©Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Last updated April 4, 2003)
Jacob Johann Goossen (1858-1920) was the owner of the large and prosperous Wintergruen estate 30 verst (about 20 miles) from the village of Schoensee, Molotschna Colony. He married Aganetha Kaethler (1861-1946) in 1884. She was the daughter of Johann Kaethler (1830-1889) from the village of Grossweide, Molotschna. Jacob and Aganetha had thirteen children, seven of which survived early childhood. In 1906 the family took a first class holiday to Europe and the USA to avoid difficulties in Russia immediately after the Russo-Japanese War. They visited family and friends in North America and returned to Wintergruen in June 1907. The family continued to live at the estate until October 1918 when they left for their own safety. On December 10, 1918 the estate was pillaged by Machno bandits. 1922 daughter Maria Goossen left Russia to join her fiancé A.A. Friesen (Abraham A. Friesen) (1885-1948) in Canada who was a prominent member on the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization. This board was responsible for helping over 20,000 Mennonites emigrate from Russia to Canada in the 1920s. On June 21, 1924 Aganetha and her remaining children in Russia (with the exception of the oldest daughter Aganetha (Friesen) Willms who was exiled to Siberia) sold their last cow, the little furniture they had, and boarded a train in Lichtenau, Molotschna immigrating to Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan. After Maria (Goossen) Friesen died in 1934 A.A. Friesen married Maria's sister Helena in 1935. Friesen resigned from the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization in 1926. In 1927 he began as the business manager for the Meilicke Lumber Company. He died in 1948 in Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan and his second wife Helena (Goossen) died in 1985. For more information on the Goossen family see Daydreams & Nightmares; Life on the Wintergruen Estate, by Helena Goossen Friesen.
This fonds consists of 35 photographs, mostly taken in Russia, of the Goossen family, extended family, and of the Wintergruen estate. The photos are of high quality and show a wealthy Mennonite family in Russia. Included is a rare photograph of the interior of the Schoensee Mennonite Church.
Finding aid consists of a file list
Abraham A. Friesen fonds (A.A. Friesen).
These photos were owned by Maria Goossen and Helena Goossen. After Helena's death in 1985 they became the property of Maria's oldest daughter Aganetha (Friesen) Enns (1923-1989). After her death Aganetha's husband, John Enns of Lowe Farm, Manitoba donated them to the archives in November 2002.
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Accession numbers: 2002-155