Edenburg, Saskatchewan
Encyclopedia
Edenburg is a tiny hamlet or village located 4 miles northwest of the town of Aberdeen, Saskatchewan in Canada. Edenburg has a population of approximately 30 and is a mixed use residential/agricultural area.
Edenburg is a living example of the settlement preferences of the Mennonites, originally from northern Germany (Prussia) who emigrated to Canada via Russia. Although governmental policy of the day required the farmers to take up residence on their own homestead quarter (a portion of land 1/2 mile square), the Mennonites preferred and sometimes were given governmental exemption to live in villages similar to those they had left in Europe. Thus, Edenburg and many other such villages sprang up with narrow frontages on the roadway, yet had their back boundaries set rather far from the edge of the road. The effect is similar to the river lots favoured in Quebec, and by the Saskatchewan Métis people.
In 1902, just as the CNR was constructed past Aberdeen, came Jacob Unrau and family from Manitoba. He homesteaded the north west quarter of section 14, township 39, range 3, west of the third meridian but bought 15-39-3-3 of what the Dominion had given the CNR. On this section he founded the village of Edenburg, giving each of his children, as they married, a strip of land and built a church and graveyard. In 1904, daughter Anna married Cornelius A. Ens and was given one such lot. Ironically, an early entry into the graveyard was Anna, who died in childbirth with her child Isaac in 1913. Ens established the village store in 1918. Edenburg was situated on an east-west road, and gradually people settled across the road from this community and completed the village. Until 1921 the village had its own school, taught in German, for its students and those Mennonites on neighbouring farms.
As of 2005, neither schooling nor business are carried on any more in Edenburg though some farm the surrounding land, with residents travelling to Aberdeen or to Saskatoon for most commercial and educational matters or to commute to work.
Edenburg is a living example of the settlement preferences of the Mennonites, originally from northern Germany (Prussia) who emigrated to Canada via Russia. Although governmental policy of the day required the farmers to take up residence on their own homestead quarter (a portion of land 1/2 mile square), the Mennonites preferred and sometimes were given governmental exemption to live in villages similar to those they had left in Europe. Thus, Edenburg and many other such villages sprang up with narrow frontages on the roadway, yet had their back boundaries set rather far from the edge of the road. The effect is similar to the river lots favoured in Quebec, and by the Saskatchewan Métis people.
In 1902, just as the CNR was constructed past Aberdeen, came Jacob Unrau and family from Manitoba. He homesteaded the north west quarter of section 14, township 39, range 3, west of the third meridian but bought 15-39-3-3 of what the Dominion had given the CNR. On this section he founded the village of Edenburg, giving each of his children, as they married, a strip of land and built a church and graveyard. In 1904, daughter Anna married Cornelius A. Ens and was given one such lot. Ironically, an early entry into the graveyard was Anna, who died in childbirth with her child Isaac in 1913. Ens established the village store in 1918. Edenburg was situated on an east-west road, and gradually people settled across the road from this community and completed the village. Until 1921 the village had its own school, taught in German, for its students and those Mennonites on neighbouring farms.
As of 2005, neither schooling nor business are carried on any more in Edenburg though some farm the surrounding land, with residents travelling to Aberdeen or to Saskatoon for most commercial and educational matters or to commute to work.