Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization Records

Have you wondered whether it's worth pursuing CMBoC records for your family research?  Well, here's an opportunity to take a close look at a front/back that's particularly rich.

It shows Kornelius Peter Rempel (b 20 Jan 1864 in Rosenthal), Katharaina Jacob (b 21 Aug 1864 in Gruenfeld), Jacob Rempel (b 7 Feb 1902 in Gruenfled), Katharina Rempel (b 12 Jan 1904 in Gruenfeld, Maria Rempel (b 15 May 1906),  Helena Rempel (b 24 Feb 1840 in Kronsweide).  All these villages are located in the Chortita settlement in what is Ukraine today - just west of Zaporozhye.

Based on patterns observed from a LOT of these records, it's clear to us that Kornelius and Katharina  are husband and wife; Jacob, Katharina, and Maria are their children.  Helena is likely the mother to Kornelius - based on her age and surname.   The marginal annotations show the names of spouses to Jacob (Helena Plett) and Maria (Joh. H. Thiessen) and cross-reference codes that lead us to the records for their spouse's CMBoC records.

The family last lived in Gruenfeld, but departed from Chortitza (the village) on 13 Jul 1923, arriving in Latvia on 234 Jul, departing from Latvia on 27 Jul, arriving in Libau on 28 Jul 1923 and departing from Libau on 28 Jul.  Their journey to Southampton, England on the SS Bruton began on 2 Aug and they left on 4 Aug (again on the SS Bruton).  They arrived in Quebec City, Canada on 17 Aug, intending to settle in Herbert, Saskatchewan.

The bottom area of the record is not completed because no family members were detained in England for any reason.

Pretty useful, yes?  So - look over your files and see if one of these records might shed new or confirming light on information in them. An index to household heads can be found online.  If you can't determine which is the correct household for the family you're pursuing, let us know and we can do some additional checking for you.

In kinship,
Judii for Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta