One of the delightful surprises of writing this blog is
being found by other Willems and Zimmermann descendants. The photos of the pulpit below were sent to
me by Dennis Zimmerman who lives in
Winkler, Manitoba. He is another great-grandchild
of Heinrich H. Zimmermann. HHZ’s son
Henry (1895-1977) was Dennis’ beloved grandfather.
The pulpit is in a scale model replica of the
Brotherfield Mennonite Brethren Church near Waldheim, Saskatchewan. I’d heard that my great-grandfather
Zimmermann made the pulpit for the Brotherfield MB Church, but gave it little
thought. The snapshot my dad had was
dark. I couldn’t see any details, just
saw the usual pulpit shape. I had no
idea how beautiful it was until I saw these photos Dennis sent.
My aunts Mary Davis and Rosella Noble said that their
Grandpa Zimmermann was a carpenter and made beautiful cupboards in people’s
houses when he lived in Reedley. They
also said he painted flowers on them.
Those flowers can be seen on the top of the pulpit.
Heinrich Zimmermann was not just a carpenter. This pulpit is a beautiful piece of
furniture, and I’m wondering if the factory where he worked in Sergejevka might
not have been a furniture factory. The
Mennonites in Russia did build furniture, and this pulpit looks very much like
some of the painted furniture in the book, Mennonite
Furniture: A Migrant Tradition (1766-1910).[i] I’ve not yet found mention of a furniture
factory in Sergejevka, but that does not mean there wasn’t one there. I will see if I can find out more
information.
