Doing newspaper archive research is fun for it creates a slice of life of the past that the only equivalent to understand today would be mining social media. Discovering day in the life of, sports, religion, history and the such. One of the most reported on stories in the Bassano Recorder during the 1930’s was the Red Cross drives. Why in the 1930’s? For those who do not know, it was the Great Depression. The stock market crashed in 1929, and then the droughts and grasshoppers hit the prairies like an Old Testament Cecil B. Demille movie. It is stories of neighbours helping neighbours.
This is inspirational when we look at the recent history of Countess that saw two back to back summers where we reached out to help our neighbour. The first is an all to familiar place for many families in Southern Alberta, Calgary’s Alberta’s Children’s Hospital.
We spent the summer with playhouse floats raising money, and taking names for a raffle draw at the end wind up. It involved our historic 1923 Hahn Pumper Truck, and our stage coach. In the end we raised $10, 686.89, and celebrated with a fun western themed BBQ extravaganza.
Growing up you could always find a hockey game or a baseball game. These clippings from the Bassano Recorder archives share a lively sports scene on the Royal Line of CP Rail (the Royal Line was Bassano, Duchess, Countess, Gem, Rosemary, Patricia and Empress).
(Stomping Tom Connors The Hockey Song- Listen here)
Bassano Clippers V. Countess in Hockey (what would our team name be?) Local team loses 7-1
Countess was no different. At one point Bassano absorbed our female baseball players so that they could have a winning season 1937), oh and we beat Gem (Take me out to the ball game, listen here):
The games of summer, and winter bring community together over a hot dog roast or hot cocoa to celebrate the fun times! If anyone has any other sports news of the day feel free to share (or photos!-art!).
When one is a student of history and knows what comes after, there is always a sad chuckle reading the political and journalistic takes on the armistice of 1918 that it would be the war to end all wars. From a family that had a Great-Grandfather that would serve for Britain in the Sherwood Foresters in both the Great War, and the horror to come, World War II (amongst many other relatives) Armistice Day in the Commonwealth, Remembrance Day in Canada holds a special place. We have always been a family to stand with veterans, and to push for them to be duly compensated in their civilian life. Countess, Alberta was not an anomaly within Alberta or Canada in World War II, where many of our fine men and women served. I would also note, that as we were a heavily settled Mennonite area, we also produced conscientious objectors that did not fight the Nazis and the Axis of Evil and for those that served in my family, it was for this religious freedom as well, that is the beauty of our country Canada in its marvelous mosaic.
Without further ado, here is our virtual wall of honour, if we have missed someone please comment and add:
There is the official history of the world, and the land. There is religious history. There is political history. There is geo-political history. Some would even class colonialism, and other epochs of history (Reformation, Enlightenment, and Romanticism). Each human movement and people cling to an official history of what they distil down to be the most important aspects for their legacy. The meta-narratives of history can be boiled down to the local communities’ yore, and then the tales of the people. This is the jurisdiction of family journals, scrap books, photo albums, and if one family is lucky, publishing of a memoir. This is the journey that Margaretha Wilms …and the Meadowlark Sang –Prairie Memoirs- (2011) takes the reader through. It starts with Mennonite Migration to North America, after laying out who Mennonites are, then comes down to her local family unit on the Prairies (when it was still the Northwest Territories).
Cronkinole board
A tale familiar to many of a family structure to accomplish shared goals, this being farm life, communal meals, shared religious upbringing, tight community with kith and kin. It also shares some of the struggles, what it was like to be in a world shaped by certain points of view. The fun of Crokinole (and yes it is fun, if you make it to Countess ask for a game). The importance of family, chosen and by blood, for that is what a healthy supportive community becomes, a family chosen. Sharing stories of roles that seem antiquated through today’s lens and child rearing that would not be considered but it was her reality that shaped her life.
The joy of Christmas and the arrival of the Eaton’s and Simpsons catalogue for ordering gifts from, and as we have learned through the exploration of the Countess Bible School, a time when the winter Sabbath from the farm would bring different opportunities.
Through it all, she ties to scripture of her heritage, Hebrew Bible prophets and wisdom. The familiar (to the Birds fans) refrain of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 of a time for everything, and the prophet Joel, to a reminder of why sharing our stories matter:
Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (New International Version).
Willms (p.116) shares of the personal renaissance, as she grew in life and moved from shame to embracing of her heritage and who she was as a person. She writes of being a Saskatchewan farm child in the grasshopper infested-dust bowl of farm life of the Dirty Thirties, how her parents modeled values she still holds dear of the intangibles, or as Willms phrased it eternal over material.
Her journey takes her through Prairie Bible Institute and Caronport, as she discerns whom she is. The narrative shifts into the Russian Mennonites who came later to Canada. For Mennonites had enjoyed very good autonomy, and a strong control of the flourmill industry under Tsarist Russia, but between 1917 (Bolshevik Revolution) and 1925 (when the last would try to flee) the tide would turn as they were seen as enemies of the state (p.234-35). These immigrant’s to Canada became known as Russlanders, as only their country of origin was Russia (p.236).
