Historical Committee
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Gathering at the Hearth: Stories Mennonites
Tell
A collection of twenty-eight stories from Mennonite History
by John E. Sharp
Herald Press, 2001
Order from Provident Bookstores or call 800-759-4447
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David Toews, 1870-1947, became the central figure in the immigration of 20,000 Russian Mennonite refugees to Canada, 1923-1930. He, himself, knew what it was like to be a migrant. Born in the Trakt settlement in Russia, he and his parents migrated to Turkestan, and then joined the ill-fated trek to Asia. Incredibly, the Toews family, with nineteen other families, retraced their steps back through Russia, on to Germany, and eventually to Kansas. He later moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, where he became a teacher, pastor, elder and administrator. The story of his work as chairman of the Canadian Board of Colonization is a story of remarkable patience, persistence and faith. Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land. Klaas Epp led a group of Mennonites on a devastating journey to a "promised land" in Asia to await the second coming of Christ. David Toews, influenced by both these journeys, became a modern Moses for 20,000 Mennonites from Russia who migrated to Canada in the 1920s. The Toews ancestral home was Weisshof near Tiegenhagen in the Marienburger Werder of West Prussia. Economic hardships in the middle of the nineteenth century, as well as political pressures that threatened the core value of peacemaking, prompted Mennonites to seek homes elsewhere. A group migrated to Russia and in 1853 founded the Trakt settlement near the Volga River in the province of Samara. Jacob and Maria Wiebe Toews were among these settlers. A year later, on February 9, 1870, David Toews was born to Jacob and Maria in Lysanderhöh, Russia. The new settlement at Trakt faced serious issues. From within, differences concerning the second coming of Christ threatened to divide them. From without, universal military service, which the Mennonites wanted to avoid by going to Russia, became a threat. An apparent solution was presented: the governor of Tashkent, Turkestan, General Kaufmann, offered Mennonites complete exemption, if they would settle in his territories in Asia. In response to this invitation, many families set out, again, on a journey to a "promised land." It was a dangerous trek. They faced the burning heat and shifting sands of the desert, the daunting height of the mountains and the fearful depth of canyons. Accidents and the occasional collapse of oxen, which pulled the heavily loaded wagons caused many delays. They were plagued by typhoid, cholera, and small pox. Those who died were buried along the way. The pilgrims traveled by way of Saratov and Orenburg. In Asia they followed the military road of Syr-Darya through Kasalinsk, Perowsk, Kaplanbeck, and the beautiful, fertile plateau of Tashkent. There they heard unsettling news: Russian Czar Alexander II had died, and so had Governor Kaufmann. What was to become of them now? The Government of Tashkent offered them land several hundred miles east of Tashkent and also offered them an acceptable form of alternative service. Those who accepted the offer founded the Aulie-Ata settlement, which later became a well-established colony. Others continued further east under the leadership of Klaas Epp and founded a village, Ak Metchet, in the domain of the khan of Khiva in October 1882. There they suffered theft and murder at the hands of the Turkish tribesmen. The dream of the paradise they had expected vanished. Klaas Epp, who predicted the time and the place of the Lord's return, became more and more fanatical. Realizing that there would be no rest or prosperity in this barren land, some of the Khiva settlers wrote letters to relatives in America. As a result, a group of about twenty families packed up again. This time they headed west, the way they had come--to the Volga River and through Russia-then further west, through Germany and over the Atlantic Ocean to America. After more than four years of wandering since they first left Prussia, the beleaguered immigrants arrived in Newton, Kansas, in the fall of 1884. Among them was David Toews, fourteen years old. Already the young David Toews had seen more of the world than most teenagers dream about. He had traveled by foot or in a wagon over three continents--Europe, Asia and America. He had no idea how this prepared him for his most important contribution to his people. David worked on the farm of Bernhard Regier, and then attended the Halstead Seminary, Halstead, Kansas, where he studied under H.H. Ewert and C.H. Wedel. He taught school at Elbing and Newton, Kansas, and was baptized into the Mennonite church in Newton in 1888. Five years later, his former teacher, H.H. Ewert, invited him to Gretna, Manitoba, to teach school. He completed his formal education at Wesley College and Normal School, in Winnipeg. In 1898 he received a call to teach in Saskatchewan. The Mennonite settlements northwest of Rosthern, at Tiefengrund, were recently settled by immigrants from the Vistula Delta area in