Henry Derksen was born in 1925 in Newton Siding, Manitoba. My parents were Henry Derksen born in Blumstein, Molotschna Colony, Russia in 1896, and Mary Wiens, born in Schönfeld, Russia in 1900. My parents were married in 1923 and came to Manitoba, Canada in 1924. Shortly after my birth, my parents and I moved from Manitoba […]
"Stories Then" Archive
The posts below include stories told by refugees from Ukraine, 1920-1930 and 1947-1950.
Abram Epp: born 1919 in Krasnopohl, Siberia
My father Heinrich Janzen was born in 1878 and mother Elizabeth Dyck was born in 1885 and were living at Georgestahl in Furstenland Colony, a daughter settlement of Chortitza, Ukraine. Each farm there consisted of approximately 175 acres. This land was rented from the Grand Duke Michail Nikolaevitch, and was located south of Chortitza in […]
In Memory of Maria Braun Fast, 1899-1939
Pelee Island was my home for the first nine years of my life. Mom had come to Pelee in 1925; Dad in 1930. My earliest memory goes back to the summer of 1939. I was seventeen months old and Maria Fast was dying of Tuberculosis. Her husband Peter Fast was mother’s cousin. Their children were […]
