For example, the reader of Epp’s entries cannot help but notice the high incidence of child mortality, as revealed in the following selection of all-too-common entries (all taken from Dyck 1991):
9 May 1861
We were present today at a triple funeral in the home of our neighbour Gerhard Wiebe. His wife had reached the age of 46 years, 9 months, and 10 days, been married for 29 years, and given birth to 15 children, of whom 7 sons and 6 daughters are alive. She was grandmother to 9 children, of whom 3 died. We also buried Aron Neusteter’s infant daughter Elisabeth, who was one year, two months, and six days old, and Franz Isaac’s infant daughter Miriam, who was two weeks younger than the Neusteter child, all three bodies in a single grave, and I gave the funeral sermon.
18 January 1862
Thursday. 1 gave the sermon at the funeral for Mrs Cornelius Giesbrecht of Kamianka, who died of a miscarriage. She was 33 years and 26 days old, had been married 13 years, 2 months, and 12 weeks and given birth to 9 children, 3 sons and 6 daughters, of whom 2 sons and a daughter are still living.
12 October 1862
Friday. Diedrich Thiessen’s wife Katarina (née Nikkel) was buried in Novopodolsk, having died in childbirth after delivering a stillborn child.… Thirty-six years old, she had been married 16 years and given birth to 8 children. Three had died and three sons and two daughters are still alive. Her stillborn child was placed in a small coffin next to hers and buried in the same grave. I delivered the funeral sermon.
9 April 1865
We received a funeral letter from Rosengart announcing the passing of Maria Elias, who died Easter Tuesday at the age of 57 years, 7 months, and 26 days. She had been married 34 years, 2 months, and 2 days and given birth to 15 children, of whom 4 sons and 4 daughters are living. She had become grandmother to 15 children, of whom 10 are alive.
12 and 15 May 1873
Around nine this morning Abraham Letkemann of Neuosterwick informed us of the death of my dear wife’s sister, Elisabeth Teichröw. After an illness of two weeks, the angel of death took her from her world of suffering. … [My sister-in-law] had given birth to four children, of whom two sons are still living. She became grandmother to four children, of whom one died and three are still living.
Granted, not all these children (and grandchildren) died in childhood, but a fair number of them did. In fact, David Epp and his wife were no strangers to the same sort of tragedy—and not just once:We were present today at a triple funeral in the home of our neighbour Gerhard Wiebe. His wife had reached the age of 46 years, 9 months, and 10 days, been married for 29 years, and given birth to 15 children, of whom 7 sons and 6 daughters are alive. She was grandmother to 9 children, of whom 3 died. We also buried Aron Neusteter’s infant daughter Elisabeth, who was one year, two months, and six days old, and Franz Isaac’s infant daughter Miriam, who was two weeks younger than the Neusteter child, all three bodies in a single grave, and I gave the funeral sermon.
18 January 1862
Thursday. 1 gave the sermon at the funeral for Mrs Cornelius Giesbrecht of Kamianka, who died of a miscarriage. She was 33 years and 26 days old, had been married 13 years, 2 months, and 12 weeks and given birth to 9 children, 3 sons and 6 daughters, of whom 2 sons and a daughter are still living.
12 October 1862
Friday. Diedrich Thiessen’s wife Katarina (née Nikkel) was buried in Novopodolsk, having died in childbirth after delivering a stillborn child.… Thirty-six years old, she had been married 16 years and given birth to 8 children. Three had died and three sons and two daughters are still alive. Her stillborn child was placed in a small coffin next to hers and buried in the same grave. I delivered the funeral sermon.
9 April 1865
We received a funeral letter from Rosengart announcing the passing of Maria Elias, who died Easter Tuesday at the age of 57 years, 7 months, and 26 days. She had been married 34 years, 2 months, and 2 days and given birth to 15 children, of whom 4 sons and 4 daughters are living. She had become grandmother to 15 children, of whom 10 are alive.
12 and 15 May 1873
Around nine this morning Abraham Letkemann of Neuosterwick informed us of the death of my dear wife’s sister, Elisabeth Teichröw. After an illness of two weeks, the angel of death took her from her world of suffering. … [My sister-in-law] had given birth to four children, of whom two sons are still living. She became grandmother to four children, of whom one died and three are still living.
25 June 1875
Katharina Kasper, née Siemens, was buried today. She was 63 years old, had been married for 31 years and 2 days and given birth to 6 children, 2 sons and 4 daughters. One son and two daughters are still living. I gave the funeral sermon in the home of the Peter Blocks.
5 March 1873
Our little boy Johann is very ill today with an inflamed throat, which has turned into a cold.
6 March 1873
Our darling’s illness is becoming grave, and we fear the worst. Wilt thou take him from us, Lord Jesus? Thou knowest how my heart would bleed. He is our jewel. Yet I know that thou wilt do what is to the child’s benefit, and to ours. Let thy will, and not mine, be done.
