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Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization
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Abraham A. Friesen and Heinrich J. Willms Correspondence

This subseries consists of the following;
1) Correspondence between Abraham A. Friesen, member of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, and Henry J. Willms. Some are handwritten and some are typed.
2) A table of contents of the letters and a brief description of each letter was produced by Helena, daughter of Abraham.A. Friesen

Willms, Heinrich J, 1888-1957

Abraham A. Friesen fonds

  • CA MHC PP
  • Fonds
  • 1919-1958

This fonds consists primarily of correspondence, official negotiations, and memos of the Studienkommission (1920-1921), the study commission sent to North America by Mennonites in Russia to investigate immigration possibilities; and of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (1922-1926), founded to facilitate the immigration. There is extensive correspondence between Friesen and David Toews, Benjamin H. Unruh, Benjamin B. Janz, Peter H. Unruh, and other Mennonite leaders.

Several files deal with the case of "the 62", sixty two young male Mennonite refugees who left Russia for the United States via Constantinople in the early 1920s.

Some genealogical material for Russian Mennonite emigrants for the 1920s can be found here. The "notebooks" folder includes Friesen's passport and diaries.

Friesen, Abram A., 1885-1948