THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

out his salvation, should stay.’ ” B. Documents Pertaining Mainly to the Kuban Settlement (Supplement to #109) 1. First Journey to the Kuban. a) Johann Claassen, in a letter from Tiflis, on April 19, 1866, writes to the Kuban M.B. Church: . . In August of 1862 six of us brethren journeyed to Stavropol and inspected the landed properties on the Kuban River where we now live b) Jakob Reimer, Gnadenfeld-Wiesenfeld, “Reports” 180 1864: . . But in the hope that the Lord would be with us, we started on our journey on August 15, 1862, in two wagons: from the Old Colony Br. Johann Isaak and Gerhard Wieler; from here, Claassen, C. Reimer, and the writer hereof; we had Johann Strauss as our driver, three horses were hitched to each wagon, and all of us were happy and healthy. After eleven days, on Monday, August 26, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon we arrived in Stavropol in good health and spirits, and took lodging in an inn. We thanked the Lord for graciously accompanying us. Now we looked up the gentlemen to whom Br. Claassen had been directed from St. Petersburg with letters of recommendation. On Monday, Sept. 2, we journeyed out to inspect the two parcels of land from which we were to choose; for the trip two Cossacks from Otradnaia were assigned to accompany us as guards; we had to ride through the Urup, a rushing river where the water went over the horses’ backs. We also met some Catholics [German colonists] who were living in huts abandoned by the Nogai; they told us that a year and two months earlier a boy of theirs had been kidnapped by Tscherkessians.” c) "Certificate [translated from the Russian], This is given to Claassen and Wieler, the agents of 150 families of Mennonites of Ekaterinoslav and Molotschna, concerning the parcel of land on the left bank of the Kuban, extending from the mouth of the Great Selentschuk along the Kuban up to the Staniza Nikolaievskaia, which they have inspected and found suitable for settlement by the said families; thereupon, if it proves to be possible, presentation shall be made in May, 1863, to allot, on the said piece of land, sixty-five dessiatines of land per family of emigrating colonists, ten thousand dessiatines in total, for their §173 402 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §174 full possession. This I certify with my signature and the impression of the Royal Seal. No. 2310. Stavropol, September 15, 1862. Chief-of-Staff of the Army in the Kuban Region: Major-General Sabuzky.” (Seal.) d) Johann Claassen, April 19, 1866: "... On September 15 we received a certificate from the Stavropol Authority.” Jakob Reimer, . . On September 15, at two in the afternoon, we left Stavropol for home, pleased and in good health; on Sept. 24 we arrived in Gnadenfeld . . . where together we thanked God at my house. . . 2. Obstacles Placed in the Way of the M.B. Church by the Molotschna Area Administrative Office. a) “To the most honorable Supervisory Commission