Village Coordinator Reports 2007
Villages S-Z
VC Newsletter Editor Michael Frank
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Schilling, Samara, Volga
Schilling Web Site
See Alt-Schilling Saratov, Volga for combined report.
Schilling, Saratov, Volga
Schilling Web Site
See Alt-Schilling Saratov, Volga for combined report.
Schlangendorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
See Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson for combined report.
Schönchen, Samara, Volga
Schoenchen Web Site
Schönchen, Russia 2007 Village Coordinator Report
This year has seen new researchers for Schönchen. From one or two a year,
we now have five or six. That may not sound like many researchers, but for the
two of us, it's gives us hope there will be more families from this Russian
village who will start to inquire about their ancestors. Having the AHSGR
Convention in Hays, Kansas helped us in this regard since many of our
Schönchen ancestors immigrated to Liebenthal or Schoenchen, Kansas, which is
south of Hays.
We have been acquiring census data for 1816 and 1834 with the help of Kevin
Rupp. This, added to the 1798 and 1854 census, should help us greatly.
Among the additions to the Schönchen website this year are extractions of
passenger list for several ships and a translation of the Schönchen Parish
information from the book, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der
Russlanddeutschen. A translation was also made of the Maria Bär letter in the
AHSGR headquarters Schönchen village file and will be sent to headquarters.
Thanks to Steven Grau and Tanja Schnell for providing translations.
Terri Dann and Denise Grau
Village Coordinators for Schönchen
Schöndorf, Samara, Volga
Schoendorf Web Site
2007 V.C. Report for Schoendorf, Schoental, Neu Jagodnaya, and Strassendorf.
There has been mild interest in these villages this year. See Pobochnoya or
Yagodnaya Polyana for more annual report information.
Laurin Wilhelm
Village Coordinator
Schönfeld, Samara, Volga
Schoenfeld Web Site
See Pobochnoye, Saratov, Volga for combined report.
Schöntal, Samara, Volga
Schoental Web Site
See Schöndorf, Samara, Volga for combined report.
Schuck, Saratov, Volga
Village of Schuck 2007 Annual Report
We have had several requests for help with finding ancestors from Schuck
this year. Fortunately, for most people, we have been able to shed some light
on their requests. We have the 1850 Census now and that has been most helpful.
Lola Stattelman, VC
Schwab, Saratov, Volga
Schwab Web Site
Village Coordinator Report for Schwab
Schwab is a smaller village with very little activity. Since August 2006,
there have been queries from nine different people, approximately half of whom
were from South America.
No new data or research reports, etc. have been compiled. I continue to
publish the Lower Volga Villages Sheet twice a year, in November and May. We
have requested data, but to date there has been no information as to when it
will be available for our use.
I also started a newsletter through RootsWeb that can be found at: RUS-SARATOV-SCHWAB@rootsweb.com
So far, there are two subscribers, one other person and I.
Rolene Eichman Kiesling, VC Schwab
Editor, Lower Volga Villages Sheet
Seewald, Saratov, Volga
Seewald 2007 Village Report
The transliterated Rothammel/Seewald church records are continuing to
arrive, due to the diligent work of Mila and Sergei Koretnikov and Tanja
Schell. We appreciate the work they are doing, as the records will help
villagers who don't have surname charts determine their heritage. Thank you
very much.
The 1834 Seewald census will be available soon which help make connections
between the 1798 and 1857 census records that are currently available.
Currently census records for the years 1798, 1845, and 1857 are available for
Rothammel.
We've had over 35 inquiries for research related to our villages, of which
most weren't members of AHSGR, but were able to help them and hopefully
inspire additional work and interest in joining the Society. Jim Osborne has
been doing significant research in South America regarding relatives of our
villages and will have quite a few updates soon. He also has been researching
movement to and from our villages. We have incorporated over 50 obituaries
into our database, which has added almost 1,000 names. We continue to clean up
some of the errors within the database.
Please contact Kathy Jones to subscribe to our free mail list: kmjones@netins.net
Goals for 2008:
Continue to work on the input of approximately 1,000 obituaries related to our
villages.
Continue to collect pictures related to our villages.
Develop a website.
