Village Coordinator Reports 2007
Villages A-F
VC Newsletter Editor Michael Frank
| A | B | D
| E | F |
Ährenfeld / Aehrenfeld, Saratov, Volga
Ahrenfeld Web
Site ~ with the village of Kratzke
2007 Villages Report for Kratzke and Ährenfeld
This year has been rather quiet in the area of large-scale data
acquisitions for the Volga German colony of Kratzke and her daughter colony of
Ährenfeld. Recent listings from the Volgograd Archives indicate that there
are some parish records (birth, marriage, and death) available there for
Kratzke, and we are actively trying to obtain them.
Of those surnames prominent in Kratzke, only two have been traced
successfully back to central Europe: Michaelis to Monsheim (Kurpfalz) and Mai
to Spachbrücken (Hesse-Darmstadt). Others are under active investigation, but
the searches have yet to be fruitful.
There continue to be two to three personal inquiries a week, driven mostly
by people who discover the Kratzke web site -- even though it is no longer
being actively maintained. Most of the recent inquiries have been coming from
Argentina, Germany, and Russia.
Dona Reeves-Marquardt and Nadine Hepp continue to research various lines
and feed new and corrected information into the database, which I maintain.
Their assistance is invaluable! In January 2006, we lost Marie Dietz Krug of
Oakley, Kansas, who had been faithfully scouring the Western Kansas newspapers
for birth and engagement/marriage announcements as well as obituaries for the
descendants of Kratzke families. We're still looking for another volunteer to
take on that enormous task.
At the AHSGR 2007 Annual Conference in Hays, we had the pleasure of viewing
a rendition of the Kratzke Lutheran Church, which had been painted by local
artist Michael Boss. Ruth Schultz, whose ancestor Karl Jakob Früauf was
pastor in Kratzke from 1801-1815, is now the owner of this beautiful painting.
The structure that Mr. Boss depicts is that of the church building constructed
in 1899 with a rather unique architectural design that placed the trancept at
the entrance to the building, rather than in the middle or toward the front of
the nave, which was more common for the time period. This structure, minus its
steeple, is still standing in the colony and has been used most recently for
the storage of grain and farm implements.
Respectfully submitted,
Brent Mai
AHSGR Colony Research Coordinator
Kratzke & Ährenfeld
Alexanderfeld, North Caucasus
Village Coordinator Report on the North Caucasus Colonies
My efforts for the past number of years have centered on the acquisition of
data covering all the German settlements in the North Caucasus of Russia.
It has been my desire to locate the Lutheran Church records similar to
those used by Igor Pleve for the Volga German research which have proven so
highly beneficial.
Thus far, from a variety of sources, I have varying degrees of information
on 65 villages through which I have fortunately been able to help people with
their inquiries in most cases, some of which have come from overseas.
It becomes unfortunate when all they have is a notation stating that an
ancestor of such and such a name was born in the Caucasus. A chronological
listing of names with associated villages that could be gleaned from the
church records would be invaluable for such instances.
The Caucasus settlements were comprised of Mennonite, Bessarabian, Black
Sea, Ukrainian and Volga Germans, along with some from elsewhere, which in the
aggregate fostered the creation of a new breed of Germans in Russia.
Since I have passed my 90th birthday, it would be wonderful if someone who
has or is willing to cultivate the interest would step forward to carry on
this valuable work.
Respectfully submitted,
Arthur E. Flegel
Alexandertal (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga
Alexandertal
Web Site
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=dickkraus01
http://www.familytreedna.com/(osky4gedfnmjmq45axzgbh2m)/surname_det.aspx?group=Kraus
http://www.ahsgr.org/german_origins.htm
My small village saw another quiet year for 2006-2007. A few
Alexandertalers updated their e-mail addresses during the year. During my trip
to the Volga, I took pictures of a village close to Alexandertal. I sent small
copies of this, her village, to her since she no longer has access to the
Internet. She is now deciding which ones she wants me to enlarge.
As last year, most of my time has been spent on my responsibilities as the
Pleve financial liaison, on expanding the German Origins website which is
becoming quite large, and on Kraus and other DNA projects.
