THE KEEPERS OF THE PAST

Voices of our ancestors reach out to us through the memories of our parents and grandparents, and through their recollections of the stories told to them by their parents and grandparents. Other voices reach us through old letters and found diaries, old photographs, maps, newspaper clippings, diagrams and even gravestone markings. We couple these voices with the historical facts we learned in school. We weave these voices together in our imagination to create our own personal version of history. We combine fact with narrative memory and imagination with collective memory — and through this process, a story is born.

The following are stories that have been given to, or remembered by, some of the descendents of the Bergen-Klassen Family.

But who are you? Who is your spouse? What are your passions; what's important to you? What are your hobbies and what do you do for a living? Send us your own information so we can include that too! Let's get to know each other a little!

IN ORDER OF BIRTH DATE

A tribute to Magaretha Bergen, 1831 – 1913
The Timeline of a Remarkable Woman — can you imagine what her life was like? Did she ever think that she needed time for herself, or was endless work and babies just an accepted way of life. Did she ever grieve for her babies and her husbands, or was death accepted as "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away"? She must have been an incredibly strong woman! When you are looking at this timeline, don't forget to move your cursor over the circles. They indicate the happenings in the rest of Canada, and throughout the world in those time periods. (NOTE: If the text on Magareth Bergen's Timeline is too small to read, you can 'right-click' to 'zoom-in' or 'zoom-out'. If you're driving a Mac, use 'ctrl-click'.)

A tribute to Anganetha Dyck-Bergen-Baerg, 1859 – 1942
My Grandmother was an Undertaker by Margaret Klassen Neufeld
For a considerable length of time before her death, grandmother was a semi-invalid. I remember as a little girl asking to be allowed to assist grandmother to walk to the table for a meal, and being granted this privilege...

A tribute to Gerhard G. Baerg, 1874 – 1963
The Undertaker's Second Husband by the family
He didn't father any children but he influenced many, in part because he was a teacher, but more importantly because he married a widow with half a dozen children and raised them as his own. This is how the family remembers him.

Abraham Klassen, Dec 15, 1883 – Dec 30, 1973

The Story of Abraham Klassen, 1883–1973, by several of his children
When stories of our ancestors are told by more than one voice, more than one perspective, it adds richness to the listening. Here we have the opportunity to read the story of Abraham Klassen as told by his eldest daughter, and by his youngest daughter who is also a researcher-turned-geneology historian. Both of these sisters rely on facts, memory and oral history. What's intriguing — and this is proof that siblings can, and do, hear the same thing in different ways — is that there is more than one version of a particular favourite family story about Anganetha falling into the water when the Ox wanted a drink. :-)
— by Helena Klassen, 1909 – 1985,
— by Margaret (Klassen) Neufeld, 1935 – , and
— by Ike Klassen, 1926 – who tells yet another version of the same story. This is his version.

Helena Bergen, Oct 2, 1898 – Jan 15, 1997
Memories of Grandma — a delightful email conversation between some of the cousins.

Maria Klassen, May 23, 1915 – Feb 10, 1998 and
Gerhard (George) H. Adrian, Feb 23, 1916 – Mar 12, 1989

Jacob Klassen, Nov 14, 1918 – Jul 4, 2008

Nick Themelis, born Apr 10, 1945

Benno Klassen, October 9, 1931 — April 14, 2020
A Facebook posting on the day he passed away by daughter Debbie Scroggs