Low German Mennonites began to move from the Dutch lowlands to the Vistula River delta beginning already in the mid-16th century. By the turn of the 17th century these Mennonites had spread all the way from Gdansk and Elblag south to Torun. Beginning in the late 18th century they began moving into lands of the Russian Empire and then in 1873 they began moving to North America.
Their migrations – from the Dutch lowlands to the Vistula
valley to the Ukrainian steppes and to the midwestern American prairies – were
made necessary by their religious beliefs but at the same time, facilitated by
their agricultural skills. They were driven out of the Dutch lowlands based
upon religious views that held them apart from general society but were invited
into Polish-Prussia because they were industrious farmers. They ultimately left
Polish-Prussia because again, their religion limited their opportunities but
they were welcomed into the Russian Empire because, they were industrious
farmers. They left Russia, once more, because their religion did not permit
them to Russify. But again, they were welcomed onto the midwestern American prairies
because they were strong agriculturalists. Repeatedly, when their religious
views seemed to create obstacles, their agricultural skills created new
opportunities.
This last migration – to Midwestern America – was based on wheat
– Turkey Red Wheat – and upon the emergence of wheat as a growing factor on the
world’s economic stage.
Low German Mennonites originated in the Dutch lowlands
already by the early 16th century. And it wasn’t long before they were being
imported into the Vistula River lowlands.
Landowners in the Vistula River Delta were already bringing these
Mennonites onto their lands by the second quarter of that century. These Mennonites
brought valuable skills in draining swampland and building dikes and canals and
pumps which would help transform the Vistula lowlands and floodplains into
productive farmland.
At this time, the Mennonites also proved to be efficient
farmers. They focused on dairy cattle – producing milk, cheese, butter, and other
dairy products. They also raised a fair amount of grain – primarily rye but
also a small quantity of wheat. This was a time when Royal Prussia produced the
majority of grain in the Kingdom of Poland and the Mennonites were a major
contributor to this production. In time, there were pockets of Mennonites along
the Vistula River all the way from Gdansk to Warsaw and according to the 1773
Prussian census, they controlled 25% of the agricultural land in the delta
region.
Due to restrictions placed upon them because of their religious views, many of these Mennonites by the late 18th century sought new homes further to the east. Empress Catherine the Great in Russia began to invite these industrious Low Germans into the Empire in the 1760s primarily for their agricultural skills, in order to transform the steppes of New Russia (that is, southeastern Ukraine) into productive farmland.
The Mennonites moved into the Empire, settling in small numbers in Volhynia, but in great numbers in several large colonies just north of the Black Sea coast – Chortitza and Molotschna were the two earliest and largest colonies. They lived here on fertile land wholly granted to them by the Russian government.
Initially, the Mennonites brought their dairy cattle with them, along with their rye seed. They soon discovered, however, that the dry steppes of southeastern Ukraine were much more suited to sheep than to dairy cattle, and to wheat rather than to rye. By the mid-19th century their focus was on producing Merino wool. But they also began to look at various varieties of wheat native to the Black Sea region. This burgeoning wheat industry was also augmented by the fact that these Mennonites had begun producing all varieties of farm implements which helped make crops like wheat more productive.
One particular variety of wheat the Mennonites began growing by mid-century had come from Crimea. This variety, hard Red Turkey Wheat, was a winter wheat, sown in autumn and harvested in early summer. In the hot and dry Black Sea coast conditions it was said to grow as thick as hair on a dog’s back. Given their proximity to the ports of Mariupol and especially Berdiansk, Mennonites were able to ship their grain out of the Empire and on to the markets of the world. By 1855 it was said that Mennonites were shipping out some half a million bushels of wheat annually. This Mennonite wheat brought 5 to 10 cents per bushel more than other wheat varieties on the London markets. By the early 1870s, Mennonite wheat production had increased to an estimated 10 million bushels – almost 5 percent of the global total production. World leaders began to recognize the economic power represented by these industrious Mennonites based upon their production of hard Red Turkey Wheat.
At the same time, however, the Russian administrators were beginning
to find it necessary to Russify this Low German population. Although they were
productive farmers, they spoke
Low German language, they administered their own villages, they were exempt from military service – all based on their religious beliefs. They were a people apart from general society and they did not mingle with the native Ukrainian population. Russian administrators, by the mid-19 century, began programs to mold the Low German culture into the Russian form and therefore, the Mennonites once again began to seek a new home.
Meanwhile, another variety of Mennonites had already moved to North America. Swiss Mennonites had already moved to North America and by the mid-19th century were establishing new homes on the western frontier of the United States where great expanses of land were available for new farmers. South German and Swiss Mennonites began coming to North America in great numbers in the 18th century and by the mid-19th century they had established a westernmost outpost at Summerfield, Illinois. It was at this time that events began to unfold which connected these Swiss Mennonites in North America with the Low German Mennonites in Russia.
In 1872, four Low German Mennonite men from wealthy Molotschna Colony families began touring the USA. Eventually they stopped at Summerfield, Illinois, at the home of a particularly influential Swiss Mennonite leader named Christian Krehbiel. At the end of their tour, three of these friends returned to the Molotschna but the fourth, a wealthy young man named Bernhard Warkentin, stayed in Summerfield with Krehbiel.
Warkentin’s father was a miller back in his home village of Altonau,
Molotschna, and the young Warkentin was particularly interested in the crops
and the available cropland in North America. Warkentin was impressed by
conditions in North America and what’s more, local American railroad companies began
to court the wealthy young Mennonite. These railroad companies had been granted
vast tracts of land in midwestern states and territories and they were, by the
1870s, seeking to sell this land to productive farmers. By the 1870s, the rail
companies, as well as the American and Canadian governments, had heard of the agricultural
skills of the Mennonites and they recognized the economic opportunity young
Warkentin represented. Warkentin’s letters back to his home in Altonau told of
this available land. His letters were duplicated and circulated throughout the
colony and Molotschna Mennonite leaders began to consider a move to North America.
By the early 1870s some Molotschna leaders began to be quite concerned by the Russian government’s attempts at Russification. Specifically, they were concerned with the universal military conscription law which was set to take effect on 1 January 1874. This law would require young Mennonite men to participate in the military, a development which many Mennonite leaders found to be absolutely unacceptable. During the summer of 1873 Low German Mennonites sent 12 delegates to North America to look for acceptable places for new homes. Among the 12 leaders were Jacob Buller from the Molotschna, Leonard Suderman from Berdiansk, Tobias Unruh from Volhynia, and Wilhelm Ewert from Torun. Buller and Ewert stopped in Summerfield, Illinois, at the home of Christian Krehbiel, and traveled with Krehbiel and Warkentin to Kansas.
The Mennonite delegates toured areas from Texas to the Dakotas and even north to Winnipeg. Many different locations were considered but the influential Krehbiel was partial to Kansas. Further, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad land agent brokering the land deal was a native German and gained the Mennonites’ trust by speaking their tongue. By late 1873, the wheels were in motion for a massive Low German migration to the midwestern United States and specifically to Kansas.
Beginning in late summer 1873, Low German Mennonites from Crimea, Molotschna, Berdiansk, Volhynia, Masovia, and Prussia, all began to emigrate. Their destinations were Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and particularly Kansas.
About 4,500 Mennonites arrived in USA by January 1875 with more than 65% coming to Kansas. A great many of these brought with them hard Turkey Red Wheat in the form of seed wheat.
In the meantime, young Bernard Warkentin in late 1873 had already moved from Christian Krehbiel’s home in Summerfield to Halstead, Kansas, where he built a small mill. He and Krehbiel, along with other North American Mennonite leaders, helped to facilitate the large migration from Europe. The new settlers in Kansas, to a large degree, settled on land sold to them by the AT & SF railroad. They settled in central Kansas, in Harvey, Marion, and McPherson Counties.
Thus, Bernard Warkentin was already settled in central Kansas, with a mill already in place when the large group of Mennonites arrived a year later. These Mennonites soon discovered that Red Turkey Wheat, native to the steppes of Crimea, would thrive in the environmental conditions found in Kansas.
Warkentin, who developed into a skilled entrepreneur, recognized the potential for economic gain. The immigrants themselves could not bring much seed wheat along with them during migration in 1874. However, in 1885, Warkentin imported a very large amount of seed Red Turkey Wheat for farmers to sow and thereafter, Kansas Mennonites planted increasing annual amounts of wheat. It should be noted that before this point, Kansas farmers primarily grew corn. By 1885, Kansas farmers grew corn and wheat in roughly equal proportions.
In the year 1900, Warkentin imported roughly 15,000 bushels of seed Red Turkey Wheat and this turned the tide. By 1915 the typical Kansas Mennonite was raising 8 to 10 times more wheat than corn. Thus, hard winter wheat would soon dominate Kansas agriculture.
Here we see worldwide winter wheat production on the orange line and Kansas winter wheat production on the blue line. This chart represents the time period 1918 – 2019. We see here very clearly how worldwide wheat production reflects Kansas wheat production and this could largely be attributed to Low German Mennonites.
By 1920, Kansas farmers produced almost 150 million bushels of hard winter wheat. And throughout the first decades of the 20th century, the production steadily increased, producing an average of 40% of the world’s hard winter wheat to the mid-century mark. Until the 1940s, this was all due to the Red Turkey variety. After the mid-1940s, new hybrids began to take over but the astonishing growth of Kansas wheat production was due to the Red Turkey variety coupled with the Mennonites’ efforts.
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The most significant break through in the USA was the introduction of “Red Turkey” in the 1870’s possibly from Turkey via the Crimea; it was well adapted to climate fluctuation in Kansas.
