‘P.S. 1887 ’ Clock
Kroeger Clock, 1887 (MC0100)
David Kroeger (1829–1909) made this clock around the time that the Mennonite colonies in Russia (now Ukraine) were undergoing an economic boom. More Mennonites in that period had a greater need for––and could afford––clocks that told both the hour and the minute. Increased demand also meant that Mennonite clockmakers were starting to industrialise. This clock has the hallmarks of later Kroeger clocks: the movement is more modern, it uses a chain drive instead of the more traditional rope drive, and the dished-out chapter ring, which enabled the dial to be thinner, became standard. However, the Kroegers only started to stamp serial numbers to the inside back of the clocks the year after this was made and still painted their dials by hand.
History
This clock likely first belonged to Peter and Maria (Paetkau) Siemens (1825–1890 and 1830–1893). It may also have originally belonged to their son, also Peter (1853–1919), who married Anna Petkau (1830–1893) in 1887.
At some point the clock passed to Peter and Maria's son Johann (1851–1919). According to their descendants, Johann and his wife Sara Hildebrand (1860–1934) received it when they moved into their new house in Nieder Chortitza, Chortitza Colony, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Johann and Sara kept their clock in their large dining room. According to a descendant, as many bricks had been used to build their house’s basement as were used in the rest of the structure. Nieder Chortitza was on the front during the Russian Civil War and when the shelling became intense, the Siemens family, and perhaps their neighbours, sought refuge in their basement. Their house is now a Ukrainian Orthodox church.
Sara’s husband Johann and their son Johann both died of typhus within two days of each other around Christmas 1919. Maria was also stricken with typhus and not expected to live, but she survived. She brought the clock with her when she came to Canada in 1928. She lived mainly with her daughter Maria, and after Sara’s death in 1934, the clock passed to her.
Maria (1888–1977) had married Johann Peters (1888–1919) of the estate Petersdorf in Russia. Her husband, father-in-law, and nine other family members were killed by anarchist bands in the fall of 1919. Maria came to Canada with her two sons in 1928 and settled in southern Manitoba. She married Jacob J. Siemens (1882–1957; no relation) in 1932.
After Maria’s death in 1977, the clock was passed down through her family.
Arthur Kroeger retouched the floral decorations dial in 2008. Roland Wickstrom repaired the pendulum in 2017.
Description Thirty-hour wall clock with pendulum and weight-driven movement, made by David Kroeger (1829–1909) in Rosenthal, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), in 1887. Arched dial with a raised chapter ring is light-coloured with a single dark border around the perimeter. Arch has hand-painted roses surrounded by greenery. Below that are the initials ‘P.S.’ in Gothic script, which stand for Peter Siemens, the original owner. Spandrels are hand-painted roses and greenery. White chapter ring with black Roman numerals. Inside the chapter ring is the date 1887. Two hands; chain drive; two weights.
Mennonite Clock Number MC0100
Object Name Kroeger Clock
Date Created 1887
Location Made Rosenthal, Chortitza Colony, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Other Markings DK / Дэвид Крегер / Канцеровка (David Kreger / Kanzerovkka, for Rosenthal; etched on pendulum); Made by David Kroeger, Rosenthal, 1887 / Restored by Arthur Kroeger 2008 (written on back of dial)
Movement Type Iron plate
Owner Private Owner
Publications Arthur Kroeger, Kroeger Clocks (Steinbach, MB: Mennonite Heritage Village, 2012), pp. 149–150.
Arthur Kroeger, ‘The Kroeger Clock,’ in First Mennonite Villages in Russia, 1789–1943, ed. N. J. Kroeker (Vancouver: N. J. Kroeger, 1981), p. 87.