Riesen, van, family
Van (von) Riesen, a Mennonite family found in a number of West Prussian churches (Danzig, Ladekopp, Tiegenhagen, Heubuden, Elbing) from the early 17th century. David von Riesen was a Mennonite preacher. Cornelius von Riesen (b. 1754) who in 1789 moved from Damfeld in the area of Marienburg, Prussia, to Neuendorf, Russia, was from 1794 a preacher of the Frisian Mennonite Old Colony (Chortitza) congregation.
Cornelius Jansen married Helena von Riesen, the daughter of Peter von Riesen, who printed Menno's writings. David Goerz also married a Helene Riesen. Some of the Riesens who joined the Kleine Gemeinde changed their name to Friesen. Many of them settled in Jansen, Nebraska, and Manitoba. Some of the Riesens established the Brudertal Mennonite Church near Hillsboro, Kansas, and others settled in Beatrice, Nebraska. Ronald von Riesen, a General Conference Mennonite minister, served as president of Freeman College 1951-1958.
Bibliography
Reimer, G. E. and G. R. Gaeddert. Exiled by the Czar. Newton, 1956: 4 ff., 191.
Reimer, Gustav E. Die Familiennamen der westpreussischen Mennoniten. Weierhof: Mennonitische Geschichtsverein, 1940: 116.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 332. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.
©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Riesen, van, family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 May 2013. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/riesen_van_family.
APA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1959). Riesen, van, family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 May 2013, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/riesen_van_family.
