Honk, Fredericka (1876-1909)
Fredericka "Reka" Honk (Hank): city mission and orphanage worker, was born in 1876 near New Dundee, Ontario, Canada to Frederick Hank (26 March 1841-24 June 1921) and Maria Kavelman Hank (22 December 1842-23 March 1932). Frederika was the fourth daughter in a family of six daughters. The Honk/Hank family lived on a farm and were Lutheran in denominational affiliation. Fredericka Honk never married.
Fredericka was converted at Bethel, a country appointment that eventually became Bethel Evangelical Missionary Church. Her parents were opposed to her conversion and put her out of their home. By 1898 Fredericka was a City Missions worker of the Indiana and Ohio Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ.
In late 1899 Fredericka Honk and Ada Moyer, in the dress of the Light and Hope Missionary Society whose headquarters was in Chicago, sailed for Turkey to help in the orphanage work at Hadjin, which had been started in 1898 by Anna Maria Gerber and Rose Lambert.
Fredericka spent from 1900 to 1908 working with the orphans in that city. It was a rewarding ministry, yet a hard one due to the poverty of the area and the threat of the Turkish government reaction to the Armenian people. The city suffered a typhoid epidemic in 1908. Dr. Elizabeth Maurer, who also served the orphans, died during that epidemic. Fredericka Honk was stricken with typhoid in September of that year. Her health declined and she was taken to a hospital in Beirut by Miss Ida Tschumi, a fellow missionary at Hadjin.
Fredericka Honk's health improved enough that it was thought she could return to North America to recuperate. When at Alexandria, Egypt, her condition worsened and there she died on 30 May 1909 and was buried in the English Cemetery in Alexandria. Fredericka Honk was one of many missionaries who surrendered their lives to Christ and then laid it down for His cause.
Bibliography
1881 Census of Canada. Ontario. District Name: Waterloo South. Sub-District Name: Wilmot. Library and Archives Canada. Web. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1881/Pages/item.aspx?itemid=4137330.
1891 Census of Canada. Ontario. District Name: Waterloo South. Sub-District Name: Wilmot. Library and Archives Canada. Web. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1891/Pages/item.aspx?itemid=2909541.
"Frederick Hank." Waterloo Region Generations. 27 January 2020. Web. 12 February 2020. https://generations.regionofwaterloo.ca/getperson.php?personID=I200339&tree=generations.
Gospel Banner (April 1902): 211 & 221.
Gospel Banner (February 1902): 6-7.
Huffman, Jasper A., ed. History of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church. New Carlisle, Ohio: The Bethel Pub. Co, 1920: 193, 195, 203. Available in full electronic text at https://archive.org/details/historymennonit00huffgoog/page/n5/mode/2up.
Lambert, Rose. Hadjin and the Armenian Massacres. Fleming H. Revell Co., 1911. Available in full electronic text at: https://archive.org/details/hadjinarmenianma00lamb/page/n8/mode/2up.
Notes by Mrs. C. Dresch in margin of The Gospel Banner (February 1902) noted by Clare Fuller, Curator of the Missionary Church Historical Trust which cares for the archival records of the eastern part of the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada.
Russell, Rosemary. "Hadjin - Missionaries." Houshamadyan, A project for reconstruct Ottoman Armenian town and village life. 5 February 2016. Web. 12 February 2020. https://www.houshamadyan.org/mapottomanempire/vilayet-of-adana/hadjin/religion/missionaries.html.
| Author(s) | Max Haines |
|---|---|
| Clare Fuller | |
| Date Published | February 2020 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Haines, Max and Clare Fuller. "Honk, Fredericka (1876-1909)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2020. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Honk,_Fredericka_(1876-1909)&oldid=166556.
APA style
Haines, Max and Clare Fuller. (February 2020). Honk, Fredericka (1876-1909). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Honk,_Fredericka_(1876-1909)&oldid=166556.
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