Loeppky, Johann (1882-1950)
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Johann Loeppky was the first Bishop (Ältester) of the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Canada after the emigration of almost the entirety of the church’s leadership in the 1920s. An minister since 1909, Loeppky represented the Hague-Osler settlement on several land-seeking delegations from 1919-1921, which paved the way for the movement of around 8000 conservative Mennonites from Canada to Mexico and Paraguay. Loeppky himself, however, remained in Canada and was significantly responsible for the continuity and successful reorganization of the Old Colony Church there. From 1948-1950, he led a small portion of his church in another migration to Mexico.
Loeppky was born in Blumenhof, in Manitoba’s West Reserve in January 1882. He moved to Saskatchewan around 1900, settling just north of the town of Osler. He married Anna Neudorf in 1903. When she died in 1909, he married Helena Janzen. In the same year, he was elected as a minister. He became the bishop of the Old Colony Church in Canada in 1930 and continued to serve in that capacity until his death in 1950. In his lifetime, he preached 2103 sermons, baptized 797 people, and officiated at 198 weddings and 549 funerals.
Land-Seeking Delegations and Decision to Remain in Canada
In 1916-17, both the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments attempted to dismantle Mennonite private schools and integrate these children into English-speaking public schools. Among the different groups of Mennonites in these provinces, the Old Colony Mennonites most forcefully resisted the public schools. Their leadership determined in 1919 that they would need to emigrate to preserve their way of life.
From 1919-1921, the Reinländer settlements in Manitoba, Swift Current, and Hague-Osler sent out a number of land-seeking delegations to seek a homeland that would allow them exemption from military service and autonomy in education, alongside other group privileges. Loeppky was an enthusiastic and effective proponent of emigration in his community and a member of many of these delegations. As a member of the Hague-Osler settlement, he played an important role in the initial identification of Mexico as a potential option for settlement. In his 1921 diaries, he describes being overcome with emotion upon receiving the desired privileges from Mexican President Álvaro Obregón after a long and discouraging search.[1]
The emigration of the Hague-Osler Reinländer ran into a series of problems, which resulted in Loeppky remaining in Canada along with around three quarters of the church. In 1921, a financial dispute between Johann P. Wall from Hague, Loeppky’s forceful and influential co-delegate, and the delegates of the other settlements resulted in the Hague-Osler group withdrawing from a planned joint land purchase in Mexico. It took until 1924 before Hague-Osler’s leadership was able to regroup sufficiently to buy land in Mexico. By that time, deteriorating economic conditions made a move to Mexico much more challenging for many and impossible for some, especially without financial support forthcoming from the church. Many had, ironically, been so impoverished by fines for refusing to send their children to public schools that they were unable to afford the move. A botched group land-sale scheme (once again led by Wall) further impoverished many and led to much distrust and ill-will among the rank and file towards their leadership. In addition, as the years passed, many people became acclimatized to their children attending public schools; they also heard unfavourable reports about Mexico from those who had moved there ahead of them.
By 1926 it was apparent that most of the Hague-Osler Reinländer would be remaining in Canada and it is around this time that Loeppky appears to have decided against emigration. We do not know with certainty all of his rationale for this decision. However, his great care and concern for the poor is well-documented, and some sources plausibly state that Loeppky, himself never particularly well-off, would have felt compelled to continue to offer pastoral care and leadership to the (mostly poorer) members of his congregation who could not move to Mexico.[2]
Those who went to Mexico severely criticized Loeppky and many never forgave him. The conviction of the leadership of all three Reinländer settlements was that the church in its entirety was moving; in their view, those who did not move to Mexico had cut themselves off from the church. Loeppky was estranged from his half-brother, Isaak M. Dyck, minister and later bishop of the Manitoba Colony.[3] Johann P. Wall, in particular, saw Loeppky as a betrayer, responsible for the fact that so many remained in Canada, and took opportunity to publicly and privately condemn him, even decades later.[4]
Reorganization of the Old Colony Churches in Canada
In both the Manitoba and Swift Current settlements, all the Old Colony leadership emigrated, and the church essentially ceased operation for a time. In the Hague-Osler settlement, Loeppky and another minister, Abram Wall, stayed in Canada and together kept the churches open on a part time basis. Jacob Wiens, the bishop of the Hague-Osler Old Colony, emigrated in 1926, but returned for spring visits in both 1927 and 1928 to conduct baptisms and serve communion, essential ordinances that were the bishop’s exclusive domain. The bishops of all three settlements refused to ordain any successor bishops or new ministers among those who remained in Canada.
