Aehrenfeld Web Site ~ with the village of Kratzke

Brent Mai

The Ährenfeld web page has moved. Research ("charts") from Dr. Plehve is currently available for the following surnames: BLÄHM, BOXBERGER, KNAUS, MAI, MICHAELIS, SCHÄFER, and SCHNEIDER. These charts can be purchased for $35 from Brent Mai. Joint efforts continue with the group of researchers working on the Lower Jeruslan colonies project.

ALEXANDERTAL (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga

Alexandertal Web Site

Richard A. Kraus

This past year has been most eventful!

Last year I was planning a newsletter. As that developed, it changed into a web site which is now in place.

During the year I heard from a few more Alexandertal descendants. They are listed in the web-site, along with whatever research we have been able to do or find. We have started a photo gallery of folks who lived in Alexandertal, and are publishing letters from Alexandertal (beginning in the early part of 1900's) on the site. There are maps, and more!

I also have copies of the 1858 village census for Alexandertal. One or more copies can be ordered through www.rakgen.com.

The big event of the year was a visit to the Volga, including a visit to Alexandertal itself. A full report with pictures is on the first web-site mentioned above.

Looking forward to the new year and hearing from more Alexandertaler!

ALT DANZIG, Kirovograd and NEU DANZIG, Nikolayev

Curt. Renz

As of August 21, 2001:

• for the mother/daughter villages of ALT DANZIG - by Kirovograd and Neu Danzig - by Nikolayev I have collected 249 obituaries of people who were born there; found 49 letters published in early American German newspapers (23 have been translated.) A hand-drawn map of Neu Danzig has been sent to a cartographer and I am waiting for the final product.
  
  
• for the village of GŸLDENDORF - by Odessa I have collected 472 obituaries of people either born there or from a GŸldendorf family who had moved to another village; found 215 letters published in early American German newspapers (28 have been translated.) A hand- drawn map of GŸldendorf has been sent to a cartographer and I am waiting for the final product. I have just begun to investigate the EWZ records; in the past year I purchased a photocopy of the Guldendorf Church book "Personnalbuch der Gemeinde GŸldendorf" from 1829 - 1850 from the Odessa archive; currently in the process of obtaining birth, marriage and death records from the Odessa archive for GŸldendorf for 1902.
  
  
• for the village of HOFFNUNGSTAL in Bessarabia I have found 235 obituaries for people born there; obtained 138 letters (21 translated) published in early American German newspapers; A newsletter, with Dale Wahl at the helm, is published 3 times a year and we are in our 7th year of publication.
  
  
• From time to time a request for information on a person or family from any of these villages is made and, when possible, I share what I've uncovered with the person who made the request.

ANTON

Betty Muradian

We are still working on the 1940 map of Anton. The people who lived there at that time have remembered more names for us to add to the map. A young man, a Nazarenus, is living in Germany now, and he is able to contact relatives who were living in Anton at the time they were taken to Siberia.

There has been some interest in some of the Anton daughter villages, and I am in contact with the Village Coordinator of Alexanderdorf, a daughter village.

BALZER

Balzer Web Site

Wayne Bonner VC

[Data Entry] Dr. Darrell Weber

Research progresses for the Balzer and Moor colonies. Additional families have been added for the 1834, 1850, and 1857 revisions (census). We have also added some new church record abstracts that were ordered by individuals.

Our web page is still online. We hope to expand the information on it in the coming months. The Balzer newsletter is also still active. At present, there are about 35 subscribers. Moor does not have a separate newsletter, but any new Moor information is placed in the Balzer newsletter. Many of our subscribers have ancestry in both colonies.

The biggest break thorough this past year was getting a copy of the First Settlers List for Balzer. From this, and other sources, such as Dr. Stump's book and information from surname charts, we have begun the search of our ancestral roots in Germany by using the LDS Family History Library microfilms. They have been there for several years waiting for us to find the key to connect with our people. The records of every village are not available and many villages were too small to have its own church, but enough information is there to get started.

In my research I found that our ancestors often were previously married in Germany, then through terrible events like wide spread pestilence, many spouses and children died. Some of our ancestors remarried before leaving Germany, others remarried when they arrived in their new homes in Russia. Because of this, we sometimes find out that who we thought were the parents of the first children, may have been stepparents. We also find that older children may have stayed in the German villages. The stories are endless with this new information.

To date the baptisms of nearly one hundred original settlers and twenty or so marriages have been found. Most of these were from the Isenburg region of Hesse. We have found a few Moor marriages as well. A number of people have volunteered to help read and translate the old script. It is often difficult to read, but the results are truly amazing. A gentleman in the Budingden area has contacted us and has supplied us with photographs of the nearby villages including Dudelsheim, Rohrbach, and Diebach.

We look forward to big achievements in the coming year.

BANGERT

Paul Koehler

I have taken on the position of Village Coordinator for Bangert as well as for Stahl am Tarlyk. I am in the process of entering information about our ancestors into a data base. We do not have a newsletter at this time but if there is demand for one it will be pursued at a later time. I also have found a man, Fred Bork, who lives here in my home town of St Joseph, Michigan, who is 100 years of age and still going strong. His father and my grandparents were all born in the village of Bangert. I would appreciate any ancestry information, charts, pictures, etc. regarding people from Bangert.

BEIDECK

Glenn & Elizabeth (Sinner) Barker

Beideck Village - Elizabeth (Sinner) Barker has suspended publishing "The Beideck Newsletter" for the time being. She does have a database for this village. The 1850 and 1857 census are semi-complete. In 1999, Mr. Vlad Soshnikov was able to send two Census Appendix which lists some of the families that moved from Beideck to Neu Beideck in the 1857 timeframe.

BERGDORF, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson

[See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association]

BORODINO, Bessarabia

Borodino Web Sites: Borodino Genealogy & Borodino History

Judy A. Remmick-Hubert

Still just trying to type up as many names as I've been sent for the village of Borodino. The new list of colonists and descendants [genealogy] can be found at: http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.Genealogy/

Dale Wahl has people working on census that will give us more information

Sent or am sending copy of Borodino Genealogy for those who don't have computers and can see what I have on web site. This changes everyday but this is how it was 12 June 2001.

