diedrichthiessenreunion

Welcome to the Diedrich Thiessen Reunion Webpage!

REUNION 2014

The reunion was held on August 2nd & 3rd 2014 at the Pembina Thresherman’s Museum near Morden, Manitoba, Canada. Click here for the original invitation brochure that was sent out for this event.

PHOTOS

History & Sermon Presentations

Family Group Photos

Musical & Comedy Entertainment

Great Food & Weather

Hard Working Volunteers

Family Branch Displays

Chortitz Village and Cemetary Tour

VIDEOS

[Special Music by Wiebe Family and Anne Guenther]

[Thiessen History Presentation by Abe Janzen and Darren Enns]

THIESSEN HISTORY

THIESSEN FAMILY OLD PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS

For a look at a great collection of old photographs of the Thiessen family line, see this Google site.

THIESSEN FAMILY TREE

THIESSEN NAME ORIGIN

Derived from Matthäus/Mathias [Thies (surname) - GenWiki]

North German and Danish: reduced form of the personal name Matthias or Mathies(s) (see Matthew) [Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4]

The German surname of THIESEN was a baptismal name 'the son of Mathew'. The name was found in medieval registers throughout Europe and means 'gracious gift of Jehovah'. It was an exceedingly popular font name during the 11th and 12th Centuries. This given name was of biblical origin, ultimately from the Hebrew male font name MATITYAHU, recorded in the Greek New Testament in the form MATTHIAS. The name has numerous variant spellings which include THIESS, THIES, DEUSS, THEWES, DIESING, MATHEW, MATHEY, MATHIE, MATHYS, MATEO, MATAS, MATTASER and MATESSIAN, to name but a few. Surnames which were derived from ancient Germanic personal names have the same meaning in many languages...[Thiesen Coat of Arms / Thiesen Family Crest]

THIESSEN FAMILY IN RUSSIA

[Mennonite colonies of southern Russia (© Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba)]

THIESSEN FAMILY OCEAN VOYAGE

[Map of the journey from the Fuerstenland daughter colony of the Chortitiza colony in the Ukraine to the homestead area near Winkler Manitoba Canada in 1875]

JPG SS Canadian

SS Canadian (Allan Line)

[brought Diedrich & Helena Thiessen July 19/1875]

The CANADIAN owned by the Allan Line was a 2,911 gross ton ship built by T.Royden & Sons, Liverpool in 1872. Her details were - length 349.9ft x beam 35.6ft, one funnel, three masts, iron construction, single screw and a speed of 11 knots. There was passenger accommodation for 25-1st and 850-2nd class. Launched in August 1872, she sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage to Quebec and Montreal on 23/8/1873. On 2/12/1873 she commenced her first Liverpool - St John's NF - Halifax - Baltimore voyage and on 14/5/1874 started her first Glasgow - Quebec - Montreal crossing. She inaugurated a Glasgow - Montevideo - Buenos Aires service for the Allan Line when she sailed from Glasgow on 11/11/1876 and in 1882 was chartered as a troopship for the Egyptian Expedition. Her first Glasgow - Boston sailing started on 21/5/1884 and her first Glasgow - Philadelphia sailing on 25/6/1884. She left Glasgow on her last North Atlantic voyage on 1/10/1891 and her last Glasgow - S.America voyage on 22/9/1902. She was scrapped the following year. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.1,p.314] [The Ship List]

This ad comes for the Allan Line from a very interesting traveler's book from 1875 called A Graphic Description of the Dominion of Canada and its Provinces:

THIESSEN FAMILY IN CANADA

[Canadian Land Grant of 160 acres to Diedrich Thiessen, located at 17-2-4SW]

[Map of Manitoba West Reserve with markers for original villages (© Ernest Unrau at Kronsfeld Cemetary Memorial Project)]

[Location photo of original property & memorial plaques for Village/Cemetary of Chortitz]

DEDICATION

This web page created in memory of Anne Guenther (Thiessen) [1917-2015], daughter of Diedrich Thiessen [1890-1975], grand-daughter of Diedrich Thiessen [1844-1921].

She was very happy to be able to attend the reunion, and we were all blessed to have her there.

She passed away the next year on January 26, 2015. Till we meet again!

For further information about this web page please contact: