Johann Funk (December 26, 1836 – March 15, 1917) was a
Mennonite bishop in early Canadian history.
Funk was born on the
Bergthal Colony The Bergthal Colony is a former Russian Mennonite settlement in what is now Ukraine.
The colony consisted of five villages—Schoenfeld, Heuboden, Bergthal, Schoenthal, and Friedrichsthal—which were settled during the years 1836 to 1852 by 149 la ...
, a Mennonite settlement near
Mariupol,
Yekaterinoslav Governorate,
Russian Empire (Today
Ukraine) in 1836. In 1874, bishop
Gerhard Wiebe persuaded the colony to emigrate to
Canada. Funk was ordained a bishop in Canada in 1892, and played a significant role in the development of Mennonite education and the formation of
Mennonite Collegiate Institute in
Gretna, Manitoba.
Funk died in 1917 in Altbergthal, near
Altona, Manitoba
Altona is a town in southern Manitoba, Canada, about 100 km south-west of Winnipeg and 158 km north of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The population at the 2011 Census was 4,123 residents. Old Altona was founded in 1880 by Plautdietsch-spe ...
.
References
*
''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online'' entry on Bergthal Mennonites
1836 births
1917 deaths
Canadian bishops
Canadian Mennonites
Mennonite ministers
People from Pembina Valley Region, Manitoba
Ukrainian emigrants to Canada
19th-century Anabaptist ministers
20th-century Anabaptist ministers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada
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