The Story of Gerhard G. Baerg (1874 – 1963)
by Margaret Klassen-Neufeld

Grandfather Gerhard G. Baerg was the fourth generation by that name:

During the years between 1793 and 1800, after Catherine the Great of Russia had taken the large area of rich farming land north of the Black and Caspian seas away from the Turks, she called for settlers to farm the land. Among the many who responded were many colonies of Mennonites who had come to Prussia at the invitation of that government when they, the Mennonites, were persecuted in Holland. They were promised freedom of worship and also exemption from bearing arms since they were pacifists. They were now having trouble on both these counts and many of them came to Russia where they were given a hundred year contract that included exemption from bearing arms. In addition to this, Catherine also invited Mennonites from Holland to come to Russia and many did so. Among these was the first Gerhard Baerg that we know of.

0 — Gerhard Baerg (0) (about 1770-1840) born in Holland, migrated directly from there to Russia as a young man between 1793-1800. He married and apparently settled in the area southeast of Saratov on the lower Volga. The settlers in those days traveled by wagon train, taking their cattle, household goods, and farm implements with them. They camped beside the trail near streams, and slowly made their way over steppes, swamps, and hills until they reached their Promised Land.

I — Of the children of that generation we have record of only one, Gerhard (I) (Dec 21, 1793 - Aug 1, 1864), who lived in Mariental in the Molotchna settlement, likely the one by that name which is southeast of Saratov about 60 miles, near the town of Krasny Kut. Gerhard (I) married Anna Rogolskey who died at age 27 (possibly at childbirth as many women did), after three years of married life and left behind three children. There is no information about the second wife, who apparently died childless. Ten years after the first wife died Gerhard (I) was married to Agatha Walde in 1833. Gerhard was 40 and she was 21. They had ten children of which Gerhard Baerg (II) was the fourth. Gerhard Baerg (II) and his brother Jacob Baerg are the only known members of this family that immigrated to America.

II — Gerhard Baerg (II) (Feb 26, 1839 - Dec. 15, 1910) was born in Mariental, South Russia, and married Suzanna Wiens (1844 - Mar 5, 1941) on February 18, 1869. They had 10 children. The first three, Susanna (1871- 1958, who married Cornelius C. Wiens), Jacob G. (1872-1959, who married Anna G. Penner), and Gerhard G.(III) (1874- 1963), were born in Russia. On June 16, 1875, the family left for America and arrived at Mountain Lake, Minnesota, after 34 days at sea. The family settled on a homestead two miles northeast of Delft, Minnesota. They lived in a temporary home dug into the ground, where three more sons, Isaac, John G.(1877- 1956), and Henry G. (1879- 1951), were born. Later they built more permanent buildings, including a Dutch windmill for grinding grain. Another four children were born here: Anna (1882- 1964, who married John D. Goertzen), Marie (1884- ), Agatha (1885-1972, who married David H. Ewert), and Peter G. (1891- 1954, who married Anna Olfert).

Three sons, Gerhard G, (III), John G, and Henry G. moved to Saskatchewan in approximately 1903. John G. married Helena Nickel in 1904 and farmed in the Carman district north of Waldheim. He later moved to Penticton, BC. Henry G. married Barbara Janzen in 1908 and farmed near Hepburn. In 1915 he moved to Montana with his family.

NB: The above information is taken from a booklet entitled, “THE GERHARD BAERG FAMILY from the Village of Marienthal, South Russia to America 1793 - 1972,” with members of the Baerg family named as Committees members planning a Baerg reunion. Since this booklet appears to have been compiled for that occasion, it is assumed that the reunion took place in 1972.

III — Gerhard G. Baerg (III) (Jan 18, 1874 - Aug 8, 1963), the third child of Gerhard Baerg (II) and Suzanna Wiens, was born in Russia and came to Minnesota, USA, with his family when he was 1 ½ years old. Although he grew up on a farm and most of his family took up farming, Gerhard pursued an educational career, attending Normal School, to become a teacher. A Normal School yearbook with his picture had the caption, “You can’t get a good man down.”

