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Village Coordinator Reports 2002
Villages A-L
| A | B | D | E | F | G
| H | J | K | L
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Villages M-Z
| M | N | O
| P | R | S | T
| V | W | Y
| Z |
VC Newsletter Editor Carolyn Gorr
AEHRENFELD / ÄHRENFELD, Saratov, Volga
Aehrenfeld
Web Site ~ with the village of Kratzke
Brent Mai
Greetings from Nashville!
This has been a very active year for researchers who trace their
roots to the Volga colonies of Kratzke and Ährenfeld. Ährenfeld is the
daughter colony of Kratzke and Kautz. I have received hundreds of
requests from relatives in the United States, Germany, Russia, and South
America. It is fascinating to realize how numerous and geographically
wide spread are the descendants of 129 original settlers (plus a few
additional families that moved in over the years)!
For me, the most interesting questions are coming from Germany and
Russia. It is amazing that these "survivors" of the various
events in their families’ histories actually have as much data as they
do about their ancestors! We have been able to connect a few of them
into the known family lines here in North America, but since Kratzke was
one of the early colonies to begin leaving for the U.S. and Canada
(1876), it is often difficult to make definitive connections at this
point.
Several new "charts" have been received during the last year. All of those this year came in email format,
so they’re not technically "charts," but they include the
same type of data.
To-date the following families are available:
Kratzke Charts
| Bender |
Fabrizius |
Knaus |
Schäfer |
| Berschauer |
Gideon |
Krug |
Schneider |
| Blehm |
Gross |
Mai |
Schröder |
| Boxberger |
Jäger |
Maier/Meier |
Schwein |
| Deines |
Kindsvater |
Michaelis |
Templing |
| Dietz |
Koleber |
Müller |
|
Ährenfeld Charts
| Bender |
Fabrizius |
Michaelis |
Schneider |
| Blehm |
Knaus |
Rein |
Specht |
| Boxberger |
Mai |
Schäfer |
|
In related families, I also have Mai
and Schneider from
Eckheim.
In return for a copy of each chart, we request a minimum $35
contribution to the Kratzke Research Fund from which additional
information from Russia is purchased.
Please let me know if there are any questions regarding these or
other families from Kratzke and/or Ährenfeld.
ALEXANDERTAL (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga
Richard A. Kraus
In 2002 an exciting new section was added to our website showing
texts of letters from Alexandertal. People from other villages will be
interested in these. And almost every month we find another Alexandertal
descendant and another ship bearing Alexandertalers to the US. Those are
kept updated on the web-site.
ALT DANZIG, Kirovograd and NEU DANZIG, Nikolayev
Curt Renz
While there are still four months remaining in 2002 and the hope to
uncover more, I have been actively going through many rolls of
microfilmed newspapers in the State Historical Library of North Dakota
searching for obituaries for anyone born in any of the four ancestral
villages that I am the VC for. Along with ordering these microfilm
through inter-library loan, I’ve also made three trips to Bismarck to
spend about nine days researching in the library itself. One advantage
is that the Library has all of its newspapers posted on-line with their
assigned file numbers. To date, I’ve been able to glean about 130
additional obituaries for the collection. In addition, with the very
generous and skillful assistance by translators, the letter collections
continues to grow. These are letters written from Russia to either
individuals in America or to an American German newspaper and published
by that newspaper.
ANTON, Saratov, Volga
Betty Muradian
Not much took place this year. Still waiting for the finalized map
report from Antoners living in Germany. When that is received, there
will be a map drawn up for Anton of the year 1941. Please let your
Anton Village Coordinator know if you have any old information to share
with us. We are also looking for new stories and pictures of Anton to
increase our knowledge of the village and its inhabitants. Lists of
early Antoners are being compared with the last list known in 1941.
There seems to be many changes of residences ton different villages over
the years.
We are trying to find any information on a pond that existed near
Anton, as there are several pictures of someone rowing on that pond.
Also, send inquiries on any information you would want on Anton and
its daughter villages. There are still some inquiries yet to be
answered.
BALZER, Saratov, Volga
Wayne Bonner, VC
Dr. Darrell Weber W218,
Data Entry
Virtually no new abstracts of church records or census returns for
Balzer or Moor were received during the past year from Russia. A
number of requests were sent, but no reply.
A few new surname charts were received for Moor and Balzer. This
information was kindly donated to the group by the purchasers.
The Balzer Group Newsletter is still being issued, but it is getting
more difficult to put together due to a lack of information. The
newsletter may be put on temporary hold next year so that informative
information and interesting stories can be gathered. Some old articles
printed in German journals in the 1930’s have been found. These seem
to contain interesting genealogical information about our German
ancestors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a translator.
The Balzer web page is up and running and several people have
contacted us because of the web site. Snail mail letters have been
received. Unfortunately, of the forty or so received in the past year,
only one or two had a return envelope enclosed. Nevertheless, these
letters will also be answered.
We hope 2003 will be more productive.
BANGERT, Samara, Volga
Paul Koehler
There has been three inquiries about families from Bangert this year.
I have answered them the best I could from the database I have, which is
just over a year old. I have 5,389 individuals and keep adding as I
receive the information. A Heinz
chart is on it’s way from Canada.
Fred Bork, who was born in Bangert, contacted me and had a pair of
camel hair boots that were in perfect condition. He wanted to donate the
boots to the headquarters museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. He had lived
within three blocks of headquarters for a part of his younger days. The
donation was accomplished and the boots are on display in the museum.
Fred is 101 ½ years of age, still drives his car and visits friends in
retirement homes in the St. Joseph, Michigan area.
We have no newsletter at this time but possibly in the future if
there is a need for one.
BERGDORF, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
BIRZULA, (Kotovsk), Odessa, Kherson
Jan Stangl
I have had no requests this past year about any of my tiny villages.
I do not have a newsletter.
I do continue to add information that I find in EWZ records
pertaining to my villages. Maury Gauer is a great help in entering
materials that pertains to Nesselrode/Birsula area.
BORODINO, Bessarabia
Judy A. Remmick-Hubert
The web site has been updated and many more names of ancestors and
descendants of the original Borodino colonists have been added. People
have been generous and have sent me their photographs that give the web
site a new look. The census has been published and can be purchased
through our bookstore. Several printed copies of my web site are
drifting around the various organizations.
The web grew so large that I’ve split the site into two parts and
they can be found at the links above.
My future plans are simple, I hope to continue to add more and more
family names and link cousins with other cousins.
This long journey has been a pleasure because of all the generous
people who have helped make my web site what it is today. There isn’t
enough space here to thank each and every one of you; however, I do
thank all of you.
BRUNNENTAL (Kriwojar), Samara, Volga
Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl
VC, Newsletter Editor & Brunnental Data Bank
This year has been increasingly busy for me as a Village Coordinator.
I get queries every week, and have continued to add to the Brunnental
Data Bank and link up families, always learning new information along
the way. I now have over 28,850 names on file, with extensive source
information, including, obituaries, census information, ship lists,
cemetery information, personal histories, etc.
The surnames which we’ve worked on this year include: Dietz,
Steinmetz, Aschenbrenner, Nagel, Stroh, Becker, Hergert, Schaefer,
Weber, Groth, Voelker (Felker), Block, Gutwig, Helser, Baum, Woitt/Woith,
Dahmer, Linker, Schlotthauer, & Weitzel. We’ve made lots of new
contacts, and joined several unlinked families.
This year I decided to subscribe to "ancestry.com" and I
was able to find a lot of census information on many of the families
from Brunnental for the census years 1900, 1910, 1920 and now 1930. I
want to especially thank Gene Jenkins who has posted so many Census
Indexes, which gave me great "clues" on where to look -- http://webbitt.com/volga/usa-census.html
--
Those have helped me so much in putting together families and
tracking them as they moved across America.
I’ve also enjoyed using the "Ellis Island" site to find
those coming into NY from Brunnental. I have found many new families
this way.
I still have old village Newsletters available for sale, which you
can check out on my website. Plus I have posted other important
information about the village.
DINKEL, Saratov, Volga
Leroy Nikolaisen
Very little action for this year for the Dinkel report. I have
answered 4 letters requesting info about relatives that lived in Dinkel.
Village night at the convention night was a no show as far as people
seeking info about the village and its people.
DOBRINKA, Saratov, Volga
Gary Martens M405
Dobrinka 2002 report submitted by Arliss (G/C/Klauser) Hoskins:
Dobrinka was settled 29 June 1764 and had one Reformed (CLAUSER of
Switzerland 1665-85 originally), several Lutheran and five Catholic
families which presents a challenge to researchers. Thanks to AHSGR
members funding and the Russian research and the church
records of Dobrinka, which have maiden names, one can now find those
original roots and the German village. The population of this Lutheran
colony was 323 in 1769, 353 in 1773, 552 in 1798, 5400 in 1912, and 3209
in 1926. The Volga Settlers 1764-7, by Professor Pleve, states five
Katholics were in Dobrinka, and they were:
*Ridelmann, Johann, 32, Kath, arrived 29.6.1764
*Seiffert, Christian, 37, Kath arrived 29.6.1764
Glas (Glaser?), Johannes, 40, Kath, arrived 15.4.1765
Nemeti, Stephan, 35, Kath, arrived 29.4.1765
*Utz, Johann Jacob, 22, Luth, arrived 15.4.1765
*Utz, Joseph, 60, Kath, arrived 15.4.1765
(*1798 Volga Census has REIDEL, SIEFERT and UTT.)
The book, Immigration to the Volga Region, 1764-1767 by Dr.
Igor Pleve and edited by Dr. Alfred Eisfeld contains information for the
following names. This book is available from AHSGR.
DOBRINKA 1764-67
Albrecht, Asplew?, Baer, Bast, Baumgaertner, Bischof, Breiner,
Breuer, Buege, Cabobel, Chrispens, CLAUSER, Dietz, Dozert?, Eichmann?,
Erich 2 of Sweden, Emerdorfer?, Erbes, Erlich, Faust, Filius?, Flad?,
Flom?*, Flomart?, Foos, Fuertig, Geier, Geist, Gerlach, Glas
(Glaser?), Goetz, Graf, Graetz, Hafele, Hahn, Heidelbach, Heidemann,
Heinze, Horlensin, Horst, Hueber-2, Just, Kahl, Kaltenschnee, Keller,
Klaus, Knedler?, Krassel, Kraut, Langhofer, Meer? Meier-2, Michaelis,
Mihl, Moninger?, Morhart?, Mueller, Nemeti, Opfer, Philippsen, Relke,
Rau-3, Rauch, Reidelmann, Reiser?, Ruehl (Rihl?), Rupp, Satzfried?,
Sauer, Schemberg (Schieberg?), Schimpf, Schenk, Schoen, Schmunk,
Schnieder, Schueber, Schulz, Schwend?, Seiffert, Schindler, Schintwelt?,
Simon, Strep?-2, Utz-2, Vogel-2, Weber, Weimar, Wenz-2, Wenzel,
Ziegler, Zimmerberg
(Caps are Arliss Hoskins family members.) *Flom may be Pflaumer.
Numbers indicate number of families. Two families NOT listed in the
Pleve book above but we think immigrated to Dobrinka are Bentz and Wolf.
Surnames in the 1798 Dobrinka census. The census, translated into
English, is available from AHSGR.
Alb, Albreacht, Arndt, Aschbief?, Barman, Baumgartner, Becker,
Besser?, Bieg/Bich?, Bischoff, Bosler, Brauer, Breier, Dachert,
Dahlinger, Deisner, Dieterle?, Ehrlich, Eich, Eip/Eib?, Eirich,
Eisengut?, Ephraim, Ernst,Eulenburg?, Faust, Flath, Flaumer, Foss,
Frank, G(K)razer/Grasser, Geiner/Keiner?, Geist, Gerla(o)ch, Glas(s)?,
Goleisen?, Gotz, Graf(f), Gretz/Kretz, Frun, Gunther, Heffel(e),
Heidelbach, Hein(t)z/Gaentz?, Herdt, Horst, Huber, Hubert, Ibenblad?,
Imenderfer?, Jutz, Kaal/Kahl?, Kaltensche(uh), Keil, Keiler, Kepler,
Klauser, Klein, Knedler, Kobobel, Krispins, Langhof(fer)?, Lieb, Lotz?,
Mai, Maksam?, Marquardt?, Meier, Metzler, Moninger, Muller, Nagel,
Neigel, Neiwert?, Nuss, Offenhaus, Old, Opfer, Printz, Rau, Raum,
Rausch/Rosch?, Reihl, Reiss, Repp, Rescher, Riehl, Sauer, Schenk,
Schimpf, Schindler, Schlotthauer, Schmunk, Schneider, Schon, Schreb,
Schuber, Schuckman, Schul(t)z, Schwab, Seifer, Shirad?, Siegfried,
Simon, Spatz?, Spielman, Sprenkel?, Spring, Stiehfeld, Streb, Stroh,
Tosch?, Vogel, Walenflesh?, Wassenmiller, Weber, Weimer, Weiner,
Weirauch, Weitzel, Wentz, Wenzel, Will, Wolf(f), Wollert, Ziegler,
Zulauf, Zweitzig
*** WEIMER Canada Crossings******* WISC,Sheboygan Data, Canada read
at:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~dhoskins/gene
http://www.lowervolga.org/obituaries.htm
http://webbitt.com/volga/books.html
http://webbitt.com/volga/usa-census.html
http://webbitt.com/volga/travel.html
DOENHOF, Saratov, Volga
Karen Kaiser
Dick and Judy Leffler
The year 2002 has been quiet for the village of Dönhof. We have had
approximately 18 queries for the village and have answered all of those
to the best of our abilities with the information we have in our data
base.
The data base is still quite small with just over 3500 entries. This
year we have been able to enter the surnames of BEHM, BECHTHOLD, and
STROMBERGER from copies of surname charts which we have obtained. We are
also in the process of trying to obtain photos, passports, declaration
of intent, naturalization papers, and any other information pertinent to
Dönhof inhabitants.
Village night at convention in Des Moines was attended by 10 people,
some of which we already were acquainted with, and as always, some with
which we were glad to make their acquaintance. We were able to obtain
copies of 6 more surname charts which will be entered into our data base.
One new chart on the surname LIND was ordered in Feb and, a chart
on WOLF has been on order for about 3 years, but no new ones came this
year.
DREISPITZ, Saratov, Volga
There are still no Church records on Dreispitz, as far as I have been
able to determine. The census records for Heinze have been purchased and
entered in our database. Dreispitz is still an active village, and Ed
Hoak’s reports includes an update, as well as a large number of pages
of cemetery records. Additional information has been added to the
database, and some links have been made with those who moved between
other villages, including Holstein, Kraft, and Shcherbakovka. Queries
have been answered. Kathy O’Malley, V. C.
EIGENHEIM, Akkerman, Bessarabia
Jan Stangl, S707
I have had no requests this past year about any of my tiny villages.
I do not have a newsletter.
I do continue to add information that I find in EWZ records
pertaining to my villages. Maury Gauer is a great help in entering
materials that pertains to Nesselrode/Birsula area.
ENDERS, Samara, Volga
Randi Bolyard
My husband and I have returned from Rosenheim and Enders and brought
back some current information. Walking was quite treacherous, but it
turned out to be worth it. Everyone in the villages was quite friendly,
and we were directed to the people who were either Volga German or those
who would know something about the Germans who lived there.
Physical description
Both villages are in disrepair. Some German houses still exist.
Everyone has outhouses. We were told that the villages were in much
better condition when the Germans were in the villages.
There were no streets or sidewalks. Everything was a big mud puddle,
combined with dung. There were geese and other animals running in the
street.
We were fortunate enough to be invited into one of the houses in
Enders. It was very nice inside, with crystal glasses in the cabinet,
several rooms and a kitchen. They have well water and in the kitchen
there was an interesting water fixture that appears to work like some of
our soap dispensers: push up on the little nozzle and water comes out.
This family had a nice farm in back of their house with pigs (very
stinky!), a vineyard, apple and pear trees, watermelons, tomatoes,
peppers, dill, and food grown for the livestock.
The church is still in Rosenheim. It is in ruins and there are no
services there. I do not know whether the German cemetery still exists.
The church is gone in Enders. No cemetery exists.
Data collected
I gathered data on the following surnames:
| Deckert |
Enders |
Krause |
| Dietzel |
Funk |
Rusch |
| Dotz |
Henneberg |
Schneider |
| Ehlert |
Horst |
|
If anyone is researching these surnames, they should contact me for
further information.
Pictures
I took as many pictures as I could of the people and the places. I
plan to publish them on a web site as soon as possible.
Other information
One of the good things about going on a tour is that you get to meet
other people who are working on the same types of things. I made a
potential contact that will be able to get additional data for the
villages.
People in the villages are aware of the outside world through
watching television. They asked us about 9/11, social security in the
U.S., and what our lives were like. As we were leaving Enders, an
elderly Russian couple came out with a watermelon and said they were
sorry for our losses on 9/11. It was very moving.
FISCHER, Saratov, Volga
Roger A. Toepfer
PROEM
The interchange/exchange of data and general assistance for
Fischer/Herzog continues to be handled through the Fischer and Herzog
web sites and has been a very successful means of assisting our fellow
members. (Jerry Braun is Webmeister for the Herzog Web Site). As
Webmeister for the Fischer Home Page, I have included a site for the
Village of Katharinenstadt, (Fischer/Katharinenstadt) (My Mothers side
are descendants of Katharinenstadt). With this bond, I have coordinated
information of queries regarding Katharinenstadt members. Also, queries
for other villages have come in and we attempt to assist them by posting
the queries on the "queries page" of our site.
COORDINATION SUPPORT for FISCHER and HERZOG
There is nothing new to report in these areas. Data requests from family
relations in Germany is still pending. I believe that the state of
unrest in the world has affected interests, and dictate which urgent
matters will be attended to first. In other words, our family requests
have ended at the bottom of the heap! However, we are still in touch
with our contacts, in some cases by second source. It has always been a
waiting game, and a test of patience when asking people for help, that
more often than not, they are not particularly interested in your
enthusiasm of endeavor.
QUERY SUPPORT
In the 2001 report I reported that we had received 5240 visits since
January 1, 1999 to the Fischer/Katharinenstadt site. The visitor count
now reads 6852. This is a total of 1612 increase in visits from last
year. Last year there were just slightly less than 60 requests for
family research. This year that number is even less. Some of the
Surnames and village associated that are subject in these queries are:
Herwaldt (Katharinenstadt), Fischer (Yagodnaya Polyana), Stadler and
Stremel (Karmenka), Seibel and Halle (Katharinenstadt), Kaiser (Warenburg),
Eckerdt and Weigandt (Volga Region - this request came from Argentina,
village associated not available), Schumacher and Befort (Wittman),
Erlenbach, Wormsbacher, Schwenke, Welz (Katharinenstadt), Heit (Colony
Unknown), Scheiner and Spomer (Beideck).
The queries of these persons can be found within the Fischer/Katharinenstadt,
web site, either in the Sign In Page - "View Log Book" or the
"Query Page." We provided data of family connections,
ancestral data, help on how and where to search for further information.
All of the queries were answered, but not necessarily solved! If any of
these families are of interest to you, please visit these pages for
further brief. http://members.aol.com/RAToepfer/index.htm,
then click onto either the "Qpage" or the view the "Log
Book" icon.
VC INFORMATION EXCHANGE
SURNAME SEARCHES
The following Web Sites have a very comprehensive listing of 41 surnames
and the person that purchased the searches. These listings are posted
on:
The Fischer/Katharinenstat Home Page: Roger Toepfer
Herzog Home Page: Jerry Braun
Marienthal Home Page: Tony Leiker
Obermunjor Home Page: Kevin Rupp
All are invited to log on and review the listings. It could save one
a good deal of time and money by learning that a list you are about to
order has already been researched. We are here to help and coordinate in
the search for our Ancestry, History, and Notable Heritage.
The Website addresses can be found by logging on to the AHSGR Home
Page - Favorite Russian/German Websites.
FRIEDENBERG, Samara, Volga
Betty Ashley A028
Because of the fragile health of my husband for the past several
years I have not been able to work much on this project. Sadly Charles
passed away on August 19th of this year.
I have requested to down-size the scope of the project - I would
prefer to concentrate on the three parish villages of Wiesenmueller,
Gnadenthau, and Friedenberg.
My fellow-coordinator who resigned from the job several years ago,
has, however, added much material to our website. She is involved with
her own time-consuming business and is planning to move from southern
Virginia back to her home state of Missouri in the near future.
Lower Jerusulan River Colonies:
With the excuses now stated, I can only say that my interest in my
mother’s ancestral villages has not diminished. I will continue to
answer any questions received from others (they have been few and far
between of late). I plan to contact Russian researchers to inquire of any new
materials he might have found concerning our project in Russia.
I should mention that we have sent copies of Jeruslan Nachrichten
publications (for sale) to Kathy O’Malley (Lower Volga Colonies) and
Central California Chapter, AHSGR. Also, recently, I have sent many
records of Lower Jeruslan families who migrated from KRATZKE and DIETEL
to Brent Mai to coordinate with his records.
FRIEDENSDORF, Molochna Colonies
John S. Niessen
One request for information was received this past year.
An additional internet resource was brought to my attention this past
year. It is the "1847 Molotschna Colony Voters’ List:
Friedensdorf" from File #10510 in Fund 6, Inventory 2 in the Odessa
State Archives in Odessa, Ukraine. The list contains 30 farm owner’s
names from the village.
The list is posted courtesy of the Mennonite Historical Society of
Alberta. I am grateful to Mr. Tony Eiler for pointing out this resource
to me.
GALKA, Saratov, Volga
Merrill & Dorothy Kerbs Younkin Y037a
Jayne Dye, Galka Research Consultant
The Web site has had few visitors and very few questions have been
asked of me but the quality of the contacts is very good. I expect to
build a network of researchers this year. Already I have had a good
correction of two transposed birth dates on the Wunsch Galka chart
I posted on the web. This is most helpful. Some pictures have come in.
Much more interest is being shown in the convention for 2003. We may
make a better showing than last year.
The booklet, "Galka" written in 1910, will be available
then. It will have to wait until I retire but that is just a short way
off - December. This booklet will be of interest to many descendants of
the Volga river area. The translation is done but there is some
proofreading. Additional information is being collected also. I have
high hopes that more will come in, in good time.
Glueckstal Colonies Research
Association (GCRA)
Glueckstal Colonies Research Association includes colonies: Bergdorf,
Glueckstal, Kassel, Neudorf, Grigoriopol, and Hoffnungstal
Glueckstal Colonies Web
Site
Margaret Freeman F052
GLUECKSTAL, GLUECKSTAL, Odessa, Kherson
Margaret Freeman F052
All of GCRA has spent much effort on preparations for the book and
video to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of
our Glueckstal Colonies in South Russia. Chairman Homer Rudolf conducted
a day long meeting of plans and discussions in Bismarck in August before
the GRHS Convention, so that all would know what has been done and areas
in which we need to research and write. Present were: Tom and Jan Stangl,
Jim Klein, Gwen Pritzkau, Margaret Freeman, and Sally Sologuk. Michael
Miller, Producer, and Videographer Bob Dambch of Prairie Public
Television also attended to discuss the proposed video. It appears that
the proposed book will probably be over 500 pages in size, and will have
an accompanying CD.
GCRA continues to welcome new members. For the last several years,
the group has published 64 pages of research material in the "GCRA
Newsletter," now in its fifteenth year. Documents purchased in
Odessa continue to be translated and published. Sales of "Glueckstal
Colonies Births and Marriages, 1833-1900," and "Glueckstal
Colonies Deaths, 1833-1900," in both English and German editions,
continue. The book, "Marienberg, Fate of a Village," written
by John Bollinger and Jan Huber Stangl, and published in both English
and German, has been well received in North America and also in Germany.
The SOAR team of AHSGR again digitized the GCRA holdings in late
August. A copy has been given to GRHS and one copy is set aside for
AHSGR, and also one will be given to the Family History Library in Salt
Lake City.
Dedication of the Glückstal Monument
The dedication of the Glückstal monument in Glinoye, Moldova (the
current name of the Glückstal village) was a huge success! Fifteen
Americans attended the ceremony on May 24, 2002, to commemorate the
presence of our ancestors in the villages of Glückstal, Neudorf,
Bergdorf, and Kassel.
The monument itself is a black granite stone, about 40 inches high.
It is placed on a rise at the corner of the schoolyard, with a backdrop
of evergreen trees, and can be seen from two streets. The text on the
front is in Russian, and the text on the back is in German. Underneath,
on both sides, is written " Glückstal Colonies Research
Association, May 28, 2002," in English.
The dedication took place after a program presented by the Glinoye
School, under the direction of the principal, and her assistant in
charge of the Glückstal School Museum, located in the school, which has
an extensive display on the history of the village. The school pageant,
written for the dedication, included readings, songs and dances telling
the village history, and the story of its inhabitants through the years.
The fourth graders presented a folk dance, older children presented a
dance representing the ghosts of the valley and the long deceased
ancestors, and another dance showed the mingling of the ghosts with
those currently living in the village. There was also a dance showing
the conflict of good and evil in the colonies over time. All in all, the
program showed the cycles of life and death, joys and tribulations, and
the journey of life.
Those present for the occasion included Mayor Vladimir Strigunov,
representatives of the Moldova/Transdniester Education Department and
Historical Archives, reporters from two TV stations, newspapers and a
radio station. The Glückstal School is the first school in the region
to establish a museum to show their village history, and also the one of
first schools to have a monument to honor their ancestors. Because of
this, the head of education and the head of archives for the state of
Moldova also attended.
Foreign guests were: Oskar and Helma Eberle, from Germany, born in
the region, Roger and Elaine Klusman, Tim and Judy Klusman, Bernardine
Lang Kuhn, Michael M. Miller, Gwen Pritzkau, Dr. Harley Roth, Tom and
Janice Huber Stangl, Dr. Ken and Cathy Vogele, Bob and Margaret Aman
Freeman, and Prairie Public Television (North Dakota) videographer Bob
Dambach.
Margaret Freeman and Michael Miller raised the sheet covering the
monument, after which the school children and townspeople came forward
to place peonies at the base of the monument. At the conclusion of the
dedication, Pastor Vladimir Moser from the Tiraspol Lutheran Church
consecrated the stone and blessed the sacred ground on which it stood.
This location also contains human remains unearthed at the site of the
old German cemetery of Glückstal. The present school was built on the
site of the old German cemetery.
The group attending were much gratified by the day’s events. The
villagers hosted the visitors with lodging and their hospitality was
very much appreciated by all. To show their appreciation, the visitors
took up a collection that was used to purchase a TV and VCR, along with
educational tapes, for the school in Glinoye.
It was the unstinting effort of Pavel Pratchuk, Dr. Serge Yelizarov,
and Michael M. Miller that brought this project to fruition. All members
of the Glückstal Colonies Research Association extend their gratitude.
GNADENFELD, (Neu-Moor/Moor) Samara, Volga
Irma A. Waggoner, W098
Gnadenfeld, also known as Neu Moor/Moor, was a small "daughter
colony", on the Wiesenseite of the Volga, with many of the families
coming from the "mother colony" of Moor, and others from
Balzar, Hussenbach, Norka, and Donhoff. Those doing Gnadenfeld research
must locate the original "mother colony" to continue their
research.
Due to the small population of Gnadenfeld, I do not receive many
requests for information. I continue to collect surnames from Gnadenfeld
and Moor, including ship records, declarations of intent, naturalization
records, census records and obituaries. During the past year two surname
charts from Moor—Gnadenfeld have been received, (Pinnecker
and Korell). Russian
researchers say the church records for the village of Gnadenfeld are in good
condition and extend up to the year of 1922.
GNADENTAU, Samara, Volga
Lower
Jerusulan River Colonies ~ Gnatentau Web Site
Betty Ashley A028
Because of the fragile health of my husband for the past several
years I have not been able to work much on this project. Sadly Charles
passed away on August 19th of this year.
I have requested to down-size the scope of the project - I would
prefer to concentrate on the three parish villages of Wiesenmueller,
Gnadenthau, and Friedenberg.
My fellow-coordinator who resigned from the job several years ago,
has, however, added much material to our website. She is involved with
her own time-consuming business and is planning to move from southern
Virginia back to her home state of Missouri in the near future.
Lower Jerusulan River Colonies:
With the excuses now stated, I can only say that my interest in my
mother’s ancestral villages has not diminished. I will continue to
answer any questions received from others (they have been few and far
between of late). I plan to contact Russian researchers to inquire of any new
materials he might have found concerning our project in Russia.
I should mention that we have sent copies of Jeruslan Nachrichten
publications (for sale) to Kathy O’Malley (Lower Volga Colonies) and
Central California Chapter, AHSGR. Also, recently, I have sent many
records of Lower Jeruslan families who migrated from KRATZKE and DIETEL
to Brent Mai to coordinate with his records.
GRAF, Samara, Volga
Kevin Rupp R311 / L
I have just signed up this year as a VC for Graf and have had a
really good year of collecting census information. I have compiled the
census years of 1834, 1850 and 1895. 1834 and 1850 are compiled in book
form and available to those searching this colony. I hope to have 1895
compiled later this year. I have had a few requests on this village and
with the help of Sean McGinnes we have been able to answer those
questions.
GRIMM, Saratov, Volga
Ken Leffler
Things were very quiet on the Grimm front again this year. We are
anxiously awaiting the delivery of 16 charts ordered from Russia. I did manage to help a few inquirers
with their searches but received very little new data.
Attendance at Village night at the convention in Des Moines was small
and no new people showed up. Disappointing! I drove through central
Kansas on my return and took digital images of headstones in the
cemeteries in the towns of Milberger, Hoisington, Otis, Ness City,
Bazine, Olmitz and Sugar City, Colorado . I was surprised to find so
many Grimm surnames. I highly recommend that other VCs do this same
thing in areas where their ancestors lived.
