View source for Giesbrecht, Wilhelm T. (1849-1917)

Wilhelm T. Giesbrecht was a [[Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (CGC)|Church of God in Christ, Mennonite]] minister. He was one of five children born to Gerhard Giesbrecht (1816-1863) and Aganetha Thiessen (1825-1912) on 4 July 1849 in [[Prangenau (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Prangenau]], [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna Colony]], South [[Russia|Russia]]. Wilhelm received very little education and had to go out to work for farmers at an early age as his father was not a healthy man and limited in the work he could do to support his family. His father died when he was 13, leaving the family impoverished. Fortunately it was not long before Wilhelm came to work for Franz Kroeker who taught him the trade of shoemaking. Wilhelm was baptized into the [[Kleine Gemeinde|Kleine Gemeinde]] on 1 January 1871. In 1873 he married Elizabeth Harms (1854-1874) who sadly fell ill and died the following year leaving him with an infant son. In 1874 Wilhelm immigrated to [[Canada|Canada]] with his two-month old son who died shortly after they arrived in Manitoba. In 1875 Wilhelm married his second wife, Katharina Friesen (1855-1938). Together they had 14 children of which four died as infants. Wilhelm homesteaded in [[Kleefeld|Kleefeld]], Manitoba where he lived for four years. He then moved his family to Steinbach.

Wilhelm T. Giesbrecht was elected in 1884 as a minister of the Church of God in Christ Mennonite and ordained on 6 January. Two years earlier he had become a member of the Church of God in Christ Mennonite through rebaptism as a result of hearing the preaching of [[Holdeman, John (1832-1900)|Johann Holdeman]]. Wilhelm traveled extensively to visit and preach at various churches throughout [[Ontario (Canada)|Ontario]] and the northern [[United States of America|United States]] between 1888 and 1910. In addition to providing leadership in the church, Wilhelm was also inspired to write verses for hymns. Wilhelm T. Giesbrecht, a humble but faithful servant of the church, died in 1917
= Bibliography =
Giesbrecht, Gerhard F. "Wilhelm T. Giesbrecht 1849-1917." <em class="gameo_bibliography">Preservings</em> No. 9,  Part I (December 1996): 23-24.
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[[Category:Persons]]
[[Category:Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Ministers]]