Nord Colony, Mexico
1957 Article
Ojo de lad Yegua, a Mennonite settlement (north settlement) near Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico, was established by landless Old Colony Mennonite families in 1946 northeast of the Manitoba Mennonite settlement. The Buena Vista ranch, formerly occupied by J. E. Enns, is located in this settlement. The beginning of this daughter colony of the Manitoba and Swift Current settlement was a difficult one. In 1953 it had a population of 3,594. -- Cornelius Krahn
1990 Update
Nord Colony is also commonly known as the "Ojo de la Yegua" colony, and is the result of a series of land purchases by Manitoba Colony. As early as 1933 the Manitoba Colony bought the Mexican ranch "Saucito," now Campo No. 35 and renamed it Altenau. By 1962 all of the land as far north as the Santa Clara Colony had been acquired by the Manitoba Colony. After the land of the Ojo de la Yegua ranch was bought in 1948 people in the new area became an independent colony, electing their own elder (bishop) and Vorsteher (chairman). In 1962 the northern section of the Nord Colony, the Santa Rita Colony, became a separate entity as well. In the early 1960s a small group of farmers from Campo 38.5 (Steinreich farm) requested help from the General Conference Mennonites in North America to establish a school. This eventually resulted in a General Conference school and church. The boarding home for elementary school children functioned for several years. In 1987 these facilities were made available to the adult education center, also part of the General Conference church work, which was then transferred from Kilometer 17 to Steinreich. Both the German Church of God and the Evangelical Mennonite Conference from Canada established schools in Campo No. 67.
Many of the conservative Old Colonists of the Nord Colony immigrated to Bolivia and Paraguay. The Old Colony population of Ojo de la Yegua Colony on 1 January 1987 stood at 11,854. Of these 4,390 were baptized church members. -- Helen Ens
Bibliography
Kraybill, Paul N., ed. Mennonite World Handbook. Lombard, IL: Mennonite World Conference, 1978: 277-278.
| Author(s) | Cornelius Krahn |
|---|---|
| Helen Ens | |
| Date Published | 1989 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Helen Ens. "Nord Colony, Mexico." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nord_Colony,_Mexico&oldid=141245.
APA style
Krahn, Cornelius and Helen Ens. (1989). Nord Colony, Mexico. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nord_Colony,_Mexico&oldid=141245.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 33, v. 5, p. 638. All rights reserved.
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