I ordered the second Pleve book and am comparing the Grimm names to
the census data we already had. It is surprisingly difficult as some of
the given names appear to be different. It does, however list the
villages in Germany from where they came and has some interesting data
on "orphaned" children living with another father, although,
it appears most, or all of these so-called orphans are siblings of a
widow who remarried, so they are actually stepchildren.
I chose not to remain the AHSGR/VC Liaison this year due to my heavy
commitment to the SOAR project, Dennis Zitterkopf is my able
replacement.
I hope to get busy on those surname charts over Christmas.
GÜLDENDORF, Grossliebental, Odessa, Kherson
Curt. Renz
While there are still four months remaining in 2002 and the hope to
uncover more, I have been actively going through many rolls of
microfilmed newspapers in the State Historical Library of North Dakota
searching for obituaries for anyone born in any of the four ancestral
villages that I am the VC for. Along with ordering these microfilm
through inter-library loan, I’ve also made three trips to Bismarck to
spend about nine days researching in the library itself. One advantage
is that the Library has all of its newspapers posted on-line with their
assigned file numbers. To date, I’ve been able to glean about 130
additional obituaries for the collection. In addition, with the very
generous and skillful assistance by translators, the letter collections
continues to grow. These are letters written from Russia to either
individuals in America or to an American German newspaper and published
by that newspaper.
HERZOG, Sartov, Volga
Roger A. Toepfer
Jerry Braun
See Fischer for consolidated Village
Coordinator Report for villages of Fischer and Herzoz
HOFFNUNGSTAL, Akkerman, Bessarabia
Curt Renz R002
While there are still four months remaining in 2002 and the hope to
uncover more, I have been actively going through many rolls of
microfilmed newspapers in the State Historical Library of North Dakota
searching for obituaries for anyone born in any of the four ancestral
villages that I am the VC for. Along with ordering these microfilm
through inter-library loan, I’ve also made three trips to Bismarck to
spend about nine days researching in the library itself. One advantage
is that the Library has all of its newspapers posted on-line with their
assigned file numbers. To date, I’ve been able to glean about 130
additional obituaries for the collection. In addition, with the very
generous and skillful assistance by translators, the letter collections
continues to grow. These are letters written from Russia to either
individuals in America or to an American German newspaper and published
by that newspaper.
HOFFNUNGSTAL, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
Harold Ehrman E126
See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
HUCK (Splaunucha), Saratov, Volga
Dennis Zitterkopf
One of the highlights of the year was showing, during the Des Moines
convention, the videotape made in Huck in 1993. While the scenes were
somewhat depressing, we at least have seen what the state of the village
was at that time. Interested persons may purchase a copy of the tape by
visiting our web site and simply following the instructions (the funds
benefit national, not any of us). Village night was fun with 10 persons
setting at our table discussing their family, making new or renewing old
friendships, and comparing notes with others present. We may not have
had the largest crowd, but we probably were one of the louder ones.
2002 has been a good year for the Huck village. Our site, initiated
at the end of 2000 with a list of 16 researchers, now includes 45
researchers. We’ve had over 880 site visits and are pleased with the
interest it has generated in terms of contacts for the researchers. 16
surname charts for Huck are known to exist and are listed on the web site.
I continue to look for and welcome suggestions from other coordinators
about projects they have had success with. I’ve responded to 41
inquiries during the period 1 January through the end of July.
Research for Huck continues to be stymied due to the lack of any
records from 1858 to 1888. Periodic queries to Russian researchers results in the
familiar "no new records are available" response. Birth and
confirmation records have recently been located in the Engels Archive, but these records do not
provide enough details to produce family lists.
The web site contents have been translated into Spanish and posted on
a site in Argentina. Five different Zitterkopf persons from Argentina
interested in their relationship to the Zitterkopf families in the US
have contacted me. The 30 year record gap has made it virtually
impossible to answer their questions because they know little about
their ancestors except that they came from Huck. This continues to be a
disappointment for all of us.
Several additions have been added to our site including a section for
letters, reports, and the 1993. The letters and reports section now
includes some interesting materials about life in Huck as well as early
pioneer life in the US. An alphabetic posting of all the surnames some
of the researchers have in their databases (and an indication of which
researcher(s) has information about a particular surname) has also been
added to the home page. I’ve had limited success in convincing the
researchers to send me a list of the surnames in their records. The
videotape made from a 1927 film made in Norka and shown during the Des
Moines convention overwhelmed me. We (Huck) have no known photographs of
the village taken prior to 1941 and hope that someday a "magic
shoebox" will be found in someone’s attic with copies we can
have.
HUSSENBACH (Gaschon), Samara, Volga
HUSSENBACH (Linevo Osero), Saratov, Volga
VC Hussenbach, Gaschon
Paul Lais L235
VC Hussenbach, Linevo Osero
Louise Potter P051
The Hussenbach database is maintained by Louise Potter for both
villages (see above address)
The Hussenbach web site link is listed above.
Activity this year hasn’t been as great as in the past, however,
four surname charts have been received: Fromm,
Kroh, Rommel and Rothenberger.
The Fuchs chart has been
ordered and should be arriving soon. The Fuchs
chart has been ordered by Rose Mary Guenthner through Elaine Frank
Davison/Michael Frank.
Charts received to date include: Fromm,
Hilderman, Jordan, Kreuzer, Kroh, Lais, Muck, Propp, Riel, Rommel,
Rothenberger, Schatzel, Stenzel and Suppes,
most of them are available from AHSGR.
Several people were interested in the ships on which their ancestors
arrived in Russia. From the charts received that gave information
regarding the ships:
- 3 families were on the ship "Frau Ditrika", 14 Sep 1766,
Fromm, Lais and Schatzel
- 2 on "The Grap", 13 Sep 1766, Kreuzer and Riel
- 1 on "Johannes", 15 Sep 1766, Rommel and Suppes
- 1 on "Fortune" 04 Jul 1766, Kroh
- 1 on "Kleine Andreas" 04 May 1766, Propp
- 1 on "Apollo" 29 Aug 1766, Rothenberger.
An interesting book which includes Hussenbach, Linevo Osero is The
History of the Zhirnovsk Region, Chapter Five by V.I. Gomulov in
1999, Translated by Erna Razgulina and Edited by Clarence Kissler.
Requests for information are welcomed and filled as soon as possible.
Research continues.
JOHANNESDORF, Stavropol, North Caucasus, South
Russia
Bonnie Anderson
Efforts continue to gather background history and family data for
these three villages. All gathered to date comes from secondary sources;
archive research/information retrieval is still ahead. Katharinenfeld
has the most information available, including lists of individuals.
Family researchers, please contact this VC if you have ancestral
connections to Johannesdorf or Karlsruhe, or know of local histories,
church information, etc. in your area about immigrants from these
villages.
These villages are also components of the larger Caucasus project
being conducted for AHSGR and GRHS by Co-Coordinators Bonnie Anderson
and Arthur Flegel. Contact either Bonnie Anderson or Arthur Flegel about
specific villages, families and GR history in the Caucasus.
For Johannesdorf, Karlsruhe and Katharinenfeld, and the Caucasus
project, current undertakings include:
1. A continuing search for resources and contacts
worldwide—digital, paper, oral history, etc.;
2. Construction of a database specific to the Caucasus settlements of
Germans (also Swedes, Alsatians, etc. as commonly included in GR
histories), with migration notes concerning Germany and other countries,
Bessarabia, the Volga area, and other earlier colonies/settlements in
Russia;
3. Construction of a revised map of the North/South Caucasus to
augment Stumpp’s work;
4. A revised Caucasus village listing to accompany the map;
5. Investigation of archive acquisition projects by universities,
genealogical and historical organizations for the Caucasus region;
6. Records location in Russia, Georgia, etc. To date we have no
primary records for any villages of the Caucasus, with the exception of
limited church records for three So. Cauc. villages (Marienfeld,
Elizabethtal and Neu-Tiflis), plus Germans who lived in the city of
Tiflis.
The growing body of collected information is already unfolding a
fascinating, diverse history for the Caucasus Germans. Requests for
information and questions may be directed to the co-coordinators. We
also encourage you to submit your family information for your Caucasus
German ancestors.
JOSEFSTAL, Saratov, Volga
Edward Gerk
Josefstal was not a large village, so I do not have tons of people
making inquiries.
The odd letter comes from Germany every now and then, and I am
usually able to ID the family and prodide some background information.
I have had some success in looking at the various LDS microfilms for
Argentina, and keeping those who were listed as being from Josefstal in
a family file.
Not much out of Russia either. I’m not giving up, there just is not
much else to report.
JOST, Samara, Volga
Taryn M. Holmes
As a new VC, I am truly starting from scratch. There have been no
previous
records collected for Jost. My goal for the following year is to acquire
documentation about the village.
A Jost web page is under construction and will be available in 2003.
Any contributions would be greatly appreciated!
KAMENKA & PFEIFER, Saratov Volga
Rosemary Larson
Many requests for information of ancestors from Kamenka and Pfeifer
have been answered. Requests continue to come from Argentina for Kamenka
and Pfeifer as well as other villages. Most requests from Argentina are
in Spanish, so the Babelfish translator is used which gives me a good
idea about their inquiry. The response is in Spanish.
A First Settler List has been added to the Pfeifer web page, in
addition to other updates on both sites.
This year I published ST. MARY’S PARISH FAMILY REGISTER,
which contains many Volga German families, as well as families from the
Bukowina [Romania] in Austria. All proceeds from the sale of this
publication are given to St. Mary’s Church, Ellis, Kansas.
The first settlers in Ellis were the Irish who arrived with the
construction of the railroad across the great plains in the 1870’s. By
1880 Volga Germans were employed by the Kansas [Union] Pacific Railroad.
They lived near St. Mary’s Church. By 1900
Volga Germans, who were members of the parish, had settled on farms
in Western Ellis County and Eastern Trego County. I wrote a parish
history in 1985 and was responsible for gathering photos of the early
parishioners of St. Mary’s which are a large part
of the publication for the Centennial celebration in 1986. This is
available from St. Mary’s Church, Ellis, Kansas.
Check out the web sites so ably put online by Patrice Miller.
KARLSRUHE, Burlatzki, North Caucasus
Bonnie Anderson
Efforts continue to gather background history and family data for
these three villages. All gathered to date comes from secondary sources;
archive research/information retrieval is still ahead. Katharinenfeld
has the most information available, including lists of individuals.
Family researchers, please contact this VC if you have ancestral
connections to Johannesdorf or Karlsruhe, or know of local histories,
church information, etc. in your area about immigrants from these
villages.
These villages are also components of the larger Caucasus project
being conducted for AHSGR and GRHS by Co-Coordinators Bonnie Anderson
and Arthur Flegel. Contact either Bonnie Anderson or Arthur Flegel about
specific villages, families and GR history in the Caucasus.
For Johannesdorf, Karlsruhe and Katharinenfeld, and the Caucasus
project, current undertakings include:
1. A continuing search for resources and contacts
worldwide—digital, paper, oral history, etc.;
2. Construction of a database specific to the Caucasus settlements of
Germans (also Swedes, Alsatians, etc. as commonly included in GR
histories), with migration notes concerning Germany and other countries,
Bessarabia, the Volga area, and other earlier colonies/settlements in
Russia;
3. Construction of a revised map of the North/South Caucasus to
augment Stumpp’s work;
4. A revised Caucasus village listing to accompany the map;
5. Investigation of archive acquisition projects by universities,
genealogical and historical organizations for the Caucasus region;
6. Records location in Russia, Georgia, etc. To date we have no
primary records for any villages of the Caucasus, with the exception of
limited church records for three So. Cauc. villages (Marienfeld,
Elizabethtal and Neu-Tiflis), plus Germans who lived in the city of
Tiflis.
The growing body of collected information is already unfolding a
fascinating, diverse history for the Caucasus Germans. Requests for
information and questions may be directed to the co-coordinators. We
also encourage you to submit your family information for your Caucasus
German ancestors.
KASSEL, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
See also Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
KATHARINENFELD, Luxemburg, Cuacasus, South Russia
Efforts continue to gather background history and family data for
these three villages. All gathered to date comes from secondary sources;
archive research/information retrieval is still ahead. Katharinenfeld
has the most information available, including lists of individuals.
Family researchers, please contact this VC if you have ancestral
connections to Johannesdorf or Karlsruhe, or know of local histories,
church information, etc. in your area about immigrants from these
villages.
These villages are also components of the larger Caucasus project
being conducted for AHSGR and GRHS by Co-Coordinators Bonnie Anderson
and Arthur Flegel. Contact either Bonnie Anderson or Arthur Flegel about
specific villages, families and GR history in the Caucasus.
For Johannesdorf, Karlsruhe and Katharinenfeld, and the Caucasus
project, current undertakings include:
1. A continuing search for resources and contacts
worldwide—digital, paper, oral history, etc.;
2. Construction of a database specific to the Caucasus settlements of
Germans (also Swedes, Alsatians, etc. as commonly included in GR
histories), with migration notes concerning Germany and other countries,
Bessarabia, the Volga area, and other earlier colonies/settlements in
Russia;
3. Construction of a revised map of the North/South Caucasus to
augment Stumpp’s work;
4. A revised Caucasus village listing to accompany the map;
5. Investigation of archive acquisition projects by universities,
genealogical and historical organizations for the Caucasus region;
6. Records location in Russia, Georgia, etc. To date we have no
primary records for any villages of the Caucasus, with the exception of
limited church records for three So. Cauc. villages (Marienfeld,
Elizabethtal and Neu-Tiflis), plus Germans who lived in the city of
Tiflis.
The growing body of collected information is already unfolding a
fascinating, diverse history for the Caucasus Germans. Requests for
information and questions may be directed to the co-coordinators. We
also encourage you to submit your family information for your Caucasus
German ancestors.
KATHARINENSTADT, Samara, Volga
Katharinenstadt
Web site
Marvin & Raynona Bohrer
We have been active this year in trying to get records out of the
archives. We have paid to have several books restored and going through
a third party to get copies of several different records of the town.
Was unable to attend the convention this year due to Marvin having an
operation, he is doing fine. We are still active in two states with the
local chapters.
KAUTZ (Werschinka), Saratov, Volga
D. Michael Frank, Co-Village Coordinator for Kautz, Russia
Since the passing in March 2001 of Elaine Frank Davison, the lifelong
Village Coordinator for Kautz (Werchinka) whose efforts have brought
Kautz knowledge to where it is today, I have begun my journey into
gathering more information of the inhabitants of that village. Many of
Elaine’s substantial genealogical records for Kautz have been moved to
my home in Vancouver, Washington. It took two or three 240-mile trips to
Walla Walla to get the information moved. Her family has been very
supportive and helpful, making the transition very easy in order for me
and others in the Conrad Frank family to continue her lifelong work. I
have been going through her massive Kautz files and am trying to
organize as best I can.
