Marienfeld, Saratov, Volga

Fellow Researchers:

The February 1858 census (10th revision) of the Volga German village of Marienfeld is available for purchase.

Marienfeld was a "daughter colony", so the census specifies, in most cases, the village origin of the families listed.

The price is $25.

All proceeds go to covering the cost of getting the census, and for copies of further data from Russia.

Edward Gerk

Mariental, Samara, Volga

Mariental Web Site

Thelma Mills M357

See Louis village for combined report.

Messer, Saratov, Volga

Robert L. Weigand W342

Greetings to all other village coordinators from MESSER (UST-ZOLIKHA). I have been the VC for Messer since the Seattle Convention in 1992. This has been a slow year. The data base has 1,735 names and 637 marriages. I have updated the village history from new data received this year. This village was established on July 7, 1766 with 397 residents and in 1926 the town population consisted of 3,575 residents. The farm land allocated to this village wasn’t good for farming, so this village was known for its industry. At one time there were more than 600 sarpinna (a type of cloth similar to gingham) weavers.

I have a mailing list of forty-eight names for Messer of which eight do not belong to AHSGR but have submitted data for the data base. At the 2003 convention in Yakima, we had four people in attendance at the village night program from Messer and two from Moor. I have updated a comparison of the Messer 1775 and 1798 census records in alphabetical order.

This year, I have had 2 inquiries about Messer, all were by e-mail. This was down from 4 last year. The families that were being researched were:

 Lehr, and Scheibel. I have answered all inquiries but to the people who are not members of AHSGR. I send a surname list of my data base and the Messer village history and I tell them about AHSGR and if they join I will send them the details of my data base. I never hear from most of them again.

Moor, Saratov, Volga

Moor Web Site

Irma Waggoner

Wayne Bonner B269
Data entry

See Balzer village for combined report

Mühlberg

See Shcherbakovka

Neu-OberMonjou, Samara, Volga, Russia

Kevin Rupp R311 / L

I was able to get all of the 1862 census information from the colony of Neu-OberMonjou and compile it into book form this year. I also have set up a web site for this colony on my Volgagerman site. Not too many inquiries yet.

Neu-Straub, Saratov, Volga

Neu-Straub Web Site

Lillian Larwig L188

I have resigned myself that Neu-Straub is not a village that has much information. Russian researchers have told me that they have no information on this village, but I did receive a list of the 1857 census of the Keils and Heintzs that were in Neu-Straub in 1857.  I am researching these names. During this past year, I have located a relative of the Heintz family. In fact, he located me after seeing the web site and my name as VC. Several others have contacted me but we cannot find any connection. I continue to search on any lead I get concerning N-S village. If anyone has any information to share with me, concerning Neu-Straub, please do so.

Nieder-Monjou, Samara, Volga

Nieder-Monjou Web Site

Michael Grau

Steven Grau

Mike and I began as the new AHSGR Nieder-Monjou Village Coordinators in October, 2002, taking over from Carolyn Gorr. We spent several months gathering information and photographs for a new Nieder-Monjou web site. Mike put together the new Nieder-Monjou web site at the link listed above. Mike maintains the web site and I try to answer queries.

I continue to add information from all available sources about Nieder-Monjou colonists and their descendants to my data base including the individuals in the Rieb / Rüb surname chart from AHSGR headquarters.

Throughout the past year, we have received seven queries for information concerning the following Nieder-Monjou surnames: ANSCHUETZ / ANSCHUTZ, BETZ, BISTERFELT / BESTERFIELD, FLUG, HILGENBERG, and MUELLER / MILLER.

I also had several email and/or snail mail conversations concerning Nieder-Monjou surnames BINEDELL / BIENEDELL, RAUSCHENBACH, and RIEB / RUEB with individuals in South Africa. A number of families from Nieder-Monjou departed Hamburg, Germany for Cape Town, South Africa on 3 January 1878 aboard the ship Saturnus.

Oberdorf, Saratov, Volga

Oberdorf Web Site

Teri Helzer H491

The year 2003 has been a slow year compared to previous years. I have not had as many inquiries, but we have added a few new researchers to our group.

