The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

eral officials were at least aware of the plight of the Men- nonites in Orenburg.”® Awaiting passports, the Orenburg refugees were not idle. Some went to visit relatives at Saratov; others went all the way to Molotsch- na and Kuban to see if their passport problems could be resolved by the authorities there. Still others received guests at their riverbank campground. The Klaassens and Penners were lucky enough to rent an apartment in the city where they could look for interim work. Some of the young men found work loading and unloading freight at the railroad station. The leaders disposed of their wagons and faithful horses by selling most of them to Kirghiz natives; Frederick Dirks and some friends, impatient with merely waiting in Orenburg, drove to Samara to sell their horses for a higher price.” These men were still absent on August 10, when a number of the requested passports at last arrived at Orenburg. It was therefore decid- ed that the group be divided into two parties, the first departing immediately while the remainder awaited additional passports and the return of the Dirks contingent from Samara. The first party boarded the train forthwith and set out on their long journey to Germany and then to America. Arriving in Bremen on September 1, 1884, the emigrants were issued identification cards and directed aboard the Ems, the second largest passenger ship of the North German Lloyd Line. Of its more than 1000 passengers, the Mennonites comprised the not inconsider- able minority of 78, including 15 families under 11 different names.” They were of course dazzled by the immensity of the vessel and fas- cinated by the sight of the sea. They delighted in the simultaneous views of the French and English coasts as they passed through the Channel toward the open Atlantic. But though they made good speed, the voyage was a stormy one, and seasickness plagued the passengers considerably. The Mennonites prayed for solid ground to walk on, and they were quite ready to disembark when the Ems docked at New York on September 9.”° Heinrich Zimmerman and Gerhard Wiebe of Nebraska and David Goerz of Kansas were there to meet them. The greetings were warm and joyous. In fact, Johann Jantzen and Zimmerman had been Migration to America Heinrich and Anna Toews in later life in Idaho. 186 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites fellow ministers in Germany years earlier; after a heart-to-heart talk with his old friend, Jantzen decided to switch his train ticket from Hal- stead, Kansas, to Beatrice, Nebraska. In all, nine families decided to go to Nebraska while six elected to stake their future on Kansas. Those besides Jantzen who took their families to Nebraska were Heinrich Jantzen, J. K. Penner, Cornelius Unruh, widow Marie Klaassen, Ger- hard Fast, Heinrich Albrecht, Johann Martens, Heinrich Wegeli, and the spinster, Anna Penner. Those who chose Kansas, 30 people in all, were Peter Unruh, Tobias