A new Compact Disk (CD) version of the 10 volumes of Unsere Leute von
Kautz will be available to the general public sometime in late October
or early November, 2002. The last four or five months of intense labor
have resulted in absolute progress in this endeavor. Copies of the beta
version have already been produced. The look and feel of this CD is
Internet-based using HTML code (the code of the Internet) to access all
the documents, which for the most part are in PDF format for easy
viewing and zooming on most computers.
On the CD, you will find that all photos and charts have been scanned
and indexed. Stories, Memories, Biographies, Lists, Letters, Interviews,
Notes, some Obits, and more have been converted to Word/Text files
through an optical character reading (OCR) process since the master
pages were previously typewritten and Xeroxed for the most part. Many
photographs, now in color or Sepia on the CD, are fun to look at knowing
there are stories behind many of the faces. Names in the Kautz Database
are indexed, as are Charts and Pictures in the volumes, and a search
facility can zero in on any word or phrase in the ten volumes,
databases, or indices very quickly. I am also planning on some limited
audio frames.
In addition to this project, I have been answering inquiries from
KautzKin from all over the country and internationally, supplying charts
and information as requested. Requestors have been filling in the blanks
on more current information so that the Kautz Database is now more
complete. Thank you, suppliers of information! You know who you are.
Elaine’s surname charts are available for the names of Frank, Reiter,
Schreiner, Knaub, Gradwohl (Gratwohl), Hardt, Fuchs, Popp, Frickel,
Klein, Michel, Ostwald, Schuman, Weber, Neubauer, Glockhammer, Riel,
Stahley, and Hermony. These charts will be scanned soon and a separate
GEDCOM made for each.
I have started gathering information for a new ULvK volume, but it
will take some time to get it constructed. I will make an analysis of
existing volumes to determine where next to proceed to gather
information, filling information for those early families who are not
yet adequately represented in ULvK. I also plan a volume on Schriesheim,
Germany, the ancestral home of our Frank Volga-Germans.
An effort will be made, I think in 2003, to start to try to build
active cooperation among VC’s of related villages in the SW Saratov
region (namely Dietel, Rothammel, Seewald, Kratzke, Merkel, Bauer,
Frank, Kolb...etc.) in order to find and share common information such
as inter-village marriages, family moves to new villages, deaths in
villages other than the village of birth, etc., if this hasn’t been
done before.
I’ve been trying to coordinate the final acquisition of the (Hussenbach)
Fuchs chart. The cost of the chart has been paid and indications are that it should
arrive in September, despite a
couple of delays. This chart is for Rosie Guenther who had asked Elaine
several years to help secure it. We’re waiting.
All in all, 2002 was a very busy year, full of promise and hope, with
successes yet to find.
KOEHLER, Saratov, Volga
Joseph A (Joe) Gareis
Not as much progress this year as I hoped. Still learning about
sources.
I have received many leads and much help from Ted Gerk.
I have enjoyed hearing from people interested in Koehler and have
responded to about a dozen requests for information. Koehler folks seem
to get around, as I’ve received notes from France, Argentina (2) and
Germany.
Surname charts for six surnames from Koehler are known to be on request: Bretz,
Gareis, Klug, Leineker, Reichenborn, and
Ruhl. It sounds like the Russian researchers work in village batches so
several charts should become available whenever he has time to get to
the group.
Research work has been limited mostly to acquiring books and source
material. I bought Pleve’s "Enwanderung" Book 2, which
includes a listing of original settlers for Koehler. I also wrote to the
Landmannschaft in Germany trying to purchase a promising sounding book
by Edmund Imherr that apparently includes a history of the village.
I have had a bit more luck in personal research. My family has
located two surviving relatives from branches of the family that we lost
track of decades ago: one cousin in Kazakhstan and another from there
who recently migrated to Germany.
I am mindful that most progress seems to be coming from villages that
build an active network of people to share information and contribute. I
hope to do more in that area this coming year.
KOLB, Saratov, Volga
Sarah (Kanzler) Hammarstrom H419
Thelma J. Sprenger
Pauline Dudek D018, Honorary Village Coordinator
Kolb research continues slowly. I have received around 20 letters,
emails, and phone calls requesting help. I have tried to reply to most
of them but have not gotten to all of them yet. We have had three deaths
in our immediate families this year, so genealogy has taken a back seat.
I did inherit a book-The Descendants of Peter Derr by Arthur
C. Derr. My late sister-in-law was a Derr. In it are many names from the
Ritzville and Odessa, WA areas. Some are Kolb people. Names—Derr,
Becker, Maier, Deking, Eckhardt, Heimbigner, Helzer, Kissler, Koch,
Schauerman, Steinmetz, and Thiel.
Most of you know Doris Evans, Frank VC. She has a very large database
for Frank. As Kolb & Frank were located near each other many
families are related. Doris shares what she finds on Kolb, and I give
her whatever new items I find, and she enters it into her database. She
has given me a copy of her database to use.
Odessa, WA. has a Deutchses Fest the 3rd weekend in Sept.
every year. This was their 32nd year. At this time, our AHSGR
chapter has displays, books, and other materials, and Doris brings her
computer. Many people are amazed at what information is available. This
has nudged more people to get involved in their own family research, and
sometimes we get lucky and get additions to the collections we have.
This year Bill Horst shared his research with us on the Decendants of
Heinrich Horst (b.1752). Horst is a Kolb name also.
With the addition of the Derr and Horst naterial, I have two more
resources.
KONSTANTINOVKA, Samara, Volga
Schilling Web Site
Gary Martens
Status Report for Alt-Schilling, Schilling, Konstantinovka, Neu-Schilling
I and Neu-Schilling II
There is a fairly continuous flow of queries about families from
Schilling, and it’s daughter colonies, which I answer the best I can
with the Schilling database and other resources. Several sets of census
records have been received in the past year, and one surname chart for the
Damm family, all of which are being added to the Schilling database.
There are 3 or 4 charts on order, but none have been
received in the past year that I’m aware of. One of the reasons may be
that the Alt-Schilling church books need repair, and researchers may not be
allowed to use them at this time. The cost to get the Schilling books
repaired is about $150. The church books for Schilling, Konstantinovka,
Neu-Schilling I and Neu-Schilling II are supposedly in the possession of
the people at the Engels archive, although nobody has yet received a
chart that shows information from those villages.
If your interested in seeing a picture of one of the summer homes of
the Laginkoski (Lagin Rapids) Imperial Fishing Lodge used by Czar
Alexander III in the late 1800’s, they can be found on the Shilling
web site.
My complete online collection of pictures of Finland can be seen by
starting here:
http://www.wathenadesigns.com/Finland/
Note that some German-Russians left Russian through the Finnish port
of Hanko.
KRAFT, Saratov, Volga
Since Don Schimpf resigned as Village Coordinator last year, we are
lacking an official V. C. However, before Don left, he sent me 50 pages
of his preliminary Schimpf Family History. It goes back to Peter Schimpf
born about 1615 and comes up to the period when the family moved from
Kansas City to Marion, Kansas, in 1909. It includes Johann Georg Schimpf
b. 20 Oct 1747 in Reichelsheim who married Eva Elisabeth Erlich/
Ehrlich, born 1763. Their son, Emanuel , married Marie Catharina Heinze
from Dreispitz.
Because my main Volga surname is Ehrlich, and my grandparents settled
in Marion, I was interested in trying to make a connection with this Eva
Elisbeth. So far, I have not been successful, but there is a possibility
that this is the Elisabeth listed in the Dobrinka "First
Settlers’ List, "and the sister of Johann Erlich, who is a
stepson of Johann Leonhard Schneider listed there. In June I spent two
days in Frankfurt which is just 29 miles north-northwest of Reichelsheim.
I did not have time to visit the village. My maternal great grandmother
is a Gross from Kraft, so I have special interest in this village.
There are about 3,000 names in our Kraft database, and I am entering
the data from Band 2 of "Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet
1764-1767", which also includes the villages of Holstein and Galka.
See the Lower Volga Villages home page for the Charts that are
available on Kraft village surnames.
See also Lower Volga Villages
KRASNOYAR, Samara, Volga
Susie Weber Hess
The largest contribution that was made in this last year was for the
village of Krasnojar. My cousin George Valko (a VELLER relative by my
grandmother) has completed and published 3 volumes of THE VOLGA
GERMANS Krasnoyar (aka Krasnojar), Chicago, Everywhere.
Volume 1 – THEIR STORIES, THEIR WORDS – A compendium of
history and family was completed Oct 2001.
Volume 2 – THEIR STORIES, THEIR WORDS - FRANZ / FRANTZ FAMILY
was completed January 2002.
Volume 3 – THEIR STORY, THEIR WORDS VELLER / FELLER FAMILY
was completed August 2002.
All of these books contain translated personal letters from numerous
sources and countries in addition to family charts.
I am waiting for a WEBER chart from the village of Krasnojar. It will be interesting to see what connections the Weber family
has to the other charts already obtained. The Weber family was very well
known in the Jefferson Park area of Chicago and members of Calvary
Church.
I am half way done transferring the data from the 1910 Sheboygan
census relating to the Germans from Russia into an Excel spreadsheet.
KRATZKE, Saratov, Volga
Ethel Lock L026
Brent Mai
Submitted by Ethel Lock:
There have been a few inquiries on family from Kratzke. The last one
was for Krug data in Kratzke. The man has lived in Berlin, Germany since
1993 and speaks German and Russian. He is a good source to search in
Germany, but may lack the connection to his ancestor in Kratzke as he is
a young man. The search for family is heavy, it makes no difference to
village, and as Martha Stewart says, That is a Good Thing. The young
people have so many places to search in these times and are not aware of
the time it takes to search but are interested and do ask for help.
Surname charts are such a wonderful help. I feel all VC
Coordinators should encourage relatives to share in cost of the chart
and copies made for each who donated to the cause. All should check on
charts donated to AHSGR and buy copies from them at a low cost.
Submitted by Brent Mai:
Greetings from Nashville!
This has been a very active year for researchers who trace their
roots to the Volga colonies of Kratzke and Ährenfeld. Ährenfeld is the
daughter colony of Kratzke and Kautz. I have received hundreds of
requests from relatives in the United States, Germany, Russia, and South
America. It is fascinating to realize how numerous and geographically
wide spread are the descendants of 129 original settlers (plus a few
additional families that moved in over the years)!
For me, the most interesting questions are coming from Germany and
Russia. It is amazing that these "survivors" of the various
events in their families’ histories actually have as much data as they
do about their ancestors! We have been able to connect a few of them
into the known family lines here in North America, but since Kratzke was
one of the early colonies to begin leaving for the U.S. and Canada
(1876), it is often difficult to make definitive connections at this
point.
Several new "charts" have been received during the last year. All of those this year came in email format,
so they’re not technically "charts," but they include the
same type of data.
To-date the following families are available:
Kratzke Charts
| Bender |
Fabrizius |
Knaus |
Schäfer |
| Berschauer |
Gideon |
Krug |
Schneider |
| Blehm |
Gross |
Mai |
Schröder |
| Boxberger |
Jäger |
Maier/Meier |
Schwein |
| Deines |
Kindsvater |
Michaelis |
Templing |
| Dietz |
Koleber |
Müller |
|
Ährenfeld Charts
| Bender |
Fabrizius |
Michaelis |
Schneider |
| Blehm |
Knaus |
Rein |
Specht |
| Boxberger |
Mai |
Schäfer |
|
In related families, I also have Mai
and Schneider from
Eckheim.
In return for a copy of each chart, we request a minimum $35
contribution to the Kratzke Research Fund from which additional
information from Russia is purchased.
Please let me know if there are any questions regarding these or
other families from Kratzke and/or Ährenfeld.
KUKKUS, Samara Volga
Betty Muradian
Eleanor Sissell
Data Base Coordinator
Work is still being done on the Kukkus Web site. Most of the typing
has been done, and now, the project at hand is to select various
pictures to be included in the site.
Kukkusers are still asked to send any information or stories they
have from relatives to put in the report. Any new people who work on
their family genealogy or history may send in questions to be answered.
Several questions are still not answered because they haven’t been
found yet in the Kukkus information bank.
All the Kukkus censuses that are known are being checked to determine
how many early settlers remained in the village. Also, there were many
names that were on the original list, yet they either died or moved on
to other villages.
The manuscript, Kukkus, a German Village on the Volga, may still be
purchased from the Central California Chapter in Fresno. Their phone
number is 559-229-6287. There are also two different Kukkus maps that
may be purchased from Lincoln Headquarters.
KULM, Bessarabia
Arthur E. Flegel
As coordinator for the Bessarabian communities of Kulm, Leipzig and
Tarutino, I can report that currently I have nearly 27,000 names with
associated documentation for each listing in the final stages of
editing. Hopefully no other interruptions will appear to prevent its
completion for printing before the year-end.
During this period, I have received many requests for information
from the extensive records that have been accumulated, resulting in
up-dated data being submitted by numerous individuals, as well as
requiring pains-taking double-checking on my part. Everyone who has
contributed pertinent material will be identified within the
"notes’" in the up-coming book.
Similarly, for the fact that the following are heavily connected with
the Bessarabian communities, I am making an effort to gather data on the
villages: Alexanderfeld, Eigenfeld, Rosenfeld, Lilienfeld, Markosovka,
Gnadau, Kronental, Friedrichsfeld and Marienbrunn all associated with
the Kuban River settlements in the North Caucasus. I have received
requests for research help on several of these, but am trying to keep my
efforts at a minimum until the above-mentioned Kulm; Leipzig and
Tarutino work is completed.
In conjunction with Bonnie Anderson, I am assisting in gathering
information for all Caucasus Germans both the earlier Trans-Caucasus
settlements and the later North Caucasus developments. This promises to
eventually become a major contribution to the extended research effort
of Germans in Russia.
LAUWE/LAUBE, Samara, Volga
Helen Bernice Madden M363
Newsletter: Die Lauwe Lampe
Research efforts for the village of Lauwe/Laube is ongoing, but at a
slow pace. Requests for information only seems to come from 4 or 5
interested individuals. Periodically, I receive new queries via the
internet.
It was reported in Die Welt Post that in the year 1939, there were 30
old family names as well as 23 additional names in Lauwe. The focus for
research and data in the past has been a narrow one. I have received
inquiries from folks connected to only 7 of these names. I must say,
however, that the internet had increased research requests. Family
histories and/or stories input has been in short supply. I would really
like to have more of this sort of material to make the village
newsletter more interesting.
At times, there queries are for the village of Laub. The spelling for
this village closely parallels one of those used for Lauwe [Laube].
Since there is no VC for Laub, I always respond to these and have made
an effort help whenever I had information that connected to their
request.
My research has focused on my family surnames: Goeringer, Keck,
Grasmick, Bitter, and Rube and any others connected to Lauwe.
In Fresno, CA, on October 19th at 1:00 pm, the Geringers
and allied families are having get-together. After this, we will attend
an Octoberfest, which the Fresno chapter AHSGR puts on as a fund-raiser
to support their Research Library and Museum. For anyone interested in
attending, I shall have to let you know later where the
"get-together" is being held.
