On April 10, 1857 in the Mennonite village of Fischau, Molotchna Colony of South Russia,
Abraham and Anna Eidse were blessed with the arrival of a healthy little baby boy whom they
named Abraham. He was the 10th of 11 children. Three brother's named Heinrich, Abraham and
Abraham respectively died in infancy. His family consisted of one older brother, five older sisters
and one younger brother. His mother died on Dec. 24, 1864 when he was only six years old.
Abraham's family continued to live in Fischau until 1874 when he (17) along with his father (63),
brother Heinrich (15) and sister Justine (23) emigrated to Manitoba on the S.S. Austrian No. 65
on August 31, 1874.
Rosenhoff
The Eidses settled in Rosenhoff on the Scratching River Reserve joining son and brother Cornelius Eidse. Heinrich Enns, Abraham E. Eidse's uncle, also settled there with his family in 1875. Within a few years Abraham became ill with typhoid fever but due to the assistance of other families recuperated. Brother Heinrich and father Abraham moved to Abilene, Texas later in life where his father passed away.
Abraham E. Eidse was a dark-haired, blue-eyed young man, who attended the Rosenhoff Church.
He was baptized on Dec. 18, 1875 - part of the first official baptism of the Rosenhoff-Rosenort
congregation. He helped with the family farm and was employed by the government to build up a
railroad bed through Riverside for several summers. The pay for this job was $2.25 a day. To his
great disappointment the railroad was established through Morris instead.
Eidse honeymoon cabin.1880.
Abraham was married to Helena B. Klassen, daughter of delegate David Klassen, on April 6, 1879. She had been serving the community as a midwife since 1875, at age 13. They established their own home and began farming on the NW 1/4 16-5-1E in Rosenhoff. They lived in a small cabin with a lean-to attached. Abraham was a successful farmer and supplemented his income with a blacksmith shop. Later he also owned and operated one of the first steam threshing machines. Community members said of Abraham that whatever he touched turned to gold. The saying went that where he walked the wheat grew higher and the yields were better. It seemed the land he farmed grew bountiful crops.
Ministry
On March 22, 1882, in part due to the Holdeman split, Abraham was elected to serve as a deacon in the Rosenhoff KG church. At the same time his nephew Johann K. Friesen was ordained as a minister. In 1902 the church chose him to be a minister. Johan R. Dueck was elected to serve as a deacon in his stead. Both Abraham and Helena were kept busy preaching, farming, raising their children and caring for the sick. Rev. Eidse often preached his sermons from memory rather than in the traditional reading style. Because he suffered from hardening of the arteries and anemia he sometimes delivered his messages sititing in a chair. Thirty perfectly preserved sermons handwritten, dated and preached by Abraham are extant and in care of Nettie Bartel of Riverside. Abraham ministered in his home church, on the East Reserve, and also travelled to Nebraska to participate in several conferences there. He signed an important Kleine Gemeinde document in 1901.
Partly due to the fact that his wife was an experienced midwife, Abraham lead discussions on sexuality at a few brotherhood meetings. He emphasized maturity, graciousness, patience and restraint on the part of men toward their wives. He attempted personal family counselling where abuses were noted. He mentioned Mosaic laws regarding menstrual cycles, cleanliness and abstinence shortly after childbirth. He and his wife did their best to alleviate ignorance in the community.
One of his best friends through the years was Rev. Johan K. Friesen. They were companions in baptism, ministry, shared children in marriage, and travel. Abraham shared the devotional at the Friesen's 50th anniversary July 20, 1926.
An interesting fact of Abraham's life was that he supported mission outreach at a time when
preservation rather than the propagation of the gospel was stressed in the Kleine Gemeinde
churches. As early as 1910 Abraham and Helena were financially supporting a missionary couple
(Penners) in India. In the 1920's Abraham actively encouraged the beginnings of the Mennonite
Central Committee. He developed lifelong friendships with his German-Lutheran laborers and is
credited by the Brunkild congregation as the minister who helped organize the original Brunkild
Lutheran congregation. He is noted as having lead their first brotherhood meeting. He was well
known as a financial advisor and also acted as a banker for a number of new immigrants.
An Immigrant's Testimony
According to Abram J. Berg, a Russlaender Mennonite immigrant, his experiences with Rev. Eidse were very positive. Excerpts from his book are as follows, "There was a kind old gentleman on the train with white hair, a long white beard and friendly eyes...He said he had looked at the families with the most children and he like us. He had an empty house and barn on one of his farms where we could live by ourselves and Peter and I would always have work on the farms of one of his three sons...We didn't realize how luck we were at that moment but we soon found out. When we arrived at the railway station in Morris all the families were lined up on the platform of the railway station and examined as to their potential usefulness to our hosts, much like the negro slaves in their time. And you heard remarks like: "They have too many kids, we have enough of our own," or "I don't like that woman" etc. We, the Peter Berg family, had already been selected and were spared all those humiliating remarks. How fortunate!
" The house was fully furnished, a stove, a rough table, some beds, cooking utensils, plates, cups, etc. right to a box of matches, not a thing was missing. And there was a cow in the barn. There was also some food, bread, potatoes, coffee and milk. Who expected that?.. Mary had, by that time, organized her household under the supervision of old Mrs Eidse, who was a very friendly and efficient old lady. She was also the doctor and midwife of the district....Old Mr. and Mrs. Eidse were definitely one of the more intelligent families of the Mennonite settlement at Morris and they stood out from many others. They had four children, Abram, David, Cornelius and a daughter, Mrs. Bartel. The family was well off, and if I'm correct, old Mr. Eidse owned two sections of land. I would hesitate to call the Eidses rebellious, but they definitely had a a mind of their own and managed to get away with it in the generally narrow-minded congregational structure and its rules.
As I have said, old Mrs. Eidse was a minister of their Kleinegemeinde Church. He had a beard which was against the regulations of their church. "A beard is the pride of man, and the Bible condemns pride", was one of their rules. He was the first to by a steam engine and threshing machine. When he did that the congregation tried to excommunicate him. He invited them to the field and gave them a demonstration, showing them how well it all worked and persuaded them to delete that regulation from the list of sins."
Rev. Eidse managed to keep Abram and his brother employed well after the regular work season
was over so that they'd be able to pay of their travelling debt. He went the extra mile arranging a
work trip out to cousins in Saskatchewan and then later pulling some "strings" with Baptist
friends of his from Morris.