View source for Martens, Johann (b. 1875)

Johann Martens: [[Kronsweide Mennonite Church (Kronsweide, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Kronsweide Mennonite Church]] elder; born 7 June 1875 in Einlage, [[Chortitza Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Chortitza Mennonite Settlement]], [[Ukraine|Ukraine]] to Kornelius Martens (29 October 1828 -  3 September 1895, Einlage, Chortitza Mennonite settlement) and Susanna (Froese) Martens (3 March 1834 - 10 November 1919). Johann was the youngest of eight children. Johann married Katharina Janzen (21 September 1874, Orekhov, South Russia - 25 April 1921) on 26 May 1896. She was the daughter of Peter Janzen (1845-1922) and Anna (Lange) Janzen (b. 1850). Johann and Katharina had fourteen children, of which eight lived to adulthood: Anna, Susanna, Katarina, Abraham, Peter, Jacob, Heinrich, and Lydia. After Katharina's death, Johann married Mrs. Maria Janzen.

Johann attended the village school in Einlage, the [[Chortitza Zentralschule (Chortitza, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Chortitza Zentralschule,]] and the normal school in the Chortitza Mennonite settlement. For thirteen years he taught the elementary school, and was also the Chortitza [[Oberschulze|Oberschulze]]. During the [[Russian Revolution and Civil War|Revolution]] he was ordained as a minister and in 1924 he became the elder of the Kronsweide Mennonite Church after the departure of Elder [[Klassen, Johann Peter (1868-1947)|Johann P. Klassen]] to Canada. In 1929 Johann had to leave his home and in 1930 he and his wife with two children were exiled to Bogoslov, near [[Sverdlovsk (Uralsky federalny okrug, Russia)|Sverdlovsk]] in the Ural Mountains. In 1936 they were permitted to return to the Ukraine, but in 1938 Martens was arrested and imprisoned in [[Zaporizhia (Ukraine)|Zaporizhia]], and then exiled to northern [[Russia|Russia]]. No further word was received from or about him, and it is likely that he died that year.

Some of his letters have been preserved and published in <em>The Kronweide Mennonite Church in Russia</em> by Is. P. Klassen.
= Bibliography =
GRANDMA (The <strong>G</strong>enealogical <strong>R</strong>egistry <strong>an</strong>d <strong>D</strong>atabase of <strong>M</strong>ennonite <strong>A</strong>ncestry) Database, 5.05 ed. Fresno, CA: <span class="link-external">[http://calmenno.org/index.htm California Mennonite Historical Society]</span>, 2008: #371259.

Klassen, Is. P. <em>The Kronweide Mennonite Church in Russia: Its Villages and Elders</em>. Translated by Edward Enns. Winnipeg, MB: Mennonite Heritage Centre, 1993.

Töws, A. A. <em class="gameo_bibliography"> Mennonitische Märtyrer der jüngsten Vergangenheit und der Gegenwartr</em>. North Clearbrook, B.C. : Selbstverlag, 1949-1954: v. I, 97.
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[[Category:Ministers]]
[[Category:Elders]]