LEICHTLING, Saratov, Volga
Darryl W. Boyd B238
We opened the new Leichtling Web Site this year. This was done partly
as a cost saving measure, but mainly so we would have more room to grow.
The old site is still there but is not updated and has a reference to
the new site. Also my email changed.
Fifty-six new names were added to the family group sheet index on the
web site this year. This database contains names of persons who were
born in, or lived in Leichtling and is accessible on the web site.
Eleven new names were added to the ships list of persons coming from
Leichtling to the United States.
The "Links" page is always being updated with the changes
to Village web sites.
We had 27 inquiries about Leichtling and were happy to help them. We
keep all emails (4 years worth) by surname, and we were able to help
several people by just being able to give an email address to another
person working on the same surname.
We are still looking for a photo of the Leichtling area, but have had
little luck. If anyone knows of one, please email me.
LEIPZIG, Bessarabia
Arthur E. Flegel
As coordinator for the Bessarabian communities of Kulm, Leipzig and
Tarutino, I can report that currently I have nearly 27,000 names with
associated documentation for each listing in the final stages of
editing. Hopefully no other interruptions will appear to prevent its
completion for printing before the year-end.
During this period, I have received many requests for information
from the extensive records that have been accumulated, resulting in
up-dated data being submitted by numerous individuals, as well as
requiring pains-taking double-checking on my part. Everyone who has
contributed pertinent material will be identified within the
"notes’" in the up-coming book.
Similarly, for the fact that the following are heavily connected with
the Bessarabian communities, I am making an effort to gather data on the
villages: Alexanderfeld, Eigenfeld, Rosenfeld, Lilienfeld, Markosovka,
Gnadau, Kronental, Friedrichsfeld and Marienbrunn all associated with
the Kuban River settlements in the North Caucasus. I have received
requests for research help on several of these, but am trying to keep my
efforts at a minimum until the above-mentioned Kulm; Leipzig and
Tarutino work is completed.
In conjunction with Bonnie Anderson, I am assisting in gathering
information for all Caucasus Germans both the earlier Trans-Caucasus
settlements and the later North Caucasus developments. This promises to
eventually become a major contribution to the extended research effort
of Germans in Russia.
LOUIS, Samara, Volga
Thelma Mills
I am working on several projects when time permits. In between times
I answer requests, etc.
One project is the gathering of the names of researchers for the
villages of Mariental and Louis. I read this in one of the newsletters
and I thought it was a great idea. I have them listed in a notebook; I
previously had obtained the information from the CLUES Edition from
AHSGR. But it needs to be updated and the e-mail addresses listed in a
special place in my address book, so I can send new information to one
and all in one shot.
I also have completed my information for the new web page of LOUIS,
RUSSIA, and have sent it to Patrice to publish on the Internet. I am not
sure when she will get it competed. I realize her time is at a premium,
but I am looking forward to having that Web page on the Internet also.
During the year I have also purchased 5 more reference books for my
two villages and neighboring villages - these are added to my reference
library - which I do have all together now here in Arizona. For several
months, I was handicapped when researching a surname, as some of my
material was still in Kansas. We completed our move to Arizona (three
long trips - at different times). Very nice to be settled (somewhat).
It’s been a very busy year to date, travel-wise.
I have received approximately 70 + queries from people searching for
information on their ancestor. I have been in touch with each and every
one - some are still being researched - plus I keep them on file and get
back to them at later dates - just to keep in touch. Some of these
queries, I did research in-depth, and sent information on the following
surnames: DELWA;
SCHUNK; SALZMANN; SCHAMNE (CHAMNE); ASSELBORN; DENING (DENIG); EBERLE,
and KINDERKNECHT. Some of these requests received were from Argentine -
and some were from Germany and Russia. I had to use an Internet
translating program in order to be able to help some of them. I found
that these types of translators are not very good. I typed an answer to
one of them and had it converted to German. I then had it re-translated
back to me in English so I could see if what I wanted to say did in fact
get said. What a disappointment it was. I have to choose different words
in my sentences, so that it gets interpreted correctly - then double
check till I am satisfied. Does anyone have any tips on this translation
project?
I was sorry that I could not go to the AHSGR Convention this year,
too much going on in my life to get there this summer. I hate to miss
out on those, they are so enjoyable - especially Village Night, and I
also look forward to the great guest speakers they usually have.
I also volunteered for the Soar Project, and am trying to devote at
least 30 - 40 hours to it per month. I enjoy doing this and find it very
interesting.
Could we have a list of the NEW Village Coordinators that have joined
our group during the year. I just would like to welcome them.
LOWER VOLGA VILLAGES, Saratov, Volga
Dobrinka, Dreispitz, Galka, Holstein, Kraft, Mueller, Schwab,
Shcherbakovka, Stephen
See individual villages for contacts.
Rolene Kiesling, Newsletter
The ten villages included in our project are those in the two
Parishes of Galka and Stephan, and include: Dorbinka, Dreispitz, Galka,
Holstein, Schwab; and Dubovka, Kraft, Mueller, Shcherbakovka and
Stephan. Before going to your individual village
of interest, see the general interest articles on the home page. New
additions this year include a complete report on Ed Hoak’s visit to
the area in May 2001. This was Ed’s second trip to Russia, and he
visited the cemeteries of each village available, and recorded names and
dates of those buried there.
Additions of obituary summaries are made twice a year in July and
January. These are alphabetized, and provide excellent information which
helps link families. Rachel Smith is in charge. A CD of complete obits
up to July 2002 was donated to Dennis Zitterkopf for use as he sees fit.
Rolene Kiesling is the new editor of the village newsletter,
"The Lower Volga Villages Sheet" Summaries of all issues
published in May and Nov. since 1994 are listed. Back issues are
available from the editors. A subscription form can be downloaded and
mailed with the $9.00 yearly subscription fee to Rolene.
Research ordered and received from Russia is listed along with the
surname and village, and the person from whom it can be obtained. Faye
and Peter Schantz are in charge of Family Tree Charts ordered by the project. These are available for $35 each. Other Charts are
available from other individuals as noted. New Charts obtained this year
include: Haffner, Hanschu,
Steinert and Zwetzig
from Shcherbakovka, with Winter
on order, and expected by the end of this year. A Wolf
Chart from Dobrinka was donated by Arliss Hoskins. Charts for Kelln,
Martin and Gritzfeld
from Holstein have recently arrived. A Herdt
Chart from Schwab is expected by next July.
Janet Flickinger is in charge of publications for sale, and her web
page of Janet’s Resources lists some of these. Contact Janet for more
information and mailing charges. New additions this year include five
publications donated by Sue Kottwitz and Betty Ashley of The Lower
Jeruslan River Colonies Research Project. These daughter colonies are
directly east of ours on the other side of the Volga, and many of the
residents came from our mother colonies. They include:
- Germans from Russia in Russell County, Kansas: 1910 Census
1995, 60 pages of extractions, indexed. $15 plus postage.
- The Records of St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Rocky Ford, Colorado: 1910-1970’s March 1996, 51 pages. $20
plus postage.
- The Records of Immanuel German Congregational Church of Rocky
Ford, Colorado: 1906-1978 1996, $20 plus postage.
- Wiesenmueller Original Settlers 1997. Research performed by
Vlad Soshnikov of RAGAS. 39 pages, indexed. Included are colonists
from : Mueller, Stephan, Balzer, Shcherbakovka, Franzosen, Schwab,
Galka, Moor, Grimm & Holstein. $20 plus postage.
- Gnadenthau Original Settlers 1997, research by Vlad
Soshnikov; Indexed. 22 pages. Colonists came from Shcherbakovka,
Stephan, Mueller, Dietel, Schwab. Grimm, Galka, Merkel, &
Franzosen. $15 plus postage.
See links to daughter colonies and additional resources on our home
page. Jayne Dye’s Galka page has a sample Passenger List, and tells
how to get the soundex for your surname. The Dobrinka page gives
research by Arliss Hoskins.
Most queries now come by e-mail, but there are still some by snail
mail. My main effort this year has been to improve the quality and
quantity of our databases which are always a work in progress.
If you have ancestors from these colonies, start with yourself, and
then send the birth, death dates, and complete names of your Volga
parent and any earlier ancestors, including spouses, siblings and their
descendants, and where they first settled in the U.S. I am happy to
check our databases of over 50,000 names, but the more details you send,
the more likely you are to get some help
MARIENTAL, Samara, Volga
I am working on several projects when time permits. In between
times I answer requests, etc.
One project is the gathering of the names of researchers for the
villages of Mariental and Louis. I read this in one of the newsletters
and I thought it was a great idea. I have them listed in a notebook; I
previously had obtained the information from the CLUES Edition from
AHSGR. But it needs to be updated and the e-mail addresses listed in a
special place in my address book, so I can send new information to one
and all in one shot.
I also have completed my information for the new web page of LOUIS,
RUSSIA, and have sent it to Patrice to publish on the Internet. I am
not sure when she will get it competed. I realize her time is at a
premium, but I am looking forward to having that Web page on the
Internet also.
During the year I have also purchased 5 more reference books for my
two villages and neighboring villages - these are added to my
reference library - which I do have all together now here in Arizona.
For several months, I was handicapped when researching a surname, as
some of my material was still in Kansas. We completed our move to
Arizona (three long trips - at different times). Very nice to be
settled (somewhat). It’s been a very busy year to date, travel-wise.
I have received approximately 70 + queries from people searching
for information on their ancestor. I have been in touch with each and
every one - some are still being researched - plus I keep them on file
and get back to them at later dates - just to keep in touch. Some of
these queries, I did research in-depth, and sent information on the
following surnames: DELWA; SCHUNK; SALZMANN; SCHAMNE (CHAMNE);
ASSELBORN; DENING (DENIG); EBERLE, and KINDERKNECHT. Some of these
requests received were from Argentine - and some were from Germany and
Russia. I had to use an Internet translating program in order to be
able to help some of them. I found that these types of translators are
not very good. I typed an answer to one of them and had it converted
to German. I then had it re-translated back to me in English so I
could see if what I wanted to say did in fact get said. What a
disappointment it was. I have to choose different words in my
sentences, so that it gets interpreted correctly - then double check
till I am satisfied. Does anyone have any tips on this translation
project?
I was sorry that I could not go to the AHSGR Convention this year,
too much going on in my life to get there this summer. I hate to miss
out on those, they are so enjoyable - especially Village Night, and I
also look forward to the great guest speakers they usually have.
I also volunteered for the Soar Project, and am trying to devote at
least 30 - 40 hours to it per month. I enjoy doing this and find it
very interesting.
Could we have a list of the NEW Village Coordinators that have
joined our group during the year. I just would like to welcome them.
MERKEL, Saratov, Volga
Darrell W. Kautz
I am currently finishing a third large book pertaining to Merkel
village and its environs. It will most likely exceed 400 pages, and
include very interesting new information on the village, numerous
photographs and documents of Merkel emigrants, photographs recently
taken of the Merkel site, more surname charts, and some translated
documents.
I hope to see the six years of translated articles written by
Merkel journalist Alexander Bauer from Die Welt Post published
yet this year (approximately 100 pages). I have been working on his
equally numerous articles from the Dakota Freie Presse. These
articles, from the famine years, contain very specific information on
dozens of families from numerous villages in the region, and would be
of utmost interest to many members of AHSGR. I hope to include about
thirty photographs of families and places mentioned in his work. Due
to time constraints, I haven’t done much with the Merkel village web
site this year, though future plans might include pages with more
photographs taken of families in Merkel, pictures of the site as it
currently appears, a map of the village, particular stories of
immigrants, and any number of other scenarios. Once these projects are
completed, I will probably step down from the village coordinator
position to pursue other endeavors. As always, we are looking for any
new information, photographs and documents pertaining to Merkel or
neighboring villages. (These villages did not operate in a vacuum.
Intermarriage and inter-village commerce was common. As always, I
share relevant material with other coordinators.)
Many persons have contributed volumes of vital material to this
research, but this year, I wish to extend a very special thanks
Clarence Jake Margheim of Norwalk, California, for his tireless
perseverance of research material pertaining to a number of Merkel
families.
MOLOCHNA COLONY, Mennonite Villages
I have tried to answer any queries I received right away. Sometimes
I get queries about villages that are not Mennonite villages, and I
try to connect them to some other VC that may be able to help them.
I have made a contact with someone at the Odessa, Ukraine archives
and have requested some information on my family from them. At the
present time, I am still waiting for a response.
I have sent out two issues of my newsletter "The Molotschna
Villager" and am working on a third issue. I hope to send out
four by the end of the year.
MOOR, Saratov, Volga
Wayne Bonner
Virtually no new abstracts of church records or census returns for
Balzer or Moor were received during the past year. A
number of requests were sent, but no reply.
A few new surname charts were received for Moor and Balzer. This
information was kindly donated to the group by the purchasers.
The Balzer Group Newsletter is still being issued, but it is
getting more difficult to put together due to a lack of information.
The newsletter may be put on temporary hold next year so that
informative information and interesting stories can be gathered. Some
old articles printed in German journals in the 1930’s have been
found. These seem to contain interesting genealogical information
about our German ancestors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a
translator.
The Balzer web page is up and running and several people have
contacted us because of the web site. Snail mail letters have been
received. Unfortunately, of the forty or so received in the past year,
only one or two had a return envelope enclosed. Nevertheless, these
letters will also be answered.
We hope 2003 will be more productive.
MÜHLBERG, Saratov, Volga
See Shcherbakovka
NEU-DANZIG, Nikolaev, Kherson
Curt Renz
While there are still four months remaining in 2002 and the hope to
uncover more, I have been actively going through many rolls of
microfilmed newspapers in the State Historical Library of North Dakota
searching for obituaries for anyone born in any of the four ancestral
villages that I am the VC for. Along with ordering these microfilm
through inter-library loan, I’ve also made three trips to Bismarck
to spend about nine days researching in the library itself. One
advantage is that the Library has all of its newspapers posted on-line
with their assigned file numbers. To date, I’ve been able to glean
about 130 additional obituaries for the collection. In addition, with
the very generous and skillful assistance by translators, the letter
collections continues to grow. These are letters written from Russia
to either individuals in America or to an American German newspaper
and published by that newspaper.
NEUDORF, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
Gregory Dockter D112
See also Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
NEU-GLUECKSTAL, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
NEU-OBERMONJOU, Samara, Volga
Kevin Rupp R311
There is not much available on this colony, except for the 1861
census list I received. Most of these colonists were
from the Colony of Ober-Munjou. The 1861 census was another way to
fill that gap from 1850 to those who settled in America, since there
was not an 1857 census for Ober-Munjou. The list is small and contains
about 32 family names.
NEU-SARATA, Bessarabia
Jan Stangl S707
I have had no requests this past year about any of my tiny
villages.
I do not have a newsletter.
