‘Widow’ Clock

Kroeger Clock, ca. 1885 (MC0285)

This clock originally belonged to a widow named Mrs. Unrau. In November 1926, she and her children boarded the SS Metagama, seeking a better life in Canada. On board the ship, she met Johann and Anna (Enns) Neufeld. Mrs. Unrau did not have much money and Johann offered her what he could spare––a golden ruble––but she didn’t want to accept charity. In return for the money, she gave him the only significant possession she had, her family’s Kroeger clock.

The clock has remained with Johann and Anna’s descendants ever since. The clock hung on the south wall of Johann and Anna’s kitchen on their farm near Niverville, Manitoba, Canada. There it remained from May 1927 to 1951 when they moved to a five-acre orchard near Welland Canal in Ontario. Johann died at the age of 76 in 1961. Anna died in 1979 and the clock passed to her daughter Mary. In turn, she gave the clock to her oldest living brother, John J. Neufeld, in 1994. He passed away a few weeks after receiving the clock. His wife, Regina, brought the clock to John’s brother, Abe Neufeld, and wife Irene, who lived in Winnipeg at the time. (Their work establishing churches in Austria is detailed in a 1978 book by Margaret Epp, 8., Tulpengasse: A Church Blossoms in Vienna.) They had the clock cleaned, serviced, and repainted by Arthur Kroeger in 1995. Irene, who was an artist, touched up the roses on the dial. They eventurally passed the clock to one of their sons, who owns it to this day.

Note: The widow, Mrs. Unrau, may be Elisabeth (Krause) Unruh (1889–1930). According to immigration records, she was on the SS Metagama at the same time as Johann and Anna Neufeld and travelling without a husband.

• Description Thirty-hour wall clock with pendulum and weight-driven movement, made by Kroeger Clockmakers in Rosenthal, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), ca. 1885. Arched dial with a raised chapter ring is light brown with a dark border around the perimeter. Arch has two large hand-painted roses surrounded by five rosebuds and greenery. Spandrels are hand-painted gold scrolls. Chapter ring is white with black Roman numerals and has white outer rings marking the minutes and quarter hours. Two hands; chain drive; two weights.

• Mennonite Clock Number MC0285

• Object Name Kroeger Clock

• Date Created ca. 1885

• Maker Kroeger Clockmakers

• Location Made Rosenthal, Chortitza Colony, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)

• Other Markings 2 (stamped on front and back iron frames, back of gearbox, gearbox doors, back of hour and minute hands, and the lead on back of pendulum); Made by David Kroeger ca. 1885 in Rosenthal, Ukraine. Restored by Arthur Kroeger 1995, Winnipeg (written on back of the dial by Arthur Kroeger)

• Movement Type Iron plate

• Owner Private Owner

• Publications Margaret Epp, 8., Tulpengasse: A Church Blossoms in Vienna, Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, Board of Publications, 1978.