People > Notable Norkans > Rev. Heinrich Helser
Rev. Heinrich Helser
Heinrich Hölzer was born January 17, 1844 in Norka, Russia. Heinrich married Christina Ross, who was also born in Norka (in 1843). According to his great-granddaughter, Loretta Woodward, Heinrich Hölzer became a Mennonite minister in Russia. Heinrich and his wife left Norka in 1878, bound for America. They first settled in Hastings, Nebraska, where they lived in a Mennonite commune. The commune had a large central house surrounded by cottages. The 1880 U.S. Census shows Henry and Christina Helzer living in the Lincoln Precinct of Clay County, Nebraska. Henry's occupation is shown as "farmer." The family would later migrate west to Portland, Oregon, in November 1891.
Photograph of Heinrich Helzer (seated in the wheelchair) next to his wife Christina (nee Rosh or Ross) in Portland, Oregon.
Heinrich and Christina were part of a large group of immigrants from Norka who settled in Portland's Albina neighborhood.
According to the limited available documents, the Mennonite congregation founded by Rev. Helzer (later Helser) began meeting in the Albina area of Portland by 1891, ten years after the arrival of the first Volga Germans in Portland. By 1892, the church had 22 members. By 1895, there were 38 church members.
According to Kevin Enns-Rempel, archivist at the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Fresno, California, the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church was comprised mainly of Volga Germans. It was, therefore, culturally different from the larger Mennonite Brethren Church.
Some of these Volga Germans joined the Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia, and others did so after they migrated to North America in the 1870s. The Sutton and Hastings, Nebraska Mennonite Brethren Churches were made up almost entirely of such Volga German converts to the Mennonite Brethren Church. It appears that a large percentage of the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church may have come from Sutton or Hastings.
Mr. Enns-Rempel states that little is known about the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church. The church was never large; it was geographically isolated from other Mennonite Brethren congregations; it remained culturally distinct from the larger Mennonite Brethren Church and seems to have left behind little documentary evidence from which historians might work.
Rev. Heinrich Helser died on March 30, 1904, and was buried at the Columbian Cemetery in North Portland.
According to the limited available documents, the Mennonite congregation founded by Rev. Helzer (later Helser) began meeting in the Albina area of Portland by 1891, ten years after the arrival of the first Volga Germans in Portland. By 1892, the church had 22 members. By 1895, there were 38 church members.
According to Kevin Enns-Rempel, archivist at the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Fresno, California, the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church was comprised mainly of Volga Germans. It was, therefore, culturally different from the larger Mennonite Brethren Church.
Some of these Volga Germans joined the Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia, and others did so after they migrated to North America in the 1870s. The Sutton and Hastings, Nebraska Mennonite Brethren Churches were made up almost entirely of such Volga German converts to the Mennonite Brethren Church. It appears that a large percentage of the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church may have come from Sutton or Hastings.
Mr. Enns-Rempel states that little is known about the Portland Mennonite Brethren Church. The church was never large; it was geographically isolated from other Mennonite Brethren congregations; it remained culturally distinct from the larger Mennonite Brethren Church and seems to have left behind little documentary evidence from which historians might work.
Rev. Heinrich Helser died on March 30, 1904, and was buried at the Columbian Cemetery in North Portland.
Tombstone of Henry and Christina Helser at the Columbian Cemetery. The inscription for Henry reads: "In deine hände befehle ich meinen geist; du hast mich erlöst, du treuer Gott." This roughly translates to: "Into your hands I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O faithful God."
Sources
Lind, Hope Kauffman. Apart and Together: Mennonites in Oregon and Neighboring States, 1876-1976, Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1990
75 Years of Fellowship: Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches 1912-1987, Fresno, Calif.: Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, 1987.
Mennonite Library and Archives - Fresno Pacific University.
75 Years of Fellowship: Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches 1912-1987, Fresno, Calif.: Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, 1987.
Mennonite Library and Archives - Fresno Pacific University.
Last updated December 9, 2023