Home | Foreward
Foreward by Cathy Friesen BarkmanThis list is a reproduction of the names and ages of Mennonite passengers shown on the lists for passengers landing in Quebec during the years 1874 to 1880. Spellings have been reproduced as they appear in the original documents and every effort has been made to include all the Mennonites arriving in those years. The original Quebec passenger lists give the nationality of Mennonites variously as German, Russian, Dutch or Mennonite. These designations are not included in this list. In a few instances the original documents identify a family as Mennonite who does not appear in Mennonite church registers and whose name was not common to Mennonites in Russia; these have been omitted in this compilation. This list is a reproduction of the Quebec passenger lists, supplemented with data from the Hamburg passenger lists in square [ ] brackets where that differs from the Quebec lists. In a few cases information has been added in from the pioneer era church records and this is identified with { } brackets. Additional notes have been added under the heading "Comments:" to cross-reference families with church records, Profile of the Mennonite Kleine Gemeinde 1874, the East Reserve Seelenliste (1882 village census) and the 1880 West Reserve Settlement Register. The name of a village in the Comments may be one of several in which the family lived prior to 1900. Most, if not all, Mennonites coming to Canada in the 1870s travelled via Hamburg, Germany to Hull, England and then from Liverpool to Quebec. In Hamburg they were met by Jacob Klotz, a Mennonite from Ontario, who served as the Canadian Immigration Agent and helped Mennonites with money conversion and with their passage to England. The English speaking agents who entered the mostly German names of Mennonites on the Quebec lists appear to have sometimes had difficulty with the English spelling of names spoken in German. That makes some of the names on the Quebec lists difficult to decipher. On the other hand, the German speaking agents who wrote the Hamburg lists were familiar with most of the names of Mennonites and therefore were more likely to spell them correctly. Families were usually entered in the same sequence in the two lists. Both lists usually give the name and age of the head of household, the spouse, any children (giving the gender) and ages. This has made it possible to clear up some uncertainties on the Quebec lists. Sometimes the first name and even the surname of a family on the Quebec list is different from that of the corresponding family on the Hamburg List. In such cases the church or census records often confirm which is correct. On occasion there are inconsistencies between the various records. For example -the age given for a person on the ship list may not correspond with the birthdate in the church register or the Seelenliste or the Settlement Register. Dates in family diaries may be different again. Other difficulties arise when church records are not complete - where some dates or the names of some children are missing. In spite of these discrepancies it is possible in many instances to match families in these various documents. Families were sometimes entered in more than one church register. For example -1843 Bergthaler families may also be in Sommerfelder or Chortitzer records. We have tried to enter the reference number which has the most complete information. We have identified many families on the passenger lists with names in the village census. Occasionally the names of a person's wife or husband may not be the same in the two lists. This usually indicates that a spouse died and the surviving spouse remarried. Many families left Manitoba for western Canada or the United States. In such cases the Reinlaender Mennonite Church Register frequently has a note indicating where the family went, sometimes simply saying "Moved West" (Alberta, Saskatchewan or British Columbia) and at other times giving a specific destination (Swift Current, Herbert, Dakota, Oregon, etc.) The movement to Western Canada started in the early 1890's and became a major migration shortly after the turn of the century. Supplemental information has been shown in this format: B1843-A100 or R100-2 (church register and page number); Blumstein/WR (village census and East or West Reserve); moved west or Dakota. It is important to remember that some families who moved west later returned to Manitoba. Not all children who travelled by ship to Canada and whose names later appear in the church records are listed on the Quebec ship lists. On the other hand, some children whose names appear on the passenger lists are not recorded in the church or census records. These latter names may refer to step- or foster- children, young adults who have come along as maids or servants, or sometimes younger siblings of the husband or wife. There are also a few bachelors and spinister who died single and cannot easily be found in church or census records. In a few cases, members of the same family came on different ships, with father, mother and some children on one ship and older brothers or sisters following on another. A few passengers died enroute. A number of families who are on the ship lists can not be linked to church or census records. These may have moved to the United States soon after arrival in Canada. We ask the readers indulgence for typing and translating errors. Quebec passenger lists have survived only on microfilm, parts of which are almost illegible. After closer inspection, what appeared as a "J" may actually be an "S" making Jacob a Sarah. "Penner" may actually be "Reimer". A "7" may be a "9" or even a "4". Similar errors in the interpretation of text may also have happened in dates from church and census records. Families on the Quebec lists are not always numbered. When they are, those numbers are not always in sequence and sometimes numbers are missing. We have left these numbers out of sequence to remain true to the original. Where families are not numbered we have entered the page numbers in order to facilitate comparison with the original document. This publication is intended to provide easier access to this valuable information. We would encourage you to use it as a finding aid and to look at original copies of the Quebec passenger lists which are available on microfilm at the Public Archives of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Public Library and the Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives. The Hamburg lists are available on photocopies at the Hanover Steinbach Historical Society office in Steinbach and at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives in Winnipeg. We also encourage you to compare records of families appearing in this book with entries in the original church records and village data. Sometimes these sources may offer additional information about families. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved; posted here with permission
Return to:
|