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

e hindrances which will prevent said families from leaving their assembly? c) to permit them to elect representatives from their midst to inspect the land granted for their resettlement to the Kuban, and to fulfill the preparatory work for resettlement, and supply them with visas for the trip there. After the accomplished agreement of the settlers with the Caucasus board, the arrangements for the actual resettlement will be left to their judgment, while the Supervisory Commission will correspond with the Caucasus province about the final count of the Mennonites from the Taurida and Ekaterinoslav states who actually resettled there. In addition to the above, the first department states that the determination of the rights which the resettlers are to enjoy at their new place of residence, will be dependent on the Caucasus board in whose administrative area they settle. For the director, N.N. [illegible]. Division Chairman, Heinrichsson.” c) The actual dismissal from the colonial association of villages seems to have been accomplished without difficulty. Copies of statements by the villages dismissing the members are extant, as for example from the village of Sparrau, in whose “revised list” [“Dessiataia Revisia”] the Claassen family appears. d) Finally the authority to move! a) The letter of Johann Claasen, April 19, 1866: "... On Saturday May 9, 1864, the brethren were assembled together in Halbstadt in order to confer the authority upon me and choose a man to care for orphans [in accordance with Mennonite custom to defend the interests of widows and orphans and be in charge of guardianships and inheritances]. Br. Peters [Abraham Peters of Ladekopp] and I were elected deputies, if I had anything to write from Tiflis. ... On May 14 I was in court in Berdiansk with a few of the brethren, in order to have my authority confirmed. The court demanded that those persons be present who had signed my authority in Halbstadt . . . . The brethren came and my authority was confirmed . . . .” b) The Molotschna document of authorization is not in our possession, but we do possess one identical to the original of the brethren from the Chortitza District, in Russian and German, on a stamped sheet of paper. The German reads: “The honorable Johann Claassen. After the Ministry 412 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §177 of Crown Lands had, as a consequence of your mediation, 189 ordered that we, together with our colleagues and up to 100 families, be allowed to resettle in the Kuban, it informed the Mennonite Heinrich Huebert that the determination of the rights we were to enjoy in the new settlement, were dependent upon the Caucasus authorities. Since we wish to enjoy the same rights which all Mennonites possess in Southern Russia, we beg you to travel to the Kuban region, there to persuade the local authorities to grant us the above-mentioned privileges in the new settlement in that region, and to acquire from them