I have continued to add content to the Oberdorf web site, such as additional ship list names, and data from various sources such as submissions by Oberdorf researchers or information found on the Internet.

I have published all village email correspondence to the private Oberdorf web site to enable all Oberdorf researchers access to the correspondence. Email inquires were far less this year than past years.

New content to the web site includes family photographs submitted by Edward Foss and Walter Lorenz. Additionally, Walter Lorenz has submitted letters from Oberdorf written in the 1970s by Friedrich Daubert and Friedrich Lorenz. Walter also had the letters translated.

I added an Oberdorf Obituary Page to the web site containing obituaries obtained from Oberdorf researchers, the Lower Volga researchers, and other on-line sources.

The entire Oberdorf group wishes to thank Ted Gerk, Josefstal Village Coordinator for paying for the translation and the donation of a letter from Heinrich Faul of Eaton, Colorado. The purpose of Mr. Faul's letter was to encourage his "Oberdorfer compatriots" in Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, and Wisconsin to pledge money in support of those left behind in Oberdorf who were economically and morally depressed.

Ted Gerk visited Russia in 2003, and he has provided the following trip report for Oberdorf:

I was in Oberdorf this past July. We went to Volgograd for a few days, looked into the archives, then traveled to Kupzovo to deliver Bibles and bubble gum.
The village is very sad....very, very poor. People we talked with said the crime rate was also very bad, due to alcohol. One woman told us she was taking care of her 2 grandsons, as her son was murdered there last year...all they found was his scull in the local forest.
Very sad. 
Even though I had been there before, it was my first real walk about in the village. 
I even met a lady with the last name Dieser (my grandmother’s maiden name) who was born in Josefstal. She is leaving for Germany in about 2 months.
Additional information in response to a question submitted to Ted Gerk about his trip: 
The Bubble gum was for any kids we came across...knowing the poverty we could see it was a treat for them. 
I was in the village for about 3 hours. People work, I guess, on the local farms or doing odd jobs. The majority of the people are Russian or Ukraine background. There was a large school, run down, and I saw no church...I believe that was destroyed many years ago.
I also had some family that lived in Kotovo...which is now a busy town....I picked up a book about Kotovo at the museum in Kotovo. Oil was found near there so things are looking up for the town and region.
I really saw no difference in Oberdorf since I was last there in 1992 and 1994. It really is very poor. 

In August, I contacted a Russian researcher for 1857 Revision List lookups for 19 Oberdorf surnames. We are eagerly awaiting this work. The surname lookups requested are:

Becker	Faust	Foss / Voss	Heberlein	Heinz / Heinze
Herrmann	Kerbel	Kling	Kuxhaus	Lorenz
Martin	Meyer	Miller	Schick	Schmunk / Schmunck
Schreiber	Sturtz	Weber	Weisheim

Unfortunately, another year has passed and the Rosenberg Parish Records have not been found. Without these records, many families cannot connect their family to the 1857 Census due to the missing generation.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a Village Coordinator is receiving correspondence such as the following. It makes it all worthwhile!

I received your website this morning from a friend of mine who is heavily into genealogy. She was doing some research for her sister when she came across the name "Kandlin", my maiden name on your website. I can't believe it. When I looked at your site, I found many familiar names from stories my father told me through the years. We lost him last March at the age of 85. He lived with my husband and me to the end. He was born Viktor Kandlin in Oberdorf in 1917. His mother was Katherine Heinze. I am assuming that this is her pictured in the Heinze family album on your site. The first picture of George Jacob Heinze's family shows her as marrying an unknown Kandlin. I am going to go home later today and see if I have any pictures of her anywhere. She died of tuberculosis when Daddy was young, so I'm not sure I have anything. But I'm assuming this must be her.