Prussia. A common origin united teacher and students. The youthful teacher was truly a man of the people, living with them and for them. Characterized as cheerful and optimistic, he was loved and respected by young and old. In addition to teaching, he also farmed. In 1900 he married Margarete Friesen, from Tiefengrund, Saskatchewan. David and Margarete became parents of eight children, one son and seven daughters. Of these the youngest, Irene, died at the age of five because of burns received in the fire that consumed their home in 1926. The Toews family moved to Eigenheim, Saskatchewan 1904. Here David began his nearly two decades as teacher and principal at the German-English Academy at Rosthern, which he founded. In 1901 he had been elected to the ministry of the Rosenort Mennonite Church at Rosthern, and in 1913 he became an elder. In his teaching he was considered highly successful; his students loved and respected him. When pastoral duties during World War I demanded more of his time, he resigned as principal of the school, but continued as a board member until a few years before his death in 1947. He served the Canadian General Conference as secretary and chairman. At business sessions he was able to grasp the essentials of a subject and present them in digested form so that appropriate resolutions could be drawn up. His work often took him to Ottawa, Regina, Winnipeg, Chicago. He attended the Mennonite World Conferences of 1930 and 1936. He was well qualified for these travels - self-confident, frank, trustworthy, and resolute in his dealings. Margarete made his church work possible by supervising the affairs of the household, even though she suffered from trachoma, nearly loosing her eyesight. Toews was elected as treasurer of several funds and in this capacity usually was responsible for gathering money. In these tasks, he was patient, cheerful and optimistic, always trusting that the money would be forthcoming. This, however, was not always the case, and not everyone shared his optimism. In 1918 and 1919 reports of the terror of the Russian Revolution and the suffering of Mennonites began to circulate. Mennonites gathered by the hundreds in Canada and the United States to hear about the plight of their sisters and brothers in Russia. Committees were organized to offer assistance. Money was collected and sent to Russia. Orie Miller, Clayton Kratz, Arthur Slagel and Alvin J. Miller became the church's agents to administer the relief funds and materials. Delegations from Russia came to speak firsthand about the suffering. As well as to present the need to immigrate to the United States and Canada. American immigration officials soon made it clear that the U.S. would not accept them, despite the claims of the famed Statue of Liberty in New York's harbor. Would Canada's doors be open? God's call came to David Toews. Though it would have been far easier to continue his work in the congregation and the school at Rosthern, his deep empathy for his brothers and sisters in distress would not allow him to ignore them. While the solution in the minds of most people was to send relief overseas, Toews was soon convinced that the best solution was to bring the people to Canada. It grieved him that his convictions were not shared in the States where it was said that the refugees should be sent to Mexico. Canadians also had their doubts. And so did the Canadian government. After the World War I an Order in Council was issued, which refused to accept any more immigration to Canada. How could that order be overruled? The political campaign of 1922-23 was in progress and the Liberal party under the leadership of Mackenzie King promised that, in the event it were elected, it would rescind the objectionable Order in Council. Would it happen? The Liberals were elected and the discriminatory laws were repealed. The doors were now open to Mennonite refugees. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company agreed to provide transportation of the immigrants on credit granted under favorable terms. Now there were additional problems to be solved. How would the immigrants be received, cared for and settled? H.H. Ewert proposed that a mortgage be floated to purchase the land of the Old Colony Mennonites in Manitoba. This would take a long time. Furthermore, who would provide the money? A.A. Friesen and a lawyer, A.C. March, of Saskatoon, suggested another plan: create a stock company with total shares of $10,000,000 to finance the entire project. This was a plan that could work. The plan was approved and a charter was secured for a stock company. In the meantime, Toews gave up his position in the Heidelberg public school to become chairman of the Canadian Board of Colonization. It was a full time job. A.A. Friesen was named secretary of the Board, which established its headquarters in Rosthern. Managing the finances for the 1923-1930 migration of Russian Mennonites to Canada was by far the greatest test of Toews' patience, optimism and faith. Though he said he was not a businessman, he handled millions of dollars, giving his personal guarantee to the Canadian government that the Reiseschuld -the travel debt-would be paid back. The first