Neubergthal

History

Neubergthal was founded in 1876 by Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite settlers from the Bergthal Colony in what is now Ukraine. These Mennonite settlers had Dutch ancestry dating back to the 16th century Friesland and Flanders, after which time they lived in Prussia and eventually the Russian Empire, where they came to be known by the misnomer of Russian Mennonite, even though they are ethnically Dutch not Russian. In the 1870s, some of these Mennonite became dissatisfied with increasing Russification and the loss of their military exemption and were recruited to move to Manitoba. The first settlers moved to the East Reserve in 1874 and from here some moved to the West Reserve in 1876, looking for fertile farmland. Migration to the new village of Neubergthal was based on family relations, which can be seen in the surnames and marriage patterns of the first inhabitants. Neubergthal, like other Mennonite villages, was settled as Strassendorf, or street village, and villagers lived in a communal farming village where they built traditional Mennonite housebarns, a number of which are still standing today.