BRUNNENTAL (Kriwojar), Samara, Volga

Brunnental Web Site

Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl

We are busy as always collecting information on the village. I continue to get inquiries weekly from new descendants from the village. I gather their information and add it to our growing Brunnental Data Bank, now over 20,000 names. We currently have two maps of the village (available online from AHSGR - http://www.ahsgr.org); and we have a homepage for our village.

We have "old newsletters" available for sale (1992-1998) which contain lots of history, pictures and information about the village.

DINKEL

Leroy Nikolaisen

I have answered two inquiries about people that might have been from Dinkel. One was concerning the REBENSDORF name. I had many names for that family and was able to send the info that she needed to satisfy some of her questions. The other query concerned the name of HOPPE. I was not able to find much info in my files as they moved from Warenburg to Dinkel back to Warenburg. I have some information on most of the surnames from the 1798 census of Dinkel.

DOENHOF, Saratov, Volga

Karen Kaiser

Dick and Judy Leffler

As we have only been VC's for about 6 months, our biggest accomplishment in that time was representing Doenhof Village at the Ancestral Village Night during the AHSGR 2001 Convention in Denver. We had a good turnout with over 30 people attending from six different states. We had Ralph Stoll as a speaker who is from Ft. Collins, CO. He visited the Doenhof area in the fall of 2000, and we showed parts of a video that was taken while there. We had some interesting discussions, and most there were willing to share family information. We received extensive information from one of the attendees so far and expect more as we recontact them in the near future. We have 2,086 individuals in our database at this time and encourage anyone to send their family information to us in regard to the Village of Doenhof.

DREISPITZ

Dreispitz Web Site

Ardie Herbel and I continue to answer queries and develop our database for Dreispitz. Rachel Smith has been a great help in compiling information on this village. Mary Bartholomew received the census data on Steinle for the years 1816, 1834, 1850, and 1857 for that village, and Rachel and I have it in computer. The census data for the Heinze surname is on order.

We also have the 25 families from Dreispitz who are in the "Immigration to the Volga Region 1764-1767, Vol. 1 A-F" by Igor Pleve and Alfred Eisfeld. This is also referred to as the "Original Settlers List" This book is in both German and Russian, and is available from AHSGR. Laura Ollek translated the Dreispitz pages for us. The Steinle name in this book is listed as Stengle, but their dates match what was received on the other censuses. Oftentimes the records are difficult to read and translate. Spellings of villages of origin are also imaginative at times.

See also Lower Volga Villages.

ENDERS, Samara, Volga

Randi Bolyard

I became VC for Enders in mid-2001. I maintain a list of researchers and the surnames they are researching. So far, I have had inquiries from 9 parties.

I am planning a website within the next year to generate greater interest in the village.

ERLENBACH, Saratov, Volga

Hilda Gillig Weber

This year I have been in correspondence with several people concerning the GILLIG name and Erlenbach. Have exchanged information, but have not been able to make a connection.

Ray and I went to Denver with high hopes of learning and researching. But, from the time I arrived, I was very ill and spent the week in the hotel room or in the hospital and was not able to attend the meetings or do any researching. We made a three-week auto trip to Michigan, but did not find any more information about Erlenbach. I translated letters sent from Siberia to the Weber family - but these did not contain anything about the villages or the family. The letters had been written in the 1970's.

Am continuing the e-mail to Argentina and connections to my mother's family - LOOSE. The same problem - the older members of the family have died or are ill, and the younger families have no information.

We continue to try and interest the younger members of the family in family research, but the language is a problem. They cannot read or speak German and the German relatives cannot understand English.

FISCHER
HERZOG

Fisher Web Site

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 Mother's 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.

QUERY SUPPORT We have had 5240 visits (and on going) to the Fischer/Katharinenstadt site since January 1, 1999. This is a total of 2878 increase in visits from last year. Last year there were 60 requests for family research. This year that number is just slightly less, but the requests are more extensive in content.

Some of the surnames that are subject in these queries are: BASILIUS, BEFORT, BIESTERFELD, BISSING, BRAUN, BRUNGARDT, DECHANT, DINKEL, DOERR, FISCHER, HAYS, Heinrich FRIEBUS from South Africa, KARLIN, KIRCHMEIER from Germany, KOCH, KRAUS, LEIKER, LENK, LOCKE, MERKEL, OCHS, PFANNENSTIEL, POLLAK from Germany, RUPP, SCHWAB, SCHLAGEL, SCHMIDT, SCHWEDT, Dr. TOEPFER of Germany, RIMERMAN, STANG, SHAW, THIERBACH, VON SAYER, WADE, WITT, WITTMANN, and Pastor Gutsche* of Canada.

These names, and the queries associated, can be found within the Fischer/ Katharinenstadt, web site, either in the "Sign In Page" 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, and most all with positive results! If they are of interest to you, please visit these pages for further brief.

*Note: Pastor Gutsche forwarded a 42 page document, mostly in German, outlining the financial needs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Congregation in the village of Katharinenstadt. This documentation was sent to Carol J. Nesewich with the impression that she was the VC for Katharinenstadt. Carol contacted me with the same impression that I am VC for Katharinenstadt - I am not (as yet). I set up the Katharinenstadt web site because there was none in existence, and I felt information needed to be posted and coordinated, etc.

If anyone is interested in a copy of this documentation, I can send it out by snail mail, I no longer have it as an attachment to E-mail. It may be possible to scan the doc. and send it to Acrobat, saving it in PDF. I haven't tried that as yet to see if the results are acceptable. However, I am concerned with the German text portions. A straight copy with my HP copier seems the most reasonable.

Those that might be interested in the Pastor Gutsche document can let me know via E-mail: RAToepfer@aol.com

WEB SITE The Fischer/Katharinenstadt & Herzog Home Sites have been a continued source of information, inspiration and encouragement for people to research their heritage. It has also stemmed encouragement to bring in new members to the AHSGR.

TESTIMONIAL SAMPLES: Herzog: Clay and Julie W. "Received your package today. Thank you so much for your dedication and efforts towards preserving our German from Russia heritage. . . You've brought sunshine into the overcast daylight..."

Katharinenstadt: Nadine W...."I am researching two siblings, John and Dorothy WORMSBACKER, born 1902 & 1906. Came to America with parents in 1912. Family members married into the BIENEMAN family. Any information would be appreciated." (This request is still open).

Fischer: Hein F. from South Africa " . . I visited your web page recently... I would like to link up with American research on the Volga Germans. How do you suggest I do this. . . ." "Looking forward to hearing from you" (Sent him all details for AHSGR membership).

Fischer: Viktor K., Cologne, Germany: . . . "I was very interested for me to see the net-activities of the descendants of Russian- Germans in the USA. I live in Germany and a friend of mine named Heinrich moved his large clan to Germany some years ago from Fischer village. Russia. Now living in Koblenz, Cologne etc. Other relatives, KREIGER, JUSTUS etc. now in Germany. I was realy surprised with the site. Take care" Viktor K., Cologne. (This is a German connection that I am working on now.)

Fischer: Lucille B. (regarding correction to THIERBACH posting on ship list). "I am related to these people. My family always visited the Theirbach family in the area of Boston Harbor and Stevensville MI. back in the 1940's and 1950's. I am still in contact with one lady, Ida Theirbach . . . ." (Another good connection for further data).

Fischer: Janyce S. . . ."Words cannot begin to convey my excitement over the materials I received when becoming a member of AHSGR. . . . I have been glued to the computer now for over an hour, devouring any and all information about Fischer, Russia" Thank you for getting me started on the first leg of my journey!" Janyce S.

These are just a very few of many responses that I have received, and they are an excellent indicator of the effectiveness of the Fischer, Katharinenstadt & Herzog web sites.

The Fischer/Katharinenstadt Web Site at present consists of twenty one pages of; History, Personal Stories, Maps, Surname Lists, Ship Lists, Photo Pages, and much more! The web site contains links to the AHSGR Home Page, the Herzog Home Page, and a link to most all of the other VC Web Sites. If you haven't been there, I urge you to drop on by! (Jerry Braun should make his report regarding the Herzog site.)

VC INFORMATION EXCHANGE I would like to give thanks at this time to Tim Weeder, VC for Paulskoye, who gave me copies of the photos that he took of the village of Fischer while on a trip to the Volga. The photos include: the former Prayer House, the remains of he School Building, and photos of three German style homes, probably built in the early 1900's. The photos also confirmed that Fischer is still occupied as a village, though in poor condition. The village's existence had been a subject of contention until the data and photos from Tim Weeder.

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: Fischer and Katharinenstat Home Page: Roger Toepfer Herzog Home Page: Jerry Braun Marienthal Home Page: Tony Leiker Obermunjor Home Page: Kevin Rupp Please log on and review the listings. It could save you 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 at http://www.ahsgr.org/ and click on: Favorite Russian/German Websites.

GERMANY CONTACTS So far this year, our contacts in Germany have not yeilded any new information from former Fischer residents. It is necessary for me to go through a second party for connections and this is not always efficient. However, we are always hopeful.

AMERICAN CONTACTS The connection with the Fischer descendants in Wisconsin, Michigan etc. has not yielded new information either. Finding the correct and up to date addresses of former Fischer families in the U.S. is a challenge. I have address and phone listings, but they always seem to be one step behind! I have a stack of returned mail almost as large as what was sent out, and the rest are non-responses. All I need is one solid bite!!!

GALKA, Saratov, Volga

Galka Web Site

Lower Volga Villages

Merrill & Dorothy Kerbs Younkin

Jayne Dye, Galka Research Consultant

The first news is a 90 page Doctoral Dissertation entitled "Galka, a German settlement on the Volga" written in 1910 by a 23 year old student at the University of Leipzig in Germany. It is my hope to have an English translation available through the AHSGR by June 2002. The delay is due to dependence on volunteers - but progress is being made.

There are some interesting passages that give us a look at our village when my father and his family were still there. It was a pivotal time period. The village government (all heads of families) had just voted unanimously to change to private ownership of the land, eliminating the MIR system of communal property, which had been in existence since the founding of the village! This would give every family in the village land ownership and land to sell in order to raise funds for emigration. There are also some paragraphs that strike us as humorous today. There is reference to the use of rubber galoshes as a fashion statement - purchased in the city, worn to church and carefully protected so as not to have a speck of dust or dirt on them. I wonder if my grandmothers and aunts could have been so fortunate? The cost of these decorative elements of 'Sunday best' dress was not given. This is an economic dissertation on conditions in the village. It does not mention names so it is not a gold mine of genealogical information. It is valuable for the as a word painting of the living conditions of that year.

Very few Galka searchers have contacted me and all are encouraged to do so. I became aware, through AHSGR data, of a branch related to my paternal grandmother currently in Australia - having moved there from Canada. After hunting four years for contact with this branch, and failing, I was gratified that the family found me through AHSGR. We are beginning to make information exchanges. This may lead to more Galka information.

My family has received our Surname Chart and documentation (Dec. 2000) on the WUNSCH surname. If there are other Surname Charts from Galka families I would like to know of them. If there are questions about the other surnames that might link to this chart, please contact me.

There are Galka descendents in South America - I would like some leads to these Galkers. There are more in Canada that I do not have a link for. Would the STEINERTS of Russell, Kansas please contact me?

I would like very much to move into collection of information on Neu Galka. Currently I do not have a single name and yet there were families from Galka who helped found Neu Galka so these links will become valuable in uniting all Ger-Rus Galka searchers.

Please contact me through AHSGR's home page with questions, sources of information, and/or suggestions for further areas of search and interest. I will do my best to link searchers.

Glueckstal Colonies Research Association (GCRA)

Glueckstal Colonies Research Association includes colonies: Bergdorf, Glueckstal, Kassel, Neudorf, Grigoriopol, and Hoffnungstal.