The Alexandertaler Kraus DNA is interesting. This family came to the Volga
from the Thuengen Barony in what is now northern Bavaria. Their male DNA shows
them to belong to rare Haplogroup G. Haplogroup is DNA-speak for "very
large extended family with a common male ancestor". So far, descendants
of Thuengen Kraus cousins in Stahl-am-Karaman, Doenhof, Schilling,
Alexandertal, and Unterdorf have been tested. All show, as they should, the
same male DNA. However, no other Kraus under any spelling, so far tested
worldwide, shows any such common descent with them for, at a minimum, the last
12,000 years! A couple of guys with other family names, appear to show descent
with them from the same male ancestor of about 1,000 years ago, so Kraus of
Alexandertal is a very rare bird indeed!
More information related to this report can be found at the sites shown
above.
Cheers,
Dick Kraus, Alexandertal VC
Alt-Danzig, Kirovograd
Concerning the villages of Alt Danzig by Kirovograd and Neu Danzig by
Nikolayev, securing documents from the Odessa Regional State Archive has been
quite fruitful this year (prior to the closing down of the Archive).
I am including here a list of the documents purchased this year along with
several other documents that were donated.
Odessa Regional State Archive
Fond 6-1-24 1800 Alt Danzig re. cattle disease and treatment G & R 17 pp
Fond 6-1-64 1801 Alt Danzig *not translated G & R 16 pp
Fond 6-1-65 1801 Alt Danzig *not translated G & R 24 pp
Fond 6-1-98 1801 Alt Danzig re. population report G & R 20 pp
Fond 6-1-356 1807 Alt Danzig re. Wormsbecher transfer & passport G & R
3 pp
Fond 6-1-607 1812 Alt Danzig re. Burbeck, Michelsohn, Mattesen, Stach, Berndt
and Giedd families requesting to relocate G & R 7 pp
Fond 6-1-1022 1816 Alt Danzig re. village welfare registry G & R 12 pp
Fond 6-1-3603 1834 Alt Danzig re. illegitimate child's death G & R 4 pp
Fond 6-2-10503 1846 Alt Danzig re. request to establish special prayer
meetings G & R 19 pp
Fond 6-2-10578 1848 Alt Danzig *not translated G 3 pp
Fond 6-3-15737 1853 Alt Danzig *not translated G 2 pp
Fond 6-4-23949 1859 Alt Danzig *not translated G 3 pp
Odessa Regional State Archive
Fond 252-1-29a 1816 Alt Danzig re. marriages and property transfers G & R
3 pp
Fond 252-1-79 1817 Alt Danzig re. transfer of Michelsohn from Alt Danzig to
Worms G & R 8 pp
Fond 252-1-212 1819 Alt Danzig re. transfer of Michelsohn from Worms to Alt
Danzig G & R 13 pp
Fond 252-1-527 1825 Alt Danzig re. Leitner passport to travel back to France G
& R 7 pp
1826 Alt Danzig re. Karch request to travel back to Bavaria G 2 pp
Fond 252-1-11510 1848 Alt Danzig re. Pritzkau and Giedd elected councilmen G
& R 14 pp
Odessa Regional State Archive
Fond 6-1-6448 1842 Neu Danzig re. Brokofsky, Hamann, Herbold and Dickhaut
households G & R 72 pp
Fond 6-1-6921 1843 Neu Danzig re. Meth transfer from Grossliebental G & R
24 pp
Fond 6-1-8271 1846 Neu Danzig re. Ockert transfer from Molotchna G & R 36
pp
Fond 6-2-10643 1849 Neu Danzig re. Matthies, Buchholz, Kohl, Engel, Rink,
Wagner & Brokofsky families requesting to relocate G & R 35 pp
Fond 6-3-17428 1855 Neu Danzig re. Buchholz resettlement G & R 8 pp
Fond 6-4-18877 1858 Neu Danzig re. new church building G & R 54 pp
Fond 22-1-6a 1843 Neu Danzig re. families moving from Alt Danzig to Neu Danzig
G & R 16 pp
Nikolayev Regional State Archive
Fond 118-1-216 1924 Neu Danzig re. list of members of the Baptist church R 15
pp
*UNKNOWN SOURCE and fond
- 1803 Alt Danzig re. colonists, families R 2 pp (1st page missing)
- 1803 Alt Danzig re. permission to resettle Matthisen, Hübner and Giedd
families from Prussia R 1 p
*UNKNOWN SOURCE
Fond 6-98-432 1808 Alt Danzig re. colonists, families and animals R 6 pp
Curt. Renz
Village Coordinator for Alt Danzig, Kirovograd
Village Coordinator for Neu Danzig, Nikolayev
Alt-Schilling Saratov, Volga
Schilling Web Site
2007 Schilling Villages Report
The Schilling villages include Alt-Schilling, Schilling, Konstantinovka,
Neu-Schilling I and Neu-Schilling II, which are all Schilling daughter
colonies except Alexandertal, which is handled by Dick Kraus, and Neu-Beideck.
