Aehrenfeld Web Site ~ with the village of Kratzke

Brent Mai M160 / L

Fellow Researchers:

From this Village Coordinator for Kratzke, it has been a busy year. Bob Berschauer in California graciously maintains the main Kratzke/Ährenfeld website listed above.

I have received approximately 200 requests for information from those doing research on the families from Kratzke and its daughter colony of Ährenfeld. (Ährenfeld is also a daughter colony of many Dietel, Kautz, and Merkel families, so there is a lot of overlap in research among those colonies.) There are too many to keep an exact count, but I receive 3-5 a week (the majority via email). Most of the questions come from Canadian and U.S. addresses, but there were several from individuals who now live in Germany and a couple from those who now live in Argentina and Brazil. It is exciting to hear from these far-away places! A special thanks goes to Dr. Dona Reeves-Marquardt of Austin, Texas, who provides most of the German translations work necessary for some of these communiqués!!

It was a pleasure to speak personally again with Dr. Igor Pleve during the AHSGR Conference in Modesto this past May. 

The only outstanding Kratzke-related research for which we still await is for the Deines family (which originally migrated to Dönhof, and later resettled to Kratzke).

There has not been a lot of newly acquired information from Russia this year. To-date, the following information is available:

• Nearly complete charts (founding through about 1855) for the following Kratzke families:

  Bender
  Berschauer
  Blehm/Blahm
  Boxberger
  Deines (includes Kratzke, Norka, & Dönhof)
  Dietz
  Fabrizius
  Kindsvater
  Koleber
  Knaus
  Krug (includes Kratzke & Dietel)
  Mai (includes Kratzke & Holstein)
  Maier/Meier (includes Kratzke, Dönhof, Shcherbakovka, & Merkel)
  Michaelis
  Schaefer
  Schneider
  Schwien (includes Kratzke & Holstein)
  
  

• Complete or partial charts for the following Ährenfeld families:

Bender
Blehm/Blahm
Boxberger
Fabrizius
Frickel
Hermany
Hildermann
Jung
Kindsvater
Klein
Knaus
Krug
Mai
Michaelis
Michel
Neubauer
Rein
Reiter/Reuter
Rie(h)l
Ring
Schaefer
Schneider
Schu(h)mann
Schwien
Specht
Stenzel

• Because of its relationship to Ährenfeld, complete charts for the following families from Eckheim have also been acquired:

Mai
Schneider

• Census information is available from Kratzke for the following dates and families:

1767 all families

1798 all families

1834 Gideon, Gross/Grohs, Jaeger, Kindsvater, Mueller, Schroeder, Templing

1850 Bender, Blehm/Blahm, Boxberger, Deines, Dietz, Fabrizius, Knaus, Krug, Mai, Michaelis, Schneider

1857 Gideon, Gross/Grohs, Jaeger, Kindsvater, Mueller, Schroeder, Templing

• Because of their relatedness to the families from Kratzke and Ährenfeld, I also have census data for the following:

1834 Blehm/Blahm families living in Shcherbakovka

 Blehm/Blahm families living in Dobrinka

Deines families living in Dönhof

Suppes families living in Hussenbach

Jung families living in Dietel

1850 Blehm/Blahm families living in Shcherbakovka

Blehm/Blahm families living in Dobrinka

1857 Deines families living in Franzosen & Dönhof

Mai & Schneider families living in Eckheim

Blehm/Blahm families living in Strassburg

Jung families living in Dietel

Kindsvater families living in Dietel

Foos families in Merkel

It is a pleasure to work with other researchers on putting all of this information together! Thank you!

Alexandertal (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga

Alexandertal Web Site

Richard A. Kraus K056

During this year, I accomplished the following:

• I uncovered a few more Alexandertal descendants
• I made some updates to our web site
• I used DNA to prove the relationship between the Stahl-am-Karaman, Dönhof, Unterdorf, and Alexandertal Kraus families.

We had three Alexandertal searchers attend Village Night at the Modesto Convention where our meeting was combined with our mother village, Schilling.

Alt-Danzig, Kirovograd

Curt Renz R002

Combined report for Alt-Danzig and Neu-Danzig:

During this past year, I have completed the following projects:

• Photocopied and extracted all births, marriages, and deaths from the St. Petersburg Consistory records that pertained to those Alt Danzig families found in these villages: Josephsthal, Elisabethgrad, and Alt Danzig.
  
• Photocopied and extracted all births, marriages, and deaths from the St. Petersburg Consistory records that pertained to those Neu Danzig families found in these villages: Nikolayev and Neu Danzig.
  
• Updated all Alt Danzig and Neu Danzig family groupings and published them on http://www.odessa3.org under Collections - Village Compilations - Renz Compilations.