Glueckstal Colonies Web Site

Margaret Freeman 

Glueckstal Colonies has embarked on an ambitious project to produce a video and a book to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of this group of colonies in South Russia. Called the Bicentennial Project, the committee is cooperating with the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, and with the Germans from Russia Cultural Preservation Foundation (www.grculture.org). Committee volunteers include: Allyn Brosz, Harold Ehrman, Barbara Horn, Jim Klein, Penny Raile, Rev. Ross Merkel, Michael Miller, Gwen Pritzkau, Jan & Tom Stangl, Sally Sologuk, and Margaret & Bob Freeman. In addition, staff from Prairie Public Television (producer of two award-winning German-Russian documentaries) will produce the video-documentary, and Ron Vossler of the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, and a Wishek, ND native, has been hired to write the script. Homer Rudolf of Richmond, Glückstal Bicentennial Project chairperson, states: "Our goal is to produce a book, a video-documentary and CD-ROM that will include information about the Glückstal mother and daughter colonies, a comprehensive look at the historical, political, cultural and religious life of these German-Russian colonies in South Russia, as well as the 'Glückstal' settlements in the U.S. and Canada. We consider this the last real opportunity to gather much of the information relevant to this people, especially their pictures, diaries, documents, and letters." Plans are to have the projects completed by the bicentennial year of 2004. A target date of 2004 was chosen because in 1804 the first three families settled in the village of Glueckstal, South Russia (today located in the Republic of Moldova and near Odessa, Ukraine). By 1809, a total of 106 German families had arrived, and at that time they were moved from Grigoriopol to the village of Glinoje, which became Glückstal. In addition, by 1810, the villages of Neudorf, Bergdorf, and Kassel were also established with a total of 392 families in the four mother colonies. The proposed book will also focus on the late 1800s and continue to the 20th century, to cover the period when families from the Glückstal District villages migrated to North America and many settled in the central Dakotas and Canada. For additional information contact: Homer Rudolf, Chair, G200 Project Committee, Glückstal Colonies Research Association, 4819 W. Seminary Avenue, Richmond, VA 23227 (E-mail: HRudolf@richmond.edu). With this project, GCRA continues its goal of being a sharing organization for those who have ancestry in the Glueckstal Colonies. With our ancestry in a common group of colonies, those of us who have found cousins and near cousins with this endeavor seek to preserve the life of our homeland of the 19th and 20th centuries. As an additional activity, along with preparing for the video, a memorial monument will be placed in the village of Gluecktstal, the former county seat for Bergdorf, Neudorf and Kassel, on May 24. Wording on the monument is to recognize the previous inhabitants of the village. Present will be the Prairie Public Television Crew, Bob Dambach and Dave Geck, Michael M. Miller of North Dakota State University, and GCRA members Gwen Pritzkau, Bernardine Lang Kuhn, Jan and Tom Stangl, Dr. Kenneth and Katharine Vogele, and Bob and Margaret Freeman. Additional travelers with confirmed reservations are Oscar and Helma Eberle of Germany, as Helma lived in a daughter colony of the Glueckstal group, Marienberg, until the March 1944 departure for the West. it will be her first return to her birthplace which she left as a young child. The Eberles attended the California District Council Heritage Fest in the year 2000.

GLUECKSTAL, GLUECKSTAL, Odessa, Kherson

Glueckstal Colonies Web Site

Margaret Freeman F052

Glueckstal Colonies Database & Glueckstal Daughter Colonies see Glueckstal Colonies Research Association

GNADENFELD, (Neu-Moor/Moor) Samara, Volga

Gnadenfeld Web Site

Irma A. Waggoner, W098

Besides being the VC for Gnadenfeld, I am working with Wayne Bonner as VC for Moor (Klyuchi). Please read the history of both Gnadenfeld and Moor included in the AHSGR Web Site. If anyone has made trips to either colony, we would appreciate any photos or information for these village files.

Gnadenfeld, also known as Neu Moor / Moor, was a small "daughter colony", on the weisenseite side of the Volga, with many of the families coming from the "mother colony" of Moor, also some from Balzer, Hussenbach, Norka, Donhoff and possibly other colonies. There are no known published lists of families from either Gnadenfeld or Moor. I continue to collect data of families from these two colonies from family charts at AHSGR, ship records, declarations of intent and naturalization records, bible records etc. I also have a copy of the 1775 and 1798 census for Moor, which lists the first families to settle there.

Through email queries I have been able to help several people with their research. I would appreciate copies of any family charts or church and census records, which have been ordered for families from Gnadenfeld or Moor to include in these village files. The KORELL chart has been ordered.

GRIMM, Saratov, Volga

Grimm Web Site

Ken Leffler

It was a good year for the descendants from Grimm since the church records were located and have been restored enough so that data extraction could begin. This data will fill the void left between the 1858 census and the arrival of our ancestors in the North and South America. To date nine charts have been ordered. They are the surnames, FRITZLER, GROH, LEFFLER, SCHAFER, SCHMICK, SCHREINER, WITTMAN, WOLF, and ZULAUF. Hopefully more Grimmers will seize this opportunity and order their charts. If you do, please notify me so that duplicates are not ordered. If you need instructions on how to order contact me.

Attendance at Village night at the AHSGR convention set a new record. Old friends and new acquaintances exchanged information and stories, but the session was much too short. We finally got our own private room, which is a tremendous improvement over the large meeting hall. Since the room allocations are based on pre-enrollment for the convention, let's all do it again in Des Moines in 2002.

Mary Ann Wolf Lyerda has volunteered to be the Grimm data base coordinator, which will certainly help when the surname data starts rolling in. She will start as soon as I find time away from the SOAR project to get her started. We all owe her a big thanks.

The Grimm website has moved to http://www.webbitt.com/volga/grimm/ and a Spanish translation is at http://usuarios.tripod.es/aldeagrimm/ I hope to get more data on Grimmers in Brazil and Argentina from this translation. Thanks to Elena Mercedes Vega in Argentina for doing the translation.

