The Lines are Fallen

By Anna Daisy Siemens

Life is constant change. We must accept this fact and know that everything we see or hold disappears and decays. Doors open constantly to distinct areas and close firmly behind us as we finish each phase of life.

One hundred years ago Jacob and Aganetha Suderman were young parents with a growing family. They moved to America. Since 1922 they rest side by side in the Ebenfeld Cemetery. Their eleven grown children sleep and wait with them. Will the lines of God’s grace be strong enough to extend to future generations?

As long as earth stands and new babies are born to our children and grandchildren, the Suderman Saga rolls on. The pleasant places of our inheritance remain to “thousands of generations” of those who love God and keep His commandments (Exodus 20:6).  The promise His Word will never fail and the inheritance of eternal life lies within each heart that seeks to do His will.

Truly, the lines are fallen in pleasant places for us. We have a rich heritage. Guard it well, for we are the relay runners handing this baton to our children.

A rich family history where death, loss, and grief lead to prayer and praise, The Lines Are Fallen by Anna Daisy Siemens tells the story of a family legacy. May you be strengthened to walk in faith as you read this book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AP Creations Publishing
• Release date: Oct 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386686521

Book preview

The lines are fallen unto me

in pleasant places,

yea, I have a goodly heritage

Psalms 16:6

Prologue – The Legend of a Name

Suderman! Suderman! Where did you ever get such a name? our teasing uncles cried. Although my sister Alma and I had no answer, they gladly shared the following story with us.

"Hundreds of years before family names were reality, the Peters, Jacobs, and Johanns created much confusion. Finally the King decreed that every family must choose a surname.

However, the man who lived by the Zuider Sea was very busy. He farmed and continually reclaimed more land from the sea for his sons. He had no time to give thought to a family name. If ever he enjoyed an unexpected hour of time, he spent it with his children. They frolicked in the sea in the summertime, skated on its thick layers of ice when winter set in and fished the sea for table meat.

One month before the King’s decree became law, he sent his officials about the countryside to gather the names that would separate all the Peters, Jakobs, and Johanns. When they came to the man who lived by the sea, they saw he had no provision for a name. Like all efficient public officials they evaluated the situation and wrote Zuidermann in all their official wisdom.

Zuidermann became a family name. Through the years the umlaut i was dropped and the last n was useless. Finally, when all the Zudermans became tired of being last in every alphabetical line, they changed the Z to S, and there you have your family name."

We never knew if this legend of the Suderman name had any truth in it but every time we read the story of little Dutch Peterkin who put his finger in the dike to save his land, we felt a strange kinship. Surely, Peterkin could have been on of the early Zuidermann boys.

I - Family Roots

Our forefathers came from the Friesland area of northern Holland near the Zuider Zee where the Plattdeutsch is spoken to this day. History tells us that many Hollanders left this area during a severe persecution in the sixteenth century.

The state church of Europe had become corrupt. Offices were sold to the highest bidder to fill the church coffers. Rich scoundrels ruled the church. Popes and cardinals openly committed adultery. They used concubines and bragged of their sexual exploits. Sins were forgiven at a stipulated price for extra church money. People began to rebel against sin in high places.

In Germany, Martin Luther made an impact throughout Europe by nailing his ninety-five theses of protest on the church door at Wittenberg. However, the church warred to protect their control. Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, founded the Jesuit order of the principle of "Absolute and Unconditional Obedience to the Pope. (¹Henry H. Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook, 24th ed Grand Rapids: Zondervan 1065, p 680 ) Their motto read: For the greater glory of God. The church felt it their duty to destroy everything that did not agree with the Pope’s decree.

This order included all those who protested against the sinfulness in the church office. Multitudes were massacred in the Netherlands, Spain, South Germany, Poland and other countries.

Even though the Bible was not in print, the masses were forbidden by the church to read God’s Word. But God raised up men in the clergy who had access to the bible and they grew restless under the sins of their superiors. Bible study was intensified. This feeling of unrest consumed several men in northern Holland — men like Menno Simon.

This young village priest in Pingjum had extra time on his hands. Along with other church officials, he indulged in playing cards, drinking, and in diversions as…is the fashion of such useless people. (² Cornelius J. Dyck, An Introduction to Mennonite History, Scottsdale: Herold Press, 1967, p 80 ) His heart became increasingly troubled about doctrines in the state church. Did they teach the truth?

He wondered how the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper could turn into the actual body and blood of Jesus. Simon turned his spare time into Bible study instead of indulgences. He had agreed with Martin Luther on God’s grace in salvation, but he began to question the practice of infant baptism. (³ Dyck, p 86 ) Again he turned to the Bible. He came to believe that baptism must be a voluntary act of a repentant, believing heart.