contact with the railroad provided for the transportation of 3,000 people in 1923. When this contract was first issued in Montreal in July 1922, a great disappointment came with it. The transportation rates were excessively high and the entire debt was to be repaid in six months! But Toews would not give up. He went back to Ottawa, and this time when asked who would guarantee that the loan would be repaid, he responded, "I guarantee it!" And nobody laughed, although they all knew that he was poor as a church mouse. They also knew by this time that he could be trusted. David Toews signed his name to the fateful document, and became the personal guarantor for ten million dollars. In the meantime the churches became uneasy. Who were these immigrants? Could they be trusted? Who would speak for them? Who would guarantee the loans be repaid? Even in the States where Toews hoped for so much help, his motives were misinterpreted. And in Canada some congregations in Saskatchewan refused to help; friends became enemies. Repeatedly Toews had to explain that the Board of Colonization was responsible; no one individual or church would be held accountable; the contract was a "gentlemen's agreement." This explanation satisfied many, but not all. One is reminded of Moses who was plagued by the murmuring his own people. The immigrants could now come. However, the Old Colonist land had not been bought and the million dollar corporation did not materialize. Toews said, "Mennonites give freely, but if they suspect a business enterprise is involved they are distrustful." His efforts to raise money toward the $10,000,000 project also met with failure in the United States. The people hesitated because they wanted to help the immigrants go to Mexico. Then the question arose: If our plans are not realized the contract with the Canadian Pacific Railway will be annulled! "No," declared Toews emphatically, "the contract will not be annulled!" In spite of persistent criticism, Toews was always courteous in his responses. Finally, when it became clear that Mexico was not an option, U.S. Mennonites supported the migration to Canada. The coming of the first immigrants was delayed, but finally they came. They landed in Quebec, July 17, 1923, and arrived in Rosthern July 21. The coming of the first six hundred immigrants caused a great commotion and a hosting challenge. But by evening all had been fed and cared for. Other immigrants soon followed. In 1923, 2,759 immigrants came; in 1924, 5,048. Even more followed, so that by 1930, a grand total of 20,201 Russian Mennonite refugees came to the promised land of Canada. Those who brought some money along were able to pay for their passage. When the first immigrants were settled, they, in turn, helped new immigrants. In September 1925, David and Margarete celebrated the silver anniversary of their wedding. It seemed but a minor interlude in his mission to resettle the refugees. From February to April, 1926, Tows traveled to Europe to visit refugees who had been detained in Germany. Back in Canada the new arrivals had to be settled. Regulations did not permit them to take up urban occupations so they had to be settled in the country, many under unfavorable conditions. By 1927 Soviet Russia imposed more difficulties on migration and, eventually, the migration was halted. Because of the depression and unemployment in Canada, Canada refused to accept more immigrants. So the movement came to a close in 1930. Toews could not, at first, accept this sudden termination, but he was forced acknowledge that the stream of refugees from "the land of terror" to Canada had ended. The "iron curtain" had slammed shut. There was already enough work. Over twenty thousand new settlers were scattered over the land from Ontario to Saskatchewan. Supplying clothes, organizing churches, ordaining elders and ministers, visiting the sick - what a task it was! And, the travel debt still needed to be paid! It was taking so long to repay it. Would he ever see the final dollar. It was not likely. It eventually became the lot of C.F. Klassen to collect remaining travel debt of over two million dollars. Hindered by the Great Depression of the 1930s, it took Klassen 25 years to collect the entire travel debt. But at last the day came when Pastor J.J. Thiessen took the good news to the old and tired David Toews. "The entire travel debt and all the interest has been repaid," Thiessen told Toews. At first Toews would not believe it. He chided Thiessen, saying he knew they all felt sorry for him, since he had given his word that the debt would be paid, and that he couldn't die until it was paid. Thiessen cupped his hands to the ears of the hard-of-hearing brother and repeated the good news once more. David Toews sat back in his rocker and with tears soaking his beard, kept saying again and again, "Gott sei Dank!" Thank you, God. [Mennonite Life, July 1950, and
Mennonite Historical Bulletin, October 2000.]
Reprinted with permission from the forthcoming book Gathering at the Hearth: Stories Mennonites Tell edited by John E. Sharp, Herald Press, Copyright 2001. The book is sponsored by the Historical Committee of the Mennonite Church. |
David
and the Promised Land