100 years ago, the Voth family arrived in Canada

As communism gained ground in Russia, and civil war was disrupting the region where the Voths farmed the land in Neu Samara (modern day Orenburg), and Mennonites there were eventually displaced, my (Charles’) grandfather, grandmother and their first 3 children fled their homeland to migrate to Canada. After days and weeks of travel through Germany and the UK, they bought passage on the SS Melita, and sailed for Saint John, New Brunswick, arriving on the North American continent on December 6, 1925.

Today, on the pier across the harbour where the SS Melita docked a century ago, our son Zachary and I (Charles) commemorated the arrival by singing the Voth hymn, selected by Johannes Voth as the family anthem. There are nearly, if not more, than 100 offspring of this family, who fled for their lives, in search of freedom and new opportunities. We did our best to harmonize in Plaut Dietsch (low German). We were able to enjoy the weekend in Saint John, New Brunswick as a family, Zach and Angel, Pam and Charles, enjoying delicious food, fluffy snow and even the December Sparkles Festival in the Market Square in Downtown. The main purpose of our visit was to commemorate this very special event and Zachary and Charles spent time practicing the Voth Hymn in preparation. The lyrics roughly translated to English are below:

For God so loved us.

For God so loved us,
He sent the Saviour,
for God so loved us,
And loves me too.

Chorus:
Love so unending! I’ll sing His praises.
God loves His children, loves even me.

He sent the Saviour
The blest Redeemer.
He sent the Saviour
To set me free.

Glory and honour,
love eternal
to Thee be given
While life shall last.

The video can be watched here.