Isaak P. Fast: teacher, father of Hermann Fast and of Abraham Fast of Jerusalem; born 23 March (New Style = 4 April) 1815 in Nümuensterberg, Gross Werder, Prussia, son of Peter Fast (d. 1821) and Maria (Bergmann) Fast (d, 1820) of Neu Münsterberg, Prussia. Peter married Elisabeth Dyck (20 December 1820, Pastwa, Molotschna, South Russia - 4 October 1906, Gnadenfeld, Molotschna, South Russia) on 11 November 1837 in Pastwa, Molotschna. Elisabeth was the daughter of Aron Bernhard Dyck (ca. 1792, Pastwa, Marienwerder, Prussia - ca. 1813, South Russia) and Maria (Penner) Dyck (b. 27 March 1785, Klein Lubin, Schwetz, Prussia). Isaak and Elisabeth had 14 children, of which eight lived to adulthood: Maria, Abraham, Elisabeth, Isaak, Jakob, Anna, Johannes, and Hermann. Isaak died in 1896 in Gnadenfeld, Molotschna, South Russia.

Isaak received his elementary and secondary training in Neu Münsterberg—the latter in the school of Lange at Rodlofferhufen—after which he taught school. On 10 August 1836 he left Prussia and went to Gnadenfeld, Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, South Russia, where he married Elisabeth Dyck and taught school in various Mennonite communities and opened a bookstore. A booklet containing a preface by Hermann Fast, the autobiography of Isaak P. Fast, and a sermon preached by Heinrich Dirks at his funeral was published by A. J. Fast (Winnipeg, 1932) under the title Züge aus meinem Leben.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 316. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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