In 1929, Jacob Wiens canceled a planned visit to Hague-Osler because of his wife’s illness; he never again returned to Canada. The need for reorganization in Canada was now acute. On 20 March 1930, Loeppky and Abram Wall convened a church meeting with 176 delegates from Hague-Osler, 80 delegates from Manitoba, and eleven delegates from Swift Current. At this meeting, delegates elected Loeppky as their bishop. They also officially adopted the name Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde, or Old Colony Mennonite Church (previously their formal name was the Reinländer Mennonite Church). Cornelius Hamm, bishop of the Saskatchewan Bergthaler presided over the meeting and ordained Loeppky.
Loeppky immediately attended to the rebuilding of the Old Colony Church, ordaining sufficient ministers for regular services to resume in Hague-Osler area and presiding over baptisms and communion in both Manitoba and Hague-Osler. The Old Colony Church in Swift Current, however, ceased to function, its membership mostly joining Sommerfelder congregations. In 1937, Loeppky ordained Jacob Froese as the bishop of the Manitoba Old Colony Church, the second post-migration Old Colony bishop in Canada. He also regularly travelled to the new Old Colony settlements in the Fort Vermillion, AB and Burns Lake, BC regions to provide them with spiritual leadership and baptism and communion services until these settlements too received their own bishops.
Bishop of the Old Colony Mennonites
Loeppky was a popular leader with a cheerful and friendly disposition and a tolerant, pastoral leadership style. He was well-known as a gifted orator and strong singer, with a powerful voice and a passionate, emotive speaking style. In the record, his congregants attest to his abilities as a uniter, practical problem solver, and peacemaker who cared deeply about provision for the poor. Some were, however, critical of him for being too lenient when it came to matters of church discipline.
Immediately upon his election as bishop, Loeppky discontinued the previous Old Colony policy of excommunicating anyone who married a member of the Saskatchewan Bergthaler. He oversaw policies and practices of increased toleration towards voting in elections, owning cars, and operating Sunday Schools. He personally assisted many young men in obtaining Conscientious Objector status during World War II; unlike his Old Colony predecessors during World War I, he cooperated with the Canadian Conference Mennonites in working with the Canadian government on this issue. Loeppky was also influential in leading the Old Colony to accept the Canadian Government’s Family Allowance programs, begun in 1945, arguing that it was an important provision for the poor where the church had not done its part. In the final months of his life, Loeppky oversaw a controversial change to a faster and more melodic style of singing in Canadian Old Colony worship.
1948 Emigration
In 1948 Loeppky led another migration of the Old Colony Church to Mexico. While the migration was small and only partially successful (most of the Old Colony migrants, including Loeppky, returned to Canada within a few years), it resulted in the establishment of the Los Jagueues Colony in the state of Chihuahua, 20 kilometres west of the Santa Clara Colony.
An array of factors appear to have motivated Loeppky to attempt this migration, including a desire to reunite the divided Old Colony Church and disquietude over the alternative service Canadian Conscientious Objectors had been obliged to perform during World War II. Many of his congregants, motivated by memories of the brutal 1930s in Saskatchewan and more recent crop failures, apparently pushed for the migration, but then failed to follow through on their desire to move once Loeppky organized the venture. Loeppky also had word from the colonists in Mexico that many of them yearned for Loeppky's leadership, desiring his preaching and his tolerant leadership style
Loeppky joined together with a group of Manitoba Kleine Gemeinde and organized a migration that began in 1948; the Kleine Gemeinde had the funds necessary for the migration and Loeppky had the leadership, organization, and Mexican contacts. By the end of 1952, 595 Kleine Gemeinde, 116 Manitoba Old Colony, 130 Saskatchewan Old Colony, and a small number of Old Colony people from Burns Lake had, at least at one point, moved to Los Jagueyes. Loeppky moved in December 1948. Complications and financial shortfalls immediately beset the Saskatchewan portion of the settlement, whose migrants had come with few financial resources. Additionally, the leadership of the older colonies in Mexico refused to accept the new arrivals because they had used automobiles to make the trip; they went so far as to excommunicate anyone from their group who joined Loeppky's worship services. The southern portion of Los Jagueyes, where the Old Colony had settled, soon dissolved; of the eighteen families who moved to Mexico from Saskatchewan, ten returned to Canada within a few years. Loeppky himself returned in February 1950, discouraged and disappointed. When Loeppky left, the Old Colony Mennonites from the established colonies in Mexico whitewashed the walls of the buildings in which he had preached.
When Loeppky returned to Canada, the Hague-Osler Old Colony Church accepted him again as their bishop. He died six months later when something got caught in his throat while he was eating in a Saskatoon restaurant.
