Klassen, John A. (1873-1963)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Jul 25 p. 8

Birth date: 1873 Dec 20

text of obituary:

JOHN A. KLASSEN

John A. Klassen was born near Saratov, Russia on Dec. 20, 1873. He moved with his parents to China in 1881. From there they moved to the United States and settled at Beatrice, Neb. on Oct. 9, 1884. They crossed the Atlantic from Bremen to New York in ten days on the N. D. Lloyd ship “Fulda,” one of the fastest boats at that time.

Mr. Klassen went to school in Hoag, Gage County, Nebraska and moved to Washita County, Okla., arriving at his father's homestead Mar 6, 1895. With others the family founded the Herold Mennonite Church and helped build the first church building which was replaced with a better one in 1915. Mr. Klassen' father was the first one buried in the cemetery. He died Aug. 15, 1897.

In Clinton, Okla. he ran one of the first planing mills where the survey stakes were cut for the C. and O. W. Railroad and the window frames and doors were made for the old Grace Hotel. Later he followed farming and the carpenter trade. He worked at the oil mill in Snyder and Hobart and carried rural mail out of Cordell. He had been a citizen of the United States since 1895.

Born in Russia of German parentage, he spoke German and Russian as fluently as he spoke English. During his childhood he moved with his parents via camel caravan to Russian Turkestan where he lived for several years among the Mohammedan Turks in that desert region.

In early manhood he with Cornelius and John Nickel of Cordell travelled to southern Mexico. He never got over his love for the country. Later he moved to Tulsa, Okla., lived for awhile in Sand Springs, and for the past several years resided in Broken Arrow.

Surviving him are two children, Herman Klassen of Tulsa and Mrs. Jo Ella York of Hollywood, Calif.; Mrs. Dorothy Ries, his granddaughter, Mrs. Patty Killian, his great-grandchild, and Bobbie Klassen, his grandson.