Information on Jefferson County -
Jansen, Nebraska and Fairbury, Nebraska -Home of many Harms and Thiessen Ancestors
Churches:
Jansen Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite Church
Jansen Evangelical Mennonite Brethren now Jansen Bible Church
Jansen Krimmer Mennonite Brethren
Jansen Mennonite Brethren
The first major Mennonite group in the Jansen community, the Kleine Gemeinde, came from Russia in 1874-1875, and settled in Cub Creek Precinct in seven small, somewhat isolated "line villages" of Rosenort, Rosenhof, Rosenfeld, Rosental, Neuanlage, Heuboden, and Blumenort. This included our Harms ancestors.
The Jansen Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite Church was established after the arrival of 36 families of Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites from Russia in Jefferson County, Nebraska, in 1874 under the leadership of Abraham Friesen. They met in homes for a while and then constructed a church two miles
west and three miles north of the present site of Jansen. Because of the combining of other Mennonite groups and the scarcity of land, the members of the Kleine Gemeinde, that had not joined other
groups (primarily the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference), migrated to Meade, Kansas, in 1906-1908. There is an Emmanuel Mennonite [EMB] Church still there at Meade, Kansas. Meade Churches Article.
Later Jansen had several other Mennonite Churches including Evangelical Mennonite Brethren; Krimmer Mennonite Brethren;and Mennonite Brethren. The community was predominantly Mennonite until shortly after the turn of the century when mass migrations away from Jansen began, which resulted in a sharp decline in Mennonite population and the eventual closing down of all but one of the Mennonite churches. [ From Gameo ] The church that is left is the Jansen Bible Church, formerly Jansen Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church EMB and it belongs to the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (formerly Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference of North America).1
1 Miller, D. Paul. "Jansen (Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 22 July 2010. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/jansen_nebraska_usa.
From Florence Harms Entz we learn the Harms were part of a group of German speaking Mennonites who immigrated from Russia in 1878 and settled north west of the little hamlet of Jansen. Their little clapboard meetinghouse was located on the west edge of Jansen with the cemetery located across the road and just a little to the west. She adds the relatives all attended the same church but those in John (Johann) L Harms neighborhood had a Fairbury address instead of Jansen.
In Elizabeth Harms Rempel's obituary it states she joined the Mennonite Church and was baptized by A (Abraham ) L Friesen [so this must be the Jansen Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite Church of which he was a leader.] and later in 1905, they joined the Ebenezer Church. [which must be the Henderson EMB Ebenezer Church]
From Helena Born Thiessen's obituary we learn that three persons spoke at her funeral service. Funeral meditations by Brother P I Fast were taken from Psalm 103: 6-17; H Ratzlaff spoke on Isaiah 40: 6-8, and the Elder Isaak Peters talked from Psalm 90: 1-12. [This must be the Isaak Peters who helped found the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church and was also connected with the Ebenezer Mennonite Church at Henderson].
David D Thiessen and Helen Born Thiessen were
both buried in the Mennonite Cemetery outside of Jansen, Nebraska.
Later the graves were moved to make way for a road it is said and they
reburied at Jansen Cemetery, Jefferson County, Nebraska. According to
Marjorie Harms Leeb. [I am still trying to find more information about
this]
A history of Jansen, Nebraska
Cemeteries:
Cemeteries of Jefferson County Nebraska
Jansen Cemetery - Jansen Nebraska
Jansen Cemetery - Find a Grave results
Photo arrangement by Lee Cornelson
Thiessen Cemetery, near Jansen NE - East Mennonite Church by Jansen, Nebraska -Clean up article May 23, 1992
There is some difficulty determining which church the Thiessen Cemetery was associated with: It is called the East Mennonite in the "clean-up" article above but must have been the Jansen Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church; perhaps it was nick-named the East church because of the East location.
From the Mennonite Encyclopedia Online: The Jansen Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church was founded in the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite settlement after a group of Krimmer Mennonite Brethren had come to this community from Russia in 1877. Originally this group associated with the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren founded by Isaak Peters. But in 1880 they withdrew and under the leadership of J. A. Wiebe founded the Jansen Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church. In 1905 or 1906 a brick church
was built one mile east of Jansen. The membership never exceeded 75. By
1950 only three families were left in the community, who attended the Mennonite Brethren church. [This is the church of which Johann F Thiessen 1840-1917, who is buried there, was a member and deacon.]
Google view of Jansen Cemetery
Directions: From Fairbury, go east on Hwy 136 to east of Jansen past the railroad tracks. The cemetery is just east of the intersection of Hwy 136 & 574th Ave, on the south side of the road.
"Thiessen" Cemetery David Thiessen and Helena Born Thiessen and two of their children are buried here among others. [I am unsure if this is correct. There is some controversy over where they are buried. see below -ks]
Thiessen Cemetery Find A Grave results
Notes: Edna and Maybel Harms were the daughters of Henry and Maggie Harms. The family replaced their tombstones some years ago. That is why they look so new. From the information that you have on Anna Harms would seem to indicate that she is probably buried in the Jansen Cemetery too. I believe that the cemetery is called the Enns Cemetery. When we were there several years ago, people acted like they didn't know about the cemetery. We did find it and were able to find a number of graves for LeRoy's Thiessen and Friesen relatives.
David Thiessen, farmed in the east half of Cub Creek Precinct.
I find on the 1880 Property Listing for Cub Cub Creek Precinct -a John Harms listed as an owner. I assume that this is probably Johann L since he is shown on the map of the west half of Cub Creek.
Information from:
In researching Jansen the court house and the Fairbury Journal have news papers from the 1800's. Vaughn and Rosella Cline were the first to clean up the [Thiessen] cemetery [the one connected with East Mennonite Church] , then from 1990 till 2005 Mildred helped financially to mow and keep the cemetery clean; then Vaughn Cline passed away and Rosella moved into a retirement center in Fairbury. When the highway was cut through the edge of the cemetery, some graves were moved to the Jansen Cemetery. The Mrs Doerksen grave was not moved so George and Dave Doerksen acquired the title to the plot, which still stands. The cemetery is not called The Thiessen cemetery because of our family but because the original property once belonged to H. Thiessen.
Information from: Mildred Edigar
Marjorie Harms Leeb indicates that David D Thiessen and Helen Born Thiessen were
both buried in the Mennonite Cemetery outside of Jansen, Nebraska. The one known as Thiessen Cemetery.
Later some of the graves were moved to make way for a highway and they
were reburied at another cemetery. [Not sure which one but most likely the Jansen Cemetery -ks]
[Above information on burial comes from Marjorie Harms Leeb - Heinrich B Friesen ]
Emmanuel Cemetery near Meade, Kansas
Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Cemetery EMB near Meade, Kansas - Peter B Thiessen and Anna F Isaac Thiessen are buried here. As is Elizabeth F Rempel Harms who moved to Meade, Kansas after her husband Johann L Harms died. He is buried at Jansen Cemetery. So they are not buried together.
South Kleine Gemeinde Cemetery near Meade, Kansas
If you have and corrections, additions, or suggestions for the genealogy, web pages, or other information OR are a long lost relative I'd love to hear from you! Kathy Penner Sperling