Through study, Menno Simon also saw a need for pure living which was contrary to the life lived by most church officials. His doubts about the state church became too strong. He left the priesthood to become a leader in the Anabaptist movement.

Thinking people were troubled because "church and state had been so closely linked in the Medieval period that the state considered it…’duty to enforce the accepted belief of the established church.’ ( ⁴ Dyck p 86)

In Holland many Anabaptists were massacred for their beliefs through torture on racks and strangled; some were slowly roasted in fires or burnt at stakes. In the Roman Empire, anyone who dared to be baptized twice were put to death — especially in the Netherlands. Those who left the church suffered persecution. as the Anabaptists increased in number, so did persecution.

Studies show that the Belgium and Netherland martyrs could have reached as high as 2,500. The protesting groups were forced to worship secretly. When conditions became unbearable, the leaders searched for a place to live in peace. That place was offered to them by the king of Prussia. He had swampy, useless land in the Danzig area that could be reclaimed. These industrious, thrifty Dutchmen knew how to build dikes that claimed land from the sea; surely, they could turn these worthless acres into fertile farmland.

The King made his offer with stipulations. The Mennonites (as they were called from Simon’s first name) were offered freedom from military service for their young men through a privilege tax. They would remain on the land they reclaimed with a promise never to proselyte their Prussian neighbors in their Anabaptist faith. And last of all, the Mennonite children would enroll in German schools and the German language alone would be used for all assemblies. The Mennonites agreed to the King’s conditions.

For approximately two hundred years they lived in Prussia. But all things change. Like Jacob of old, families were large and as the Mennonites increased in number, so did their need for land. Where would young farmers live with their new brides? It was impossible to buy land out of their reclaimed area.

The King made new demands. The Mennonites were forced to feed armies stationed in their area and to ship quantities of food to the Prussian army. Soon the young Mennonite men were drafted for the army — unless they could buy their freedom. This was an impossibility for many.

During this time the German language was used in church assemblies and children learned to read and write in German. They tried to comply with the King’s orders but they were proud of their Dutch heritage. Yes, outwardly they yielded what their fathers promised. In the privacy of their homes they stubbornly clung to their mother tongue, their mode of peaceful living and the faith in God they suffered for.

When the Prussian King made increasing demands and reneged on written agreements, the Mennonite leaders turned to God in prayer. Their answer came from an unexpected source. The Czarina Katherina of Russia needed wheat farmers for newly acquired farmlands north of the Black Sea. Would the Mennonites be willing to move to Russia to farm wheat? This offer was accepted as a signal of God’s divine guidance.

II - Life In Russia

The Czarina Katherina granted greater privileges to the Mennonites than anything she had ever offered her own peasants. She needed these frugal, industrious people for her own wheat fields and she promised them one hundred years of military freedom. This was truly a godsend to the Mennonites.

Men were sent to Russia to spy out the land and verify the conditions of the pact with the Russian government. They returned with glowing reports. Soon farmers sold their land in Prussia, packed their belongings, and started on the hazardous journey to Russia. The 800 overland miles were traveled by horse-drawn vehicles oxcarts, and some people walked.

The first families left for Russia in 1788. Travel was difficult; they stopped to rest after 300 miles, Another 300 miles later, winter overtook them at Dubrona. The first settlement of 400 families was made on the Chortitza River – a tributary of the Dnieper. (¹ Dyck, p 130)

Many disappointments came to them. The land was bare and hilly, not like the fertile land of Prussia. The promised help from the government was continually delayed. Illness and death plagued hem during the harsh winter and there was disunity among the Mennonite leaders. Funds and food were meager and housing primitive. Horses were stolen for lack of fences. But in spite of all hardships, more settlers came from Prussia to claim their ‘piece of land.’

Offsetting all these problems were the blessings of freedom from military service. They held documents to prove it. The Russian officials gave them freedom to govern their own communities with little interference. They enjoyed tax exemptions and were able keep their own family customs and traditions with Plattdeutsch spoken in their homes. Since they had lost the written mother-tongue in Prussia, they established German schools for their children.

The first schools were inadequate with teachers appointed in a haphazard manner. The curriculum consisted of ‘reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic’ with Bible study. Each Sunday, they met for worship, but sermons were read because they had no ministers.

Small villages were established along the river to provide water and traveling facilities. Houses were built on each side of the road with yards large enough for gardens orchards and livestock. The farmlands stretched out behind the houses. By 1800, four hundred families, most with married children were established in 15 villages with almost 90,000 acres of farmland.

By 1803, a new tract of land along the Molotschna River was available for those still coming from Prussia. These newcomers wintered in the Chortitza villages