©Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Last updated January 31, 2003)

Helene Tiessen fonds. -- 1926-1980. -- 4 cm of textual records and one audio tape.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Helene Tiessen (1895-1984) was born in Russia to school teacher Abram Froese and his wife Helena (Janzen). Her education in Russia was interupted when the family moved to Jena, Germany in 1906. When the family returned in 1911 Helene continued her education in the Chortitza Maedchenschule (Girl's School).

From 1912 to 1918 Helene taught on an estate, followed by a period at the Zentralschule (secondary school) in Schoenfeld. On June 6, 1920 Helene was married to Jakob Jakob Thiessen, who was a school teacher and a minister. The following year was of extreme joy and sorrow. Two children were born to the new couple in 1921 but in the same year the two children died as well as Helene's husband. In 1924 Helene immigrated alone to Canada, leaving the rest of her extended family in Russia. In 1925 she was rebapitzed and became a member of the Winkler Mennonite Brethren Church.

Early in 1926 Helene moved to Winnipeg to work. On October 29, 1926, Helene married Reverend Gerhard A. Peters. Aeltester (Bishop) David Toews of the General Conference Home Ministries Board hired George and Helene Peters as house parents for the Ebenezar Girl's Home (Maedchenheim) which was established in Winnipeg in 1926. This home was established by the church for young Mennonite immigrant women working in the city of Winnipeg to assist the families back on the farm with additional income needed to survive after a series of poor crops and to help repay the travel debt many families had incurred while coming to Canada. The church saw it necessary to establish a place where these young women could come for fellowship and Bible study. In December of 1927 a son was born to George and Helene Peters.

In 1930 the Peters left their work in Winnipeg and moved to Vineland, Ontario. Georgre died five years later, on February 17, 1935, of a cerebral hemorrhage. Helene remained single until 1943 when she married Cornelius Tiessen.

In 1980 Helene moved into the Mennoheim (Mennonite Old Folks Home) in Leamington, Ontario where she lived until her death on June 9, 1984.

CUSTDODIAL HISTORY

This material came to the archives on May 11, 1980 via Henry Dueck of Leamington, Ontario.

SCOPE AND CONTENT:

This fonds consists of articles from various newspapers clippings, poems and correspondence related to the Ebenezar Girl's Home (Maedchenheim) in Winnipeg and people associated with it. Included are some items which document the contact which Helene Tiessen continued to have with girls from the home. A small amount of material was created by her husband Rev. Gerhard A. Peters. Of special interest is an interview in German with Henry Dueck and Mrs. Tiessen regarding the Maedchenheim.

NOTES:

Some material in German.

Location: Volumes 1710; 2210; Audio tape 254;

Accession nos. 80-9.

Finding Aid: none