Difference between revisions of "Wiebe, John F. D. (1872-1941)"

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[[File:JFD Wiebe and Wife.jpg|thumb|John F. D. Wiebe posing with his wife (either Anna Groening or Sarah Loewen), undated. Photograph via ''The Groening/Wiebe Family'', p. 63.]]
 
John (occasionally known as Johan) F. D. Wiebe was a prominent community member of [[Herbert (Saskatchewan, Canada)|Herbert]], [[Saskatchewan (Canada)|Saskatchewan]] and an important figure in the [[Old Colony Mennonites|Old Colony Mennonite]] [[Emigration from Canada to Mexico and Paraguay in the 1920s|migration to Mexico in the 1920s]].
 
John (occasionally known as Johan) F. D. Wiebe was a prominent community member of [[Herbert (Saskatchewan, Canada)|Herbert]], [[Saskatchewan (Canada)|Saskatchewan]] and an important figure in the [[Old Colony Mennonites|Old Colony Mennonite]] [[Emigration from Canada to Mexico and Paraguay in the 1920s|migration to Mexico in the 1920s]].
  
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Werner, Hans. "Restoring the Commons: Land Deals and the Migration of Manitoba Mennonites to Mexico in the 1920s." ''Agricultural History'' 87, no. 4 (Fall 2013): 465 and 471n25.
 
Werner, Hans. "Restoring the Commons: Land Deals and the Migration of Manitoba Mennonites to Mexico in the 1920s." ''Agricultural History'' 87, no. 4 (Fall 2013): 465 and 471n25.
  
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Wiebe, Joel A. et al. ''The Groening/Wiebe Family, 1768-1974, 2nd ed. Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1974''. Pp. 52-61
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Wiebe, Joel A. et al. ''The Groening/Wiebe Family, 1768-1974'', 2nd ed. Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1974''. Pp. 52-63.
  
 
Wiebe, John F. D. et al. “Correspondence with J. F. D. Wiebe, 1922-1931." Mexico Mennonite Files, 1875-1931, vol. 4297 no. 12. [http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/programs/archives/index.htm  Mennonite Heritage Archives], 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Man., R3P 0M4.
 
Wiebe, John F. D. et al. “Correspondence with J. F. D. Wiebe, 1922-1931." Mexico Mennonite Files, 1875-1931, vol. 4297 no. 12. [http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/programs/archives/index.htm  Mennonite Heritage Archives], 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Man., R3P 0M4.
 
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[[Category:Persons]]

Latest revision as of 13:37, 18 April 2025

John F. D. Wiebe posing with his wife (either Anna Groening or Sarah Loewen), undated. Photograph via The Groening/Wiebe Family, p. 63.

John (occasionally known as Johan) F. D. Wiebe was a prominent community member of Herbert, Saskatchewan and an important figure in the Old Colony Mennonite migration to Mexico in the 1920s.

Originally a member of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren church (his father, Jakob, was the church’s founder and leader) in Kansas, Wiebe moved to Herbert in 1906. There he established himself as a successful land agent, businessman, and community leader, playing a leading role in the town’s incorporation in 1912 and serving as its first mayor.

By one account, Wiebe instigated the conservative Canadian Mennonites’ interest in Mexico.[1] The Old Colony Mennonites had for some time been looking for a new homeland in response to the loss of autonomy over education in Canada but had been stymied at every turn, when Wiebe, aware of the land reforms about to take place in post-revolutionary Mexico and seeing entrepreneurial opportunities therein, traveled to Mexico. He established positive contact with Mexican stakeholders and then informed the Old Colony about the opportunity. Wiebe then accompanied the January 1921 Old Colony delegation to Mexico that received a Privilegium from President Álvaro Obregón, paving the way for immigration. During this trip Wiebe aided the delegates by helping them translate documents from German into English — "his English was better than his German," quips one of the delegates[2] — and appears to have acted as something of a guide, utilizing his contacts to help arrange the itinerary and gain audiences with stakeholders.

Wiebe continued to be involved with many aspects of the Old Colony migration to Mexico. He assisted the Old Colony in their efforts to sell their land in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, soliciting buyers on his journeys. Setting up temporary shop in El Paso, Wiebe became the agricultural agent of the Northwestern Railway of Mexico, enabling him to obtain free transportation on U.S. and Mexican railways for himself and for Mennonite delegates. When the Old Colony unilaterally withdrew from a contract to purchase land in the state of Durango, it was was Wiebe who pointed them to the Zuloaga estate in Chihuahua where the Mennonites founded the Manitoba and Swift Current colonies. Wiebe also smoothed over some of the ill will on the part of Mexican financiers and businessmen that resulted from the abrogated Durango contract and thereby may have saved the Mennonite immigrants significant legal and financial trouble.