Bangert, Samara, Volga

Paul E. Koehler K287 / L

There were no inquiries this past year for the village of Bangert. I do have 5389 entries in the Bangert database.

The Village Night at the Modesto Convention was combined with the Stahl am Tarlyk table and it was a lively session.

In the village file at the Lincoln Headquarters, there is a copy of the Brudershaft (Brotherhood prayer meetings), 272 years of history. This religious activity was mostly about our ancestors’ lives along the Volga River. I made this presentation at the Convention and about 100 people attended. 

This past year, 103-year-old Fred Bork passed away in St. Joseph, Michigan. He had donated a pair of felt boots to the Lincoln Museum a few years ago. These boots had been made in Bangert and brought to America by his uncle. 

Bergdorf, Glückstal, Odessa, Kherson

Map 2, Quadrant B-4, 47 20 N 29 34 E

See Glückstal Colonies Research Association

Borodino, Bessarabia

Borodino Web Sites:

Genealogy

History

Judy Remmick-Hubert H048

I have been very fortunate to have so many people helping me with my Borodino, Bessarabia web sites. They have sent family histories, history, photographs, and corrections. Therefore, I want to thank everyone, especially Ingrid Reule and Alfred Hein, who have given me hours of their time.

Alfred has sent me all kinds of photographs. His collection of the Heimatmusceum de Deutscha aus Bessarabien in Stuttgart gives us a view of the many items you can see when you visit http://www.remmick.org/GRMemorabilia/ .

Ingrid’s son has set up her own web site, but she still sends pages of new data. Go to “R” in my Borodino, Bessarabia Genealogy Site linked above.

My two web sites are found are found at the links above.

If you have anything to add or think some item needs to be corrected, do not hesitate to contact me.

If you'd like to see my personal history go to my directory and click on any of the subjects and you'll find a great deal of information which you might find interesting.

Again, thanks everyone.

Brunnental, Samara, Volga

Brunnental Web Site

BRUNNENTHAL/BRUNNENTAL listserv

Sherrie Gettman Stahl S621 / L

This year has been a very busy year for me. Last October we moved from our home in Portland, put everything in storage, and moved to our beach home in Manzanita, Oregon. During midweek, we come to Portland and live on our 43' powerboat. Therefore, I'm currently commuting back and forth, with a computer in each location. Daily, I get inquiries from those who have roots in Brunnental. In between inquiries, I work on the Brunnental Data Bank, which now has over 25,000 individuals.

Last year I subscribed to Ancestry.com, and began the task of going through every entry in my database trying to extract all relevant US CENSUS information (1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930). This often gives me additional family information (example: children or other relatives that I didn't know about, new birth dates, new birth places which gives me hints on where they lived at various years). This is an ongoing project and has become a treasure trove of new information. As I discover new facts, I try to contact families who have been in contact with me previously, so that we can share this new data.

I'm also searching on Ancestry.com for SSDI (Social Security Death
Index) information. Many states have birth & death indexes (example: California, Oregon, and Washington), which sometimes give additional information such as mother's maiden name, spouse’s name, exact birth or death dates, etc. All of this new information has helped us match up families and further our research. I also search at Ancestry.com for newspaper or periodical index information, and I am finding great articles in newspapers across the country. Another great source has been the Ellis Island site showing passenger list information (I can search by the name of the village in Russia, i.e.:  Brunnental, Brunnenthal, Brunnendal, etc.). Another interesting new source of information on Ancestry.com has been the WWI Draft Registration (c.1918) Records. This has provided new data such as birth date, birthplace, address where they were living, next of kin and relationship, etc.

Weekly, I write letters to "new found" family members who I discover while doing the above projects. Some answer back and some do not, but I've added a lot of new information using this technique and continue to reach out to new contacts. I keep a special listing of all those that have email addresses and are researching Brunnental. If anything new pops up, I can contact everyone with the new information.

I've also started two new compilations of data for Brunnental:

1) Passenger Listings by date for all those from Brunnental
2) Naturalization Records by name for all those from Brunnental

Last year we also started a LISTSERV, which is an online discussion group for those researching their ancestors from Brunnental. You can join online by sending a message to the server, and then you can easily post a message to the entire group.

We got off to a good start, but I have noticed that participation has slackened off in the last few months. I find that people email me directly and don't always want to share their information online, where it can be viewed by the public. You can read about this new listserv and join by check out this link: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SAMARA-BRUNNENTAL.html

We have a web site, which includes the following items:

1) Artifacts of Brunnental
2) Passenger Lists of those leaving Brunnental
3) Back issues of the Brunnental Newsletter (still available)
4) Five past issues of the Brunnental Newsletter online
5) Village History and Interviews
6) Surnames and Family History
7) Maps
8) Locating Relatives (queries)

Old & New Records from Brunnental

We currently have for sale the Re-Settlement Records for Brunnental ($10) showing those who left the villages of Kolb, Walter, and Norka and resettled in Brunnental (these records are from Russia). We have some records of those who left Frank, but those records are extracted are from the Surname Charts, which had been created for particular surnames. We are currently collecting these and hope that in the future we get the original records from Russia.

