Schmiedeleut

Schmiedeleut, one of the three Hutterite kinship groups (the other two being the Dariusleut and the Lehrerleut, so named because its founder, Preacher Michael Waldner, was a blacksmith (Schmied) in Russia. Michael Waldner was the first to re-establish communal living in Bruderhof form, which he did in 1859 in one end of the village of Hutterdorf in the Ukraine (see Dariusleut). The Waldner Bruderhof migrated to South Dakota in 1874 and settled the Bon Homme Colony near Yankton. This was the first Hutterite Bruderhof in America and is commonly, though wrongly, thought of as the mother Bruderhof of all Hutterites in America. The second kinship group, the Dariusleut, which was established in 1860 in the same Hutterdorf village in Russia, arrived in South Dakota later in 1874 and did not establish its first Bruderhof (Wolf Creek) until the next year, 1875. In the late 1950s the Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs in the United States were all in South Dakota, and those in Canada were all in Manitoba, and they were the only group having Bruderhofs in these two locations. Their leader or bishop was Peter Hofer, James Valley Colony, Starbuck, Manitoba, who was chosen in 1951. Following is a list of the Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs as they existed in 1957.

Census of Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs

Name of Colony	Address	Founded	Pop. 1957	Head Preacher
Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs in South Dakota
Bon Homme	Tabor	1874	90	Jacob Waldner
Glendale	Frankfort	1949	130	John Waldner
Gracevale	Winfred	1948	104	Sam Wipf
Huron	Huron	1944	135	Jacob Wollmann
Jamesville	Utica	1937	95	Paul Wurz
Maxwell	Scotland	1949	113	Joseph Hofer
Millerdale	Miller	1949	74	John Waldner
New Elm Spring	Ethan	1936	145	Sam Wollmann
Pearl Creek	Iroquois	1949	130	Michael Waldner
Platte	Academy	1949	102	Joseph Waldner
Riverside	Huron	1949	80	John Waldner
Rockport	Alexandria	1934	123	Dan Wipf
Rosedale	Mitchell	1945	114	Joseph Waldner, Sr.
Spink	Frankfort	1945	142	John Wipf
Tschetter	Olivet	1942	144	David Decker, Sr.
Clark	Raymond	1955	75	Fred Waldner
Blumengard	Wecota	1950	73	Jacob Hofer
Total			1,869
Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs in North Dakota
Forest River		1950	Closed in 1955
Schmiedeleut Bruderhofs in Manitoba: census data as of April 1958
Barrickman	Headingly	1920	124	David Hofer
Bloomfield	Westbourne	1954	65	John R. Hofer
Blumengard	Plum Coulee	1922	107	Jacob Waldner
Bon Homme	Elie	1918	155	Joseph Wollman
Crystal Springs	St. Agathe	1954	91	Jacob Kleinsasser
Elm River	Newton Siding	1934	105	Jacob Z. Hofer
Gruenwald	Dencross	1956	92	Joseph P. Hofer
Huron	Benard	1918	123	Joseph Glanzer
Iberville	Headingly	1919	131	Andreas Gross
James Valley	Starbuck	1918	98	Peter Hofer
Lakeside	Headingly	1946	126	George Wipf
Maxwell	Headingly	1918	135	George Waldner
Milltown	Benard	1918	84	Michael Waldner
New Rosedale	Portage la Prairie	1944	191	Jacob Maendel
Oak Bluff	Morris	1954	89	David J. Hofer
Poplar Point	Poplar Point	1938	151	Fred Waldner
Riverdale	Gladstone	1946	140	David Wurz
Riverside	Arden	1934	81	John J. Hofer
Rock Lake	Gross Isle	1947	124	Michael Gross
Rosedale	Elie	1918	206	Jacob K. Hofer
Spring Valley	Brandon	1956	87	Jacob Waldner
Sturgeon Creek	Headingly	1938	104	Samuel Kleinsasser
Springfield	Anola	1950	126	Samuel Waldner
Sunnyside	Newton Siding	1940	125	Joseph Kleinsasser
Waldheim	Elie	1935	106	Michael Waldner
Rose Valley	Graysville	1958	69	David Waldner
Total			3,035
Grand Total			4,904

Author(s)	Harold S Bender
Date Published	1959

Cite This Article

MLA style

Bender, Harold S. "Schmiedeleut." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schmiedeleut&oldid=160725.

APA style

Bender, Harold S. (1959). Schmiedeleut. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schmiedeleut&oldid=160725.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 467-468. All rights reserved.

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