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

te in his diary: “. . . on September 16 we already left the Kuban and began our trip home .... I did not get along too well with Claassen, for he was too domineering .... On October 7 we arrived back home . . . .” Reimer, in a letter to Cornelius Reimer: “Gnadenfeld, November 20, 1864 .... If I had not said ‘A’ I would not say ‘B’ t for some of God’s children are still here and others will continue to come . . . .” He never returned to the Kuban: instead, together with some Old Colony brethren, he first rented, then bought, land in the Ekaterinoslav region. He founded Blumenau in the Alexandrov area, then, with his sons and other brethren, Wiesenfeld in the Pavlograd area of the Ekaterinoslav administrative region. He remained here until his death (1891) and served as leader among the local Mennonite Brethren, but he travelled little. c) Difficult times in the settlement. Many of the other registered settlers, especially from the Old Colony, followed Reimer’s example and also returned. This gave rise to a great deal of irritation and painful unpleasantness with the Caucasus officials who were annoyed by these events, and would not admit any new settlers beyond the 100 originally listed. Thus the settlement did not comprise 100 but only 67 full farms, as well as a number of small farms of ten dessiatines. The settlement consisted of the villages of Wohldemfuerst and Alexanderfeld, which in the 1890s were renamed Velikokniashesk and Alexandrodar. Together they constituted the Volost Velikokniashesk. d) Amid all these awkward situations, vexations, and hardships, Claassen would not be deterred. “There are new trials,” he wrote to his wife in Liebenau on July 16, 1864, “which we must endure here. The excessive amount of work required, and the scarcity on all sides make it necessary for one to be careful that he does not become unloving or concerned only about himself .... The Word of God says those who want to become rich fall into temptation and traps, etc. ... I am not surprised that things are going as they are . . . things will get even worse, but then they will improve. The golden mountains must first turn to copper, and one must leam to be content with that, and then better 414 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH times will come . On August 16: “. . . It seems to me that the [spiritual] life is on a higher level in the Molotschna than here at the Kuban, for here everyone is in need, and thus stinginess is really put to the test. . . . The rest for the saints— God be thanked a thousand times!— is not here on the Kuban [as many had often hoped, but not Claassen], but in the city with golden streets .... Here on the Kuban I have experienced only little joy. ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us . . .’ ’’ (Hebrews 12). On December 16: “. . . I and Jakob have been rather ragged throughout the summer; we really very much need to have ‘mother’ with us again. Well, t