After teaching in Minnesota for a number of years Gerhard G. Baerg III moved to Canada (approximately 1903) and taught at the Carmen School, near Waldheim, SK. Since this one-room school was located across the road from Grandfather Peter & Grandmother Aganetha Bergen’s farm yard, the teachers of the Carman School boarded with the Bergens. So Gerhard G. Baerg III also became one of the teachers to board there. According to Helena (Bergen) Klassen, there was a large turn-over of teachers in those days — sometimes up to three in one year, and children did not make much progress in learning. But when Gerhard G. Baerg III came to teach, it was different.

Grandfather Peter Bergen died suddenly of a heart attack two weeks prior to their 25th Wedding Anniversary in 1905. In 1909, Gerhard G. Baerg III married his widow, Grandmother Aganetha Bergen, and became our Grandfather Baerg. He left the teaching profession and went into full-time farming. Although Grandfather Baerg was 15 years younger than Grandmother Aganetha, there was obviously a genuine commitment and respect between them.

N.B. Following is a quotation from a letter by Harry Baerg (nephew to Gerhard G. Baerg and son of John G. Baerg who farmed near Grandfather Peter Bergen’s place) dated Feb. 17, 1974 and addressed to Helen Klassen:

“I have spent some time writing about the experiences of my childhood for our children...... Uncle George (Gerhard G. Baerg) was always kind and patient and I have very fond memories of him...... About two miles north of our farm was the home of Uncle George, father’s older brother. He was a kindly old man. (He was not really so old, but seemed that way to us because he wore a full beard.) This brown beard of his curved neatly around his face as if it belonged there. Though he had no children of his own he was grandpa to a host of them. He had married an Agnatha Dyck, who, by a previous marriage to Peter Bergen, had one son and four daughters who had lived to maturity. These children were all married and it was to their children that Uncle George was grandpa.

“We loved to visit at Uncle George’s place, he had such an interesting farm and home. To give a picture of it I will try to describe a typical visit on a Sunday afternoon in spring...... We stop our buggy at the gate, and the old collie dog barks a welcome. Uncle George and Aunt Nettie, as we usually called her, hear the dog and come out to greet us. Mother and the girls get out and go into the house with Aunt Nettie, but the rest of us go on to the barn, unhitch the team and follow father and Uncle George and the horses to the stable...... We water the horses at the well before taking them into the barn.... Farmers are always interested in each other’s crops, so we stroll through a bit of pasture to look at a field of wheat which is beginning to head out and looks good and clean on a piece of new breaking...... Our next stop is the garden. This is the pride and joy of the old couple, for they spend much of their time there. We see a wild pin cherry that has been transplanted to good soil, and pruned. It grows fruit now that is twice the size of the wild fruit, Uncle tells us. He also has a domestic cherry tree, the only pampered specimen in the whole countryside, that occasionally bears a few cherries. Uncle George also has a small plum orchard nestled against tall poplars at the back of the garden.... Watermelons and canteloupes do not ordinarily mature in central Saskatchewan because of the short growing season, but Uncle George grows them every year and nearly always has ripe fruit before the frosts come. The melons are small, but they are sweet... Around the house and garden are shade trees that have been planted for a windbreak; cottonwoods, spruce, tamaracs, and ash. They grow taller than the aspens along the driveway and roadside. Around the house are the flower beds. Aunt Nettie is a real flower lover and has beds of tiger lilies, iris, sweet williams, pansies, forget-me-nots, asters, mingonets, and many others....The house is an old two story building put together on no architect’s plan but with afterthoughts added as needed......Uncle George and Aunt Nettie were not rich. They had only one quarter of land, and lived a partly retired life on it, so it seemed. They never appeared to exert themselves unduly, but they did manage to make ends meet and they had a lot of friends in the community...... Theirs was also a clearing house for news of interest to the neighborhood, specifically to the circle of relatives and friends who made it their rendezvoux. When someone had made a trip to Rosthern, or Hague, or far away Minnesota they came to tell their story to the folks gathered at Uncle’s place, and to give the news of the relatives...... The grand children made their periodic trips to their grandparents and occasionally made it their home for a while. Their number was large and we could never be sure just how many there were at a given time. We were invited with them at Christmas time, but we always felt a bit as though we did not belong since we were not grandchildren. We were just nephews and nieces, but we were blood relatives to Uncle George and they were not, though I am sure that never made the slightest bit of difference to anyone...... we enjoyed their company and got to know some of them very well.”

