Susanna Unruh Friesen

I, Susanna (Unruh) Friesen, was 13 years old when I came to America from Molotschna, Russia.  My family was poor and could not afford passage for all of their 10 children so the oldest four were paid for by another family and I worked for the Aaron Warkentin family for 15 months, without earning even so much as my clothes, and then for others, equaling a total of three years to pay for my passage.  I plowed with oxen, gathered corn stalks for the fire in winter, and during harvest, I ran beside the horses hollering “Gee” or “Haw” until I could no longer talk. At one point I came home for a visit but had nothing to wear to church so my mother purchased 4 yards of fabric for 5 cents a yard and made a dress for me.

I knew John Friesen for a long time but we had never spoken to one another.  One Sunday he came to my father and asked permission to visit.  Permission granted, John came to our home that week and we were together for the first time.  He sat on the sofa and I sat on a chair.  He popped the question and of course, I consented.  On Saturday, the family from both sides gathered together and we were officially engaged.  The following day (Sunday) we walked to church together and then John sat in the men’s section and I sat with the ladies on the other side of the aisle. After general singing and a very long sermon, we came to the front and the marriage vows were said.  Following the benediction, all the guests ate the wedding supper consisting of zwieback, coffee and sugar lumps.

At age 20 I became the proud mother of our first child, John Friesen Jr.  Then came Jake, Lena, Marie, Henry, Daniel, Pete, Anna, Herman and Susan—ten in all.  I enjoyed being a farmer’s wife and mother. 

John became a preacher and served as a lay minister in the Gnadenau Church for many years.  He went to be with the Lord when I was 73 and I lived the remainder of my long life with various family members.