Aganetha was born in Prussia on August 28, 1793. In 1806, her father, Peter (Regieren) Regier, a clock maker, migrated to Russia. He settled in Ekaterinoslav, now a city of a half-million called Dnepropetrovsk. When the Regiers came to this place, it was a miserable little Russian town founded but twenty years earlier, and named after the Empress Catherine the Great. It is located on the right bank of the Dnieper River, and was, for many years, the business center of the Mennonites of the Chortitza and Molotschna Colonies.

Clocks, of the type made by Regier, were found in the parlors of nearly every Mennonite home, usually hanging on the wall near the door leading to the Eckstube, or parents' bedroom. Their mechanism, which was handmade, was usually quite simple, and was operated by a pendulum that was kept in motion by weights, one light and one heavy. The brass weights, pendulum, and hands were always kept shining by the fastidious Mennonite housewives. The face of the clock, usually made of heavy tin twelve to fourteen inches square, was decorated by a flower motif, and usually bore the date of its manufacture. Such a clock hangs in the hallway of our Virginia farmhouse.

Aganetha spent most of her thirty years of marriage in child-bearing, for she had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. The medical aid available to her in childbirth was inadequate, for it was that of untrained midwives, who, despite the Mennonite penchant for cleanliness, were often unable to prevent infection during the delivery of children.

The children [of Johann Klaassen 1785 - 1841 and Aganetha Regier 1793 - 1863] were:

~~ Helena (Aug. 25, 1812 - Sept. 21, 1892), married David Friesen of Halbstadt;

~~ Aganetha (Aug. 22, 1814 - July ?, 1843), married Peter Wiebe of Tiegerweide;

~~ Johann (Oct. 11, 1816 - July 22, 1887), married Anna Jantzen of Petershagen;

~~ Abraham (Oct. 14, 1818 - April ? , 1821);

~~ Jacob (Dec. 8, 1820 - Dec. ? , 1821);

~~ Catherina (Jan. 25, 1823 - ? ), married Gerhard Koopp of Tiegerweide;

~~ Maria (May 21, 1825 - Nov. 25, 1895), married Abraham Klaassen of Tiegerweide;

~~ Adelgunda (Dec. 9, 1830 - March 24, 1890), married Peter Goossen of Schoensee;

~~ Anna (April 22, 1833 - Dec. 8, 1890), married Johann Enns of Orloff, and

~~ Margaretha (April 19, 1836 - Dec. 5, 1874), married Isaak Baerg of Blumenort.

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