Toevs, Anna Wiebe (1864-1947)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Nov 13 p. 2

Birth date: 1864 Jun 5

text of obituary:

ABERDEEN PIONEER PASSED AWAY

Aberdeen, Idaho. — Funeral services were held at the First Mennonite church here on Nov. 5 for Mrs. Anna Wiebe Toevs, 83, pioneer resident of this community and wife of the late Rev. Henry Toevs of the local church.

Born in West Prussia in 1864, she moved with her family to Russia at the age of 12. She married Rev. Toevs in 1882, and they came to this county in 1884. They lived in Kansas until 1908, when they moved to Aberdeen.

Six children survive her.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Nov 27 p. 3

text of obituary:

MRS. ANNA TOEVS

Mrs. Anna Wiebe Toevs was born June 5, 1864, near Heubuden, Marlenbug [sic Marienburg], West Prussia, in Germany. She was the youngest of five children of Mr. and Mrs. Henry and Marie Fast Wiebe. At the age of two years she lost her father.

At the age of 12 her widowed mother and the five children left their native land in search of a new home in Russia, east of the Volga river. With the help of friends and relatives they were able to make a home in a new country. When 15 years old she accepted Christ as her personal Savior from sin and upon her confession of faith was baptized and received into the memberhsip of the Mennonite Church. she remained a faithful member of this church to the end of her life — the last 37 years of which she was a member of the First Mennonite church of Aberdeen, Idaho.

Russia, the land of their adoption, was not to be her home for very many years. Four years later, on August 13, 1880, her mother with a group of others continued their journey eastward to Turkistan [sic Turkestan] in Asiatic Russia, in search of a place where they could worship with greater freedom. This journey by covered wagon across many plains and large desert lands was very long, hard, and hazardous. Here she was married to the late Rev. Henry Toevs, on February 20, 1882, in a Mohammedan mosque, with Rev. Jacob Toevs, the father of the groom, as the officiating minister.

This place was not suited for a people who were tillers of the soil and were accustomed to a more intimate social and spiritual life with people of like faith and background. In 1884 the young couple and many others migrated to the united States of America to which place other friends and relatives from Germany had preceded them in 1875.

While crossing the Atlantic Ocean their 14 year old girl, Marie, was stricken with illness and died before they reached the harbor in New York and was buried on Ellis Island.

After having made their home in Kansas for 24 years she with her family moved to Aberdeen, Idaho, in 1908, where she lived until her passing on November 1, 1947, at the age of 83 years four months and 24 days. Mother Toevs had been in fairly good health until the morning of the day on which she died.

She was preceded in death by her husband on November 6, 1933, and two children: Marie, in 1884, and Jacob, August, 1946. She leaves to mourn her sudden death six children: Henry C., John E., Mrs. Frieda Kopper, and Mrs. Magdalina [sic Magdalena] Dirks of Aberdeen, Otto of San Jose, California, and Walter of Spokane, Washington; 15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, and many other relatives and friends.

Her gentle spirit and her genuine concern for those with whom she came in contact won her many friends. She enjoyed only several years of elementary education in Germany and Russia, but her love for reading religious and secular books and periodicals had widened hr intellectual interests. She loved her church and was always actively interested in its program. She was also a very active member of the Ladies' Mission Society to the very end of her life.

For a brief period of time she shared the duties and responsibilities of a pastor's wife when her husband, Rev. Henry Toevs, was pastor of the First Mennonite church of Aberdeen. Her faith in God and His Word were real and unwavering. She loved her children very dearly and was always deeply concerned that in all things god and His divine guidance be sought and obeyed. Truly, it can be said of her she has "kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me (her) a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me (her) that day."

The closing paragraph of her memoirs, directed to her children, is like a benediction: "The blessings of our forefathers has accompanied us (meaning her and her husband); may it also rest upon our children and children's children. God grant it by His grace, Amen!"

Funeral services for Mrs. Toevs were conducted Wednesday at 3:00 p.m., November 5, in the First Mennonite church by Rev. H. N Harder, pastor, and assisted by her nephew, Rev. Edgar E. Toevs, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Aberdeen. Mrs. Ruth Moser, organist, played familiar tunes loved and often sung by the departed. A quartet, composed of Mrs. Lois Wedel, Mrs. Elma Becker, Henry Becker, and Edwin Becker, sang "Ist's auch eine Fruede" at the house, "Be Still my Soul" and "Good Night and Good Morning" in the church, and "Asleep in Jesus" at the cemetery.

The Mennonite obituary: 1948 Jan 6 p. 12