Welcome to the Penner Rempel Block Connection

Abraham Penner Story

Abraham Penner born ? and died 14 July 1840

AND the connection with Sarah Adrian  (b. 10 Feb 1816 ) and  her second husband Gerhard Rempel (b. 14 Dec 1816) .

Our only information on the early life of Abraham A Penner we had previously known  came from two pages in a Family Bible shown to the right and these words from Abraham's  obituary written by his wife Minnie Funk Penner. "Abraham A. Penner, our father and husband, was born January 21, 1841, in the village of Rudnerweide, South Russia. His father died before he was born and he lost his mother in the seventh year of his life. He was raised then by Preacher Jacob Janzen in Schardau in a Christian way and he was baptized when he was 20 and joined the Mennonite Church. When he was 24 he was married to Elizabeth Kessler, Berdjansk, and this marriage lasted for  six and one half years. They had no children. Later in 1871 he extended the hand of marriage to me, the now grieving widow, Minnie Funk Penner" Elfreda and Danie thought they remembered that Abraham A had a brother but it appeared he died young. It was assumed Abraham was an only child from these words.  Then on January 27, 2007 I realized a family record book called the Gerhard J Classen family record book had been uncovered-- this book  includes entries that were made by Abraham A Penner's father--Abraham Penner d. 14 July 1840 and his wife Sarah Adrian  (b. 10 Feb 1816 ), and her second husband Gerhard Rempel (b. 14 Dec 1816) . This gives us a lot of new information on Abraham A Penner's family including the name of his mother.!!  I have included the scan of the booklet as it was sent to me and also a translation of the booklet to the right. Abraham Penner died before his son Abraham A Penner was born so Abe A did not have much information on his parents.  Abraham A was 7 or 8 years old when his mother died and 28 May 1849.  His stepfather Gerhard Rempel was left with 3 or 4 children from Sarah and also Abraham. Gerhard remarried  less then 2 months later on 17 Jul 1849.  It may have been at this time that Abraham went to live with Preacher Jacob Janzen of Schardau as mentioned in his obituary.     Perhaps we see Abraham listed in Schardau [with his foster parent Jacob Janzen] as a student in the summer of 1854 in the Molotschna School Registers of 1853-55. The next information we have of Abraham A Penner is that he was married in about 1865 when he was 24 to an Elizabeth Kessler of  Berdjansk. This marriage lasted for  six and one half years but they were childless.  Later in 1871 Abraham A Penner married Wilhelmina Funk on 13 Jun 1871 in Friedensruh, Molotschna, South Russia, according to the family Bible, but most likely they lived in Schardau after they were married as that is the listed  birthplace of  their first living child Maria A Penner who later married George Reiss.

Family Bible Pages

clic for records Classen Family Book started by Abraham and Sarah Adrian Penner Rempel Spanning over 100 years!

Intro and 1st page of the Claasen Book

2nd page

Translation

This starts the first page of the orginal handmade book started by Abraham Penner in 1836.   Note on the top it says Seite (or Page) 1 and 2

Page 3-4 Gerhard Rempel starts writing.

Page 5-6

Page 7-8

End of book

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