Late at night. The ways of the Lord are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Our darling son Johann has died, and his early death is unspeakably painful. Yet it is thy will, O God, and so let the pain of our separation be a blessing for us. He died at 5:30 p.m., after an illness of only two days. At least he did not have to choke to death, as I had feared he might. I had prayed about this to the Lord, and his death was a gentle falling asleep. Lord, we entrust his soul to thee. Our beloved son reached the age of 4 years, 3 months, 7 days, and 23 minutes. His life on earth was brief, but God will give him a better life in heaven.
29 September 1873
On a visit to our children the Andreses, my wife and I found them in deep mourning for their son Jacob, who had died this morning after an illness of six days. It was the same illness that killed our beloved son Johann.
10 November 1876
Wednesday. On the way home from the market, Judith complained of a headache and became ill. She is often incoherent today. Be thou her physician, faithful Saviour.
Written later. At five this morning our dear sick child Judith became confused. Soon thereafter she started having epileptic convulsions and at 11: 30 this evening our dearly beloved daughter expired. Receive thou her tender spirit, Lord Jesus.
15 November 1876
Monday. The funeral day of our beloved daughter Judith. In the morning six degrees of frost and a cold east wind. Our dearly departed reached the age of 4 years, 11 months, and 18 days. My brother-in-law Gerhard Dyck delivered the funeral sermon, which touched all of our hearts.
It is difficult to imagine the fears that the Mennonite parents of that time carried around every day, the losses that almost all of them had to endure. Thomas Hobbes’s characterization of life as “brutish and short” certainly applies to nineteenth-century Russia.Our little boy Johann is very ill today with an inflamed throat, which has turned into a cold.
6 March 1873
Our darling’s illness is becoming grave, and we fear the worst. Wilt thou take him from us, Lord Jesus? Thou knowest how my heart would bleed. He is our jewel. Yet I know that thou wilt do what is to the child’s benefit, and to ours. Let thy will, and not mine, be done.
Late at night. The ways of the Lord are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Our darling son Johann has died, and his early death is unspeakably painful. Yet it is thy will, O God, and so let the pain of our separation be a blessing for us. He died at 5:30 p.m., after an illness of only two days. At least he did not have to choke to death, as I had feared he might. I had prayed about this to the Lord, and his death was a gentle falling asleep. Lord, we entrust his soul to thee. Our beloved son reached the age of 4 years, 3 months, 7 days, and 23 minutes. His life on earth was brief, but God will give him a better life in heaven.
29 September 1873
On a visit to our children the Andreses, my wife and I found them in deep mourning for their son Jacob, who had died this morning after an illness of six days. It was the same illness that killed our beloved son Johann.
10 November 1876
Wednesday. On the way home from the market, Judith complained of a headache and became ill. She is often incoherent today. Be thou her physician, faithful Saviour.
Written later. At five this morning our dear sick child Judith became confused. Soon thereafter she started having epileptic convulsions and at 11: 30 this evening our dearly beloved daughter expired. Receive thou her tender spirit, Lord Jesus.
15 November 1876
Monday. The funeral day of our beloved daughter Judith. In the morning six degrees of frost and a cold east wind. Our dearly departed reached the age of 4 years, 11 months, and 18 days. My brother-in-law Gerhard Dyck delivered the funeral sermon, which touched all of our hearts.
We have seen some of the evidence of this shortness of life in the church books from Przechowka and Deutsch-Wymysle, but my impression (nothing more than that at this point) is that the church books do not give the full story. I do not remember seeing the high percentage of child mortality reflected in Epp’s diaries represented in the church books. Some children are recorded as dying, to be sure, but it does not seem that as many are recorded as dying as Epp’s diaries would lead us to expect.
Obviously, when entries of generations of the past were entered, such as George and Dina Buller in the Przechowka church (they were entered in the book more than half a century after they had lived), those who died in infancy were long-forgotten and thus not listed. However, one wonders if those living contemporary with the church book who died extremely young were always recorded in that book. I imagine it varied not only from church to church but also from recorder to recorder. Some books and scribes no doubt scrupulously recorded every birth, baptism, marriage, and death; others probably adopted a more haphazard approach to record keeping.
I really do not know whether we can draw any broad conclusions about the record-keeping practices of the Mennonites of centuries past. Perhaps one of the Mennonite researchers who periodically stop by Buller Time would like to weigh in. If nothing else, this post can serve as a good reminder of the need to consider multiple types of resources (e.g., Epp’s diaries and church books) as we seek to put the pieces of our family history together: there are no doubt many members of our larger family who died young and thus were never recorded in any church book.
Source Cited
Dyck, Harvey L., ed. and trans. 1991. A Mennonite in Russia: The Diaries of Jacob D. Epp, 1851–1880. Tsarist and Soviet Mennonite Studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
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