Hausknecht, Kaspar Adrian (1790-1848)
Kaspar Adrian Hausknecht: teacher and school founder, born 12 October 1790 in St. Gallen, Switzerland to David Hausknecht and Anna Maria Steigermann, and converted to the Mennonite faith in Prussia. He was baptised in Brenkenhoffswalde by Elder Wilhelm Lange. He died 27 May 1848 at Insel Chortitza, Chortitza, Russia. In 1828, Kasper Hausknecht came to Chortitza and married Anna Sudermann (1802-1873) in Molotschna in 1830. He belonged to the Chortitza “study group” around the minister David Epp and which included the craftsman and later industrialist, Peter Lepp. He also knew Johann Cornies and the fellow St. Gallen missionary to the Nogai Tartars, Daniel Schlatter.
In 1830 he founded a private boys' school at Einlage. Since there were few Russian schools in this region, many Russian nobles and merchants entrusted the education of their sons as Hausknecht could teach both in French and German. His instruction and principles of education were suggestive of Pestalozzi's ideas. He even used pictorial illustrations and other auxiliary material.
Hausknecht was a serious student of nature, took his students to areas close to school to study the local botany, zoology, and geology. He also studied astronomy. Hausknecht lived entirely for and with his pupils, and as an excellent teacher who held their interest in learning. His school was the first secondary school in the Chortitza region. Heinrich Heese continued the school after Hausknecht left. For a brief period his son, David Hausknecht (1834-?), was the first teacher of the Bruderschule at Gnadenfeld.
The name "David Hausknecht" was the used in the original Mennonite Encyclopedia printed in 1956, instead of the correct name "Kaspar Adrian Hausknecht".
Bibliography
Dieth-Locher, Fridrich. Bürgerbuch der Stadt St. Gallen: abgeschlossen auf 31. Dezember 1886. St. Gallen: Huber and Cie, 1887, 149.
Dyck, Harvey L., Ingrid I. Epp, John R. Staples, editors. Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe: Letters and Papers of Johann Cornies, Volumes 1 and 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2015/2020 [Letters exchanged between Cornies and Hausknecht].
Epp, David H. Sketches from the Childhood History of the German Industry in the Colonies of South Russia. (Translated by J. P. Penner, 1972) [Originally in Der Botschafter 1912 and reprinted in Der Bote 1937-38].
Friesen, Peter M. Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II: 267.
Neufeld, A. Die Choritzer Zentralschule. Berdyansk, 1893.
“Tagebuch von Anna Klassen, geb. Hausknecht 1877-1883” https://chort.square7.ch/Buch/TagKl.pdf
| Author(s) | David H Epp |
|---|---|
| James Urry | |
| Date Published | Sept 2020 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Epp, David H and James Urry. "Hausknecht, Kaspar Adrian (1790-1848)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Sept 2020. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hausknecht,_Kaspar_Adrian_(1790-1848)&oldid=169292.
APA style
Epp, David H and James Urry. (Sept 2020). Hausknecht, Kaspar Adrian (1790-1848). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Hausknecht,_Kaspar_Adrian_(1790-1848)&oldid=169292.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 681. All rights reserved.
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