See Also
- Johann P. Wall
- Canadian Mennonite Land-Seeking Delegations, 1919-1922
- Jakob Wiens
- Jacob Froese
- Old Colony Mennonites
Notes
Bibliography
Doell, Leonard. “Altester Jakob Wiens (1855-1932).” Preservings no. 29 (2009): 14-19.
Doell, Leonard. "Hague Osler Old Colony Mennonite Church." In Old Colony Mennonites in Canada, 1875-2000, edited by Delbert F. Plett. Steinbach: Crossway, 2000. Pp. 142-151.
Doell, Leonard. "The Migration to Mexico." Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian 24, no. 2 (Summer 2018): 8-9.
Dyck, Netha F. “Aeltester Jacob J. Froese (1885-1968), Reinfeld, West Reserve, Manitoba.” In Old Colony Mennonites in Canada, 1875-2000, edited by Delbert F. Plett. Steinbach: Crossway, 2000. Pp. 134-136.
Ens, Adolf. Subjects or Citizens? The Mennonite Experience in Canada, 1870-1925. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1994. Pp. 199-230.
Epp, Frank H. Mennonites in Canada, 1920-1940: A People’s Struggle for Survival. Toronto: Macmillan, 1982.
Guenter, Jacob G. "Homesteaders of the Great Peace (Carcajou and La Crete)." In Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve, 1895-1995, edited by Jacob G. Guenter et al. Hepburn: Hague-Osler Reserve Book Committee, 1995. Pp. 409-413
Guenter, Jacob G. “Mennonite Migration to Mexico.” In Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve, 1895-1995, edited by Jacob G. Guenter et al. Hepburn: Hague-Osler Reserve Book Committee, 1995. Pp. 372-385.
Guenther, Bruce L. The Ältester: A Mennonite Leader in Changing Times. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2018. Pp. 43-111.
Janzen, Abe. "Low German Speaking Mennonites in Alberta." Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian 27, no. 2 (2022): 37-42.
Janzen, Abram G. Altester Johan M. Loeppky, 1882-1950: As I Remember Him. Hague, SK: unpublished, 2003. See the copy in the Mennonite Historical Library at Canadian Mennonite University.
Janzen, William. "Stories from the Life of Abram Janzen of Blumenheim." Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian 27, no. 2 (2022): 29-37.
Janzen, William. "The 1920s Exodus to Mexico of Old Colony Mennonites from the Hague Osler Area of Saskatchewan." Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian 27, no. 2 (2022): 5-13.
Janzen, William. The 1920s Migration of Old Colony Mennonites from the Hague-Osler Area of Saskatchewan to Mexico. Hague: Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan, 2006.
Klippenstein, LaVerna, trans. and ed. "A Tribute: The Diary of Tina Schulz." In Mennonite Memories: Settling in Western Canada, edited by Lawrence Klippenstein and Julius Toews. Centennial Publications, 1977. P. 227.
Loeppky, Johann. “Journal on a Trip to Mexico, 1921.” Preservings 26 (2006): 37-44.
Loewen, Royden. Village among Nations: 'Canadian' Mennonites in a Transnational World, 1916-2006. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. Pp. 27-34, 113.
Petkau, Irene F. and Peter A. Petkau. Blumenfeld: Where Land and People Meet. Blumenfeld Historical Committee, 1981. Pp. 38-41.
Petkau, Peter A. “Aeltester Isaak M. Dyck (1889-1969).” In Old Colony Mennonites in Canada, 1875-2000, edited by Delbert F. Plett. Steinbach: Crossway, 2000. P. 127.
Plett, Delbert. “The Lonely Ohm - Myth and Reality: The Pastoral Vision and Challenges of the Conservative Mennonite Ministerial/Lehrdienst.” Preservings 21 (December 2002): 107-108.
Rempel, Abraham E. “Old Colony Mennonite Church in Manitoba.” In Old Colony Mennonites in Canada, 1875-2000, edited by Delbert F. Plett. Steinbach: Crossway, 2000. Pp. 139-141.
Rempel, David. “Diary of his Trip to South America and Mexico in 1919-1921,” trans. Jake K. Wiens. Volume 5015, Small Archives. Mennonite Heritage Archives, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Man., R3P 0M4.
Sawatzky, Harry L. They Sought a Country: Mennonite Colonization in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. Pp. 31-97.
Werner, Hans. "Old Colony and Russlaender Land Transactions." Preservings 45 (Fall 2022): 23-28.
| Author(s) | Gerald Ens |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 2025 |
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Ens, Gerald. "Loeppky, Johann (1882-1950)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 2025. Web. 12 Jun 2025. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Loeppky,_Johann_(1882-1950)&oldid=180689.
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Ens, Gerald. (2025). Loeppky, Johann (1882-1950). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 June 2025, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Loeppky,_Johann_(1882-1950)&oldid=180689.
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