I do continue to add information that I find in EWZ records
pertaining to my villages. Maury Gauer is a great help in entering
materials that pertains to Nesselrode/Birsula area.
NEU-SCHILLING I & II, Samara, Volga
Status Report for Alt-Schilling, Schilling, Konstantinovka, Neu-Schilling
I and Neu-Schilling II
There is a fairly continuous flow of queries about families from
Schilling, and it’s daughter colonies, which I answer the best I can
with the Schilling database and other resources. Several sets of
census records have been received in the past year, and one surname chart for the DAMM family, all of which are being added to the
Schilling database.
There are 3 or 4 charts on order, but none have been
received in the past year that I’m aware of. One of the reasons may
be that the Alt-Schilling church books need repair, and they may not be
allowed to use them at this time. The cost to get the Schilling books
repaired is about $150. The church books for Schilling, Konstantinovka,
Neu-Schilling I and Neu-Schilling II are supposedly in the possession
of the people at the Engels archive, although nobody has yet received
a chart that shows information from those villages.
If your interested in seeing a picture of one of the summer homes
of the Laginkoski (Lagin Rapids) Imperial Fishing Lodge used by Czar
Alexander III in the late 1800’s, they can be found on the Shilling
web site.
My complete online collection of pictures of Finland can be seen by
starting here:
http://www.wathenadesigns.com/Finland/
Note that some German-Russians left Russian through the Finnish
port of Hanko.
NEU-STRAUB, Saratov, Volga
Neu-Straub seems to be so isolated in research that I am not able
to find any new information concerning this village. I have received
several email’s from others who are also researching Neu-Straub and
am trying to list all who are interested. I shall shortly email an
answer to all who have contacted me giving them all the information I
have. My family names are Keil and Heintz. I attended a reunion in
Russell, KS this summer who were mostly Hinintz, but I have found this
name could also be Heintz and the Keil families in attendance did not
have any information to give me.
A person researching the name Straub from Neu-Straub may give me a
clue to research that name also. I have reason to believe that my
grandmother Sophie Heintz Keil, had a sister who married a Straub. I
will report on that if any more information is available
NEU-YAGODNAYA, Samara, Volga
See SCHÖNDORF below for the
combined report.
NORKA, Saratov, Volga
Norka Web Site
Robert Benson B504
Jerry Krieger K175, Newsletter
Joanne Kreiger K254,
Charts & Norka Database
The Norka Newsletter is now in its seventh year of publication. It
was orignated by John and Marcella Wark in 1996, and has been
published by Jerry Krieger since 1998.
The newsletter is published four times a year. Subscription rate is
$10 per year ($16 Canadian). Circulation remains at about 260-270
copies per issues.
Much of the newsletter is dependent on reader submissions. These
include charts showing descent from original Norka settlers, plus an
exchange of queries and research tips. The newsletter is now in the
process of publishing articles about "ethnic neighborhoods"
which saw large influxes of immigrants from Norka in the late 1800’s
and early 1900’s. These include the Albina district in Portland,
Oregon, and the Globeville district in Denver. An article on the North
Bottoms and South Bottoms of Lincoln, Nebraska, is now in preparation.
Thanks to the generosity of Steve Schreiber, the Norka Newsletter
now has its own web page.
OBERDORF, Saratov, Volga
Oberdorf Web
Site
Teri Helzer H491
The activity of the past year has been less than the prior two
years. I have continued to add surnames to the Oberdorf list of known
residents. We currently have 202 known surnames on the list, and in
excess of 1000 given names associated with those surnames.
Email activity was slightly less than the prior year. I had 114
incoming emails regarding Oberdorf research, and I generated 96 emails
to Oberdorf researchers in the past year. The difference in the number
of incoming versus outgoing is attributed to, in some cases, two
incoming emails were answered with one email, or some incoming emails
were simply expressions of thanks for helping. In other words, all
inquiries were responded to. All responses to inquiries were copied to
the appropriate Oberdorf researchers that are researching the same
surname. I maintain a surname contact list for the purpose of putting
new researchers in contact with existing researchers to enable them to
network and share to the benefit of all. All incoming and outgoing
email was published on the private Oberdorf web site to be used as an
additional research tool, in addition to serving as an archival tool
for Oberdorf research documents.
We have added several new researchers to the Oberdorf Email List.
We currently have 57 researchers on our email list.
Additionally, the Oberdorf website has been updated to reflect the
addition of surnames and photos of Oberdorf families.
In the absence of census data beyond 1857 and the missing Oberdorf/Rosenberg
Parish church records, many researchers are unable to trace their
ancestors back to the mother colonies, or in many cases, other lower
Volga villages from which they came. We continue to hold out hope that
the church records will be found some day.
OBER-MONJOU, Samara, Volga
Kevin Rupp R311
This has been a good year in working with this colony. With the
help of a friend, I have been able to finance the project of getting
the complete 1850 census from that colony. Unfortunately, the 1857
census is not available. I have had a number of requests for this
colony and have been able to help those people to make connections. I
have not had any people come to me with any stories, though, which
would really be interesting! I continue to acquire church record
information to help make those uncertain connections.
The web page has also been updated recently.
ORLOVSKOE, Samara, Volga
Carol J. Nesewich
INQUIRIES
This year brought one inquiry from a woman in Russia seeking the
descendants of her grandmother’s sister, Maria Herlinger. Maria
immigrated to America before 1917 and corresponded with her Russian
relatives until this contact broke off in the 1930’s. We cannot be
of too much help to the requester because unfortunately she has only
limited information.
ACQUISITIONS
We have acquired translations of the four "Famine
Letters" written in 1922 from Orlovskoe, which were published in DIE
WELT-POST, Omaha, Nebraska. The first three, similar in content,
were written to a representative of the Volga Relief Society and
signed by the Church Council. These men sent their thanks for
donations received, which helped alleviate the suffering of the
starving villagers. The names Andreas Reusch and Johannes Krüger
appeared on all three letters. Other council members were Christian Bär,
David Gerlinger, Gottlieb Götz, Christian Laer, Andreas Reiner, A.
Wolf and Johann Wolf.
The fourth letter was written by David Bär to Pastor H.G. Zorn in
Colorado, a contact with whom he was already corresponding. Mr. Bär
apologetically wrote once more describing the hunger and terror in the
village. Specifically he related that his family had endured seven
different searches by the police in their home. He also lamented the
fact that they had hoped for a better harvest but that hope had again
been shattered. It is of interest to note that Mr. Bär’s wife
Barbara (maiden name Schleuning) was from Alt-Norka and (according to
them) many of the Orlovskoe church members were also from Norka. She
convinced her husband to ask Pastor Zorn to help locate her relatives
in America to see if they would send aid. Pastor Zorn took their
letter to DIE WELT-POST and also added his own note
"beseeching all…to take this opportunity to heart" and
help these despairing people.
FUTURE
Requests for information are welcome as we look forward to a
productive 2003.
PAULSKOYE, Samara, Volga
Since last report, I have received extractions from the 1834 and
1850 census records for SCHERER surname which was requested by Charles
Millard and myself. The work was completed by AHSGR and a Russian
researcher respectively. I am still patiently waiting for information
on exactly what new documents pertaining to Paulskoye were discovered two
years ago.
I have received but two requests for research assistance this past
year. First, I received an inquiry regarding GERK in Paulskoye who has
later removed to Katherinenstadt. Second, I received a request just
today while writing this report. It concerns surnames BACHMAN(N) and
SCHERER who had settled in Sanilac and later Huron counties in the
sugar beat "Thumb Area" of Michigan. It turns out the
inquirer is probably a distant cousin through the SCHERER line---which
is very exciting! The correspondence is obviously ongoing.
Finally, I have discovered a German website through one of the
listservs. It is located at http://russlanddeutschegeschichte.de/Kulturarchiv/Schicksalswege/dorn.htm
. It contains an autobiography and pictures of HEINRICH DORN who
hailed from Paulskoye. It details (in German language) village life
during communism, deportations, life in Siberia, and his immigration
to Berlin, Germany. I contacted two persons here in the USA with
connections to the DORN surname so they could visit the website
themselves. DORN’S online autobiography is my greatest
"treasure" I discovered this year.
PFEIFER, Saratov, Volga
Many requests for information of ancestors from Kamenka and Pfeifer
have been answered. Requests continue to come from Argentina for
Kamenka and Pfeifer as well as other villages. Most requests from
Argentina are in Spanish, so the Babelfish translator is used which
gives me a good idea about their inquiry. The response is in Spanish.
A First Settler List has been added to the Pfeifer web page, in
addition to other updates on both sites.
This year I published ST. MARY’S PARISH FAMILY REGISTER,
which contains many Volga German families, as well as families from
the Bukowina [Romania] in Austria. All proceeds from the sale of this
publication are given to St. Mary’s Church, Ellis, Kansas.
The first settlers in Ellis were the Irish who arrived with the
construction of the railroad across the great plains in the 1870’s.
By 1880 Volga Germans were employed by the Kansas [Union] Pacific
Railroad. They lived near St. Mary’s Church. By 1900
Volga Germans, who were members of the parish, had settled on farms
in Western Ellis County and Eastern Trego County. I wrote a parish
history in 1985 and was responsible for gathering photos of the early
parishioners of St. Mary’s which are a large part
of the publication for the Centennial celebration in 1986. This is
available from St. Mary’s Church, Ellis, Kansas.
Check out the web sites so ably put online by Patrice Miller.
POBOCHNOYE, Saratov, Volga
2002 Annual Report for Pobochnoye, an original colony founded 1772
on the Bergseite, Volga River Valley, Russia.
I still continue to receive several inquiries per month, asking about
ancestors or their descendents from Pobochnoye. Pobochnoye means
"step-child", "illegitimate" "second
class", etc. Pobochnoye was a "stepchild" colony to
nearby Yagodnaya Polyana, which was establish in 1767.
The soil was poor, rocky and hilly, i.e. not especially good farming
land. In 1856-1857 half the population, some 1,150 people, left to
help found the new villages of Schoendorf, Schoenfeld and Schoental,
100 miles SE and on the Wiesenseite of the Volga. These 1,150 folks
are listed on the 10 Nov 1857 Pobochnoye Aussiedler List.
This List, along with a partial 1834 Pobochnoye census have been very
helpful to enable me to provide information for people searching for
their ancestors from Schoendorf, Schoenfeld and Schoental.
People have requested information on:
Brack, Daubert, Haas, Herdt, Litzenberger, Pope, Schlegel, Wagner,
Wilhelm, Wittig, and others.
Daughter colonies: Pobochnoye had two or three "daughter
colonies". They were founded when the "new lands" in
the Wiesenseite were opened up in the early 1850s. They were
Schonefeld and Strassendorf and Neu Schoenfeld. In the USA three
"daughter colonies" were settled. This included: Galatia,
KS, Otis, KS and, Longmont, CO.
During the deportation of Volga Germans in October 1941, there was
no single location where the villagers were unloaded. From what I can
learn, some Pobochnoye folks and Schoenfelders were dropped off
somewhere around and to the south of Omsk, Siberia. Others ended up in
Kazakstan.
For the coming year, I will continue to provide information to
genealogical researchers, etc. I have corresponded with perhaps 20
persons in Argentina and Brazil. This will continue. People in
Argentina and Brazil are looking for the long lost relatives who came
to America. Unfortunately, they do not have much information and
frequently do not know the ancestral village in Russia.
REINHARD(T), Samara, Volga
Margo James
This was the first year for a coordinator of REINHARD(T). I have
contacted people who are researching relatives from this village and
have been collecting family charts, hoping to find common relatives.
So far, I have 16 family charts and a story of immigration of a man
from REINHARD(T). The surnames I have in charts are: BERG, BOLGER,
DIENER, ENGEL, GOEBEL, GORR, HERMAN, MEHL, REINHARDT, SCHULZ,
SCHWEIGERT, SPINDLER, and YENZ.
During the course of the year, I have received two inquiries from
people looking for relatives and/or information on the village.
As far as information on the village, I have received most of it
from AHSGR. I have a description of the village, the 1798 census, and
a map showing the location of the village,
I also have developed a contact list for those interested in the
village and have sent an e-mail about the church records restoration
at the Engels archive. The Engels Archives hold church records for
REINHARD(T) which are in need of restoration. I have sent money over
to help with the restoration and e-mailed those interested in helping
out with information to do the same. Hopefully these can be restored
and we can get this information from the archives.
Goals for the next year: As REINHARD(T) is a smaller village, I do
not foresee having a web site or newsletter in the near future. Over
the next year, I am hoping to collect stories and photographs about
the village as well as any information handed down from immigrants.
REINWALD, Samara, Volga
Susie Weber Hess
The largest contribution that was made in this last year was for
the village of Krasnojar. My cousin George Valko (a VELLER relative by
my grandmother) has completed and published 3 volumes of THE VOLGA
GERMANS Krasnoyar (aka Krasnojar), Chicago, Everywhere.
Volume 1 – THEIR STORIES, THEIR WORDS – A compendium
of history and family was completed Oct 2001.
Volume 2 – THEIR STORIES, THEIR WORDS - FRANZ / FRANTZ
FAMILY was completed January 2002.
Volume 3 – THEIR STORY, THEIR WORDS VELLER / FELLER
FAMILY was completed August 2002.
All of these books contain translated personal letters from
numerous sources and countries in addition to family charts. For more
information about these publications refer to WWW.GEORGEVALKO.COM.
I am waiting for a WEBER chart from the village of Krasnojar. It will be interesting to see what connections the Weber
family has to the other charts already obtained. The Weber family was
very well known in the Jefferson Park area of Chicago and members of
Calvary Church.
I am half way done transferring the data from the 1910 Sheboygan
census relating to the Germans from Russia into an Excel spreadsheet.
ROSENBERG (Umet), Saratov, Volga
I began my report for 2000-1 with the statement that it had been a
quiet year, but regrettably this last has been even quieter. Having
reached Newsletter No 9 I found, as I know other VCs have, that the
information relating to the ancestral village was no longer
forthcoming in sufficient quantity to make a viable newsletter. So,
reluctantly, I discontinued printing a paper Newsletter and with the
help of Teri Helzer, put all previous Newsletters on the web page,
which now contains a large resource for village researchers. The
intention is to put all new material which researchers allow onto the
web page. This will not include genealogies however which I hold and
which I share with personal inquirers only. This is to protect the
information for use only by genuine inquirers. At the end of each
year, or thereabouts, I will list all the new material added during
the year just past.
I realize that web access is not possible for everyone so I have
offered to send a version of this update on paper, or on disc for
computer to those who request it. At present I have had just one such
request. So much for the more negative aspects of the year.
I have referred, in a previous report, to the great variety of
pictorial and written resources now available on the web page. This
has been much appreciated by those researchers who have stopped by. We
are all concerned at the possibility that the storage space which is
currently free may not remain so for very much longer, and we would
ask the Society to look into this - if storage space begins to cost it
will be too difficult for some VCs to afford to pay. Paying for
Newsletter postage without society help was getting expensive (100
dollars for each posting from England where I live); it would be a
problem if web storage went the same way.
