GAMEO

Whether you are new to doing reading Mennonite history or have been interested for a long time, GAMEO has a lot to offer to you.

GAMEO stands for the Global Anabaptist-Mennonite Encyclopaedia Online and is the substantial project initiated by the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada (an umbrella body of Mennonite history organizations in Canada), now with two additional partners:  Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee, and Mennonite Brethren Historial Commission. 

This week I found myself blank about detailed knowledge of land ownership practices among Mennonites in South Russia. GAMEO is where I turned and found an entry written by James Urry (Search:  Land Distribution).

It's where you might go to learn which Mennonite leaders share your surname or may otherwise be among your direct line ancestors.  Here's the beginning of the entry for Rempel, "A widely ramified family name among the Mennonites in. West Prussia. and America, Rempel is derived from Raganbald or Raganbold, which means "a brave council. It is thought that this family name is not of Dutch origin...".  That's followed by eight biographical entries for individual Rempels written by Alexander Rempel (Search:  Rempel).

This is where you can learn more about the work of the CPR with the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization to settle Mennonites in western Canada written by Jacob Gerbrand (search: Board of Colonization).

This is the eventual location of the five volume Mennonite Encyclopaedia that was begun in the 1950s in Kansas (and which replaced the even earlier, German-language Mennonitische Lexicon).

Why not visit GAMEO, do a few intuitive searches and learn something about the context of your genealogical work.  There is a What's New page so you can dive in weekly and develop your acquaintaince with this formal authority on Mennonite history.

And, if you know of a Mennonite person, organization, congregation or other entity that isn't portrayed in GAMEO, make a comment.  We'll make sure that the Alberta representative for new entries, retired Professor of History Peter Penner, gets your suggestion.

In kinship,
Judii