Anyway, Daddy was conscripted into the Russian Army as a young man and was away on maneuvers at the time Stalin's troops moved through and deported many of the men to Siberian work camps. When Daddy returned to the village, his family had been wiped out. He had four (or five) brothers whom he never heard from again. He fled to Germany and long story made short, later married my mother and we came to the US (to Oklahoma) in 1957. I recognize many of the names on your website from Okeene, some of them are my relatives. I just can't believe this! My only regret is that I didn't find this site sooner. He passed without ever knowing what happened to his family. We asked many questions over the years, but eventually gave up. By the time the age of the internet dawned, Daddy was in the last years of his life and rarely talked anymore about the past. My sister and I would love to find out if any of Daddy's brothers survived. Please advise how I can go about this. Also, do you have any email addresses for any of the Heinze family who submitted these pictures? Perhaps they have some information. Thank you, thank you!!!

The Oberdorf web site continues to be a tool to enable connection with other Oberdorf researchers!

I submitted a CD to AHSGR for the Oberdorf village file that contains all Oberdorf-related data in my possession, including all village correspondence from 1998 to June 2003.

Ober-Monjou, Samara, Volga

Obermonjou Web Site

Kevin Rupp

Ober-Monjou Mailing List

This year has been a year of gathering more information from Russia. We now have the 1850 census from the colony of Ober-Monjou as well of the 1767 first settlers list. I also have some marriage records from Ober-Monjou from the year 1893. 

I have gotten a few requests on the information that I have obtained from the archives. There were inquiries from Germany, Argentina, United States and Canada. 

I still would like to get some photos and stories from people who have lived there, but nothing yet. I have redone my web site, which I hope will benefit those who are also looking for information from the Volga area and Ellis County. I have or will connect those VC’s to the site.

Orlovskoye, Samara, Volga

Carol Nesewich N087

Located on the Wiesenseite of the Volga, Orlovskoe was founded with 312 individuals in 1767 and ultimately grew to a population of 6,517 by the year 1912. Only 3,243 people remained in the village and in several surrounding areas by 1926. The colony was named for the Orlov family, who were among the staunchest supporters of Catherine II.

Approximately 1,750 individuals are listed in the village database, which contains the names of people either who were born in Orlovskoe or who at some time lived there. These names were taken mainly from the following sources: the surname charts on Bonacker and on Erfurth, the 1798 Census of Orlovskoe, a publication by the Northern Illinois chapter of AHSGR titled Unsere Leute, Settlers in Northern Illinois, and the findings of about a half dozen researchers. The most commonly found surnames are Altenhoff, Bonacker, Erfurth, Gerlinger, Goetz, Krueger, Lehmann, Vogel, and Wiegel.

Again, as was the case last year, there was only one inquiry for information. There seem to be few descendants from Orlovskoe. Andre Seifert lives in Germany, and he is looking for the family of his paternal grandmother, Maria WOLF Seifert. Maria is 88 years old. She is in excellent health, and she has been living in Trier, Germany since 1992. She has often talked to Andre about her birthplace of Orlovskoe. We have not yet been able to find a connection for her.

Paulskoye, Samara, Volga

Paulskoye Web Site

Timothy C. Weeder W372

I am happy to report an increase in the number of inquirers over last year.

I heard from John Schneider whose father, Otto SCHNEIDER, escaped Paulskoye, Russia in 1941 and came to the US in 1951 settling in the Chicago area. This is certainly a unique family history. Otto's uncle and aunt were Henry and Dorothy (BACHMAN) SCHNEIDER who lived in Maywood and worked for the railroad.

I worked with both Steven Grau, VC for Nieder-Monjou and Karen Mathews on the SCHOLL and KLOZBACH surnames in Kansas and Nebraska respectively.

Mary Zell, who is researching her husband’s family surnames WIEDERHOLD and BLANK who lived in Bellwood, Illinois, contacted me.

I located information about one Paulskoye-born individual on the Krasnoyarsk Memorial Society website http://www.memorial.krsk.ru/eng/index.htm , dedicated to exiled camp prisoners in Siberia: Martha LINK, daughter of Alexander, b. 1926.

I located passenger ship information with many Paulskoye (and neighboring villages) inhabitants on it. Halifax Ship Arrivals 1900-1914 is available on the Odessa Digital Library (Pixel) website. Ship: SS Canada departed Liverpool 24 February 1912 and arrived at Halifax on 4 March 1912. On Eugene Jenkins' Port of Baltimore German from Russia Extraction of Ships located at http://www.webbitt.com/volga/baltimore-Wahl-Wunsch.txt I found a Johnannes WIDERHOLD arriving Baltimore on 23 July 1913 on the SS Friedrich der Gross and headed for Chicago to Philipp WIDERHOLD.

Rick Geiser continues to wait patiently for his SCHNEIDER and SCHERER family charts. Likewise, I continue to wait for an answer to my question (twice asked now) as to exactly what new documents were uncovered three years ago that pertain to Paulskoye.

Ruth Freehling has translated the online autobiography and pictures of HEINRICH DORN as discussed in last year's report at the request of George and Shirley Dorn. I retained a copy for my Paulskoye files. Many thanks to Mrs. Freehling and the Dorns!

Finally, I sent for and received a 1942 aerial photograph of the village of Paulskoye (Pavlovka). While the quality and scale of the photo isn't anything to get too overly excited over, it is still of value and provides an actual visual of the general layout of the village, fields, waterways, roads, and also neighboring villages (Fischer, Beauregard, and Katherinenstadt). PS. A good magnifying glass is essential!

Pfeifer, Saratov, Volga

Pfeifer Web Site

Rosemary Larson L033 / L

See Kamenka for combined report.

Rosenberg / Umet, Saratov, Volga

Rosenberg Web Site

Dr. Richard McGregor M236

This had been another quiet year for Rosenberg correspondents; however, there have been some very interesting and extensive updates from a few individuals.

Bettye Grant sent a large GEDCOM file with 60 pages of family information relating to the Armbrusters, descending from Johann Jost Armbruster of the Darmstadt area, who immigrated in the mid 1760s to Russia. Jack Morkel has contributed the baptismal certificate of Maria Morkel and a Rosenberg school photograph from c1900. These two pictures are now on the Rosenberg webpage.

Roxanne Kuxhaus Hildebrand sent information on the Kuxhaus family, which included new information not previously collected. There have also been enquiry e-mails relating to the Hildermann, Schiebelhut and Sigfried families.

Finally, when the Ellis Island records came online I trawled though them looking for former Rosenberg residents and found nearly four pages of them with details on entrance date and ship in which the journey was made. This grid is also now available on the webpage.

Thanks to Teri Helzer’s help the Rosenberg webpage now has a large collection of downloadable photos, several pages of historical information, maps, lists of surnames, all nine newsletters, and a section of links. AHGSR has a copy of the Rosenberg word file, which now runs to 210 pages. This is not available online since it contains information on living descendants, but inquiries will always be answered.

Rosenheim, Samara, Volga

Randi Bolyard

See Enders village for combined report.

Rothammel, Saratov, Volga

Nicholas & Barbara Bretz B296

Joseph Gertge

Rothammel Mail List ~ email Kathy Frank Jones to join

Submitted by Nicholas & Barbara Bretz.

We are fortunate to have received additional surname charts for the following Rothammel surnames: Gertje, Hartmann, Kloberdanz, Lauer, and Matza. The Artzer and Kaiser charts from Seewald were also received. We are still waiting for Appelhans, Distel, Frank, and Weingardt charts. Please let us know if other charts from either village have been ordered. Copies of existing charts can be purchased. Please contact us for information.

We are continuing to enter the information from the charts into the village database and are beginning to merge the information from the census data. It is our hope to complete families since the surname charts don’t contain descendants of the female children. The data base contains persons from other villages in the region so don’t hesitate to contact us if your ancestor lived near Rothammel or Seewald.

Joe Gertge, our data base coordinator, is doing a fine job entering family information that village members send him. If you are a descendant of those having lived in Rothammel, please send Joe your family data so he can update our files.

Kathy Jones continues to monitor the ROTHAMMELLIST, a private mail list. At last count there were over 100 members so it is a good place to find and share information. To join the free list, please contact Kathy.

We received an inquiry from Argentina from a Lechmann. We asked them to send their family information to be included in the village files.