‘A Very Old Clock’

Werder-style Clock, ca. 1750 (MC0076)

This clock was made sometime in the mid-eighteenth century in Prussia (in the Vistula Delta region, present-day Poland). It is not Mennonite-made; according to James O. Harms, it has some features never seen on Mennonite-made clocks (e.g. only the half-hour is indicated). At some point in its history, it was purchased by a Mennonite family and brought to Russia in the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century. It may have been brought to Russia by Johann Wall (ca. 1768–ca. 1810), a tailor who immigrated to Russia in 1795 and settled in Neuendorf, Chortitza Colony.

The clock came to Canada in 1875 with either Johann Wall (1848–1922) or his mother, Susanna (Krahn) Wall (1824–1902), who had married Johann Mueller (1833–?) after the death of her first husband (Johann Wall, 1818–1862, grandson of Johann Wall, ca. 1768–ca. 1810).

The Walls settled in Rosengard, West Reserve, in Manitoba, Canada. The clock was passed to one of Johann’s younger sons, Isaak Wall (1886–1946). Isaak moved to Saskatchewan in 1909 and to Mexico in the 1920s, where he settled in Blumenhof, Swift Current Colony. He returned to Canada around 1936–37. He settled in Morris, Manitoba, Canada, and then Plum Coulee, Manitoba.

The clock’s next owner was Isaak’s daughter Mary Wall (1916–2004). At some point she gave it to her youngest sister, Justina (Wall) Doerksen, and it is during this time that the pendulum was lost. Justina passed the clock to her sister, Susanna (Wall) Funk, who had a new pendulum made. In the 1990s Susanna sold the clock at auction to a relative, who sold it to the current owner around 2012.

Arthur Kroeger repaired the clock in 2013.

• Description Thirty-hour wall clock with pendulum and weight-driven movement, made by an unknown clockmaker, probably in the Grosser Werder, the area between the Vistula and Nogat rivers in what is now Poland, ca. 1750. Round dial with a decorative bonnet. Decorative bonnet has what appears to be a basket of roses (paint has flaked) surrounded by gold scrolls. Chapter ring is dark with gold inner and outer borders, gold Roman numerals, and gold diamonds to mark the half-hour. Inside the chapter ring is a hand-painted wreath of roses and other flowers. One hand; rope drive; two weights.

• Mennonite Clock Number MC0076

• Object Name Werder-style Clock

• Date Created ca. 1750

• Maker Unknown

• Location Made Probably Prussia

• Movement Type Iron plate

• Owner Private Owner

• Publications
  Ernest N. Braun and Glen R. Klassen, eds., Historical Atlas of the East Reserve (Winnipeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, 2015), cover.

  Ernest Braun, ‘History of a Werder Clock.’ Village News, Steinbach Online. Posted May 24, 2018 (accessed May 24, 2018). https://steinbachonline.com/community-blogs/mennonite-heritage-village/village-news-152

• Notes Decorative bonnet is less complex than other clocks with a similar dial. Top of gearbox and pendulum attachment mechanism are not typical of Kroeger-made clocks. Pendulum is a modern addition. The hour wheel is roughly cut out of a piece of tin; seems to be a later addition.