Researching Robert

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Grace Meadow

Home for the Friendless at Gnadenau

by Jim Potter

I’d been researching Robert Parks’ life backwards, not forwards, from the year 1915. Thanks to the US Census, I knew beyond a doubt that 2-year-old Robert Borchart and his two brothers were in an orphanage in Marion County, Kansas, on June 1, 1900.

Since I might never learn details about Robert’s childhood, I decided to investigate the creation and organization of the orphanage established to care for the homeless and friendless. I wanted to better understand Robert’s time and place by learning the history and character of his elders. Their mission was to protect and care for the “interests of the poor, unfortunate children by providing them food, clothing, care education and Christian instruction. . .”¹

Before learning how long the Borchart boys had been living in the orphanage, and what had happened to their parents, I started studying the Gnadenau Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church (KMB), organized in 1869 in Crimea, Russia. To preserve the foundation of their faith, including not bearing arms, they had immigrated to the United States, southeast of Hillsboro, Kansas, in 1874, where the terrain resembled Crimea. They named their communal settlement Gnadenau because their daily life centered on their community, brotherhood, and faith.²

“Always deeply religious in nature and emphasizing a deep inner experience, regeneration, assurance of salvation, and holy living, the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren group stood for an intensely serious and strict manner of life. The group was very conservative and very slow to make changes in outward forms in dress and in general habits and customs, insisting upon maintaining the customs brought along from Russia and resisting Americanization and worldliness.”³

Whether Amanda Dohler (1852-1919) had a spiritual vision or an inspiring dream, she was a driving force for the establishment of the orphanage. With the trust of Bishop Jacob A. Weibe (1836-1921), the philanthropic help of Tobias Martin (1825-1906), and money from her inheritance, they began with 20 acres of land in 1889 when the charitable institution was founded, and gradually added acreage, a barn, livestock, and a wooden building for orphans.

Miss Amanda Dohner was the first matron at Gnadenau’s orphanage. “The first orphans arrived in November 1889 – seven children from Chicago, Illinois. By August 1890, eighteen children – ‘Germans, Mennonites, and Yankees’ – had been received at the orphan’s home. The orphanage was officially chartered by the state of Kansas on September 15, 1890, as ‘The Industrial School and Hygienic Home for Friendless Persons Association.’ During this time Amanda joined the fellowship of the Gnadenau Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church.”⁴

In an 1894 newspaper article, Tobias Martin talked about Sister Amanda Dohner’s dedication being evident as far back as 1880 when she was invited to teach English to the settlement’s Mennonite children. Tobias also endorsed the importance of a home where “people who are endeavoring to live a consistent Christian life, believing that a man or women’s daily life and conduct exert a greater influence over those around them than any sermon they can preach. Could a more suitable location have been selected for such a home, where the children are to be trained in the way of truth and righteousness than surrounded by such influences?”⁵

By the time the Borchart boys arrived at the orphanage, Amanda Dohner had given up her heavy responsibilities due to failing health. But the impact of her work managing children, the home, and the farm, was immeasurable. Fortunately, Amanda’s spiritual encounter in 1882 about caring for and training children, allowed her light to shine for others, like a beacon on the prairie, giving glory to God.

Amanda’s love and compassion for children helped create fertile ground as productive as the Mennonite’s love affair with the soil. Thanks to the orphanage at Gnadenau, Robert Borchart and his brothers were given an opportunity to recover from a child’s greatest personal loss, the absence of their parents.

It’s impossible to know which tenets, if any, of the Gnadenau people rubbed off on the very young boys. Did they develop similar courage in their convictions displayed by their elders? Did they absorb the landmark characteristics of integrity, industry, piety, and outreach⁶ exemplified by Bishop Weibe when he led his congregation from Russia to Kansas? Did the boys ever meet Sister Amanda or Brother Tobias who followed their vision of ministry to orphan children in Kansas despite their home churches in Pennsylvania declining to support the outreach effort?

My discoveries led me to another crossroad. Did I look backwards to discover what caused the Borchart boys to become residents in an orphanage, or did I go forward to discover if Robert Borchart Parks lived long enough to display his own personal character traits in a changing world?

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Notes

^{1. Marion Headlight (Marion, KS), Sept. 10, 1891, 5.}

^{2. Schmidt, Benjamin, “Towards a Common Religious History of the Gnadenau Settlement 1874-1920,” Bethel College Mennonite Life, 2015, v69.}

^{3. Bender, Harold S. “Krimmer Mennonite Brethren.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1957.}

^{4. “Amanda Dohner: Mother of Orphans,” by Peggy Goertzen. Profiles of Mennonite Faith, No. 26, Winter 2004. Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission.}

^{5. Marion Record (Marion, KS) Aug. 11, 1894, 5.}

^{6. Dr. Harold T. Wiebe mentioned these characteristics in his talk, “Tribute to the Early Settlers,” Mennonite Weekly Review, Aug. 22, 1974, 7.}

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