Rich Ties, Great Links to History

                                                                                                                                          -by Russell C Sawchyn

                Sts. Peter and Paul UO Heritage Church of Fenwood, Sask. boasts of rich links to history. What has it to do with Theodor Herzl? with Konigsberg, East Prussia? with Lemberg and Neudorf in Ukraine? with the Presbyterian Church?

                On June 10, 1905, Simon Good was appointed postmaster. He set up a grocery store and post office on his homestead, the SW 6-24-8-2. The post office operated from this location until July 31, 1908, after which time Simon Good took the position at Fenwood, Sask. as its first postmaster. Many church certificates (baptismal, funeral, wedding) and other legal documents up to this date bear the postal address:

HIRZEl,SASK. Simon Good, himself of Jewish origin, named the post office he operated on his homestead in honour of Theodor Herzl, misspelled HIRZEL.

                Writer Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a Hungarian Jew, founded the Zionist movement. In 1896    he published Der Judenstaat ( “The Jewish State”) in which he called for the establishment of a national Jewish state. The following year he helped convene the first World Zionist Congress. In 1949, 45 years after his death, Herzl’s remains were re-interred in the Israeli’s sector of the then-divided Jerusalem.

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In 1905 the Keningsberg School District #1220 was formed and the site selected as SW corner NW ¼ 23-23-8-2.

In 1909 Fenwood was incorporated as a village having its own school.

In 1914 the Fenwood-Birmingham congregation purchased  the Keningsberg schoolhouse, then vacated, and registered the building and site for the function of “The Ruthenian Presbyterian Church of Fenwood”.

In 1918 the church and cemetery were blessed and consecrated under the name of its adopted patron saints: Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Greek-Orthodox Church

The consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany at Regina wrote:

                “…we have searched our records and lists of German towns including the names of German settlements before the war. Our records do not show the name Keningsberg. You are probably aware of the name Konigsberg in formerly East Prussia and you should look into the possibility of the name being misspelled.”

The original settlement of Konigsberg in East Prussia grew around a fortress and was founded in 1255 by the Teutonic Knights becoming the chief residence of the grandmaster of the order. In the 16^th century it became the seat of the dukes of Prussia. Immanuel Kant was professor at the university, the Collegium Albertinium  founded in 1544  as a “purely Lutheran” place of learning which was destroyed in WW II. After 1946, the German city became Kaliningrad and is now Russia’s most advanced naval base on the Baltic. Interestingly, East Prussia was at one time part of Poland at which time this fortress was called Krolowiec. 

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 The Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives wrote:

Despite the information you have provided us with, I can not confirm that this Ruthenian Church was ever formally part of the Presbyterian Church of Canada as it is presently recognized. I again searched the Acts and Proceedings (our annual book which lists all congregations and missions of the Presbyterian Church in Canada) and again I found no evidence whatsoever of the existence of this congregation. Obviously this congregation did exist as evidenced by the Certificate of Title. However this does not verify the fact that this congregation was ever formally linked to the Presbyterian Church in Canada It is possible that the members of this church simply chose the title Presbyterian as a method showing their means of church government.”

(Signed--Ian Moir, Archives Technician).

The Saskatchewan Archives Board wrote:

                The Acts and Proceedings of the Presbyterian Church in Canada list Birmingham as a student field in a volume covering June 1910 to June 1911. With reference to Fenwood, this is not listed as a Presbyterian field. It appears once (in 1916) in the 1916 Year Book of the Methodist Church, the name of the minister in charge being A. J. Warman.” (Signed- Maureen Fox, Research Assistant)  

A note from Bill Barry: www.peopleplaces.ca

The dominant group among early settlers were “Ruthenian Calvinists” also referred to as “Galician German Evangelicals. In most parts of Saskatchewan where like-minded people settled their churches affiliated with one another of the Evangelical Lutheran Synods. The Fenwood group seems to have been more Calvinistically inclined. While they may have used the term Presbyterian in the early going the term Evangelical more accurately described them and would have been the term they used to descibe themselves. They were an independent congregation and certainly never affiliated with the Presbyterrian Church.

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Imported place-names from Galicia:

                Neudorf and Lemberg in Saskatchewan are two villages situated along the CPR and served as the disembarkation points for the immigrants to the Fenwood area. Most immigrants were of German origin who left Galicia, western Ukraine, then under Austro-Hungarian Habsburg rule.

                Originally, the German people came to Ukraine from Wurttemberg, Baden and Alsace in SW Germany. Neudorf was a settlement between the modern cities of Ivan-Frankiwsk and Kolomaya; Lemberg is the German name for Lviv, capital of western Ukraine, and Konigsberg is a German settlement a few miles northwest of what is now Jaroslaw in SE Poland.

                The new settlements of Neudorf and Lemberg in Saskatchewan grew and prospered. Many Ukrainian immigrants took their first employment within these communities which boasted of lumber yards, hotels, flour mills, blacksmiths, general stores, restaurants and railroad stations. Almost all of the settlers of German background spoke fluent Ukrainian.

NEUDORF (Source: the Internet) 

The colony was founded in 1809, and 100 houses were constructed of stamped earth. The settlement is located in the Karamanova valley which begins two versts north of the colony of Bergdorf and runs into the Dniester valley near the village of Grigoriopol about 15 versts to the west. The distance to Tiraspol is 45 versts and 250 versts to Kherson.

The colony owns 5,810 dessiatines of land, consisting of hills, mounds, valleys, and a few level tracts. To the east it borders on the estate Parkanovka, to the south lie Thomanov and Shippki. On the west lies the colony of Glueckstal and to the north Rehmanovka and Bergdorf.

The properties of the soil are: one half, lying east, has black humus which is very productive and capable of withstanding much heat, so that even in the driest years it bears some grain and fodder; the other half, lying south, west and north also has black humus but heavily mixed with sand. The crops here are good when there are frequent rains, but in times of drought all plants dry up. The crops that thrive best are winter rye, winter wheat, lentils, barley, maize, and potatoes. Other grains and vegetables are less productive, and flax does poorly.

At the time of settlement there were about 500 dessiatines of wooded valleys, consisting of oak, ash, linden, apple and pear trees, some alder and other kinds, but they were merely shrubs and bushes. The colony has no stone quarries, but must obtain its supply near the Dniester, about 10 to 12 versts away. Most of the original houses of stamped earth have been replaced by larger stone buildings, and 64 additional dwellings have been built. Stone walls have been built on the street side, and avenues of trees planted.

2. The Naming of the Colony

While the site for the colony was being surveyed, Councilor Rosenkampf commented on the beautiful setting and asked the colonists who had gathered around him to suggest a name for the new settlement. When someone indicated the name Neustadt, the Councilor replied: "We are not going to build a city, but only a village. It shall be called Neudorf." And that settled it. ( Author’s note: Neudorf was a resort area in Saxony) 

3. Number and origin of the pioneer settlers

There were originally 100 families (259 males and 231 females). Twenty-eight families came from Wuerttemberg, 37 from Alsace, 7 from the Palatinate (Pfalz), 11 from Baden, 2 from Saxony, 3 from Prussia, 11 from Hungary, and 1 from Warsaw. In 1814 eight more families came from Prussia and in 1815 3 families arrived from Galicia. The colony has increased to 208 families (657 males and 589 females), not counting the families who moved to Grusinia and Bessarabia.

4. Leaders of the immigrant parties

The settlers immigrated in 1808 and 1809 in smaller or larger groups, without leaders. Those who came in 1808 were billeted with the colonists of the Liebental district until the spring of 1809. All had immigrated at the request of His Majesty Czar Alexander I in response to the promised privileges.

Friday, March 16, 2001