One of the problems for a village like Rosenberg is that being a
daughter colony formed in the 1850s, it effectively only had a 90 year
history of fully Russian German occupation, and as well as that, many
of those who emigrated did so between 1898 and 1914. The deportation
of the Volga Germans after 1942 and Stalin’s purges from 1938 onward
decimated the number of male settlers. As a result, though there may
be families in Russia today of Russian German extraction, they are
less aware of their cultural roots.
In practice then we are dealing with only a relatively small group
of families who, for the most part, lived in the village from 1852 to
1914. Rosenberg is therefore only a second level ancestral village, if
you like, and most people want to be able to go back to the original
village of settlement. The material on the web page is designed to
help researchers do just that, with the help of the Russian censuses
which can research up to 1857. As well as the books which
Dr. Pleve is currently producing, the 1798 (and some 1775) censuses
published by the Society are invaluable in helping to locate ancestral
villages, and from there it is possible to go back into Germany (or
wherever the family came from originally).
As I have indicated before there are a few families for whom a
great deal is known. These are principally the KUXHAUS, MARTIN,
MANNWEILER, MAJOR, SEIFERT, ZIEGLER families, but there is also
information on KOCH, SCHWARTZKOPF, BUXMANN and others available.
ROSENHEIM, Samara, Volga
Randi Bolyard
My husband and I have returned from Rosenheim and Enders and
brought back some current information. Walking was quite treacherous,
but it turned out to be worth it. Everyone in the villages was quite
friendly, and we were directed to the people who were either Volga
German or those who would know something about the Germans who lived
there.
Physical description
Both villages are in disrepair. Some German houses still exist.
Everyone has outhouses. We were told that the villages were in much
better condition when the Germans were in the villages.
There were no streets or sidewalks. Everything was a big mud
puddle, combined with dung. There were geese and other animals running
in the street.
We were fortunate enough to be invited into one of the houses in
Enders. It was very nice inside, with crystal glasses in the cabinet,
several rooms and a kitchen. They have well water and in the kitchen
there was an interesting water fixture that appears to work like some
of our soap dispensers: push up on the little nozzle and water comes
out. This family had a nice farm in back of their house with pigs
(very stinky!), a vineyard, apple and pear trees, watermelons,
tomatoes, peppers, dill, and food grown for the livestock.
The church is still in Rosenheim. It is in ruins and there are no
services there. I do not know whether the German cemetery still
exists.
The church is gone in Enders. No cemetery exists.
Data collected
I gathered data on the following surnames:
| Deckert |
Enders |
Krause |
| Dietzel |
Funk |
Rusch |
| Dotz |
Henneberg |
Schneider |
| Ehlert |
Horst |
|
If anyone is researching these surnames, they should contact me for
further information.
Pictures
I took as many pictures as I could of the people and the places. I
plan to publish them on a web site as soon as possible.
Other information
One of the good things about going on a tour is that you get to
meet other people who are working on the same types of things. I made
a potential contact that will be able to get additional data for the
villages.
People in the villages are aware of the outside world through
watching television. They asked us about 9/11, social security in the
U.S., and what our lives were like. As we were leaving Enders, an
elderly Russian couple came out with a watermelon and said they were
sorry for our losses on 9/11. It was very moving.
ROTHAMMEL, Saratov, Volga
Nicholas & Barbara Bretz B296
Joe Gertge, Data Base Coordinator
Kathy Jones, ROTHAMMELLIST
2002 is proving to be another exciting year for Rothammelers.
Surname charts have been received for the surnames Basgal,
Bieber, and Lechmann.
The following charts should be arriving
within the next few months: APPELHANZ, DISTEL, FRANK, GERTJE,
HARTMANN, KLOBERDANZ, LAUER, MATZA, and WEINGARDT. ARTZER and KAISER
charts from Seewald have also been ordered.
The Russian census project is ongoing. We now have census data for
the years 1811, 1816, 1834, 1850, and 1858 for the following surnames:
APPELHANZ, BASGAL, BIEBER, DISTEL, FISCHER, FRANK, GERTJE, HARTMANN,
KLOBERDANZ, KRAEMER, KRESS, LAUER, LECHMANN, MATZA, MAURER,
MILDENBERGER, NAB, ROTHAMMEL, WEINGARDT, and WOHN. Also in our
collection are Bauer, HOCHNADEL, and SCHAMBER from Schuck, ARTZER from
Seewald, and SCHAMBER from Degott. We have compiled "Possible
Connections" for each of the above surnames by compiling the
Original Settlers List, the 1798 Census from AHSGR, and the other
census data. If Rothammelers wish access to this data, please contact
us and we will send you a file for your surname. We only ask that you
make a contribution to the Rothammel Fund so we can order census
records for other surnames.
Our next project is to enter each surname chart into its own
database, then merge them into a single surname chart database. Joe
Gertge, who is our database coordinator, will then combine them with
the larger Rothammel database he is compiling. If you haven’t sent
your family file to Joe, please do so by contacting Joe at the email
address above. We then hope to be able to tell how Rothammelers are
related to other Rothammelers.
Kathy Jones is responsible for the ROTHAMMELLIST which is a free
private LIST. We now have nearly 100 members on the LIST. It is a good
place to ask questions and share information. If you are interested in
joining the list, please contact Kathy at the email address above.
This year Sally Caskey and Bernice Williams were successful in
publishing ROTHAMMEL ON THE VOLGA, TRANSLATION OF CHRONICLE BY
THERESIA DAEHN. Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and Rosalinda (Appelhans)
Kloberdanz aided in editing and added Explanatory Notes. The booklet
is available for $10 plus postage and handling.
Steve Drescher completed a booklet, CHURCH RECORDS 1676--1798,
ST. LAMBETUS, BECHTHEIM, RHEINHESSEN, APPELHANS. It contains
extracts and translations of Church Records of the Appelhans and
Allied Families. It is available for those with Appelhans connections.
We are also considering becoming the Seewald Village Coordinators.
Seewald currently has no VC, and the two villages are closely related.
SCHILLING, Samara, Volga
SCHILLING, Saratov, Volga
Status Report for Alt-Schilling, Schilling, Konstantinovka, Neu-Schilling
I and Neu-Schilling II
There is a fairly continuous flow of queries about families from
Schilling, and it’s daughter colonies, which I answer the best I can
with the Schilling database and other resources. Several sets of
census records have been received in the past year, and one surname chart for the Damm
family, all of which are being added to the Schilling database.
There are 3 or 4 charts on order, but none have been
received in the past year that I’m aware of. One of the reasons may
be that the Alt-Schilling church books need repair, and they may not be
allowed to use them at this time. The cost to get the Schilling books
repaired is about $150. The church books for Schilling, Konstantinovka,
Neu-Schilling I and Neu-Schilling II are supposedly in the possession
of the people at the Engels archive, although nobody has yet received
a chart that shows information from those villages.
If your interested in seeing a picture of one of the summer homes
of the Laginkoski (Lagin Rapids) Imperial Fishing Lodge used by Czar
Alexander III in the late 1800’s, they can be found on the Shilling
web site.
My complete online collection of pictures of Finland can be seen by
starting here:
http://www.wathenadesigns.com/Finland/
Note that some German-Russians left Russian through the Finnish
port of Hanko.
SCHÖNCHEN, (Paninskaya) Samara, Volga
Terri and Denise took over as Village Coordinators in February of
2002. Bertha Haas, the previous VC for Schönchen, retired from the VC
position and is preparing for a three-year missionary to Tanzania,
Africa. We wish her well.
To date we have not received any inquiries. We’d love to hear
from any researchers of Schönchen or Schönchen families! If you have
been in contact with Bertha in the past, please do let us know.
Bertha’s Schönchen records are in storage and are inaccessible.
We are developing a Schönchen web site and hope to have it ready
soon. We are compiling a list of researchers and hope to contact them
when the web site is online. We’ve started an obituary and
photograph collection, and will make this information available
on-line. Please contact us if you have obituaries or photographs you
are willing to share.
Denise attended the national convention in Des Moines. No Schönchen
researchers attended village night.
We are unaware of any surname charts for Schönchen families.
Terri traveled to Russia this summer with other Volga Germans whose
families settled in Western Kansas. A few days were spent in Moscow
and Samara, but most of the time was spent in the Saratov area. They
visited the Volga German Museum in Marx (Katherinenstadt) and the
villages of Liebental, Mariental, Obermonjou, Wittman and Zug, Urbach
and the remains of Schönchen, Russia (which is only two tombstones
today). The city of Saratov is still very proud of their German
architecture and the Volga river is quite beautiful. The last four
days of the trip were spent in Germany in areas surrounding Frankfurt.
Terri hopes to travel to Germany and France next year to spend more
time in the villages from which some Volga Germans migrated to Russia.
SCHÖNDORF, Samara, Volga
Annual Report for the Upper Jeruslan German Villages on the
Wiesenseite of the Volga River Valley, Russia. This includes:
Schoendorf, Schoenfeld, Schoental, Neu Jagodnaya and Strassendorf.
I still receive several requests each week regarding the people and
descendants of these villages. Often I can find some information in my
several census, correspondence files, or off the top of my head.
Requests come from USA, Germany, and increasingly from South America,
particularly Argentina.
My focus during 2001 to 2002 has been corresponding with folks,
particularly regarding:
Felker, Hefrman, Rudy, Rothermel
Brack, Funk, Krutsch, Liphart, Ochs, Wagner, Wilhelm
Hergert, Kromm, Neufeld, Rupp, Schierman, Weigand
Fuchs, Hergert, Weigaand, Weitz
Ott, Popp, Rudi, Schlegel, Schneider
SOUTH AMERICA
My focus during the past year has been to search for "unsere
Leute" in Argentina and Brazil. There are a great many of Germans
from Russia there. For the most part, they know the name and when
their ancestor arrived in S.A. Sometimes they know the ancestral
village name in Russia. Usually they speak only Spanish in Argentina
and only Portuguese in Brazil. Sometimes they know some German. I can
correspond in English, German and Spanish. Erica Neumann in Porto
Alegre, Brazil has been very gracious to translate for me into and out
of Portuguese. I have corresponded in:
Heffel, Herdt, Kloberdanz, Kloster, Koehler, Martin, Plattner,
Schoenfeld, Wagner, Wilhelm, Zorn
Herdt, Schwab, Wagner, and others.
After corresponding for a year with Erica Neumann, we were able to
help her come to visit the USA. She visited Disneyworld in Florida,
San Antonio, TX, southern Missouri and Des Moines, IA for the AHSGR
Convention. She gave an excellent talk about her family’s escape
from the Soviet Union in the 1930s, via Harbin, China, and their
subsequent settlement and adjustment to life in primitive Brazil.
Erica has helped many AHSGR members to look for long lost relatives.
SCHÖNFELD, Samara, Volga
See SCHÖNDORF above for the combined report.
SCHÖNTAL, Samara, Volga
See SCHÖNDORF above for the
combined report.
SCHULZ, Samara, Volga
Fred Zitzer Z043
SCHWAB, Saratov, Volga
Schwab Web
Site
Rolene Eichman Kiesling
There have been very few queries this year for the Village of
Schwab. Perhaps less queries than I can remember since I took over as
V.C. Eva Mitchell ordered the Revision Lists for 1816, 1834, 1850 and
the 1858 censuses for the Fischer surname, and I, Rolene Kiesling,
ordered the Revision
Lists for the same years for the Eichman surname. Both of those
were published in the May 2002 issue of the Lower Volga Villages
Sheet. I have taken on the task of publishing that newsletter from
Kathy O’Malley, who is trying to devote more time to linking people
from the various villages and databases.
Also, I spent some time collecting some World War I draft
registration records from western Kansas, and compiling them into a
database, in an effort to see if that would help the overall research
cause. The draft registration records do contain helpful data, but of
course, to do them all is a gigantic task. I only did the Kansas
counties of Logan and Russell and will probably include that data in
the next newsletter.
SCHWED, Samara, Volga
Schwed Web
Site
Carolyn & John Gorr
We’ve had 38 queries during 2002. Most queries were for our
village of Schwed. Other queries we received were from people who
asked about research in Germany as well as Volhynian and Polish
Russia. We were able to direct these people to the appropriate people
or websites. We also get queries regarding Germans from Russia who
settled in Chicago. From the research we’ve done regarding Chicago
we can usually give them some 1910 and 1920 census information.
We are working on publishing a history with photos and stories from
people who grew up in Schwed, Volga Russia. We don’t have a price
for this item as yet. If you are interested in purchasing a copy
please contact us at the address or email posted above. Proceeds will
be used to acquire Schwed census information from Russia.
We are still waiting for the HOPPE and WIEGEL family genealogies
from the Russian researchers. It’s almost three years since they were
commissioned. If these are families you have an interest in, please
let us know and we will put you in co ntact with the people who have
requested these family charts. Our Schwed database was submitted to
Frank McLean who is in charge of cleaning up the AHSGR surname/family
group sheet database.
Village Night at 2002 convention had a poor showing. Our table
includes the villages of Enders, Reinwald, Rosenheim, Stahl am Karaman,
Nieder-Monjou and Schwed.
SHCHERBAKOVKA (Muehlberg), Saratov, Volga
Janet Flickinger
In Oct. of 2001, Anneva Schoenhals Sander of Seiling, OK was able
to get photocopies of the records of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in
Shattuck, OK. The church was established in about 1904 and is still
open for business in 2001 (but has dwindled to a very small number). I
extracted those records and entered them in Micro Excel. The index
from the 75th anniversary booklet that was printed in 1979
was compared. There are more people in the index than in the records,
even though the pages are consecutive. There is a notation at the top
of the first page that seems to imply that the list was made up in
1937 of those that were current members and then others were added
through the years (so the charter members and early members that were
deceased were not included).
In late Nov-Dec, 2001, I joined a project started by Gene Jenkins
to extract some of the 1920 US Federal Census of areas highly
populated by Ger-Rus. I offered to do Marion Co, KS. I extracted
almost 3000 individuals from the following towns / townships:
Antelope, Caitlin, Center, Clark, Clear Creek, Doyle, Durham, East
Branch, Fairplay, Florence, Gale, Lehigh, Lincolnville, Lost Springs,
Moose and Ramona. Tampa/Blaine Twp, Risley/Hillsboro and Logan Twp
were too dark to read. The whole roll was dark & so a lot of the
names are guesses considering the "up & down strokes" of
letters. This extraction only covers about half of Marion Co (E.D. #65
though #75). Germans from Russia heavily populated the county.
Towns/townships still on the roll but not extracted at this time:
Liberty, Marion, Menno, Summit, Burn City, Milton, Peabody, Risley,
West Branch, Goessel, Wilson and Aulene. I was surprised to see that
Liberty includes an Industrial School and Hygiene House and West
Branch had a Bethesda Hospital.