The most exciting news of the year is finding the Church Confirmation Records for Brunnental. We have just translated these records and will be offering them for sale in the near future. The exciting thing about these records is that they show the name, birth date, confirmation date, and the name of the father! I have looked through them, and they are "exact matches" to our Brunnental Data Bank, giving us new hope that our data is correct. These are the first official church records we have found for the village, and it give us great hope that more church records are found in Russia. As soon as these records are available, we will post information on our website and email everyone. (If you've changed your email address, please email me with an update!)

Cäsarsfeld, Samara, Volga (destroyed 1774)

David F. Schmidt S422

Last year, I received no contacts or inquiries for Cäsarsfeld. This village was destroyed or abandoned in the 18th century, and there are few families that can trace their origins back to this village or that identify themselves with it. In the years th havat Ie served as Village Coordinator, only one or two families whose ancestors formerly lived in Cäsarsfeld have contacted me.

Cäsarsfeld typically is listed as having been destroyed by the Kirghiz in 1774. However, Dr. Pleve has mentioned archival records indicating that Cäsarsfeld actually was abandoned later due to unproductive soil, like other colonies on the Little Karaman River. The 1798 census entries for neighboring colonies, which list colonists that formerly resided in Cäsarsfeld, seem to bear this out. Judging from the 1798 census entries, Cäsarsfeld may have been abandoned sometime after 1780. One future research goal is to document the true date and reason for abandonment of Cäsarsfeld.

My personal goal for 2005 is to create web pages for the three villages that I coordinate: Boaro, Cäsarsfeld, and Stahl am Karaman.

Dinkel, Saratov, Volga

Leroy Nikolaisen N017

The assistance given to the following items during the past year seem to be the usual flow of information for a year. There is not much action for Dinkel, a village that had a population of 3200 at its peak.

• Between six and eight inquiries were answered regarding surnames from Dinkel.
  
• Three booklets covering the history and geography of Dinkel were sold.
  
• I am still waiting for the chart of my family ordered from Russia.

Dönhof, Saratov, Volga

Karen Kaiser K247

Richard & Judy Leffler

Submitted by Dick & Judy Leffler.

The year 2004 was a little slower than usual for requests received from people researching their ancestors from Dönhof. We had exactly nine requests this year and answered all of them as well as we could from the data we have available.

Attendance at the AHSGR convention in Modesto was also smaller than usual, but we did get to meet two researchers from the new chapter in Las Vegas. It was also nice to see and hear Dr. Pleve speak. 

Work continues on our database, however at a snail's pace. We now have 6640 individuals entered in it. I am sure this will increase when the SOAR project is completed. The good news is there are now five charts on order, so when they arrive, there will be a lot more data available. The surnames for the charts that are on order are WOLF, LIND, ERBES, STOLL, and KURTZ.

Submitted by Karen Kaiser.

I have received a few inquiries from Dönhof researchers, and I continue to work on building a database of obituaries, etc. I have also been working on updating files.

As I mentioned in last year’s report, my husband and I moved a German-Russian church in Sterling, Colorado, that was built in 1906. We have spent this last year restoring the inside of the church, but it continues to be a work in progress. Now that the church is mostly restored, I plan to spend this next year collecting pictures, family histories, and other memorabilia that would document the early German-Russian history of the church and it’s congregation. I am in search of German hymnals and bibles from the early years and would appreciate any donations.

One of the most interesting parts of the restoration came as we were scraping paint in the sanctuary. As my son and I scraped, we found blue paint and beautiful old stenciling and stippling between the windows and on the altar of the church. The stenciling had since turned to a dark brown, but I believe it was gold at one time. I have inquired into the history of the decoration, but no one knew it was there. I traced the stenciling pattern and we took pictures of the placement of the patterns. I plan to restore the stenciling. If anyone knows if this was a common practice of decoration in German-Russian churches, please let me know.

Our son was the first to be married in the church since we restored it. His wedding was May 1. We have had one other wedding and a renewal of vows since then. We have had a few visitors, mostly people from the Sterling area. The church will have its 100th anniversary in 2006, and we have been asked if our current church might have services in the old church. We would be honored to do so. I plan on compiling pictures of the move and restoration and sending those to the coordinators online.

