Klaassen (Family: Klaassen, Michael, 1860-1934)

Family

Klaassen (Family: Klaassen, Michael, 1860-1934)

• Klaassen family

1793-

This Klaassen family centers on Michael Klaassen (1860-1934), church leader,teacher and farmer, born on August 26, 1860 in the village of Koeppenthal, Am Trakt Colony, South Russia and who died near Morden, Manitoba in 1934. Martin Klaassen (1820-1881) was Michael's father, and his mother was a Maria Hamm. Jakob Klaassen 1793-1879) was Michael's grandfather. Rev. Jacob Klaassen (1867-1948) was his younger brother. Jacob Klaassen is the father of Gustav Klaassen (1900-1988) and H.T. Klaassen (1898-1991), the father of Walter Klaassen (1926-) and Jacob Klaassen (1928-2009). Jacob Klaassen (1934-) is the son of Gustav -- cousin to Walter and Jacob.

Michael Klaassen was baptized by Aeltester David Hamm in 1877. Michael and his parents moved to Central Asia in 1880 where he married Margaretha Jantzen in 1883. Michael and Margaretha had eight children, two of whom died as infants. In 1885 they decided to emigrate to North America where they first settled near Beatrice, Nebraska, and then moved on to homestead in Bessie, Oklahoma in 1894. Margartha (Janzen) Klaassen died in 1910. Michael then married Katharina Dalke. Their marriage produced seven children, 2 of whom died in infancy.

Michael Klaassen's son, Johannes (1895-1918) from his wife marriage, died of the Spanish flu in prison during WWI. He had been sentenced to serve a 25-year sentence for being a conscientious objector. This event prompted the Klaassen family and a number of other families to leave the U.S.A. for Canada in 1918, where they settled near Morden, Manitoba.

Esther (Klaassen) Bergen (1921-2005) born at Morden, Manitoba, is a daughter Michael Klaassen and his 2nd wife.

Created by AHR, May 2020.