Peter J. Harder was born in Russia on April 5, 1871, the second of three children of Jacob and Helena (Elias) Harder. Peter was married to Katharina Epp on Nov. 22, 1898. She was born to Martin and Katharina (Reimer) Epp on May 30,1878 in Russia. There are other members of the Epp family wbo also lived in the Valley area. One brother, Cornelius Epp, lived at Rosthern. He was elected as the first elder in the Bergthaler Mennonite Church in 1902. His wife was Maria Bueckert. Another brother to Katharina was Martin Epp who lived in the vlllage of Hochfeld. He was married to Agatha Dyck. The third brother was Peter. He lived in the vlllage of Edenberg (near Aberdeen). He was married to Katharina Guenter. All three of these brothers moved to Mexico in the 1920s.

Peter and Katharina came to Canada from Russia in approx. 19011. It was not long before Peter was hired as a school teacher at the Mennonite German private school at Rosthern. The school was located on the farm of a Bergthaler minister, named Rev. Heinrich Bergen. This particular school was different than the Old Colony vlIlage schools, in the sense that It was not in a vlIlage and that It included Mennonites of many different backgrounds. Two Old Colony ministers....

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