GULDENDORF, Grossliebental, Odessa, Kherson

Curt. Renz

For the village of GULDENDORF - by Odessa I have collected 472 obituaries of people either born there or from a Guldendorf family who had moved to another village; found 215 letters published in early American German newspapers (28 have been translated.) A hand- drawn map of Guldendorf has been sent to a cartographer and I am waiting for the final product. I have just begun to investigate the EWZ records; in the past year I purchased a photocopy of the Guldendorf Church book "Personnalbuch der Gemeinde Guldendorf" from 1829 - 1850 from the Odessa archive; currently in the process of obtaining birth, marriage and death records from the Odessa archive for Guldendorf for 1902.

HERZOG, Saratov, Volga

Roger A. Toepfer

Jerry Braun

See Fischer

HOFFNUNGSTAL, Akkerman, Bessarabia

Curt Renz R002

For the village of HOFFNUNGSTAL in Bessarabia I have found 235 obituaries for people born there; obtained 138 letters (21 translated) published in early American German newspapers; A newsletter, with Dale Wahl at the helm, is published 3 times a year and we are in our 7th year of publication.

HOLSTEIN, Saratov, Volga

Holstein Web Site

The Holstein database has 13,000 plus names. This year, I heard from a STEINMARK family in Canada. This is interesting because I wasn't aware there were Steinmarks in Holstein. A Jauk, whose ancestors came directly from Germany, is attempting to connect all JAUK/YAUK worldwide and is making good progress. He is discovering the Volga Yauks are the largest branch of that family. There are two branches of the Peil/Piel family doing extensive family research. I was aware that the former Steinfeld sauerkraut and pickle company near Portland, Oregon had its origins with Holstein's Steinfeld family. Because of information on the web pages, I received emails from the Steinfeld family asking about their background because some didn't know they were German-Russian descendants. A Steinfeld living in Colorado plans to start family research in the next couple of years.

A lot of information has been collected and contacts made during the past three years. Since Don and Lorna live in another area of the US, I anticipate exciting discoveries during their tenure as VCs. My thanks to Kathy O'Malley, Janet Flickinger and Rachel Smith for their support and friendship. I will continue to do the web pages for the Lower Volga Village Project.

HUCK (Splaunucha), Saratov, Volga

Huck web site

Dennis Zitterkopf

2001 has been a good year for the Huck village. Our web site, initiated at the end of 2000 with a list of 16 researchers, now includes 32 researchers using e-mail and one person using only snail mail. I sent letters to all the names in CLUES (excluding my list of 16) that had indicated an interest in Huck. The response was not overwhelming but a few new names were added to the Researcher Page as a result. Our researchers are located from the west coast to the east coast of the US, including two in Canada. My web counter stopped working when the original ISP was purchased by another ISP (more about that later), so I do not have an exact count of the number of visits. I do know that it is being used by a variety of persons because I continue to receive new queries, including two from Germany and one recently from Argentina (the Argentina contact is of particular interest to me because it is from a Zitterkopf man!).

Research for Huck continues to be stymied due to the lack of any records from 1857 to 1899. Periodic queries to Russia result in the familiar "no new records are available" response, but we remain hopeful that new information will be located.

The web site contents are being translated into Spanish for posting on a site in Argentina. Several of the researchers are anxiously awaiting the completion of this because of their belief that a portion of their family emigrated from the US (or possibly directly from Huck) to Argentina. We continue to look for a project that will enhance the site, but have not agreed on one yet. One idea we are considering, instead of surname descendent trees, is an alphabetic posting of all the surnames the researchers have in their databases (and an indication of which researcher(s) has information about a particular surname). I welcome suggestions from other coordinators about projects they have had success with.

We have obtained a copy of a video documenting a visit to Huck in 1993. The trip, on the Volga, passes through Saratov and includes some interesting dockside scenes. After passing though several sets of locks, the visit to the village is presented. Our plans are to make the tape available to anyone desiring a copy via the AHSGR headquarters.

Now the ISP story: After Southwind (my original ISP) was purchased by OneMain, OneMain was purchased by EarthLink. I've recently been notified that I must move the home page to a new server with a new address. This would not have been a concern if the instructions about the new location and the move had been more specific-but we've moved.

HUSSENBACH (Linevo Osero), Samara Volga

Hussenbach Website 

Louise Potter P051

2001 has been an exciting year for us. There has been much sharing of material with AHSGR members and non-members alike. We have a few surname charts which have been entered into the database: HILDERMAN, JORDAN, LAIS, MUCK, PROPP, RIEL, SCHATZEL, STENZEL and SUPPES. If there are other Hussenbach charts that have been received and you would like to share them please contact either Paul or Louise. We know of three charts that are on order: FROMM, ROMMEL and ROTHENBERGER and they will be coming to us as soon as received.

One of the highlights of this year was Village Night at the 2001 Convention at Denver. Rose Mary Guenthner from Laurel, Montana gave a program on sugar beet syrup making which she and her family do periodically. A special treat was in store for each of us when she shared some of that precious syrup and rye bread with us. Timothy and Rosalinda Kloberdanz joined us and also enjoyed the treat. A Folklore special!

There is personal satisfaction from time to time when we are able to help connect families, one such time happened when we were able to connect a family with loved ones they had been out of touch with for over 40 years! What joy that was for all of us. Stories such as this justify our many hours of research and correspondence. We also have received inquiries from Argentina and Denmark as well as Canada and the United States, however, it takes each of us to share our information to be able to help others.

We share with you Noble's concluding correspondence with us "Good morning friends. I address this to both of you for I wanted to thank you for the help you provided for my project. My aim was to supply a starting place for some of the younger members of the family and I have handed off to them what I have learned. It has created some excitement among them so now I can sit back and let them explore on their own computers."

Our thanks to Sherrie Stahl who maintains our web page.

HUSSENBACH (Gaschon), Samara, Volga

Hussenbach Website 

Paul Lais VC Hussenbach, Gaschon

See report above.

JOHANNESDORF, Stavropol, North Caucasus, South Russia

Bonnie Anderson

Village Info: No censuses, church or other records from the Russian archives are available at this time. Currently collecting surnames and village information from secondary sources, individuals and other contacts. For additional information, see also "Caucasus Project" (below), or contact VC.

