoba, Canada, together with many others of the Kleine Gemeinde congregation. They settled in the Blumenhof village on the East Reserve. In 1891, Cornelius was elected minister in the Kleine Gemeinde. In November of 1913, his wife Helena passed away. On one of his travels as a minister and widower, he went to Meade, Kansas area. There he met his third wife, Katharina Heidebrecht (1845 – 1929). They married in December of 1915, and in the same month moved to Satanta, Kansas. In Satanta, Cornelius continued to be a minister for the local Kleine Gemeinde church. Despite of moving to a new country, Cornelius L. Plett stayed in contact with his friends and relatives in Manitoba, as well as with those that moved to Mexico in the early 1920s; there are about 300 letters in his collection. After his wife Katharina passed away in October of 1929, Cornelius Plett sold all of their belongings in an auction and lived with his children, Bernhard D. Doerksens, for his remaining years. He served as a minister in the Kleine Gemeinde of Satanta until his death in January of 1935.

Archival history

Cornelius L. Plett collected these letters, and after his death, they were kept by his children Bernhard and Sarah Doerksen. Delbert F. Plett, grandson of Cornelius L. Plett, later collected these letters, and in 2004 they were donated to the Mennonite Heritage Center Archive as part of the Delbert Plett research collection.

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Scope and content

This fonds consists of letters written to Cornelius L. Plett by friends and family. They provide a valuable insight into the daily life in Mennonite village settlements in Canada, U.S., and Mexico in the first two decades of the twentieth century, as they discuss village and church dynamics, as well as personal issues and challenges of the writers. Most of these letters are written in the German Ghotic Script.

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Described by Rodger Toews, March 2014

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Note

Accession Number 2004-034.

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