Johann Warkentin 1760

Warkentin and Draper Family History

Johann WARKENTIN was born on May 15 1760. He died in 1825. Johann and his wife, Margaretha emigrated to Russia from Elbing, Prussia in 1804. He was born in Blumenort Prussia.

Margaretha THIESSEN was born on May 10 1767.

Johann, his wife, and their children along with other friends and relatives were all in one emigration train. Most transportation was by two-wheeled cart with a horse hitched to it. Most necessary belongings were loaded on the cart, and whoever was able to do so had to walk. Many of the poorer people did not have a horse, thus had to pull the carts themselves.

Johann Warkentin had been married once before he married Margaretha Thiessen. There is no record of his first wife's name, her date of birth, nor the date of her death. He had only one child, a daughter from his first marriage.

In their early years of married life, they lived in Kleinmansdorf, Prussia. Later, they lived in the town of Elbing. From there they emigrated to Russia in the year 1804.

He founded the villages of Blumenort and Rosenort in Molotschna colony in Russia. He named them in honour of his birthplace in Prussia (Blumenort) and the nearby Prussian town (Rosenort) where their Mennonite congregation was located.

Since they were well-to-do, they bought two lots in the village of Blumenort, Russia (Molotschna Mennonite Colony) in the year 1805. We would call it a double farm in America. Eventually Johann gave up farming operations and devoted his time to teaching school in the village of Ladekopp, Russia. He died there of smallpox in the year l825. He wrote a poem, which he composed during the last years of his life, as a remembrance.

In 1875 his great grandson Jacob Warkentin emigrated to Canada.

The Traveller

There wandered a traveler, weary and old,
On a mountain rugged and gray,
Where never a rose, not one flower bloomed,
Mid the rocks on the narrow way,
Before him the spires of granite soared.
Long miles he still had to accost;
Through roaring tempests, through glaring sun,
O'er frightening fissures he'd crossed,
Weary and spent, he sat down in the dusk
and addressed the evening star,
"Ah, little star, keep sparkling on,
For I still must travel afar.
Few were my joys, the road bitterly hard,
The sun blazing hotly, the thunder severe,
And little of rest I have known on the way
While struggling to climb up to here."
Then in the dusk by the light of the stars
A youth came to stand by the traveller. "Friend,
I have come to crown you with branches of palms.
Don't lose your courage so near to the end,"
Then the youth led him in to the emerald valley
Out of the darkness the trav'ler he drew,
Glorious springs and jubilant fields
Were nothing compared to this beautiful view!
Ten cities of grandeur lay round the wide plains
In flowery fields fed by fresh sparkling streams.
"This," said the youth, "is what you will be given
At your journey's end, far exceeding your dreams.
You've been faithful and true to your pathway of sorrows;
They were only birthpangs to heavenly bliss.
Enter in to a life of unspeakable joy.
Leave your garments of hardships and trade them forthis."

Johann and Margaretha's children were:

i. Helena WARKENTIN was born in 1784 in Kleinmansdorf Prussia. Died young of TB. Probably before the birth of another Helena from her father Johann's 3rd marriage to a women named Heude.

ii. Johann WARKENTIN was born in 1786 in Kleinmansdorf Prussia. He died in 1839 in Orloff Russia. Lived in Tiege or Orloff Russia.

iii. Margaretha WARKENTIN was born on Mar 12 1788 in Kleinmansdorf, Prussia.

iv. Justina WARKENTIN was born in 1789 in Prussia.

v. Abraham WARKENTIN - he was Jacob Warkentin's (born: 1857) grandfather

vi. Agatha WARKENTIN was born in 1796 in Prussia.

vii. Anna WARKENTIN was born in 1799 in Prussia. She was living 1815 ? in Lichtenau, Russia. She was living 1855 ? in Altonau, Russia.

viii. Aganetha WARKENTIN was born in 1801 in Prussia. She was living in Old Colony, Russia.

ix. Elisabeth WARKENTIN was born in 1803 in Russia. She died in 1850. She was living in Tiege, Russia. Believed to be first child of this family born in Russia.

x. Heinrich WARKENTIN was born in 1805 in Russia. He died in Daughter's home, Sagradovfka, Russia. Lived in Tiegenhagen, Russia.

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