Caucasus Project The Caucasus Germans are an important and largely unexplored segment of the history of Germans from Russian. The Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) - Clearing House launched the Caucasus Project in November, 2000, with Bonnie Anderson, AHSGR/GRHS member, as Overall Coordinator. Arthur Flegel has also volunteered as Co- Coordinator. The history of the German minority in the North and South Caucasus involves ancestors of many AHSGR and GRHS members.

North Caucasus colonies were all daughter colonies, developed primarily in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to changing conditions, crop failures and overpopulation in the older settlement areas. The North Caucasus colonies were generally composed of Volga Germans intermingled with Black Sea Germans and other German newcomers who shared the same religious beliefs. There were more than 150 German colonies sprinkled across the North Caucasus, which extended roughly from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and from Rostov southward to the foothills of the Caucasus.

The South Caucasus colonies had a different beginning: Colonization which was motivated by the religious zeal of Wuerttemberg separatists who arrived from Germany in 1818 and lived in an isolated area which was separated from the other German settlements of Russia by a major mountain range. These colonies (about 20) existed in areas which are now the independent Republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Russian Archives, thus far, have produced very few records for the Caucasus. Efforts to locate and acquire village and church records for North and South Caucasus villages have been initiated.

In order to work around the gap caused by the lack of primary records, Bonnie's Year #1 focus has been collecting any available information and family data for all North/South Caucasus villages, and doing extensive research to locate additional sources. Year #2 plans include further collection, research and acquisition efforts, and compiling collected data for on-line publication.

Arthur Flegel's expertise will be a great addition to the foundation of this new project. He is currently working on a book about three Bessarabian villages.

JOHANNESTAL, Berezan Odessa, Kherson

Johannestal Web Site

Ray Heinle

JOSEFSTAL, Saratov, Volga

Josefstal Web Site

Edward Gerk

The Josefstal web site is up and running.

Nothing else to report...still slowly getting material from the archives in Volgograd, and some additional Church records from Saratov archives.

KAMENKA & PFEIFER, Saratov Volga

Kamenka Website

Rosemary Larson

This report is combined for the villages of Kamenka and Pfeifer in the Volga River area.

The two websites have been updated with the addition of a Spanish translation of the Home Page and the History of the village since there are so many émigrés to South America. There are many queries from South America, primarily Argentina; from Canada, Mexico as well as the United States. Some of the requests have been complex but have been answered in good time.

The requests in other than English languages have been placed in the BABELFISH translation website and are clear enough to respond to the request. Most requests are by Email but some are regular mail.

At present I am working on a Church Register of families in Ellis County, Kansas. This entails much time and accuracy. The Register is compiled from birth, marriage, and death records of the church, Federal and State census, and other resources.

This register is similar to the HOLY CROSS PARISH FAMILY REGISTER that I published for Pfeifer, Ellis County, Kansas several years ago. All sales proceeds from this Family Register are given to Holy Cross Catholic Church for its upkeep since it is only open for special occasions now, such as weddings and anniversary celebrations.

It is a pleasure working with Patrice Miller, Webmistress for AHSGR, in updating the Kamenka and Pfeifer websites. Thank you Patrice.

KARLSRUHE, Burlatzki, North Caucasus

Bonnie Anderson

Village Info: Also called Dowsunskoje; part of a small cluster of villages which included Dowsunskoje, Herrmansburg and Wilhelmshoehe. No censuses, church or other records from the Russian archives are available at this time. Currently collecting surnames and village information from secondary sources, individuals and other contacts. For additional information, see also "Caucasus Project" (under Johannesdorf, N. Caucasus) or contact VC.

KATHARINENFELD, Luxemburg, Cuacasus, South Russia

Bonnie Andersont

Village Info: Located 70 km. southwest of Tiflis, Georgia. No censuses, church or other records from the Russian archives are available at this time. Currently collecting surnames and village information from secondary sources, individuals and other contacts. For additional information, see also "Caucasus Project" (under Johannesdorf, N. Caucasus) or contact VC.

KATHARINENSTADT, Samara, Volga

Katharinenstadt Web site

Marvin & Raynona Bohrer

Carol Nesewich N087

We have been doing several things for Katharinenstadt. We made contact with a family that still lives there and have sent items to the Lutheran church. We are in contact with the Catholic church also. We are trying to see what civil records are still in the city and what availability there is to get copies. We have made contact with people in Germany and are seeing what information they might have for everybody.

KAUTZ - (Werschinka)

Kautz Web Site

D. Michael Frank

Following the passing of the previous Village Coordinator, Elaine Frank Davison, in late March 2001, I was able, finally, to get confirmed as VC in her place about the middle of July. I did not attend the AHSGR convention.

In April, with the help of Elaine's family, I brought the bulk of Elaine's Kautz records (Unsere Leute von Kautz masters, correspondence, computer files) to Vancouver, where I live, from Walla Walla. I have spent a couple of months sorting them out and getting established. During this "on-hold" time of several months, I worked with Darrell Kautz, Village Coordinator for Merkel in establishing a website for that village. Updates to that website will be performed by me in the future at Darrell's request.

I am answering Kautz queries from all over the world and have made enough connections from these queries to the Kautz database to brighten the days of many people.

Surname charts for 19 Kautz surnames have been examined to verify that all identified individuals have been entered into the Kautz database.

I created a new index, accessible at the Kautz website, which lists surnames, by volume, from all volumes of Unsere Leute von Kautz. Previous indices reflected only individual volumes. There were many changes made to that website to reflect Elaine's passing.

My current project is to take Elaine's 10 volumes of "Unsere Leute von Kautz" (the paper version with substantial hand-notated corrections and additions), compare them to the current database, and recreate the volumes in electronic format. There are a lot of Family Group Sheets, pictures, and text to be taken into consideration. This should take about 2 years to complete, given my schedule. Electronically, changes will be easier to make and people getting new volumes electronically will get the latest information.

KOEHLER, Saratov, Volga

Joseph A (Joe) Gareis

I took over the VC assignment for Koehler this past year, allowing Ted Gerk to concentrate more on the research he is doing as VC for Josefstal. Ted has been very helpful in getting me started, although there is much to learn.

