Biographical Sketch

Daniel Balzer was born on July 24, 1887, in Schardau, Molotschna, south Russia to Jacob Balzer and Katharina Ediger (1847–1916). Here he grew up and attended school. When he was twenty six he was baptised by Johann Sudermann into the Mennonite Brethren church at Alexanderthal. During the first World War he was required to work in the medical Corps on the trains. He was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war. After the war, and his release, he married Maria Heinrichs and settled in the Terek Colony. Throughout his life, Daniel farmed but had an inner passion for writing poetry. The newly weds were married only for a short eight months when she died. Daniel then married his sister-in-law, Maria, who had been married to his brother David. David had been killed in 1918, during the war when he worked for the Red Cross. Daniel became step father to eight children that his new wife brought to the marriage. After five years of marriage, she died of diabetes. Daniel married for a third time, this time to Sara Toews in 1925. They had eight children together, four boys and four girls.

In 1925, the family immigrated to Canada and lived for a number of years in Eyebrow, Saskatchewan, and later in Vauxhall, Alberta. In 1957, they moved to Vancouver, B.C. In 1959, he was diagnosed with diabetes. He died of cancer on May 12, 1962, at the age of 74.