Dreispitz, Saratov, Volga

Dreispitz Web Site

Submitted by Ardath Herbel

I have answered about 10-12 queries this past year. When I couldn't answer the questions, I was sometimes able to connect the person making the query with someone who was researching the same name.

I have not received any new information to add to my data bank. I'm hoping that people will let me know when they have new information and are willing to contribute it to our present data.

Enders, Samara, Volga

Randi Bolyard

This year, I commissioned someone to go to Enders and check for Volga Germans who still lived in the village. I requested that she ask them genealogy questions about themselves and anyone about whom they had knowledge. I also asked her to look at the cemetery and record the names and dates of any Volga Germans there.

The families that are still living in the village have the surnames: ARNOLD and LUTSOW. Ancestors of the Arnold family are named Mitelstadt (sp?), born close to Zitomir, Ukraine. Ancestors of the Lutsow family are named Miller.

There were families that moved to Germany. These included the families of BIEHL, BORGARDT, SHRAM, ZIMMERMAN, LUTSOW, and RUSCH.

There is a cemetery near Enders. It has the following surnames: MILLER, EHLERT, SHRAM, EGER, and BORGARDT. I cannot claim to be 100% sure of the spellings. If someone has ideas about alternative spellings, please let me know.

I have additional data on the cemetery and on some of the people still living in Enders. I also have pictures of some of the headstones. If anyone has an interest, I can scan check to see if I have a picture of the headstone and scan it to him or her.

I have received a number of inquiries this year about Enders and have corresponded rather extensively with some of these folks. Some have sent me pictures and other data, for which I am grateful.

I have moved since my last report. My new street address and email address are listed at the top of this report.

Fischer, Saratov, Volga

Fischer Web Site

Roger A. Toepfer T095

Proem (Reiterate of 2003 Report)

 The interchange/exchange of data and general assistance for Fischer / Herzog continues to be handled through the Fischer and Herzog web sites. This has been a suitable method of assisting researchers and our fellow members.

I receive many queries for members of other villages, and we attempt to assist them by posting their queries on the queries page on our site.

Coordination and Support for Fischer and Herzog

This has been another slow year regarding help with data requests from family relations in Germany. Requests are still pending.

Query Support

In the 2003 report, I reported that we had received 9012 visits to the Fischer / Katharinenstadt site since January 1, 1999 (Site statistics are provided by Jerry Braun, Webmeister for the Herzog web site). The visitor count now reads 10637. This is an increase of 1625 in visits from last year. This is why I believe that the use of the website for coordination is very effective. This year there were 18 requests for family research, about 5% less than last year.

Some of the surnames and their villages listed in these queries are: Hermann (no village listed); Lap, Fuss (no village listed); Henniger, Weltz (from Brazil); Stoh, Wormsbecher, Karlin, Meis, Sanders (from Katharinenstadt); Lackmann, Batt, Bangert, Ring, Foos, Michael, Fleger, Lind, Weinmeister (all from Dietel); Houtz (from Boaro); Hirschfeld, DeChants, Urbans (from the Volga Region); Dreiling, Schueler, Sanders, Bissing (all from Catherine, Kansas); Starkel/Staerkel, Diehl/Thiel (no village listed).

The queries of the surnames noted above can be found within the Fischer/Katharinenstadt web site by clicking on the links Please Sign In, View Guestbook, or Our Query Page. We provided data about family connections, ancestral data, and 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. Follow the link to the Fischer web site listed above and then click onto either Our Query Page or View Guestbook.

VC Information Exchange Surname Searches

The following web sites have a very comprehensive listing of surnames and the name of the person who purchased these searches:

• Herzog Home Page: Jerry Braun
• Mariental Home Page: Tony Leiker
• OberMonjou Home Page: Kevin Rupp
• The Fischer/Katharinenstadt Home Page: Roger Toepfer

All are invited to log on and review the listings. It could save you a good deal of time and money upon learning that a list you are about to order has already been researched. We are willing to help you in the searches of our ancestry, history, and notable heritage.

The web site addresses can be found on the AHSGR Villages pages on this site.

Frank, Saratov, Volga

Combined report for Brunnental, Frank, and Kolb submitted by Doris Evans.

Brunnental Web Site

BRUNNENTHAL/BRUNNENTAL listserv

Frank Web Site

Frank Mail List

Frank Russia Village Coordinator

Doris Eckhardt Evans E094 / L

Brunnental Village Coordinator

Sherrie Gettman Stahl S621 / L

Honorary Historian & VC for Frank & Brunnental

Gerda Stroh Walker W002 / L

Kolb Russia Village Coordinators

Sarah (Kanzler) Hammarstrom H419

Thelma (Koch) Sprenger S653 / L

Doris Eckhardt Evans E094 / L

Honorary Historian & VC for Kolb

Pauline Dudek D018 / L