After the migration, Wiebe briefly established himself in San Antonio de los Arenales (later renamed Cuauhtémoc). He built the town’s first grain elevator and intended to set up business as a grain merchant for the Mexican Mennonites. This venture appears to have met with limited success and Wiebe returned to Herbert some time around 1925, though his son, Jakob, went on to become an important banker in Cuauhtémoc. One source states that Wiebe became a bishop for the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren church in Herbert in 1930, but this is hard to verify.[3]

Wiebe was born on 28 February 1872 in Annenfeld, Crimea, Russia (present day occupied Ukraine). He moved with his family to Kansas in 1874. He was married twice, to Anna Groening (1875-1920) and to Sarah Loewen (1889-1963), and had six surviving children. He died on 11 October 1941 in Herbert, Saskatchewan. One source remembers him as one of Herbert’s “most outstanding citizens.”[4]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sawatzky, 36. Other accounts tell the story of how the Old Colony first became aware of Mexico differently. It seems likely that there were a number of instigations in a short timeframe. See Ens, 208 and 226n46 for an overview.
  2. ↑ Loeppky, 39.
  3. ↑ Plett, 114. Plett does not provide his source for this information and there is no other mention of Wiebe taking on church leadership roles at any point in his life. In addition, one obituary describes Wiebe as settling into a time of much needed rest and semi-retirement after his return from Mexico, quite a departure from the life of an Ältester (Joel Wiebe, 60). There is also almost no record of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren church in or nearby to Herbert. When the thorough Herbert town history book lists the churches in town and surrounding areas operative in 1926 and 1940 it makes no mention of a Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church (Hall, 255-256 and 435). The 1941 edition of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren yearbook lists (but does not otherwise mention) a church in existence in the Herbert area, with John M. Rempel serving as its minister (pp. 82-83). Few of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren yearbooks from before 1941 are extant and none were available for this study. A different John Wiebe did take over as the lead pastor of the local Mennonite Brethren church in 1930 (Redekop, 10-11) and it is possible that this is a source of confusion.
  4. ↑ Hall, 71.

Bibliography

Ens, Adolf. Subjects or Citizens? The Mennonite Experience in Canada, 1870-1925. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1994. Pp. 201-230.

GRANDMA (The Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Database, 5.00 ed. Fresno, CA: California Mennonite Historical Society, 2006: #157879.

Hall, Bettie, Buhr June, et al. Bittersweet Years: The Herbert Story. Herbert Book Committee, 1987. Pp. 33, 49, 63-64, 75, 78, 85, 99, 103-107, 115, 119, 127, 137, 140, 145, 187, 202, 255-256, 435, 458-459.

Jahrbuch der Zweiundsechzigsten Konferenz der Krimmer Mennoniten Bruedergemeinde von Nord Amerika abgehalten in der Gnadenau Kirche zu Hillsboro, Kanasas. 1941.

Loeppky, Johann. “Journal on a Trip to Mexico, 1921.” Preservings 26 (2006): 37-44.

Loewen, Royden. Village among Nations: "Canadian" Mennonites in a Transnational World, 1916-2006. University of Toronto Press, 2013. Pp. 53-54.

Plett, C.F. The Story of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church. Kindred Press, 1985. P. 114.

Redekop Anna, et al. The History of the Herbert Mennonite Brethren Church, 1905-1908. Mennonite Brethren Church, 1980. Pp. 9-11.

Rempel, David. “Diary of his Trip to South America and Mexico in 1919-1921,” trans. Jake K. Wiens. Volume 5015, Small Archives. Mennonite Heritage Archives, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Man., R3P 0M4.

Sawatzky, Harry Leonard. They Sought a Country: Mennonite Colonization in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. Pp. 36-37, 44-45, 78-79.

Schmiedehaus, Walter. The Old Colony Mennonites in Mexico. Translated by Erwin Jost. Edited by Glenn Penner. Mennonite Heritage Archives, 2021.

Werner, Hans. "Old Colony and Russlaender Land Transactions." Preservings 45 (Fall 2022): 23-28.

Werner, Hans. "Restoring the Commons: Land Deals and the Migration of Manitoba Mennonites to Mexico in the 1920s." Agricultural History 87, no. 4 (Fall 2013): 465 and 471n25.

Wiebe, Joel A. et al. The Groening/Wiebe Family, 1768-1974, 2nd ed. Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1974. Pp. 52-63.

Wiebe, John F. D. et al. “Correspondence with J. F. D. Wiebe, 1922-1931." Mexico Mennonite Files, 1875-1931, vol. 4297 no. 12. Mennonite Heritage Archives, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Man., R3P 0M4.


Author(s) Gerald Ens
Date Published 2025

Cite This Article

MLA style

Ens, Gerald. "Wiebe, John F. D. (1872-1941)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 2025. Web. 19 Jan 2026. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wiebe,_John_F._D._(1872-1941)&oldid=180564.

APA style

Ens, Gerald. (2025). Wiebe, John F. D. (1872-1941). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 January 2026, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wiebe,_John_F._D._(1872-1941)&oldid=180564.



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