CP Rail loved the work ethic of Mennonites that were coming in this later wave, and brought them to the prairies to work (Countess, Gem, Rosemary and Duchess) with each family being given ¼ sections of land originally managed by French Settlers (p.236). Willms’ husband, John was part of this wave of immigration. They were a hearty bunch that built a church in Gem fairly readily, with many choosing to gather in the Clemenceau School in Countess because it was closer in the cluster (p. 237). The influx of Russlander Mennonites doubled the size of Mennonites in Canada and brought 176 new congregations, this is important as the church was the hub of communal life (p.237). In 1924, 8,000 Mennonites came to Canada, and CP Rail negotiated to sponsor another 3, 772 in 1925 (p. 239). Some newcomers found Canada to worldly and wanted to go to Mexico or Paraguay to avoid what they viewed as a “sinful” nation; while others wanted to dive in to Canadian life taking further education, rising in leadership and building a new world (p.238-9).
Image from Margaret Wilms (2011) And the Meadowlark Sang Prairie Memoirs p. 241
John’s parents were part of the 1925 wave of immigrants from Russia. By 1926 Stalin had stopped the flow out of the Motherland (p.239). John was born to his parents in Ontario, they went on to settle a farm in Manitoba before finally coming to Countess, AB in an irrigation arrangement with a few other Mennonite settlers (p.240).
John Willms met his wife Margaretha, in Alberta, in the Irrigation District of Countess, part of what is known as the Palliser Triangle the driest patch of land in Canada (p. 241-242). John had remained in the area when his parents had returned to Manitoba.
The irrigation district from Calgary to Medicine Hat was the property of CP Rail, and built to facilitate the railway (p.242). It was tax exempt from 1921 and was to be irrigated but this idea was quashed instead to use a Dam system of the Bow River by Bassano (p.242). The French settlements were mostly in tact when the Russlander settlers came and moved in. They had originally been settled by Quebecois and Francophones from Eastern USA between 1917-1919 but after years of almost freezing to death, and few crops they left to head east back to Quebec (p.242). This is why CP Rail sought out the Russlanders to make the hamlets viable for their endeavour.
John attended Clemenceau School for his education, it was originally a Francophone school named after a VIP French General (p. 242-3). It was a one-room school house, with a rectory-style house on the same land for the teacher (who was also expected to function as janitor) (p.243).
As we move into the betrothment, wedding, and settlement back into Saskatchewan with Margaretha and John. Teaching around the province, children, staying connected with the family diaspora, the CCF, oh and a nice wrap up as an appendix with the recipes mentioned throughout the book.
It makes one reflect if they were to pause, and write the story of their family, what would it look like?
For some this weekend is Epiphany, in Orthodox churches (Ukranian, Greek, Russian) it is a Christmas celebration of food and family. We have just come back from a potluck in our own church where many shared their memories of celebrating Christmases when they were young, for one it was farm life in Saskatchewan, another in the Netherlands, and another in Venezuala. Sharing stories, food and song.
It felt like a very Prairie night of learning about one another. This is what we are hoping to have in Countess, and on this Facebook page. What we are already seeing happen.
Neighbours and those who have grown up around the area sharing their stories, snippets of pictures or journals or news clippings. It is what we have found on the web, in archives, and from memoirs. Memoirs are a great resource, it is not just for the powerful or rich and famous, but to share one’s story, their family history, so it is set down.
As we enter into 2019, I encourage everyone to take time to share about the life they have lived, how things were, how things are and the dreams for the future. For is that not the true gift of history and Our stories within history, the foundational building blocks for the next generation?
The Vee Bar Vee Ranch is part of the history we have discovered, maybe not formally associated with Countess, Alberta it is apart of the lost history of the prairies. I note lost history as when digging for more information things from a similarly named outfit in Arizona come up.
Anecdotally we have heard it was a large ranching outfit that stretched across Alberta and British Columbia. Also with searching, discovered a short note that when the North West Mounted Police first came west to eliminate the Whiskey Traders, the ranch was used as barracks.
Does anyone have any information available to share about this prairie ranch?
Apprenticeship is a brilliant design for most fields. It is the direct application of knowledge in real time. That is we learn, we serve. It is something that I have contemplated many times during my decades of service. There are some ministry or social work programs that build in practicum or service hours during each semester, which in my mind is brilliant. One can learn from a book and faculty sure, but there is something about seeing what works with the transfiguring or shadowed human before you. How do you facilitate the true self emerging? Other programs, wait until near the end to allow for practicum experience and I have found this can be a stumbling block for they are so filled with theory, and heady knowledge there is an unwillingness to learn from colleagues, elders in the field and those they serve for they are filled with knowledge and know it all best…but lack in the heart wisdom.
Most know of the apprentice models through the trades, which makes sense. How does one become a Master Tradesman in their field? Education and practice going hand in hand. Applied knowledge becoming wise. I write this reflecting on being the son of an Electrician. Trust me, I was part of the only SAIT class to need to write the tool exam, so I am not of the handy variety (at least my wife finds me cute, to invert Red Green wisdom). But in spite of my own inaccuracies there are some basics I learned along the way on job sites helping out, and doing paperwork. It aided in discerning where I was meant to be.
