File 171 - Letter from Canada to Peter Toews, Russia

Peter Toews (1841-1922) was born to Johann (1793-1873) and Maria (1811-1895) (Plett) Toews on July 24, 1841 in Fischau, South Russia. In 1861 he was baptized into the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite church. He married Anna Warkentin (1843-1925), daughter of Johann (1817-1886) and Anna (1819-1874) Loewen on March 24, 1863. Twelve children were born to the couple. Youngest son, Isaac, followed Peter into the ministry. In 1866 Peter Toews was elected as a minister in the church. In the same year the Toews family moved to the Kleine Gemeinde settlement of Markuslandt where they farmed. Around 1869 Peter and his family moved to the village of Blumenhof in the Borosenko Colony. Peter Toews was elected as Aeltester (elder or Bishop) of the Kleine Gemeinde at Rosenfeld, Borosenko.

The Russian government began to make some changes in the way the Mennonites related to the state. Some people felt the changes made it harder for the Mennonites to remain true to their beliefs. In 1872 Peter Toews traveled to St. Petersburg as a part of a delegation of Mennonite leaders who sought to express their concerns to the Czar about the new laws. This attempt proved unsuccessful and so another delegation was sent to see the Czar in the Crimea, but was only able to speak to the governor-general.

Toews and his church felt it was best to move to Canada so they could live according to their conscience. The Toews family arrived in Canada in 1875 and settled on the East Reserve, in the village of Gruenfeld. The following year, in 1876, he began regular correspondence with John Holdeman, leader of the Church of God in Christ (Mennonite), CGCM. In October of 1879, Holdeman made a visit to Manitoba after an invitation from Toews. In June of 1881 Toews and two other ministers went to Kansas to visit Holdeman and the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren churches. Toews came back to Manitoba convinced that, in Holdeman's group, he had found the true church. In the winter of 1881 John Holdeman and Mark Seiler came to Manitoba to conduct revival meetings. About one third (165 people) of the Kleine Gemeinde membership joined the Holdeman church, including Peter Toews and two of five ministers. In 1882 Toews was ordained as a minister in the Holdeman church. He served the church in various ways -- one of which was as assistant editor of Botschafter der Wahrheit. Toews' talents included poetry and music. In1906 he edited the first CGCM hymnal, Unparteiisches Liederbuch, which included about thirty of his own songs. The book was reprinted in a second edition in 1915.

In 1911 the family moved to Swalwell, Albert where he continued to write despite failing eyesight. He died in 1922.

Delbert F. Plett QC was a lawyer, historian, and land developer in Steinbach. He was born to Jacob R. Plett (1908 – 1969) and Gertruda P. Friesen (1913 – 1994) in Steinbach on March 6, 1948. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1972. In 1975 he married Doreen Muriel Thompson. They had no children and were divorced in 1998. In 1975, Delbert Plett co-founded the law firm “Plett, Goossen & Associates”. In 1992, he was named Queen’s Counsel (Q.C).
Despite his occupation in the law business, Plett was a dedicated historian and spent a considerable amount of energy and resources in the research and writing of the history of the Kleine Gemeinde and the Old Colony Mennonites. From 1981 to 2003 he wrote 14 books about the Mennonites, most of them about the Kleine Gemeinde. In 1988, he helped found the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society, which later was named the Flemish Mennonite Historical Society. Plett further founded the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation Inc. in 1996 to foster research and write the history of Russian Mennonites. After his death on November 4, 2004, the main part of his considerable estate went to the D. F. Plett Foundation.