By way of background, both of my parents -- Adam Gareis and Marie (Hasenauer) Gareis -- were born in Koehler and lived there until the 1930s. They were accepted into Germany as citizens during World War II and migrated to the States (suburban Chicago) after the war. Personally, I am more interested in the history of Koehler and of the Volga-Germans in general than in detailed genealogical mapping projects.

Research:

• Waiting to receive a Surname Chart on surname Gareis, ordered jointly with Judy Gareis of Washington State in the summer of 2000.
• Purchased copies of German government immigration files (EWZ records) on individuals with the surnames Gareis and Hasenauer.
• Received copies of information on the village from the AHSGR‘s files.
• (On a more personal note) We finally found a surviving relative from several of my fathers relatives who were evicted from Koehler in the early 1940s and sent to central Asia.

Requests: Responded to 12 requests this past year. About a third of these were related to the EWZ files. Others asked for information on specific common relatives and surnames. Also heard from several people looking for general information on researching Koehler.

Goals for next year:

• Primary objective is to compile a list of people interested in Koehler (including mailing addresses for individuals not connected to the Web) and survey them about their needs, interests and the resources they have. That should help determine how to proceed, for example, whether a website, list-serv or some other approach would best serve our information sharing needs.
• Continue personal family research and familiarizing myself with various sources of information on Koehler and on Volga Germans.

KOLB, Saratov, Volga

Thelma J. Sprenger

Pauline Dudek D018, Honorary Village Coordinator, 920 Hill Street #A, Hastings, NE 68901

What have I done this year as VC for Kolb? Pretty much the same as last year. Continue to answer queries to the best of my ability and collect obituaries.

With much encouragement, my husband translated the German minutes for the annual and board meetings for the Ritzville, WA Zion UCC church. These covered the years 1888-1946. It was a long project as they were written in script and had several different, difficult handwritings. We are going to start on the birth, death, and baptism records soon. Many of the members have roots from Kolb.

Gary Jenkins has extractions from the Ellis Island records and has so generously shared the Kolb data with me. I have always found him willing to help out. Many thanks to him for the time and effort.

It feels great when I am able to help someone find a connection. This past June I had the most delightful letter from a student doing a research paper on her Rosenoff family and was able to fill in some of the blanks for her.

A friend found a box of old pictures in the attic of the house she was living in. Turned out there were many that could be identified by several people around town. Names include THIEL, ACHZIGER, KANZLER, STROMBERGER, OESTREICH. These names have Kolb ties. Doris Evans has graciously put all of the pictures on a disc for our records and the pictures themselves will be returned to family members if they can be found and they want them.

I joined AHSGR to help myself find out more about my Ancestors. I have had some good results on my mother's side but am not sure which of the dozens of KOCHs I belong to. I saw this cute cartoon in the paper recently. It is so true. Two cats sitting at a computer. One is telling the other "So far I've discovered I was in a litter of eight and my mother's name was Fluffy!"

KONSTANTINOVKA, Samara, Volga

Gary Martens

See Schilling.

KRASNOYAR, Samara, Volga

Susie Weber Hess

In the last year I received about 20 queries from people that found my name on the AHSGR web page. The requests for information were evenly distributed between the 2 villages above. For all the requests I received, I worked with the requestor and gave advice how to find information from churches, funeral homes, newspapers and government agencies. If I had information on their family already, I worked with them and tried to put them in contact with others that were researching the same names.

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 2 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 stories, their words VELLER / FELLER FAMILY is expected to be released in the near future. 

Plans for the future are to obtain a Weber chart from the village of Krasnojar. I have been informed  that the information is available. Now the challenge is to obtain financial support from relatives, friends and other interested parties. The Weber family was very well known in the Jefferson Park area of Chicago.

KRATZKE, Saratov, Volga

Kratzke Web Site

Ethel Lock L026

Brent Mai

Ethel Lock now has email.  The Kratzke web page has moved.

Research ("charts") from Dr. Plehve are currently available for the following surnames: BENDER, BLÄHM, BOXBERGER, DEINES, DIETZ, FABRIZIUS, KOLEBER, KNAUS, KRUG, MAI, MAIER, MICHAELIS, SCHÄFER, SCHNEIDER, and SCHWIEN. These charts can be purchased for $35 from Brent Mai.

The 1767 and 1798 census records are available as well as part of the 1850 census. Janet Flickinger has been working on a Russell County Kansas database that includes many families with Kratzke origins. Joint research efforts are being explored with the coordinators for the neighboring colonies of Kautz and Dietel.

KUKKUS

Betty Muradian

Eleanor Sissell, Kukkus Village Data Base Coordinator

We are still looking for new information on Kukkus, especially from people who have visited the village in recent years or have had their genealogy chart done. The book, Kukkus, a German Village on the Volga, can still be ordered from the AHSGR Central California Chapter Library-Museum. Their e-mail address is: Info@AHSGRFR-CentralCal.org  

KUTTER / BREHNING, Saratov

Frances Nelson N088

We have been publishing a newsletter since 1997, MEINE HEIMAT II. Earlier, Esther Trekell of Houston, TX published MEINE HEIMAT I. Our subscription list has been about 60 readers. John Butler has had a genealogy page in each issue in which he highlights one family group. Esther Trekell has had accounts of her trips to Russia and to some of the colonies, including Kutter. We have published many photographs both in black and white and in laser color, giving our readers some insight as to the condition of our village today. Several years ago, I visited Büdingen and the Hesse area and included some photographs of that area. We have also published biographies of some of our people and their families. The last issue has a report of the tour led by Gary Reifschneider in the Büdingen and Vogelsberg area. We have published the last issue of our newsletter, unless someone comes forward to take it over. I'm sure there is much more information and many more stories from our village, but circumstances make it necessary for me to give up the newsletter. John and I will still be available to help with genealogy searches and historical data. John has probably the most data one will find anywhere on the genealogy of descendants from Kutter. Back issues of the newsletter will remain available. The Denver Chapter of AHSGR has done a great deal of research on churches, as well as legal documents. They have cataloged all of the Naturalizations of Germans from Russia who obtained them in Colorado giving us another source of data. I received only one query in the past year and was able to supply some missing data from this source. John may have had other queries. We welcome other queries and will do our best to aid in research.

