Mary
Lauck,
Chapter
President
22409 Weld County Road 46
LaSalle, CO 80645
970-284-5301
MELauck@aol.com
Chapter
Webmistress
Lauren
Brantner
lrbrantner@yahoo.com
Our
Chapter's
Purpose
The
purpose
of
the
American
Historical
Society
of
Germans
from
Russia
is
to
bring
together
people
interested
in
the
history
of
Germans
from
Russia.
Through
a
better
understanding
of
Germans
from
Russia,
we
will
promote
a
better
appreciation
of
their
history
and
the
preservation
of
their
culture
through
their
descendants.
Northern
Colorado
Chapter
Officers
Membership
Information
Northern
Colorado
does
not
have
a
Chapter
membership
form
because
we
do
not
require
chapter
dues.
We
have
been
fortunate
to
maintain
our
finances
to
the
point
of
not
requiring
dues.
Anyone
who
is
a
member
of
AHSGR
International
is
welcome
in
our
chapter.
To
become
a
member
of
AHSGR
International,
please
go
to
the
membership
page.
Meetings
and
Calendar
of
Events
Dinner
Meetings
Dinner Meetings
6:00 p.m. start
time
Cost for adults is
$15.00; Children
$10.00
Reservations are
due 5 days in
advance at the
latest
March 10,
2007
May 26, 2007
September 8,
2007
December 8, 2007
Dinner
Meetings
are
held
at
the
Aims
College
Corporate
Education
Center
at
5590
11th
Street,
Greeley,
Colorado.
Board
Meetings and Hosts
for 2006
| January
20, 2007 |
Betty
Hoffner |
| March
17, 2007 |
Shirley
Sundberg |
| May
19, 2007 |
Marge
Straube |
| July
21, 2007 |
Mary
Lauck |
| September
15, 2007 |
Helen
Schwab |
| November
17, 2007 |
Lauren
Brantner |
Historic
Preservation
–
the
Story
of
the
Fritzler
Fanning
Mill
On
September
4,
2002,
Ron
Greenwald
brought
Paul
Fritzler
to
the
Larry
Bohlender’s
CIC
office
to
visit
about
a
project
Ron
was
concerned
about.
As
Paul
related
the
history
of
this
piece
of
equipment
his
father
had
built,
Ron
and
Larry
realized
they
were
listening
to
history
that
should
be
preserved
and
Connie
Kevorkian
joined
them
to
record
the
conversation.
We
believe
it
is
an
important
piece
of
the
entrepreneurial
history
that
survived
from
the
Volga
region
to
Weld
County.
Here
is
the
interview
with
longtime
AHSGR
member
Paul
Fritzler.
Paul’s
parents
grew
up
in
"the
old
country"
as
neighbors,
following
in
the
footsteps
of
several
generations
of
wheat
farmers
in
the
Village
of
Grimm,
Russia.
His
father,
Fred
Fritzler,
was
one
of
the
first
members
of
the
family
to
immigrate
to
America
and,
over
the
years,
he
shared
many
memories
with
Paul.
Fred
was
born
into
a
large
family
in
this
farming
community
in
1883,
a
large
family
of
eleven
brothers
and
several
sisters.
At
that
time
the
formula
for
land
distribution
to
the
families
was
called
the
mir
system.
The
German
colonists
called
it
the
Dusch
method
since
the
land
assignments
were
based
on
the
ducha,
the
Russian
word
for
"soul."
Therefore
the
settlers
called
mir
land
Seelenland
–
"soul
land".
(The
Russians
were
alleged
to
have
said
women
had
no
souls,
hence
were
not
entitled
to
land
shares
under
the
mir.
From
the
Volga
Germans
by
Koch
page
70)
Thus
about
every
10
years
all
the
land
assigned
to
the
village
was
redistributed
only
to
males,
regardless
of
age
or
physical
fitness.
It
is
worth
noting
these
plots
of
land
were
not
necessarily
adjoining
and
some
times
were
not
in
close
proximity
for
the
family.
The
families
lived
in
the
village
and
went
to
the
fields
every
day
during
the
growing
season.
There
was
an
area
outside
the
village
where
a
large,
smooth,
hard
surface
called
a
"threshing
floor"
was
located.
At
harvest
time,
the
farmers
would
tie
the
wheat
in
bundles,
haul
it
in
and
stack
it
around
the
threshing
floor.
