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Mennonite Genealogy with Michael Penner |
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History of Landmark, Manitoba |
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This is a brief history of what is now Landmark, Manitoba.
Early History of the RegionUntil about 1870, First Nations people lived freely in the forests and prairie of what is now southeastern Manitoba. They lived nomadically, hunting, fishing, and trapping. At about the time that Manitoba entered confederation as the postage stamp province in 1870, present day southeastern Manitoba was home to several hundred Ojibway people. But sweeping political changes were underway. The newly formed dominion of Canada was preparing the West for settlement. The vast western plain was purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company and surveyors were sent out to divide the plain into square townships, according to the Dominion Lands Survey. The Dominion Lands Act of 1872 provided 160 acres for nearly free to any male farmer who agreed to cultivate at least 40 acres and build a permanent dwelling within three years. Times in southeastern Manitoba were about to change. In 1871, the government began negotiating to the articles of the Ojibway land claims for this region. Chief Kewetoash’s claim for his people represented 70,000 acres per person. In the end, the treaty made provision for the Ojibway to have reservations amounting to 160 acres per family, reserve schools, five dollars per person per year, access to the buffalo runs until the settlers arrived, and some other minor arrangements. By 1874, the First Nations people of southeastern Manitoba had moved onto the Brokenhead and Rousseau River Reserves.
European PioneersSoutheastern Manitoba had been surveyed by the early 1870s and was open for expansion. Lots three miles to the north of present day Landmark, along the Seine River, were home to French Catholics, and by the 1890s a cluster of Mennonite farmers had settled about 4 miles to the southeast in an area that became known as Greenland. But the low-lying land of the Landmark area was in need of better drainage and so not considered prime agricultural land. What would follow from the 1890s to 1918 was a gradual establishment of homesteads in the higher lying areas, particularly along the two local transportation routes: The Old Dawson Trail and the less trodden Winnipeg-Giroux oxcart trail.
1896 SnapshotIn the latter 1890s most of township 8 range 5E was unpopulated, even though speculators had purchased most of the land. The 1896 R.M. of Tache Assessment Roll lists numerous land holders from Winnipeg, several from Ontario, specifically Toronto, others from Quebec, and even one from England. The names are largely Irish, English, or French. The Assessment also shows a long listing of local French-Catholics owning small river lots along the Seine in the extreme north of 8-5E. Numerous holding companies are also listed, including the Hudson Bay Company which held section 8-8-5E and 3/4 of section 26-8-5E. Surprisingly, only a few Mennonites held property here, and only in the extreme southeast: · Heinrich Bartell (80 acres in 1-8-5E) · Isaac Reimer of Chortitz (80 acres in 1-8-5E) · Gerhard Toews of Chortitz (240 acres in 2-8-5E) · Johann Krause of Chortitz (160 acres in 4-8-5E)
Early SettlersOne source indicates that in 1890, there were three French homesteads in the vicinity of Landmark to the south of the Seine River river lots: that of Gaspard Dufaux, Mathias Fortine, and J. B. Filion. By 1896, the R.M. of Tache Assessment Roll suggests by its organization this had increased to six such homesteads: that of Gaspard Dufaux, Eugene Dufaux, Camille Dufaux, Alphonse Fortine, J.B. Filion, and Johann Krause. In 1900, Erdman B. Peters settled along the Old Dawson Trail that cut through section 11-8-5E about 1 mile south of the present outskirts of Landmark. The same year, Gerhard Kehler settled in the southeast corner of this section, and Johann Hiebert settled on section 12-8-5E. Alphonse Dugas, also in 1900, settled on about 2 1/2 miles west of present day Landmark, on section 20-8-5E along the Old Dawson Trail. Then in 1902, Peter B. Harder settled on the southwest of section 14-8-5E, less than one mile from present day Landmark, and Heinrich Friesen settled on section 16-8-5E. In 1903, Jacob Esau settled on 12-8-5E. In 1905, John Harder also settled onto 11-8-5E, Gerhard W. Reimer settled on 35-8-5E, and John Barkman settled on 25-8-5E. Homesteaders of Mennonite background now comprised the majority of homesteads in the immediate vicinity of Landmark. In about the year 1907, three brothers (Peter M. Penner, Abram M. Penner, and Jacob M. Penner) settled in a cluster in the centre of section 26-8-5E, about half a mile north of the present Landmark town limits. The same year, Peter G. Toews and John G. Toews settled on the section directly to their north, section 35-8-5E and George Friesen took over the John Barkman homestead at 25-8-5E. More settlement activity, but this amounted really to just isolated pockets. The area did not have a post office, school district, church, other defining marks of a community. A demonstration of this was that the area was still referred to as the Lorette district, even though the Lorette settlement was itself five miles to the northwest. The years from 1907 to 1917 saw sporadic establishment of new homesteads in the immediate vicinity: about nine in total, of which about six where non-Mennonite. The settlers names were Peter Neufeld, Paul Konowalchuk (took over the Peter G. Toews homestead), James Kuczma (took over the John G. Toews homestead), Jim Mitchell, Archie Graham, Abraham Krahn, Abram Doerksen, Alfred Joyce, and Harry Joyce. But the years slow development in the area were at an end. Big changes to the area were on the horizon. Click here for the list of early settlers.
First Landmark ResidentsThe area now called Landmark took on the form of a settlement in the wake of WWI. The prosperous years and the sense of optimism that followed the close of the war brought new settlers looking for opportunity to establish agricultural endeavors beyond the borders of an increasingly crowded East Reserve. Aware of this need among its young people, the Kleine Gemeinde Elder Peter Dueck asked Reverend Heinrich R. Reimer to investigate the viability of a settlement on the plains of the “Eakbusch—Heistap” (oakbush hay field) northwest of Blumenort. In 1918, the area was thoroughly examined. The area was a vast low-lying plain, too marshy for grain farming but suitable for growing hay. The land had further potential if were better drained. The area was found to be acceptable, and arrangements were made by the settlers to purchase plots of land. Although not the first of the new wave of settlers to arrive in the area, the first resident within the present town limits appears to have been Rev. Heinrich R. Reimer himself, who purchased land in 1919 and moved from Clearsprings a year later. Reimer built the first house within the present town limits. This heritage house, at 130 Main Street, still stands today and is occupied by the Reverend's grandson and his family.
See list of early Landmark area settlers. See 1896 R.M. of Tache Assessment Roll for the Landmark area.
Links for Landmark, Manitoba: Prairie Rose Evangelical Mennonite Church
Sources: Blumenort, second edition, by Royden Loewen 100 Years In Our Community: A Centennial Project of the Landmark 4-H Home Ec. Club, 1970 R.M. of Tache Assessment Rolls and Collector Rolls, housed in Lorette. |
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The Prairie Rose Evangelical Mennonite Church near Landmark, c. 1940. |