Put together a useful presentation and have our database and other materials
ready for the 2008 convention.
Respectively submitted,
Joe Gertge, and Nick & Barbara Bretz
Shcherbatovka, Saratov, Volga
Shcherbatovka
Web Site
Shcherbakovka Village Report for 2007
I have had some inquiries during the year that I feel I have been able to
help with their ancestors who were from Shcherbakovka / Tscherbakowka. Some of
these inquiries came from my listing as a Village Coordinator on AHSGR's
webpage and others from my own webpage and information I have posted. See
above.
I have merged the 1798 census index of my village with 8 neighboring
villages (that we refer to as the Lower Volga Villages), which I think is
helpful. We have grouped these villages because of the movement between
villages, their close proximity, and the fact that they were all Lutheran
villages. I have set up a Family Tree Maker file for the individuals in the
1798, 1834, 1850, and 1858 census. I have also set up a FTM file that includes
all of the individuals who are listed on any of the surname charts from
Russia, which we have received for Shcherbakovka (3731 individuals), as well
as one that has that information plus the census information merged together
(5853 individuals).
At the AHSGR convention this summer in Hays, KS, we had our usual good
turnout for Village Night with an attendance of 22. There was a lot of good
conversation and sharing.
A couple of months ago, I became aware of Mila Koretnikova and her work in
Russia. She checked and found that church records for Shcherbakovka are
available in Volgagrad Archives for the following:
Births: 1809-1867, 1902-1903 Deaths: 1809-1867, 1904 Marriages: 1809-1867,
1894-1895, 1905
On Sept. 13, 2007, I committed to $1000 worth of copies. That should be
450-copied pages (plus fees), so I am anxious to see how far the money goes.
Hopefully, it will buy the majority of what is available and I hope to be able
to place a second order to get the rest of the records soon. I am so anxious
to receive these copies. She thought they would be ready in five or six
months. That sounds like a fast delivery time compared to our experience with
Dr. Pleve. I pray that all goes well and that the "doors" don't
close before we get copies of EVERYTHING available in the archives.
I am researching the surnames LAUBHAN, WASSENMILLER, MEIER, NUSS, HANSCHU
and HAFFNER from Shcherbakovka, Saratov, Russia, and BATT and BAUM from Frank,
Saratov and Brunnenthal, Samara, Russia.
Janet Laubhan Flickinger
V.C. for Shcherbakovka
Solodyri, Volynsk, Volhynia U
Solodyri 2007 Village Report
Although I am not actively doing research on the village of Solodyri, I am
always eager to hear from people with an interest in that village or area or
who would like to share information they have found.
Richard Benert
Village Coordinator, Solodyri
Stahl am Tarlyk, Samara, Volga
2007 Annual Report Village of Stahl am Tarlyk
I had four inquiries this past year and I was able to help three of them
along their research journey. The Stahl am Tarlyk database has over 9000
entries and continues to grow.
Paul Koehler
Village Coordinator for Stahl am Tarlyk and Bangert.
Strassendorf, Samara, Volga
Strassendorf Web Site
See Schöndorf, Samara, Volga for combined report.
Straub, Samara, Volga
Straub 2007 VC Report Sharon White, AHSGR Village Coordinator
I have had only one inquiry this year about Straub families. It was from
Germany and was about the Steitz and Schroeder families who moved from Straub
to Neu-Straub in the early 1800's.
My husband gave me a one year subscription to Ancestry.com so I have been
able to find ship arrivals from all the major ports, family trees, some
obituaries, census records in the U. S. and Canada, some birth records, death
records and WWI draft registrations. These records have helped me find more
people from Straub. The ship arrivals and WWI draft registrations have been
the most helpful because the village of origin is often named.
I now have 238 obituaries of people born in Straub. A major project this
year was indexing, alphabetizing, and filing the 994 obituaries I currently
have (I have spouses from other villages, children born in the U. S. and
obituaries from Warenburg---the other village for which I am VC). I have
checked through all the 301 obituaries that SOAR brings up for Straub. Not all
of these are people from Straub---there were a lot of obituaries for the
Straub Funeral Home. I am now putting in the last names of Straub families and
searching SOAR in order to find more people from Straub.
