Part 1: Documents Related to Georg von Trappe
Part 2: Material Related to the Deputies Bartsch and Hoeppner -1786-88
Part 3: Material Related to the Immigration to Russia – 1788-95
For information on this project, contact Glenn Penner at gpenner@uoguelph.ca .
The purpose of this web page is to make available translations of the original documents related to the establishment and early history of the Chortitza Mennonite settlement. These translations have been done by Edwin Hoeppner and several volunteers at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (formerly the Mennonite Heritage Centre or MHC) in Winnipeg, Manitoba over the past 20 years.
A project to gather and translate early Chortitza documents was started about 20 years ago by Edwin Hoeppner of Winnipeg. When Ed’s health began to fail about 10 years ago, the project was taken over by Lawrence Klippenstein, who was the retired director/archivist at the MHC. In 2018, Lawrence passed this project on to me, Glenn Penner.
Part 1: Documents Related to Georg von Trappe
Georg von Trappe’s invitation to the Mennonites of the Danzig area (1786)
For a copy of the original see the Mennonite Library and Archives website here: sa_2_55 (bethelks.edu)
22 Sept. 1786 Letter from Trappe authorizing funds for the Deputies Hoeppner and Bartsch
Second Letter (Missive) from the Dutch Mennonites to the emigrating Prussian Mennonites, at the instigation of Georg von Trappe. Dated 31 Jul 1788. Translation in Journal of Mennonite Studies
Georg von Trappe’s Letter to Johann Bartsch. Dated Spring 1788.
Georg von Trappe’s letter to Johann Bartsch. Dated 8 Aug 1788.
Georg von Trappe’s letter to Johann Bartsch. Dated 30 Sep. 1788.
Death Record for Georg von Trappe. Dated 21 Nov. 1806.
Part 2: Material Related to the Deputies Bartsch and Hoeppner -1786-88
Four Letters to Susanna from Johann Bartsch, A Danzig Mennonite Land Scout, 1786-87 By Lawrence Klippenstein for The Polish Review, Vol. LIV, No. 1, 2009:591-620.
The Deputies are presented to the Empress of Russia on 2 May, 1787
Passage discovered by Viktor Petkau. Translation from German by Glenn Penner.
A Letter From Hoeppner And Bartsch To Potemkin, 12 December, 1786
Translated by Edwin Hoeppner. Printed in the Mennonite Historian Dec. 1988, page 4.
A Reply to the Requests of the Mennonite Delegates, 12 August, 1787
Translated from Russian (by Glenn Penner with Microsoft Word translator) from the Mennonitische Geschichte und Ahnenforschung website, which does not provide information on the original document.
Hoeppner Privilegium , 19 January. 1788 St Petersburg Fond 283 Opis 29 Delo 161. Translated by Helen Ens (2019) and edited by Glenn Penner (2020,2023).
Part 3: Material Related to the Immigration to Russia – 1788-95
Bartsch to David Epp 12 December, 1788
Bartsch to David Epp 28 December, 1788
On Sending Danzig Peter Epp to Russia May, 1789
On Sending Danzig Peter Epp to Russia 16 July, 1789
Peter Epp Farewell Sermon 1789
Russian Mennonites to Prussians 18 December, 1789
Vollmacht to Russia 18 March, 1790
1791 Provisions for Chortitza. DADO Fond 134 Opis 1 Delo 14 English
Miscellaneous Information
Translation of David Epp’s Die Chortitzer Mennoniten by Hermann Rempel
Retyped from a dot-matrix printout by Carole Grier. Edited by Glenn Penner.
Jakob Hoeppner, Johann Bartsch and an Honourable Ministerial Council by Edwin Hoeppner
Rescanned and edited by Glenn Penner.
This unpublished article was written by Ed Hoeppner around 2000. It was scanned, OCRed and reformatted by Glenn Penner in 2020.
Note that the original, quoted, articles were written in 1888/1889 and Ed’s research was done during the 1980s and 1990s. Ed’s original manuscript is found in the Mennonite Heritage Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba.