Goertz, Susanna Hiebert (1861-1961)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1958 Jan 23 p. 7

Birth date: 1861 Jan 2

text of obituary:

File:Goertz Susanna Hiebert 1958.jpg

PAST 97 YEARS OLD — One of the few remaining immigrants who came from Russia to settle on the virgin Kansas Prairie in 1874 is Mrs. F. H. Goertz of 322 E. First, Newton. She was 97 years old on Jan. 2. Her parents were members of the Alexanderwohl group, which came on the S. S. Zimbria. (Courtesy The Newton Kansan.)

Aged Grandmother Was One Of First Settlers At Alexanderwohl

MRS. F. H. GOERTZ IMMIGRATED WITH PARENTS AND FAMILY IN 1874

The Alexanderwohl area some 15 miles north of Newton was still nothing more than a vast expanse of prairie when Mrs. F. H. (Susie Hiebert) Goertz, now living at 322 E. First Street in Newton, arrived there from Russia with her parents and eight brothers and sisters in the fall of 1874. Only here and there a lonely homestead could be seen looming up out of the tall grass.

Grandmother Goertz, who was 97 years old on Jan. 2, vividly recalls many pioneer experiences of those early days. Much of the plowing was done with oxen. To make a hill for corn planting, two brothers — each with a handplow and one ox — would draw a furrow toward each other from opposite ends of the field and someone would follow to drop the seed onto the ridge.

Built Immigrant Houses

Born in 1861, Grandmother Goertz was 13 years old at the time her family settled here. The voyage across the Atlantic was made in the German ship Zimbria, there being some 200 persons in the group which came from Alexanderwohl in Russia, a Mennonite settlement dating back to 1821. After arrival in Kansas, temporary headquarters were established in Topeka while the heads of families proceeded to the location north of Newton and built the two immigrant houses for which the Santa Fe had furnished the lumber. These houses served not only as the first home for the settlers but also for school and church purposes.

Married in 1882

The Goertz's were married in the Alexanderwohl Mennonite church on March 23, 1882, and became the parents of the following children: Mrs. C. C. Koehn and Henry F. Goertz of Newton, Mrs. A. A. Woelk of Grand Coulee, Wash., Mrs. Emil Schroeder of Hillsboro, and Mrs. B. G. Guhr of Potwin. There are 32 grandchildren, 108 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, the odlest [sic] of whom is Dale Eugene Becker, who was four years old last September.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1961 Nov 16 p. 8
The Mennonite obituary: 1962 Jan 9 p. 27