LAUWE / LAUBE

Helen Bernice Madden M363

 Newsletter: Die Lauwe Lampe

I chose to act as VC for Lauwe / Yablonovka because it is my GÖRINGER / GOERINGER ancestral home. My mother's birth village, Shcherbakovka, is in very capable VC hands.

In the past few years, I have been remiss in communicating with the VC chairpersons about my activities as village coordinator for Lauwe. This was due in part to lack of interest (inquiries) from people connected to this village.

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 in the year 2001 by 100 percent. 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. 

Several inquiries have come from folks associated with 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 to help whenever I had information that connected to their request. 

The village newsletter, Die Lauwe Lampe is still published once a year.

LOUIS

Thelma Mills

This will be a short report this year, as I have been trying to build a web page for the village of Louis. Louis is the first village that my ancestors settled in before moving to Mariental. And as there was no VC for that village, I volunteered to be the VC, and have been busy gathering information to include in my web page. If any of you have information: diaries, interviews, pictures, stories, etc. or want to share your lineage with me, concerning Louis, Russia, please contact me either by email or at the address posted above.

LOWER VOLGA VILLAGES, Saratov, Volga

Lower Volga Villages Web Site

Dobrinka, Dreispitz, Galka, Holstein, Kraft, Mueller, Schwab, Shcherbakovka, Stephen
See individual villages for contacts.

Lower Volga Villages Project Annual Report
August 2001
By Kathy O'Malley, Project Coordinator

Introduction:
Since 1997, volunteers have been working together on this project to compile and share information on the 9 Villages in the two Parishes of Galka and Stephan. They are Dobrinka, Dreispitz, Galka, Holstein, Schwab, Kraft, Mueller, Shcherbakovka, and Stephan. A summary of this information is on our web site.

It includes:
1.) Articles of interest: Information on the Lower Volga area, and some letters of general interest
An alphabetical Index listing all the surnames in these villages which are in the 1798 Census
2.) A page for each of these 9 villages, some with photos, lists of Surname Charts, and other resources
3.) Map of the lower Volga area
4.) Village and Family History Lists
5.) List of Research from Russia, including Family Trees, received and ordered.
6.) A summary of village newsletters, published twice a year since 1994, & how to order
7.) Obituary summaries, primarily of this area, and listed alphabetically for easy access
8.) Links to other web sites of interest, including daughter colonies and additional resources

Compiling: In the nine years that I have been a Village Coordinator, I have received information from over 500 people, which has been entered in village databases. Much of it is not documented, but it is all useful, because Volga Germans tended to marry within their own group.

They also moved around a great deal within the Volga German area. From the 1798 Censuses of our 9 villages, we learn that in the 10 year period between 1788 and 1798, 246 people left their home villages. Over 60 % of these moved to another village in our two Parish area. Therefore, it is useful to have information on neighboring villages.

Each of our Village Coordinators or Contacts continues to develop a database on his village. These databases range in size from hundreds to thousands of names of residents and descendants. Shcherbakovka now has about 24,000 names and Dreispitz has 9,800. There are some duplicates on these two, as many people from these two villages--as well as from Galka and some other villages--first settled in Marion County, Kansas. Others settled in Russell County, KS.

I also have a resource database of about 8200 names, including all the names from our village 1798 censuses and information on daughter colonies on the Lower Jeruslan River Colonies on the east side of the Volga, which was obtained by Sue Kottwitz and Betty Ashley. It also contains data from some Family Tree Charts and some family histories.

In an effort to improve the accuracy of this information, and link families, our obituary project has been very useful. Rachel Smith, Edith Bottsford, Janet Flickinger, Ethel Lock and others have done yeoman work this year in getting obituary summaries entered in computer and alphabetized so that they are easy to locate. Many people have donated their obit. collections. Many of these are not included in the AHSGR obituary files. If you have obituaries, send them to Rachel Smith.

Sharing In March, I mailed to Doris Evans, a Village Coordinator representative on the AHSGR Board of Directors, the documents which we received with the Family Tree Charts. Copies of the charts were given to her at the Wichita Convention. Doris had sent me a C. D., which she prepared of the charts themselves, and she included a chart copy of the Kaufmanns who moved from Shcherbakovka to Frank. I included print copies of the indices and the lists of documents, which Janet Flickinger and I prepared for the Shcherbakovka Charts. I also sent her gedcoms of my databases, with the notation that these are only working files. It is hoped that these will be passed along to village coordinators in the future, if they are interested in gedcom files.

We have also sent some photos of our villages to Hart Postlethwaite who has compiled them on a C.D. He has presented these at a number of California events.

At our Village Night at the AHSGR Convention in Denver, Ed Hoak presented a report on his second trip to Russia last summer. He took time to visit most of our villages and take photographs. He also talked to local residents, and got names of some of the former village residents. Dick Kraus, Village Coordinator of Alexandertal, was on the same Russian tour as Ed, and he was there to meet with those from the Rosenberg Parish. Teri Helzer, V. C. of Oberdorf, met with that group also. Others who chaired village groups are: Don Schimpf, Kraft; Don Kutchera, Stephan; Janet Flickinger, Shcherbakovka & Mueller; Wilann Sefton, Dobrinka; Rachel Smith, Dreispitz; Jayne Dye, Galka and Schwab; Edith Bottsford, Holstein;

Looking Forward Jayne Dye, one of the Village Coordinators for Galka, is working with a volunteer on a translation of the book on that village by Max Pretorius. We have been trying for some years to get this done, and we are now on the way.

Rolene Kiesling is the new editor for our village newsletter starting next year. She is Village Coordinator for Schwab, and has a wealth of experience in genealogy and the Volga Germans.

Lorna Young is working with Edith Bottsford on Holstein. We always need more data and more volunteers. Thanks to all of those who have contributed this year.