In the past year I have done considerable work in searching census and
immigration records in Ancestry. This searching added immigrants and
descendants of people from Schilling and has resulted in the addition of about
1000 people and related events to the Schilling database.
The Schilling mailing list, hosted by Rootsweb, has at times, been fairly
busy. There are about 50 subscribers. I count about 10 queries for information
on people from Schilling, besides the queries on the mailing list. The
Schilling web page now resides on it's own domain. See above. For anyone
interested, my Dobrinka and Schilling web sites are hosted on Computing Host,
and cost $10 for the web site and $9 for the domain registration.
I'm waiting on the translated 1850 and 1857 census records for Schilling
from Brent Mai. These records are coming from the Engels Archive, so who knows
when that archive will open up again. The building and remodeling people in
Russia don't get in any hurry.
Gary Martens
Village Coordinator for Schilling Villages
Alt-Schwedendorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
See Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson for combined report.
Amilchin (Emilchin, Emilcin, Amilcin) Volhynia,
Ukraine, Russia
Amilchin or Emilchin Village Report
There were no inquiries this year, and I've learned no new information.
Judi Malinowski, VC
Anton, Saratov, Volga
Anton (Sebastianowka) Village Report for 2007
Not much activity for Anton has taken place this year. The Anton map has
not been completed because of many missing names for the year of 1940. I am
still waiting for this news from my Anton contact in Germany.
There was news from Brent Mai that the 1835 census for Anton and seven
other villages had arrived but were yet to be translated. Interested families
are patiently waiting for the translation. Supposedly, only the head of
households' names appear and not the names of the spouses. This census will
help bridge the gap between early censuses and later ones.
I am interested in knowing if anyone has done his or her family DNA. This
approach seems to have interesting results. If someone has done their DNA and
would be willing to share some of the results, I would like to include this in
the Anton collection.
Photos from people who visited Anton in recent years are still being
collected to be put on CDs. These photos show some homes and businesses of our
ancestors in early Anton.
I will be happy to answer any inquiry if I know the answer. If anyone has
information they think would be helpful to the Anton research, please send a
copy to be added to the collection.
Betty Muradian
Anton Village Coordinator
Balzer, Saratov, Volga
Balzer Web Site
2007 Village Report for Balzer
2007 has been a good year for Balzer research. Only one newsletter was
published, but we hope to get another one out before the end of the year.
Subscriptions remain above 50 persons.
I received emails from several researchers requesting help and back issues
of the newsletter. Some of these were from Germany and one from Russia.
Assistance ranged from being able to connect the researcher's information to a
surname chart from Russia, to not being able to help at all. It's the old tale
of the big gap between 1857 and 1900. I hope these contacts led to some new
AHSGR memberships.
The news from Brent Mai this week is extremely welcoming. We look forward
to receiving the translated 1834 census and hope the one for 1857 will follow
soon.
In April, two workshops were presented at the California Heritage Fest.
Draft copies of our German research were given out to ten people for their
review and comments. As a result, the Balzer group plans to publish their
research of Volga Germans Settlers identified in Isenburg Church Records.
Research over the past five or so years has resulted in identification of over
150 Volga settlers. Emphasis is on the settlements of Balzer with 91 and Moor
with 25. However, Kutter had 9 first family baptisms while Messer had 15, two
were from Galka, one from Schilling, and 16 from Norka. All are included in
the book. All of the baptisms and most of the marriages are not available in
any other publication. Prepublication reservations are now being taken. It is
hoped that this book will encourage other village coordinators to research the
Isenburg records for the first settlers to their villages. VCs for above
villages should contact me for complementary copies.
Finally, we were able to find a great researcher for the Franken area of
Bavaria. His name is Karl Greim. He may be reached at hofgenealoge@freenet.de
.
Wayne Bonner
AHSGR VC for Balzer/Moor
Bangert, Samara, Volga
2007 Annual Report for Bangert
The village of Bangert had no inquires but the database is alive and
active.
The German astronaut, Thomas Reiter, spent 6 months in the International
Space Station. He had also spent 6 months in the Russian spaceship
"Muir". No other astronaut has spent a year away from Mother Earth.
He is a distant cousin and has ties to the village of Bangert. This
information has been entered into the Bangert database.
Paul Koehler
Village Coordinator for the Village of Bangert and Stahl am Tarlyk
Bergdorf, Glückstal, Odessa, Kherson
See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association for combined report.
Borodino, Bessarabia
Borodino Web Sites:
Genealogy
History
Village Report for Borodino, Bessarabia
It's been another busy and productive year.
More and more descendants of the Borodinians around the world are
discovering my web site on Borodino / Bessarabia. This is very good news for
my web site.
The genealogy continues to grow every week and I cannot even begin to tell
everyone who have been so generous how much others and I appreciate everyone's
efforts.
For those who have not visited the site I have different methods of dealing
with the family charts. I have gone into the records and placed them onto the
site as-is. There are no corrections, deletions, or speculations. They are
what they are. Then I took these names and tried to match children with their
parents, and I have clearly marked these as speculations. The next part
contains the family charts of people who have sent me their information which
may be the same or slightly different from the records. I've then placed all
my e-mails and letters under each section. There are names from A to Z. There
are individual family pages with stories, letters, and photographs.
Connected to all of this are my own personal ties to Borodino through both
my maternal grandparents, Ludwig Michaelovich Hein and Christina Schweikert (Schweigert/Schweickert).
Both were born in 1885 in Borodino. I knew them both and heard many stories
about Borodino and nearby villages. To add to this, my paternal side was also
German-Russian who settled in and around Worms/Odessa, South Russia. By the
time I found most of my ancestors, I discovered their lives and migrations
cover the area from Bessarabia to Tifilis in the Caucasus Mountains. It has
been a great adventure and I have shared much of it with you.
The Remmick home page is located at: http://www.remmick.org/Remmick.Family.Tree
. My husband's families, (Hubert, Jost, Goetz, and Hummel) were also German
but ended up in and around Temesvar and Arad in Romania. Because of this, I've
learned about an area where some of our German-Russians may have stopped for a
time before continuing to Russia. One family of mine, the Pfaffs did just
this, before heading to the Odessa area.
I have many kinds of maps. I've lost count. I must have hundreds of
photographs. When you have time, please stop by and take a look. Who knows,
you might find ancestors or information of interest.
My German-Russian House Recipe Site is also becoming larger and larger
because of all the generous people. This can be found at: http://www.remmick.org/GRHouseRecipes/Page1.html
. It includes not only recipes, but it's also filled with photographs with
German-Russians who have traveled back into Borodino and taken photographs.
I've tried to discover what food was eaten while our ancestors lived in
Borodino and some recipes show step-by-step ways to cook a particular food.
Some people have sent photographs to me of their favorite cook like their
grandmothers or aunts. Many people have already set up websites and therefore
there are a huge number of links.
I have other pokers in the fire, but have to admit, due to my aging parents
and adding an addition to our home, I may not be replying as quickly as I have
in the past. But I will reply and get YOUR Borodino family's page up and
running as soon as I'm able.
I'd also like to thank Ingrid Ruele who has gone into the records in places
where I never could have reached and has willingly shared.
Judy Remmick-Hubert
Village Coordinator for Borodino
Brunnental, Samara, Volga
Brunnental Web
Site
Passenger Lists by Year: http://www.brunnental.us/brunnental/passeng.html
WWI Draft Registrations by last name: http://www.brunnental.us/brunnental/ww1draftregistration.html
BRUNNENTHAL/BRUNNENTAL Listserv: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/RUS-SAMARA-BRUNNENTAL/
EWZ Films: http://www.brunnental.us/brunnental/EWZindex.html
Brunnental, Samara, Volga, Russia 2007 Village Report
I continue to search daily to expand my research on each family from
Brunnental. I am trying to search each of the following items to round out the
family information:
1) US Federal Census -- 1900/1910/1920/1930
2) Passenger Lists - some new info has been added!
3) WWI Draft Registrations
4) WWII Enlistment Records
5) Public Records
6) SSDI or other state death indexes
7) Obituaries
8) Photographs
9) Family stories
10) Naturalization Records
11) Burial records
12) Canadian Census Reports - 1901 & 1911
NEW INFORMATION I want to say that I feel sometimes that I have
"exhausted" all sources, but then I find a brand new family that I
didn't have in my growing database (52,000 individuals)...this excites me and
spurs me on to "search for more families". Just this last week I
found a Jacob Hardt family who came early in 1890 from Brunnental to Marion,
Kansas. I spent over a week researching this family and with the help of
Harland Eastwood in Washington state, I was able to prove they were from
Brunnental. One of their sons, Rev. Henry Hardt was a Lutheran pastor in Red
Wing, MN which I discovered by finding his WWI Draft Registration. Each piece
of research led to another piece...which finally led to a collection of
obituaries on the web from the Odessa, Washington area which had an obituary
of the head of this family, showing he was born in Brunnenthal---bingo,
another family!! So, do not ever think that you research is done...it has just
begun :)
PASSENGER LISTS / WWI DRAFT REGISTRATIONS I've also put together a
comprehensive report which contain the Passenger List data by date of arrival
and also the WWI Draft Registrations for all those from Brunnental by Last
Name alphabetically. These two reports can be found on our website, listed
above.
BRUNNENTAL LISTSERV We also have a listserv, where we can send an email,
which goes to everyone who has "subscribed" to the Listserv.
Directions on how to join can be found on our webpage. This is one way we are
able to communicate easily with everyone from our village who has email. One
single email does it all. I try to send out new information such as obituaries
or new ship list data, or anything else that is important to people.
We are trying to add new obituaries as we find them, and we post those on
our listserv, so anyone who is interested in this information should JOIN our
listserv by sending an email to: RUS-SAMARA-BRUNNENTAL-L-request@rootsweb.com
with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) on the subject line.
The Brunnental website is listed above.
You can also browse through the past postings to the Brunnental LISTSERV on
Rootsweb, so it's a great place to make contacts and get the village name out
there:
EWZ FILMS Another new thing we did last year was to add a link to our
website for the EWZ Films that have been indexed by a number of people and
posted to the Odessa Website. To my amazement there were people from
Brunnental!
This site above shows those families from Brunnental. (Please go to this
site and really read through the information to get a full description of what
information is contained on the various films...it is exciting new
information.)
NEW RECORDS Last of all, we have received some new confirmation records
from Brunnental. They have been translated and indexed, but we are hoping to
get more before we release them. When they are released we will announce that
on our listserv.
Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl, VC Brunnental
Chasselois (Chasoil and Schasselwa), Samara, Volga (destroyed)
Village Report for Chasselois
As most of you know, the village of Chasselois was destroyed, and most of
the people who escaped fled to Mariental, Louis, and other nearby villages.
There have not been any searchers requesting information from this village. It
is spelled several different ways, but I prefer this spelling of the village.
I am constantly searching for information on Chasselois, and have written
about the massacre of the village in one of my Newsletters. There are no
pictures of this village to my knowledge, and the exact location is not listed
anywhere. I do know it was very near Mariental and Louis.
Thelma Mills Village
Coordinator - Volga Village of Chasselois
Dinkel, Saratov, Volga
Dinkel-Tarlyakovka Report:
I sit here in awe with what most of the VC's have done. I had my usual four
to five inquires concerning people in the village. I supplied them with all
the information I had concerning their families but never a complete history
as the 1850-1900 period for the most part is absent for my people. I supplied
two booklets regarding Dinkel and its people to those that wanted it. For
those people who might be interested in Dinkel directly or indirectly, I have
the original 1767 list of people, the 1798 list, and the 1850-57 Census of
Dinkel-Tarlyakovka. I am still trying to finalize all my names and information
into a complete form.
Leroy Nikolaisen, VC
Dobrinka, Saratov, Volga
Dobrinka Web Site
2007 Dobrinka Village Report
In the past year I have done considerable work in searching census and
immigration records, in Ancestry. This searching added immigrants and
descendants of people from Dobrinka. This work has resulted in the addition of
about 750 people and related events to the Dobrinka database.
The Dobrinka mailing list, hosted by Rootsweb, has at times been fairly
busy. There are about 35 subscribers. I count about 20 queries for information
on people from Dobrinka, besides the queries on the mailing list. I also
received, via email, pictures of the current Dobrinka village from someone in
Russia. These pictures are displayed on the Dobrinka web page which now
resides on it's own domain. See directions to website above.
By now I had expected the order for the 1834, 1850 and 1857 census records
for Dobrinka to be filled. These records were ordered from the Volgograd
Archives probably a year ago, and paid for by people connected to the Lower
Volga Village Project. Since Volgograd fills orders rapidly and is now
accepting payment via Western Union, I hope these people didn't get taken by
the middlemen who were supposed to deliver the money to the archives.
Gary Martens
Village Coordinator for Dobrinka
Dönhof, Saratov, Volga
Donhof 2007 Village Report
There have been a few inquiries this year for Donhof including an inquiry
from Russia. I continue to compile records for Donhof including the following:
Census records for Donhof for 1775, 1798, 1834, and 1857.
Obituaries for Donhof settlers in the Northern Colorado area, primarily in
Windsor, Greeley and Ft Collins. Church records for St. John's Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Windsor, Colorado, which includes many of the original
Donhof settlers and their families. Naturalization records for immigrants from
Russia in Colorado Family surname charts for Donhof that came from
Headquarters that were submitted by members Personal family charts and
information that includes several different surnames from the Donhof area
In addition I have the 1775 and 1798 records for Huck and Balzer and have
the newest census records for Balzer on order from Brent Mai.
I also have early church records from Peace Lutheran Church in Sterling,
Colorado. It was founded by German-Russian immigrants in 1906 and was the
first German-speaking church in Sterling. I have cemetery records for
Riverside cemetery in Sterling, which often includes the name of spouse,
parents and place from which the deceased immigrated. These are a good source
of information for early German Russian settlers in Sterling and the
surrounding areas. Several small community cemeteries are also included.
We moved and continue to restore the original Peace Lutheran church.
Compiling its German Russian history is an ongoing project.
Karen Kaiser
Co-coordinator for Donhof
2007 Annual Report for Dönhof
The year 2007 has been pretty slow as far as research for the village of
Dönhof goes. We have had about twelve requests from fellow researchers for
the village and have answered them to the best of our ability from information
in our database. One of those requests came from Budapest.
Attendance at village night at convention in Hays, Kansas was down from
previous years as those locals attending the convention were not descendants
of Dönhof immigrants. We had five new people in attendance and two of those
were from the Northern Colorado chapter.
It is our understanding that Igor Pleve is currently working on charts from
our village so possibly we will have better news next year. It is also our
understanding that one chart had been finished and paid for but not yet
received, but we are unable to confirm.
Dick & Judy Leffler
Dreispitz, Saratov, Volga
Dreispitz Web Site
2007 Annual Report for Dreispitz
This is my second year as a Village Coordinator for Dreispitz. I have had a
number of inquiries during the past year. They were received from several
states, with one from Germany. Several were challenging, resulting in numerous
exchanges of correspondence.
I have the Dreispitz Censuses for 1798, 1834, 1850, and 1858, and Band 1 of
Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767. I am endeavoring to connect several
families in Dreispitz. This also is a challenge. Most of the people in
Dreispitz were related. If anyone has any records of residents of Dreispitz,
please share.
One project of interest was between Jim Osborne (Village Coordinator for
Brabander and Dehler) and me. Jim is a very good friend with Victor Chrisbens,
who is a brother to my Aunt Millie who came from Dobrinka. She married my
mother's brother, Gusteen Heinze, whose parents came from Dreispitz. Jim and I
were exchanging information and passing it on to Victor when Victor's daughter
also became interested in her father's family. I sent her all the information
I had on file and copies of newspaper clippings that I had received from Aunt
Millie, who passed away in 1998. The daughter is preparing a family history
for her father, who is 90 years old, and the only sibling living. You will
find the story "Russia to America" regarding my Aunt Millie on page
99 of "We Remember".
Another item of interest was the connection of a Heinze family with other
Heinze families. Rachel Heinze was one of twelve children born in Dreispitz.
She came to the US with her parents and three siblings in 1924. Rachel had
been trying to connect the Heinze relationship for several decades. We met at
the Convention in 1998 in Wichita, Kansas. (My mother's name was also Rachel
Heinze.) With information she furnished and with the Dreispitz Census, the
relationships were established. My great-great-grandfather and her
great-grandfather were brothers.
I have an Index of the documents in the Glenn Mueller collection, which
were submitted to Headquarters last year. Many had corresponded with Glenn and
would like to have copies from his records. I am able to check the index to
determine if there were anything of interest, and then refer them to
Headquarters to secure copies. I also suggested they check SOAR.
I prepared several family histories. I'm now receiving requests from the
younger generations for information on their families. These are children of
someone who purchased the history; and the children are now viewing the book.
It is my belief the younger generation is finally interested. It may be their
curiosity after finding their ancestors are Germans from Russia.
Another 750 obituaries have been added to the Lower Volga Obituary Project,
and at present have an accumulation to be added soon. People viewing the
project have asked me to include the obituaries of their families. Several
people are sending obituaries to me from newspapers and other sources. I check
several newspapers on the Internet every day.
I continue my volunteer work in the library for the AHSGR Golden Wheat
Chapter. I have donated the "History of Volga German Colonists" by
Jacob E. Dietz, and "The Old God Still Lives" by Ronald J. Vossler
and Joshua J. Vossler.
I was a volunteer for several hours Wednesday through Saturday at the
Registration Desk for the AHSGR International convention held in Hays in June
of 2007. We had a registration of 637. Only half of them had pre-registered.
It was great to see old friends, and to meet new friends, and VC's. I assisted
in the Lower Volga Region Meeting on Village Night. Driespitz is one of the
nine villages in this region. We had a large attendance, which was enjoyed by
all. It gives one great satisfaction in helping new researchers and exchanging
work and ideas with others. Ed Hoak told of his recent visit to Russia, and
had many pictures. Village Night is always my favorite portion of the
conventions.
The 1798 census is difficult to use when there are a number of villages for
each surname. This requires flipping back and forth to the index and trying to
locate the village. I have prepared an alphabetical list of the villages,
showing the symbols and the page number for each. This helps to save a lot of
time. I would be happy to share this list with other Village Coordinators.
Other projects are in the works for additional improvements.
Rachel E. Smith
Village Coordinator for Dreispitz
Eigenfeld, North Caucasus
See Alexanderfeld, North Caucasus for combined report.
Enders, Samara, Volga
Enders 2007 Village Report
It has been a relatively quiet year for inquiries for Enders, with only
about five requests for information.
Blanche Fritz, the former VC for Enders, contacted me recently. She was in
the process of moving and wanted me to have some of the documents she had
collected when she was VC. It turns out that many of them were narratives
about life in the village, old pictures and copies of documents. It was an
exciting and unexpected find. It was quite kind of her to think of me. I have
scanned through them, but have not yet read them in depth.
Respectfully submitted,
Randi Bolyard
Erlenbach, Saratov, Volga
Village of Erlenbach
I recently signed on as co-Village Coordinator for Erlenbach and will be
helping Hilda Weber. Not only am I interested in helping people find their
ancestors from Erlenbach and other Volga villages, I have a personal
connection to Erlenbach as my grandfather Heinrich Becker was born there. I am
working on a website for Erlenbach but don't look for it until sometime after
the first of the year. I think the website will help considerably with getting
information out there to other researchers and by encouraging those
researchers to share their data with the website. I'm looking forward to the
coming year.
Heide Langenbeck
Fischer, Saratov, Volga
Fischer Web Site
Fischer, Saratov, Volga
2007 Village Report for Fischer and Herzog
The interchange and exchange of data and general assistance for
Fischer/Herzog continues to be handled through the website now entitled
"The Volga Village Home Page for Fischer, Katharinenstadt and
Herzog".
This has been a somewhat slower year for the research and/or village
coordination effort. I received several requests for help or research by
e-mail. I posted the applicable data on the Query page of my website. Some
queries relate to villages other than Fischer and Herzog. We attempt to assist
these requests as well, by posting those queries to the 'query page' on our
site. In some cases, the applicable Village Coordinators were notified when I
had the addresses. It is evident that this has been a suitable method of
assisting researchers and our fellow members. Over 30 queries were related to
Fischer and other Colonies.
All Village Coordinators are encouraged to log onto my site and click on
the 'Query Page' link.
Roger A. Toepfer
Village Coordinator - Fischer and Herzog
Friedrichsfeld, North Caucasus
See Alexanderfeld, North Caucasus for combined report.
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