A Mennonite delegation stayed at the Hudson Bay Post in Sainte-Anne in June, 1873 on the way to see the land the federal government had set aside for settlement. Delegate Leonard Suderman wrote in his diary that night that their host was friendly and bid them welcome. The delegates were pleased to have found accommodations here as they had experienced a difficult day’s journey and the thought of pitching tents in the wet and swampy ground was not too inviting. Many of the Mennonites that followed the delegates also became familiar with this building as trade was often carried on here (as well as in Winnipeg) before the Mennonites established their own stores in Steinbach.

The delegates decided not to use the Dawson Route when they brought a large group of twelve families to the Steinbach area in 1874. They came by train to Duluth, MN and up the Red River by boat, landing south of where Niverville is today.

The twelve Mennonite delegates of 1873, with their guides and travelling friends. They were photographed in front of the Dominion Lands Office before visiting the East Reserve on June 18-21 of that year. Source: Archives of Manitoba. Retrieved from Klippenstein, L. (1972). Diary of a Mennonite Delegation, 1873. Manitoba Historical Society, Autumn, Volume 18, Number 2. Retrieved June 11, 2020 from http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/pageant/18/mennonitediary.shtml

The 1873 delegation of Mennonites came to Manitoba via The International steam boat from the USA by invitation from Canada in its campaign to settle the West. Here they are departing from a short stop at Fort Dufferin near the border on their way to scope out the so-called East Reserve set aside for them if they wanted it. They travelled via the Dawson Road, through Ste Anne, where they were warmly received by the Gauthier’s after being turned away by others on their long journey. As conscientious objectors to war, Mennonites sought to settle somewhere where they would be exempt from military service. Canada offered them this and more to compete for their settlement with the USA. They were guaranteed, among other things, military exemption, freedom of religion, private schools, and land, known as the East Reserve.[12] There were twelve (12) Mennonite delegates accompanied by a number of local travel companions (probably Métis freighters) and William Hespeler, immigration agent. When they reached the “East Reserve” they found it to be suitable for their purposes, though swampy in places, and the following year, 1874, the first forty Mennonite families arrived to settle the East Reserve.

Various sources

Various sources:

Klippenstein, L. (1972). Diary of a Mennonite Delegation, 1873. Manitoba Historical Society, Autumn, Volume 18, Number 2. Retrieved June 11, 2020 from http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/pageant/18/mennonitediary.shtml

Klippenstein, L. (1975). Manitoba Settlement and the Mennonite West Reserve (1875-1876). Manitoba Pageant, Autumn 1975, Volume 21, Number 1. Retrieved July 1, 2020 from http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/pageant/21/mennonitewestreserve.shtml

Hanover Steinbach Historical Society Inc. (2000, Dec). “1874 Revisited.” Preservings, No 17. Plett Foundation. Retrieved July 1, 2020 from https://www.plettfoundation.org/files/preservings/Preservings17.pdf

Wikipedia contributors. (2020, June 20). Steinbach, Manitoba. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:25, July 2, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steinbach,_Manitoba&oldid=963630931

Loewen, R. (1992). New Themes in an Old Story: Transplanted Mennonites as Group Settlers in North America, 1874-1879. Journal of American Ethnic History. Volume 11, No. 2, Winter, 1992 (P.8). University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Immigration & Ethnic History Society on JSTOR. Retrieved July 1, 2020 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/27500929?read-now=1&seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents

Loewen, R. (1992). New Themes in an Old Story: Transplanted Mennonites as Group Settlers in North America, 1874-1879. Journal of American Ethnic History. Volume 11, No. 2, Winter, 1992 (P.7). University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Immigration & Ethnic History Society on JSTOR. Retrieved July 1, 2020 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/27500929?read-now=1&seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents

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