I am still hoping to get the 1858 census from the Engels archive for Straub
but still there is nothing on this yet.
The Straub newsletter continues to be well received. I am also now doing
the Kinderzeitung (Children's Newsletter) for AHSGR. If you have any
interesting articles for either newsletter, I would appreciate getting a copy.
I am waiting for Volume 4 of Dr. Pleve's book about the original settlers
along the Volga. The Straub first settler's list should be in it and the
information will help with research.
I continue to go to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City as often
as I can to do research. I just found eight reels of obituaries on microfilm
for people who died in Fresno, California.
Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
2007 Old Swedish Villages Report Villages of Alt-Schwedendorf,
Mühlhausendorf, Schlangendorf and Klosterdorf.
I received seven inquiries on family names within the villages and have
helped some of them to further their research.
I organized a tour for a group of 23 descendants to visit the villages (now
called Zmiivka) this past spring. We spent three days in the village visiting
with the residents of this very poor area. Although only one German family
remains in the village, the older residents prefer to speak German or Old
Swedish when the opportunity arises. Most people here are unemployed and rely
on visitations from tourists to earn money. Although the Dneipr River borders
the village, water is scarce in the steppe and there is no irrigation. There
is no plumbing and the houses are heated with coal in the winter. They have
electricity, but no streetlights. The rain arrived in the village the same
time as we did and all the villagers said that we were good luck.
We attended a Sunday church service in the German Lutheran Church in the
Mühlhausendorf area. There were people from about 14 different countries
attending the service that was conducted in German, Swedish, Russian and
English. We visited Monastery that had been destroyed and 1,000 monks murdered
by the Communists. We celebrated Communion in the Russian Orthodox/Swedish
Lutheran Church in what was then Alt-Schwedendorf on May 1, the village's
225th birthday. Their faith is very strong and in the church services they
sang beautifully in tune with no musical accompaniment.
We attended a big dinner held in honor of our visit and the 225th birthday
celebration. There were many speeches and much gratitude for the gifts that we
brought with us. It was an emotional trip for the group and very rewarding.
I am now translating my Great-Uncle's memoirs about his life in the village
from 1900-1929. This has taken away my time spent on SOAR, which I plan to get
back to once I am finished with the translation.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Wright
Tarutino, Akkerman, Bessarabia
See Kulm, Bessarabia for combined report.
Vollmer, Saratov, Volga
Vollmer Web Site
Volmer 2007 Village Report
This has been a very busy year. Our website (see above) now includes the
1834 and the 1850 Census Documents online. I have also added my personal
research database online. This database includes information on every person
whom I have come across who lived in Volmer, and/or descendants of those who
lived in Volmer. Before the above mentioned were added to the website I was
receiving about 20 to 30 requests weekly for research, which was too many for
me to handle. It is for that reason that I decided to make all my research
available online.
Two of our Volmer Researchers, who are from the Argentinean Lineage, are
currently working on making Spanish available on the website, so that we can
better inform our friends in South America, especially Argentina. I am still
looking for someone to do the same in German.
Family Trees for all the Volmer families that have been found on the 1766,
1798, 1834, and 1850 Census Documents are currently being added to the website
as well. As soon as this project is finished I will be formally starting to
hunt for more archived documents from the Russian Archives, as well as
bridging more relationships in South America.
Thank you for everyone's support and input into what has been a great year!
Angie Gartner
Village Coordinator, Volmer
Walter, Saratov, Volga
Walter Web Site
Walter and Walter Khutor 2007 Village Report
This has been an average year for requests. We have had some researchers
actively adding information to the database maintained by Mary Mills of
Denver. The database now has about 33,350 entries with more to be entered as
time permits. We continue to collect obituaries for people with Walter
ancestry. We are losing many of our people who came from Walter as small
children or were born to the immigrant generation.
Several new surname charts have been ordered, others are still on order.
Jean Roth continues to try to discover German origins from our First
Settler's list.
We have had the opportunity to order a number of birth, marriage, and death
records from the Volgograd Archives, which we hope will fill in a number of
generations from after the 1798 census to the 1880's.
Jean A. Roth
Village Coordinator for Walter and Walter Khutor
Walter Khutor, Saratov, Volga
See Walter, Saratov, Volga for combined report.
Warenburg, Samara, Volga
Warenburg Web Site
Warenburg 2007 VC Report Sharon White, AHSGR Village Coordinator
I have had inquiries on the following Warenburg families this year: Becker,
Boos, Constanz, Diener, Eisner, Funkner, Gerhardt, Hartwig, Hubert,
Kaiser/Keiser, Kinzel, Krikau, Lehman, Pfeifer, Schiffman, Schmall, Seibert,
Spomer, Stumpf and Trippel.
Ron Brott, co-Warenburg VC, and I have been sharing information about
Warenburg families and records about Warenburg. We have been concentrating on
different areas of research.
My husband gave me a one year subscription to Ancestry.com so I have been
able to find ship arrivals from all the major ports, family trees, some
obituaries, census records in the U. S. and Canada, some birth records, death
records and WWI draft registrations. These records have helped me find more
people from Warenburg. The ship arrivals and WWI draft registrations have been
the most helpful because the village of origin is often named.
I am still hoping to get the 1858 Warenburg census from the Engels archive
but there is nothing new on this yet.
I now have 335 obituaries of people born in Warenburg. SOAR has 100
obituaries listed for Warenburg and 92 from Warrenburg and I have gone through
all of these. I have also found other obituaries with the spelling of the
village as: Vaughnborg, Vonburg, Privalnaja, Wanberg, Wahrenburg, Warnnerberg,
Varnburg, Privolnoe, Vanburg, Wanburg and Warnburg. I have been going through
all the last names of people from Warenburg trying to find more obituaries. A
major project this year was indexing, alphabetizing and filing the 994
obituaries I currently have. I've also found a lot of obituaries for people
from Warenburg in the Ritzville, Adams County, Washington website. Presently,
the newspaper obituaries start at 1898 and go to 1964, but more are being
added all the time. You can search the obituaries by last name so this saves a
lot of time.
The Warenburg newsletter continues to be well received. I am now also doing
the Kinderzeitung (Children's Newsletter) for AHSGR. If you have any
interesting articles for either newsletter, I would appreciate getting a copy.
Volume 4 of Dr. Pleve's book about the original settlers of the Volga is
due out soon. It will help with research since it should have all the original
Warenburg settlers.
I continue to go to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to do
research as often as I can. I find more useful microfilm all the time.
Wiesenmüller, Samara, Volga
Lower
Jersulan River Colonies ~ Wiesenmueller Web Site
Village of Wiesenmüller
I have been Village Coordinator for about a year now and have just started
getting a database built with the assistance of Betty Ashley. When I signed on
and got a data dump from ASHGR headquarters, I was stunned to see that I had
more in my personal files than HQ had in the village file. With Betty's input
my Wiesenmüll database now has risen to 3,400 souls. It is still far too
small and is missing quite a large number of the surnames that were found in
Wiesenmüller in 1858.
I've had a number of interactions with Wiesenmüller descendants in the
last month and have actually assisted at least one person. With the assistance
of a cousin in Germany, I've made contact with a family from the Caucasus that
came from Wiesenmüller.
Another cousin in Germany (also a late returnee) contacted Betty Ashley and
Betty put me in contact with her. This cousin is also descended from
Wiesenmüller ancestors.
I continue building the database and have ordered data from the Volgograd
Archive...I'm finding that a lot of the data I have on order is already out
there in the hands of various researchers, something that I find annoying. I
don't mind buying information from Russia but I do mind buying information
already in the hands of researchers. It seems to me that VCs, and for that
matter, everyone else should be made aware of research data already translated
and held by individual researchers. If the Archives can make a list of
holdings (i.e. Volgograd) then researchers associated with AHSGR should also
be able to do so. That would be us.
I know there are lists of charts and other documents, but there are no
lists of individually ordered surname data. Even I am guilty of having one
that no one else has. This will be forwarded to the VC of the concerned
village as soon as I finish this missal.
Hugh Lichtenwald, from the farm in Monetta, SC
VC Wiesenmüller
Wittman (Soloturn), Samara, Volga
Wittman Web Site
See Ober-Monjou, Samara, Volga for combined report.
Yagodnaya Polyana, Saratov, Volga
Yagodnaya Polyana Web Site
2007 Village Report for Yagodnaya Polyana
AHSGR Village Night in Hays, Kansas was well attended. Villagers came from
Washington State, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Canada. They shared
letters, pictures, newsletters, maps, computer records, and good conversation.
The Hays Daily News printed pictures of Yagodnaya Polyana descendants two days
in a row. The first was of one handsome YP couple dancing to lively German
music and the other of two YP researchers meeting for the first time (one
younger man, and one lovely older woman), joyously discovering they were
distantly related.
Kansas was frequently the destination for emigrants from Yagodnaya Polyana.
Groups from this mother village and her daughter villages settled in towns
like Otis, Bison, Russell, and in Wichita County. A large obituary index for
Kansas and area states from 1870-1999 recently came online. There are an
estimated 350,000 individuals and 700,000 index records (often obituaries for
the same individual appear in more than one newspaper). Accessing the index is
free, and complete copies of the obituaries can be ordered for $5.00 from the
Kansas Genealogical Society. The web site for the index is: www.dodgecity.net/kgs/obituaries.htm
.
Birth and Baptismal records from Yagodnaya Polyana have been compiled by
Patrice Miller for the years 1904-1919. A population explosion of sorts took
place during those years, and one surname can often yield over a hundred
babies. Descendants can email Patrice (see above) and for $10 per surname she
can send you the names of the babies, dates, and names of the father and
mother (often including maiden names).
Also available are descendant charts on many of the surnames of the village
covering the years 1767-1857. Some were compiled by Dr. Pleve and many more
were compiled by purchasing census extracts of the 1834 & 1857 census and
combining those with the 1767 and 1798 censuses. The cost per surname is $20.
Money from baptismal/birth requests or descendant charts is used to buy more
records from Russia and to support publication of the newsletter. Please
contact Patrice Miller.
The 1834 census for Yagodnaya Polyana is now for sale at AHSGR in Lincoln.
John and Cindy Brooks made a trip to Yagodnaya Polyana in 2005. Their
story, along with pictures, was published in the Usu Leut newsletter.
Names and death dates from the Krasnoturinsk Prison Camp Memorial Death
Book that are common to Yagodnaya Polyana, or that are known to be from the
village were published in the Spring 2007 newsletter. We are grateful to Kenny
Stugart for his translation skills and for making this available to all YP
descendants. Web Sites and books about the Soviet Prison Camps (also known as
Gulag or Trudarmee Trud Army) were also included with the list. These include:
Forced Labor Camps: http://www.osa.ceu.hu/gulag/index.html
Memorial Society, Krasnoyarsk: http://www.memorial.krsk.ru/eng/
~ with alphabetical listing of prisoners with German summaries, mostly
survivors, some with photos: http://memorial.krsk.ru/deu/Martirol/a.htm
- for the surname starting with A; http://memorial.krsk.ru/deu/Martirol/b.htm
- for the surname starting with B etc. Switch out the a.htm at the end of the
link to letter of the surname you are searching. Not too many surnames of
Yagodnaya Polyana listed there: Beifus, Dippel, Merkel, Repp, Waigant /
Weigant & others.
Memorial International Historical Enlightenment Human Rights and
Humanitarian Society Memorial http://www.memo.ru/eng/index.htm
Includes a museum of works of art created by prisoners http://www.memo.ru/museum/endex.htm
Gulag : A History by Anne Applebaum (book) http://www.anneapplebaum.com/gulag/gulag.html
The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago
Kris and Patrice have both started new jobs and Elizabeth has moved to a
new home. However, we continue to do our best to respond to queries as quickly
and completely as possible. We print queries in the newsletter twice a year
and also include many obituaries as we receive them.
Village Coordinators for Yagodnaya Polyana
Kris Ball, Patrice Miller, Elizabeth Meyer
Zug (Gattung), Samara, Volga
Zug Web Site
See Ober-Monjou, Samara, Volga for combined report.
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American
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