But what does this have to do with the Countess Country Museum or a Countess Bible School? It is amazing what happens when you peel an onion of lost prairie history. What we knew was that it was a CP Rail stop, a Hamlet built for that. What was discovered in its 104 year history was a story of discovery, migration, building, and connecting. Community across lines, where for a while, denominational distinctions did not matter. Where Buddhists and Mormons shared land, where Mennonites came and settled after French Settlers left (my hypothesis is the French farmer-ranchers left in the early 20th Century the Alberta area due to the Conscription Crisis that led to our first National Referendum in Canada).
The Mennonites settled the Royal Line, and from 1929-1940 met in Countess, AB out of Clemenceau (Francophone) School. In peeling the onion I discovered something intriguing about the land for 2019. It will be the 80th anniversary of the Countess Bible School (ran for 5 months in the winter of 1939-1940).
What is a Bible School?
T.D. Regehr in Mennonites in Canada 1939-1970: A People Transformed (1996) writes:
Bible schools typically offered a `Bible-centred, intensely practical, lay-oriented program of poste secondary theological training.’ (p.233).
There were 3 objectives:
Equip the laity with basic Biblical Knowledge and understanding.
Equip and train preachers, teachers, choir directors and other church workers.
Preserve a distinct Mennonite Identity
(Paraphrased from Regehr, p. 233).
Winter was obviously chosen, as on the Prairies it was the slow time, and also the darkest time. It supported not only learning but community for it connected neighbours. Truly it was the original Small Group in the modern world if you will. For the leaders learned and discovered their vocation while rooted in community practicing. It was spiritual apprenticeship, preparing those that served the intangibles of life and community. It was learning the knowledge during the Sabbath time of winter on the Prairies to apply in the new spring. Knowledge becomes wisdom when lived and applied. A life vocation is discovered through practice and community.
In 2019 we celebrate this scant 5 months of history on the prairies, as a place of discovery, learning, growth and wisdom. Much like what the Museum is, and will be for Alberta. Happy Anniversary Countess Bible School, 80 years on.
Reference:
Regehr, T.D.(1996) Mennonites in Canada 1939-1970 A People Transformed.
Thank you to Pastor Les, from Gem Mennonite Church for connecting us with Mary Berg who sent this excerpt in from a book of hers.
The following is information I, Mary Berg, Gem, AB, found int he Rosemary Mennonite Church History Book published in 1980. The information was written by Wilhelm (William, in English) Bueckert.
In the spring of 1929, the first Mennonite settlers came to the Countess, AB area. With the help of Mr. Jacob Gerbrandt, who was the Canadian Pacific Railway representative, they were able to purchase farms. Without exception, all these settlers had arrived from Russia during the years 1923 to 1924, and were searching for a place to settle. Since the C.P.R. had numerous farms and empty houses for sale in the Gem, Countess, Rosemary area, this was a good opportunity to purchase individual farms. These settlers, from various Mennonite backgrounds, also had the desire for spiritual fellowship and growth.
As means of transportation were working horses and boxwagons, or walking, long distances could not be travelled and gatherings were commenced in the Clemenceau School (SD No.63) on Sundays. This was a two-room school and provided the necessary space required. The school board consisted of Mennonite men. The teacher was also a Mennonite, Henry Paetkau, who taught here for fourteen years, moving to Ontario in 1943.
In the beginning, there were approximately six or seven families, later, as many as thirty-five. The majority of settlers were from the Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Brethren Churches, so turns were taken on chairing and leading worship services. Since there were no ministers living in the district until 1938, the ministers from Rosemary came to serve, as well as other visiting ministers from the Mennonite Brethren Church.
There were regular Sunday School classes and worship services as well as a choir organized by Henry Paetkau. In addition, there was a “Youth Club”, annual Bible Discussions, annual Thanksgiving services, Sunday School Conferences and “Songfests”. During the winger of 1939-40, a five-month Bible school was held in the home of the Peter Wiebes, one mile east of the school. The teachers were Leonard Adrian and Henry Neufeld.
There were also occasional visits from missionaries from both the Mennonite Conference Church and Mennonite Brethren Church.
The Mennonite Conference settlers became members of the “Westheimer Mennonite Church of Rosemary” which was organized on Feb. 6, 1930, and the Mennonite Brethren Church in Gem which had its beginning on June 2, 1929. Communion and Baptisms were held together with the Rosemary members of the Gem members.
In the 1940’s many settlers moved away and as transportation facilities improved, distance was no longer a problem. In 1946 the Mennonite Conference group decided to join the Rosemary Church for its fellowship and the Mennonite Brethren group decided to join the Gem MB Church. This then was the end of the Mennonite church services held in Countess.
We look forward to many more correspondents sharing the history of the area.
The Vee Bar Vee Ranch is part of the history we have discovered, maybe not formally associated with Countess, Alberta it is apart of the lost history of the prairies. I note lost history as when digging for more information things from a similarly named outfit in Arizona come up.
Countess Chronicle 