Martens, Johann (b. 1875)
Johann Martens: Kronsweide Mennonite Church elder; born 7 June 1875 in Einlage, Chortitza Mennonite Settlement, 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, and the normal school in the Chortitza Mennonite settlement. For thirteen years he taught the elementary school, and was also the Chortitza Oberschulze. During the Revolution he was ordained as a minister and in 1924 he became the elder of the Kronsweide Mennonite Church after the departure of Elder 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 in the Ural Mountains. In 1936 they were permitted to return to the Ukraine, but in 1938 Martens was arrested and imprisoned in Zaporizhia, and then exiled to northern 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 The Kronweide Mennonite Church in Russia by Is. P. Klassen.
Bibliography
GRANDMA (The Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Database, 5.05 ed. Fresno, CA: California Mennonite Historical Society, 2008: #371259.
Klassen, Is. P. The Kronweide Mennonite Church in Russia: Its Villages and Elders. Translated by Edward Enns. Winnipeg, MB: Mennonite Heritage Centre, 1993.
Töws, A. A. Mennonitische Märtyrer der jüngsten Vergangenheit und der Gegenwartr. North Clearbrook, B.C. : Selbstverlag, 1949-1954: v. I, 97.
| Author(s) | Cornelius Krahn |
|---|---|
| Richard D. Thiessen | |
| Date Published | April 2010 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Richard D. Thiessen. "Martens, Johann (b. 1875)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2010. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Martens,_Johann_(b._1875)&oldid=135487.
APA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Richard D. Thiessen. (April 2010). Martens, Johann (b. 1875). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Martens,_Johann_(b._1875)&oldid=135487.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 513. All rights reserved.
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