When Grandfather Bergen died in 1905, his son Isaac was 23 years old, and his daughters were: Aganetha 16, Magaretha 14, Katharina 11, and the twins, Maria and Helena (my mother) 7. Isaac got married one year later and Aganetha married 3 years later. So when Grandpa Baerg married Grandmother Bergen 4 years later in 1909, the only children at home were: Magaretha 18, Katharina 15, and the twins Maria & Helena 11. Magaretha got married in 1913, Katharina died in 1918 at age 24. That left the twins, Maria & Helena who were married in 1921, and1919 respectively.

Memories of Margaret (Klassen) Neufeld:

Grandpa Baerg married Grandma Bergen 26 years before I was born, therefore he was the only Grandpa that I ever knew. He was kind, friendly, encouraging, but in those days grandparents and grandchildren did not do a lot of things together as they do today, so my relationship to him was not close. I respected him as my grandfather and noticed that he looked after my grandmother, since I knew her only as a sickly, old grandma. She died when I was 7 years old. In the latter years of her life, Grandpa Baerg spent many hours sitting by her chair or her bed, simply being with her while her health deteriorated and she became more and more dependent. He would lead her to the table for a meal, and bring her back to her rocker. One day I asked if I could help lead Grandma to the table, and was granted my wish. So I took the other arm and walked alongside her. Most likely I didn’t help too much, if at all, but I felt I was able to do a very important job. Grandmother Bergen Baerg died on December 29, 1942, and was buried at the Waldheim cemetery. (Grandfather Bergen was buried at the Eigenheim cemetery before the Waldheim cemetery existed. When Grandmother died, it was decided that taking the body to Eigenheim with a horse-drawn sleigh for a burial when the December temperatures were very cold just did not make sense, so for this reason she was buried at Waldheim.---- this information came from my mother, Helena Bergen Klassen)

Individual grandchildren were in their home for periods of time over the years, helping with the housework and farm work. Of these, I remember only my cousin Dave Bergen and, when he married and moved away, my brother Jake, being there to do the farm work. And my oldest sister Helen took care of the household for a number of years.

Grandpa Baerg took a keen interest in organizations such as one which provided fire insurance (in those days there were house fires that were started when lightning struck them in a thunderstorm) and Mennonite Trust, modeled after the “Waisenampt,” a Mennonite organization in Russia which was organized for the purpose of giving financial counsel & support to widows and orphans. Grandpa Baerg was first of all an educator with a keen mind, insights into the needs of people, and willing to help where he could. The need for assistance became apparent even in the immediate family when Magaretha (Bergen) Friesen’s husband died in 1935, and Maria (Bergen) Voniessen’s husband died in 1941. Secondly, he became a farmer out of necessity, when he married my Grandmother Bergen.

I remember Grandpa Baerg taking an interest in us grandchildren, and our various activities. At one time I spent a short while at Grandma & Grandpa’s place for holidays when my sister Helen was there to help with the housework. Grandmother gave me a copper fork which she had brought from Russia (and which is still in my possession) and an empty tomato tin can, which I used to play with in the dirt. Grandpa Baerg observed me and with a smile said in Low German, “Du best ein Sonnenschien.” (You are a bit of sunshine.) I had a feeling that he was happy to have me there. Sometimes I was asked by friends, “Why does your Grandpa wear a beard?” When I asked my mother, Helena (Bergen) Klassen, she said that she would ask him. His answer was simply, “Because it grew there.” This told me two things: firstly, there was a comfortable, trusting relationship between Grandpa Baerg and his step-children, and secondly, Grandpa Baerg had long ago sorted out what was important in his life and what came secondary.

When my brother Jake got married and took over our Grandparents’ farm, Helen moved back to our parents home on the farm north of Laird. Grandpa Baerg moved to the home of his step-daughter, Magaretha (Bergen) Friesen, who had purchased a small house in Laird. During this time he was occupied with reading, and keeping up with the changing times. He was eager to learn about new discoveries which generated new words and wrote them down with definitions so he would understand the changing world around him; e.g. there was usually a hotel in every town, and when motels first were built he pronounced it with the accent on the “o”. I remember telling him it was pronounced like “hotel” with the accent on the “e”, which he accepted very graciously.

When Grandpa Baerg became seriously ill, he was taken to the Rosthern Hospital where he died on August 8, 1963. The only grandfather I had ever known was now laid to rest. He was buried beside Grandmother Bergen Baerg at the Waldheim Cemetery.