©Mennonite Heritage Centre 2003
Last updated 13 February 2012

Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Title: Rosthern Mennonite Church fonds
Dates: 1963-2011
Extent: 60 cm of textual records

Historical note

Rosthern was one of the congregations of the Rosenorter Mennonite Church (Gemeinde) in Saskatchewan that had a meeting house. The founder of the Rosenorter Church was Peter Regier (1851-1925). He had been appointed Ältester (bishop) in 1887 in Prussia and emigrated to Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan in 1893, where the Rosenorter Churchwas founded in 1894. The first meeting house of this Church was built in Eigenheim in 1896. In 1897 the name Rosenorter Gemeinde was chosen. In 1903 a meeting house was built in Rosthern. In 1909 there were enough families to divide the Church into districts, one of which was Rosthern. In 1912 the congregation built a bigger meeting house in Rosthern. In 1929 an attempt was made to give more independence to the congregations of this multi-congregational church. In 1948 the meeting house was enlarged. In 1954 the Rosenorter multi-congregational church divided into two parts because of its unwieldy size. The groups were known as the Rosenort Mennonite Church (Tiefengrund, Garthland, Capasin, Hague, Hochfeld, Neuanlage and Aberdeen) and the United Mennonite Church of Saskatchewan (Rosthern, Osler, Laird and Horse Lake.) These multi-congregational churches dissolved in 1962 and the Rosthern Mennonite Church became truly independent. The membership was 400 in 1963. In 1964 they completed a new meeting house. The membership stayed at around 400 for the next twenty years and then declined when another congregation was begun in Rosthern. In 2000 the membership was 300. The leaders of the congregation were: Peter Regier (1984-1925), David Toews (1913-1947), Johann Dueck (1930-1950), Gerhard Epp (1930-1950), I.I. Friesen (1930-1939), I.P. Friesen (1930-1943), Johann Rempel (1931-1955), Isaac Epp (1941, 1948), Jacob Gerbrandt (1945-1947), Peter Koop (1946-1978), Heinrich Klassen (1946-1958), J.C. Schmidt (1946-1963), Henry Zacharias (1960-1966), Henry Funk (1962-1973), Edward Enns (1962-1964), Paul Schroeder (1964-1967), Leonard Enns (1969-1970), Waldemar Regier (1971-1977), Died Gerbrandt (1979-1984), Rudy Froese (1985-1996), Craig Friesen (1997- ).

Scope and content note

The fonds contains bulletins (1963-2002), newsletters (1976-2000), calendars of activities (1995-2000), annual reports (1964-1998), minutes of congregational meetings and church council meetings (1975-1978), directories (1974, 1988), and correspondence (1964-2001). The records begin with the period after the congregation became independent and they document the activities and development after that time.

Finding aids

Inventory file list available.

Notes

Language

Some German.

Restrictions on access

No restrictions on access.

Other notes

Textual records were deposited by the congregation at the Mennonite Heritage Centre on a regular basis. Described by Bert Friesen 18 January 2002.

Rosthern Mennonite Church fonds file list:

Volume 69

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1963)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1964)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1965)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1966)
  5. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1967, 1968, 1972)
  6. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1973)
  7. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1974)
  8. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1975)
  9. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1976)
  10. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1977-1978)
  11. Rosthern Mennonite Church annual reports (1964,1965, 1975), congregational meeting minutes (1975-1976), church council meeting minutes (1976), newsletters (1976), directory (1974), correspondence (1964-1965,1973)

Volume 1624

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1978), congregational questionnaire ([1978?]), congregational meeting minutes (1978)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1979)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1980)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1981)
  5. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1982)
  6. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1983)

Volume 2918

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1984), newsletters (1984)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1985)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1986), newsletters (1986), congregational history ([1978?],1993), financial statements (1986), annual reports (1986)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1987), newsletters (1987), annual reports (1987), financial statements (1987)

Volume 3253

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1988), pictorial directory (1988), newsletters (1988), financial statements (1988), annual reports (1988)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1989), newsletters (1989), annual reports (1989), financial statement (1989)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1990), newsletters (1990), annual reports (1990)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1991), newsletters (1991), annual reports (1991), financial statements (1991), membership list (1991)

Volume 4266

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1992), newsletters (1992), annual reports (1992), financial statements (1992)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1993), annual reports (1993), financial statements (1993), newsletters (1993)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1994), newsletters (1994), directory (1994)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1995), calendar of activities (1995), newsletters (1995), annual reports (1995), financial statements (1995)

Volume 4499

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1996), newsletters (1996), annual reports (1996), financial statements (1996)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1997), newsletters (1997), calendar of activities (1997), annual reports (1997), financial statements (1997)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1998), annual reports (1998), newsletters (1998), calendar of activities (1998)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (1999), newsletters (1999), calendar of activities (1999), correspondence (1999)

Volume 4916

  1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2000), correspondence (2001), newsletters (2000), financial statements (2000), calendar of activities (2000)
  2. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2001)
  3. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2002)
  4. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2003)
  5. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2004)

Volume 2153

1. Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2005)

2.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2006)

3.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2007)

4.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulleetins (2008)

5.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2009)

6.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2010)

7.  Rosthern Mennonite Church bulletins (2011)