The Kroeger family of

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

makers, better known as Kroeger Clocks, was a well-known clockmaking family, the earliest recorded of whom was Peter D. Kroeger from Reimerswalde, near Danzig,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

in the mid-1700s. The clockmaking continued with Johann Kroeger, who moved in the late 18th century in the mass

migration to the Russian Empire and established his shop in

Rosenthal Rosenthal is a German and Jewish surname meaning "rose valley". Notable people with the name include: A * Abe M. Rosenthal (1922–2006), ''New York Times'' editor and columnist *Albert Rosenthal (1863–1939), American portrait artist * Albert ...

Chortitza Chortitza Colony was a volost Yekaterinoslav Governorate granted to Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonite for colonization northwest of Khortytsia Island and is now part of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Chortitza was founded in 1789 by Mennonite set ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The clocks were made by five generations of the Kroeger family until the early 20th century and are known their high quality and elaborate design. The clocks were wall-hanging clocks and rope-driven, in the early years, often with floral patterns on the dial. Most Mennonite families had one of these clocks as they were often given as wedding presents and were passed on among

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...

families as valued heirlooms and collector's items. Other Mennonite clock-makers include Lepp, Hildebrandt, Mandtler, and Hamm. The Kroeger Clock Heritage Foundation was established to preserve these and other Mennonite clocks, and has sponsored exhibits including the 2018 exhibit at

Mennonite Heritage Village Mennonite Heritage Village is a museum in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada telling the story of the Russian Mennonites in Canada. The museum contains both an open-air museum open seasonally, and indoor galleries open year-round. Opened in 1967 and ex ...

museum in Steinbach, Manitoba and others.

References

External links

Official site
Clock manufacturing companies 18th-century establishments in Prussia {{Ukraine-company-stub