This got me enthused and I ordered the CD for Russell Co., KS and
extracted the Ger-Rus for my own use. Then when the 1930 census became
available, I ordered the CD for both Russell Co., KS and Ellis Co.,
OK. At this time, rather then extract the data in a separate
publication, I have taken the 46 pages of census for the town of
Russell and added those birth dates and marriage dates and connected
children to bring my Russell database in FTM to a current total of
37,685 individuals. As time permits, I will do the same with those
that lived in rural Russell Co. also. It was very exciting to see that
the 1930 census had a new feature concerning "place of
birth". The following is quoted from "additional
information" under 1930 Census Index found on ancestry.com....
Due to boundary modifications in Europe resulting from World War
I, some individuals were uncertain about how to identify their
national origin. Enumerators were instructed to spell out the name
of the city, state, province, or region of respondents who declared
that they or their parents had been born in Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia, or Turkey. They were to try to
establish the country in which the birthplace now lay.
Interpretation of the birthplace varied from one enumerator to
another. Some failed to identify specific birthplaces within those
named countries, and others provided an exact birthplace in
countries not designated in the instructions. For the 1930,
distinction was made between the Irish Free State and Northern
Ireland, and also between Canada-French and Canada-English.
Unfortunately, all enumerators did not follow these instructions,
but I took a quick look at Culbertson, Hitchcock Co., NE and they did
! For example, instead of listing the place of birth as Russia, this
enumerator wrote "Russia-Brunnental" or "Russia-Weinsenmuller".
This could be a real big BINGO!
There were lots of other contacts. Most of these were just people
who had seen my Web Pages and were looking for advice on general
genealogy research. Then there were others who thought I was a sucker
and would do their research for them, if they just gave me a name and
a country of immigration! If I live to be 100, I won’t get all the
Ger-Rus research done that I want to do.
Shcherbakovka addendum submitted by Kathy O'Malley
This might be called a "success story" but I’m not sure
since the time involved is so long, but here goes: In a letter
translated from German to English: of 17 October 2000 from Reinhold
Rupp of Landau, Germany to Prof. Miller of the Ger-Rus List,
information on an Alexander Reisig family in America is requested.
Since there was no e mail address, I sent a letter the following
month, requesting additional information on the family which had ties
to Shcherbakovka and had settled in Russell, Kansas. On 30 Nov 2000, I
had an e-mail from Ralf Kuliszewski on behalf of Mr. Rupp which
included specific names and dates of the family and some descendants.
I e-mailed this to Janet Flickinger to see if she could locate a
current address. This she did with some help from a friend who knew
the family. I e-mailed the name address and phone number of Molly Ryan
Bieshaar to Ralf.
Apparently Mr. Rupp phoned the number and talked in German, which
Molly could not understand, but she recognized the name, and realized
who it was. Then he hung up. Later he apparently had his daughter, who
speaks English, phone again.
Sometime in May 2002, Faye Schantz, who is also from Russell, e
mailed Molly Bieshaar to ask if she might be interested in the Reisig
Family tree Chart. Molly
apparently received the e-mail in Germany where she was visiting her
Reisig relatives. When she returned the end of May, she wrote Faye,
and said in part:
"Now the family we met in Berlin was Dorothea Reisig (89) my
grandfather’s [Alex Reisig 1890-1981] youngest sister and the only
sibling still alive. She was born after my grandfather came to
America. She lives with her daughter Valentina and her husband
Nikolai Konjaev. They are from Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Mariann Rupp
gave me the spelling Kasachstan.
"The Rupp family that I met are Reinhold, Viktoria and
Marianna. Viktoria has a daughter Elena that remains in Omsk with
her two children, Maxim and Viktoria. She will never be able to live
in Germany because when Viktoria moved she lost her German identity.
Viktoria is the daughter of Martha a sister of Alex’s and was born
in 1910. She was taken by the Russians in 1941 when Viktoria was 1
and a half and never seen again. Viktoria lived with an Aunt Paulina
until she was 8. She was then placed in an orphanage until she was
18. Aunt Paulina is the aunt my mother [Ada Reisig 1919-1984]
corresponded with."
The point of this story is that persistence paid off for Mr. Rupp.
There are plans for additional visits between these families. We hope
to hear more as time goes on.
STAHL AM TARLYK, Samara, Volga
Paul Koehler
There has been 12 inquires about families from Stahl am Tarlyk,
which I have answered the best I can with the Stahl database. The
database has 6,757 individuals. I keep adding to this database as I
receive information.
I have recently received pictures of where the village of Stahl was
originally. A few of the original houses were moved after the dam was
built and the area was flooded. The pictures show a house that was
moved, a house that was built around 1950 and a German/Russian family
with a lady looking for ancestors by the name of Filbert. If any one
has information about the Filbert families from Stahl, I do have this
lady's address and would have to write to her in the Russian language.
Diana Bell, of Fresno, California, continues to publish the der
Stahler newsletter two times each year. We are always looking for
information for this newsletter.
STRASSENDORF, Samara, Volga
See SCHÖNDORF above for the
combined report.
SUSANNENTAL, (Winkelmann), Samara, Volga
The VC for Susannental has been inactive due to illness, so the
work for Susannental has slowed to a grinding stop from January to
June, but I am beginning to pick up steam and hope to get caught up
answering inquiries and requests this month. Members of the village
are being requested to join in the search for obituaries for village
members, and as these are located, they will be posted on our list
serve address. Research continues from church records in Kemel,
Germany for the Schmidt families ancestors. Census information from
the 1816 and 1834 records are on order. A twice yearly
newsletter continues to be produced. Back issues are available and
contain family histories, ship record information, village history,
census information, recipes, and etc. The data base contains thousands
of names and information is available on request for specific
surnames. I also have some information on families from Meinhard and
Kind. I have information on R/G families from Big Horn County, Wyoming
and have done some research on the R/G families in Sanilac County,
Michigan.
TARUTINO, Akkerman, Bessarabia
Arthur E. Flegel
As coordinator for the Bessarabian communities of Kulm, Leipzig and
Tarutino, I can report that currently I have nearly 27,000 names with
associated documentation for each listing in the final stages of
editing. Hopefully no other interruptions will appear to prevent its
completion for printing before the year-end.
During this period, I have received many requests for information
from the extensive records that have been accumulated, resulting in
up-dated data being submitted by numerous individuals, as well as
requiring pains-taking double-checking on my part. Everyone who has
contributed pertinent material will be identified within the
"notes’" in the up-coming book.
Similarly, for the fact that the following are heavily connected
with the Bessarabian communities, I am making an effort to gather data
on the villages: Alexanderfeld, Eigenfeld, Rosenfeld, Lilienfeld,
Markosovka, Gnadau, Kronental, Friedrichsfeld and Marienbrunn all
associated with the Kuban River settlements in the North Caucasus. I
have received requests for research help on several of these, but am
trying to keep my efforts at a minimum until the above-mentioned Kulm;
Leipzig and Tarutino work is completed.
In conjunction with Bonnie Anderson, I am assisting in gathering
information for all Caucasus Germans both the earlier Trans-Caucasus
settlements and the later North Caucasus developments. This promises
to eventually become a major contribution to the extended research
effort of Germans in Russia.
VAKARSKII Khutor, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
See also Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
WIESENMÜLLER, Samara, Volga
Because of the fragile health of my husband for the past several
years I have not been able to work much on this project. Sadly Charles
passed away on August 19th of this year.
I have requested to down-size the scope of the project - I would
prefer to concentrate on the three parish villages of Wiesenmueller,
Gnadenthau, and Friedenberg.
My fellow-coordinator who resigned from the job several years ago,
has, however, added much material to our website. She is involved with
her own time-consuming business and is planning to move from southern
Virginia back to her home state of Missouri in the near future.
Lower Jerusulan River Colonies:
With the excuses now stated, I can only say that my interest in my
mother’s ancestral villages has not diminished. I will continue to
answer any questions received from others (they have been few and far
between of late). I plan to contact Russian researchers to inquire of any new
materials that might have found concerning our project in Russia.
I should mention that we have sent copies of Jeruslan Nachrichten
publications (for sale) to Kathy O’Malley (Lower Volga Colonies) and
Central California Chapter, AHSGR. Also, recently, I have sent many
records of Lower Jeruslan families who migrated from KRATZKE and
DIETEL to Brent Mai to coordinate with his records.
WINKELMANN, Samara, Volga
See Susannental
WITTMANN (Soloturn), Samara, Volga
Kevin Rupp R311
This colony has only the 1816 and 1834 census available. I continue to get requests for this colony of Wittmann (Soloturn),
but since the 1850 census and the 1857 census are not available, it
makes the connecting a little more challenging! But for now, I
continue to collect census information for this colony as I can.
WORMS, Berezan, Odessa, Kherson
YAGODNAYA POLYANA, Saratov, Volga
Co-Coordinators:
Kris Ballt
Elizabeth Meyer
Patrice Miller Database Coordinator
It is with an extremely heavy heart that we report the passing of
the original VC of Yagodnaya Polyana, Bill Scheirman in February. Bill
dedicated so much of his time, money, and energy to serving
descendants from YP and he is irreplaceable. He was our mentor and our
role model and we will strive to live up to his example. We are sure
he is happy to be reunited with his ancestors in Heaven, and
undoubtedly he’s still working on tracing his family tree. He will
be greatly missed by many.
Kris Ball has made one trip to visit Bill’s widow, Marian, and
they have been sorting through the massive amount of correspondence
and research on YP that Bill diligently collected over many years. It
will probably take 2 or 3 more trips to transfer the files over. Our
plan is to collect the data in a central location for now, and to
digitize as much as possible, for future preservation. Kris has been
answering queries through the year, from people around the country.
The two VCs, Kris Ball and Elizabeth Meyer, and our wonderful
village database collector, Patrice Miller, have had a fruitful year,
and much of that is due to help from our village people. Ken Stugart,
a descendant from Yagodnaya Polyana made his third trip to Russia this
summer. Besides visiting his Stugart/Stuckert relatives in Saratov, he
also visited the Saratov and Samara Archives. He brought money from
the "Friends of the Volga Archives" for the restoration of
many German Volga books. When a census or church book becomes too
fragile to handle and needs restoration, the book is sealed and can no
longer be researched. The funds that Ken delivered to the archives
will restore many German Volga books so they will become available
again for research. While he was there he had the opportunity to find
what new genealogy books were available for our village. Birth /
baptism church records are now available for the years 1904 - 1917.
When they were originally discovered we were told they went to 1912
but now they go to 1917.
Also a very small 1897 "census" was found. It was
disappointing in that only about 50 families were contained in the
record. It was better than nothing but quite a disappointment after we
thought another complete census was found. Ken is confident that books
for Yagodnaya Polyana will continue to be discovered in the archives.
You can read a summary of his trip that he posted to the German Volga
mail list at:
http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/GER-VOLGA/2002-07/1025621120
During the year Patrice Miller has continued to expand on a ship
list index of individuals from Yagodnaya Polyana who came to America
(Canada & the USA). This index now has 2,770 individuals included
in passenger ship lists. The majority of the people listed came from
the German Volga village of Yagodnaya Polyana, Russia or one of its
daughter colonies, Schontal (Schoenthal) or Neu-Yagodnaya. A few of
the individuals listed came from the nearby colony of Pobochnoye or
one of its daughter colonies. Added to the index are now hundreds of
scanned images of the actual ship lists. The index along with the ship
list scans will be available in October 2002 on CD. The cost will be
about $5.00. Paper copies of just the index will be available later
for about $15.00. Contact Patrice directly to acquire copies.
Indexes to US censuses for many places where our ancestors settled
are now available on the web. These include Whitman county, WA,
Oshkosh, WI, Pine Island /Little York, NY, Boulder county, CO and
Walla Walla county, WA have been added to the German Volga Web site.
The censuses can be found at:
http://webbitt.com/volga/usa-census.html
As the database coordinator for Yagodnaya Polyana, Patrice Miller
worked with descendants of the village to help them collect
information from Russia, make contact with other researchers and build
their family trees. This year, from Russia, 2 electronic descendant
trees (1767-1857) were built for the surnames of Blumschein /
Blumenshine and Leinweber. Electronic (gedcom) or printed copies can
be obtained from Patrice Miller with a $10-$20 donation to reimburse
the person who ordered the information or to purchased additional
census extracts. Patrice is happy to help anyone acquire basic census
information on their surnames from Russia fairly inexpensively if that
information has not already been acquired.
As a recap, over the years information on 27 surnames from
Yagodnaya Polyana has been collected from Russia. Lovely hand drawn
descendant charts have been acquired by various individuals over the
years. These descendant charts of individual surnames start in 1767
and include descendants up to 1857. These charts are available for the
following surnames: Gorr,
Hahnemann / Hannenman, Hergert, Kleweno / Kleveno, Litzenberger,
Morasch, Schmick / Schmuck and
Weitz. In addition, information on the following surnames was
acquired from Russia. While these are not the lovely charts, the same
basic information is included. Those surnames are: Befus / Bafus,
Benner, Blumschein / Blumenshine, Dippel, Fuchs / Fox, Kniss, Koch /
Cook, Konschu / Konschuh, Kromm / Krom, Lautenschlager, Leinweber,
Luft, Machleit / Machleit / Machleidt/ Machlied, Pfaffenroth /
Poffenroth / Paffenroth, Repp, Schad / Schadt, Voelker / Felker,
Yungmann / Youngman. Contact Patrice Miller for further information.
Patrice is also happy to assist researchers from Yagodnaya Polyana
with research on their ancestors in Canada and the USA also. She has
various church rosters, border crossing records, censuses,
naturalization indexes, and ship lists.
During the past year, Elizabeth Meyer responded to several queries,
and helped people in Germany and America translate documents and
communicate with each other. At her local Golden Gate Chapter, she
presented a program based on her interviews with Yagaders who now live
in Germany. She also traveled to Little York to interview older
members of the community there. At the Calif ornia Convention hosted
by the Golden Gate Chapter, she was responsible for the food served at
the large gathering. She did a presentation on the community of Little
York and introduced Mr. Alexander Pfaffenrot, visting from Germany,
who spoke about his project to establish an orphanage in Omsk through
the organization, Christen Helfen Kinder. She is working with both
Kris and Patrice to take over publication of the village newsletter
after the death of the longtime devoted editor, William Scheirman.
During the coming year, she expects to spend time preparing articles
for future newsletters.
Due to Bill’s failing health, a newsletter was not available for
the past two years. Patrice, Elizabeth and Kris are working hard to
get an edition of Usu Leut out in September or October 2002. We
will be on a regular schedule in 2003, with 2 issues per year, and
have adjusted the subscriptions to reflect the missing issues.
We look forward to the Yakima convention in 2003, and hope to see
many others from YP at our table at Village Night. We expect a good
turnout, as many YP descendants settled in the Endicott, WA area.
ZUG (GATTUNG), Samara, Volga
Kevin Rupp R311
Zug (Gattung) colony only has the 1816 and 1834 census available. I get requests about this colony, but have to rely on
the cookbooks in order to make the later year connections. I don’t
receive as many requests about this colony compared to the other
colonies. I continue to collect census information.
I hope in the near future to compile a web site for this colony.
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