The
ripe
wheat
was
laid
on
the
floor
and
horses
pulling
threshing
stones
would
be
driven
over
the
wheat
knocking
the
grains
from
the
heads.
They
would
then
rake
off
the
straw
and
run
the
grain
and
chaff
through
the
fanning
mills.
The
fanning
mills
were
machines
that
blew
the
chaff
away
from
the
grain,
allowing
the
clean
grain
to
tumble
out
the
backside
of
the
machine
where
it
was
shoveled
into
bags.
This
was
normally
a
three
(3)
man
operation,
requiring
one
man
to
shovel
the
grain
into
the
machine,
a
second
man
to
turn
the
crank
to
keep
the
fans
going,
and
a
third
man
to
shovel
the
grain
into
bags.
The
machine
contained
shakers
and
different
size
screens
were
used
depending
on
the
type
of
grain.
The
climate
in
Grimm
was
similar
to
the
northern
United
States,
along
the
Canadian
border.
The
farmers
planted
fall
wheat
in
September
and
in
the
winter,
they
turned
their
energies
to
building
fanning
mills
or
other
cottage
industries.
Several
families
in
Grimm
were
involved
in
building
fanning
mills
that
were
sold
all
over
Russia.
Luckily,
the
Village
of
Grimm
was
home
to
Schaeffer’s
Foundry
that
made
the
metal
parts
they
needed
for
these
fanning
mills.
The
round
part
of
the
machine
was
made
of
tin,
held
in
place
by
strips
of
wood
and
containing
iron
sprockets.
Years
later
a
pulley
could
be
added
to
the
machine
with
an
electric
motor,
but
that
was
not
a
luxury
enjoyed
by
the
farmers
at
that
time.
The
work
of
building
the
fanning
mills
was
often
divided
between
families.
Fred’s
family
made
the
wooden
part
of
the
mill.
His
neighbor
two
houses
away
made
the
various
screens
used
the
separate
out
the
seeds
of
various
sizes
from
the
chaff.
They
would
stretch
wires
across
wooden
frames
to
create
the
different
sizes
of
screens
for
the
various
holes
in
the
fanning
mills.
In
the
spring,
the
fanning
mills
were
taken
to
Saratov,
a
seaport
on
the
Volga
River
about
sixty
(60)
miles
away
from
the
village
to
be
sold
all
over
Russia.
These
machines
were
always
painted
a
distinctive
shade
of
orange
and
many
years
later
when
similar
machines
were
discovered
throughout
Europe,
it
was
interesting
to
find
they
were
always
that
same
color.
Fred
and
Catherine
were
married
in
December
1904
and
left
the
Village
of
Grimm
in
March
1907,
arriving
in
Windsor,
Colorado
in
May
1907.
They
farmed
in
the
northern
Colorado
area
all
their
life.
Paul
said
his
Dad
never
did
retire
as
he
was
always
ready
and
willing
to
help
Paul
with
any
farm
worked
help
he
needed.
In
the
winter
of
1939,
Fred
decided
to
try
to
recreate
one
of
the
fanning
mills
from
his
youth.
He
remembered
the
measurements
clearly,
but
they
came
from
a
time
when
Russia
didn’t
use
metric
or
United
States
units
of
measure.
The
conversion
of
these
measurements
was
a
real
challenge
for
him,
but
he
persevered
and
he
was
successful.
He
spent
three
years
carefully
building
the
fanning
mill
by
hand.
He
finished
it
in
1941
when
he
was
59
years
old.
He
described
the
little
gears
he
needed
and
Ted
Stark,
a
Windsor
blacksmith
forged
them
for
him.
With
the
modern
equipment
available
by
this
time,
the
threshing
machine
and
combine,
there
was
not
an
actual
need
for
the
fanning
mill
at
this
time,
but
a
few
neighbors
borrowed
it
to
use
just
to
see
how
it
worked.
Fred
Fritzler
passed
away
in
1961
and
his
wife
died
in
1972.
Paul
and
his
sister
Louise
(Fritzler)
Meyer
were
both
born
on
the
farm
in
Windsor.
Paul
has
spent
his
whole
life
on
the
Windsor
farm.
The
fanning
mill
stayed
in
the
barn
on
the
|
American
Historical Society of Germans From Russia