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Village Coordinator Reports 2001 A-L
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VC Newsletter Editor Carolyn Gorr
AEHRENFELD / AHRENFELD, Saratov, Volga
Aehrenfeld
Web Site ~ with the village of Kratzke
Brent Mai
The Ährenfeld web page has moved. Research ("charts") from
Dr. Plehve is currently available for the following surnames: BLÄHM,
BOXBERGER, KNAUS, MAI, MICHAELIS, SCHÄFER, and SCHNEIDER. These charts
can be purchased for $35 from Brent Mai. Joint efforts continue with the
group of researchers working on the Lower Jeruslan colonies project.
ALEXANDERTAL (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga
Richard A. Kraus
This past year has been most eventful!
Last year I was planning a newsletter. As that developed, it changed
into a web site which is now in place.
During the year I heard from a few more Alexandertal descendants. They
are listed in the web-site, along with whatever research we have been
able to do or find. We have started a photo gallery of folks who lived
in Alexandertal, and are publishing letters from Alexandertal (beginning
in the early part of 1900's) on the site. There are maps, and more!
I also have copies of the 1858 village census for Alexandertal. One or
more copies can be ordered through www.rakgen.com.
The big event of the year was a visit to the Volga, including a visit to
Alexandertal itself. A full report with pictures is on the first
web-site mentioned above.
Looking forward to the new year and hearing from more Alexandertaler!
ALT DANZIG, Kirovograd and NEU DANZIG, Nikolayev
Curt. Renz
As of August 21, 2001:
- for the mother/daughter villages of ALT DANZIG - by Kirovograd and
Neu Danzig - by Nikolayev I have collected 249 obituaries of people
who were born there; found 49 letters published in early American
German newspapers (23 have been translated.) A hand-drawn map of Neu
Danzig has been sent to a cartographer and I am waiting for the
final product.
- for the village of GŸLDENDORF - by Odessa I have collected 472
obituaries of people either born there or from a GŸldendorf family
who had moved to another village; found 215 letters published in
early American German newspapers (28 have been translated.) A hand-
drawn map of GŸldendorf has been sent to a cartographer and I am
waiting for the final product. I have just begun to investigate the
EWZ records; in the past year I purchased a photocopy of the
Guldendorf Church book "Personnalbuch der Gemeinde GŸldendorf"
from 1829 - 1850 from the Odessa archive; currently in the process
of obtaining birth, marriage and death records from the Odessa
archive for GŸldendorf for 1902.
- for the village of HOFFNUNGSTAL in Bessarabia I have found 235
obituaries for people born there; obtained 138 letters (21
translated) published in early American German newspapers; A
newsletter, with Dale Wahl at the helm, is published 3 times a year
and we are in our 7th year of publication.
- From time to time a request for information on a person or family
from any of these villages is made and, when possible, I share what
I've uncovered with the person who made the request.
ANTON
Betty Muradian
We are still working on the 1940 map of Anton. The people who lived
there at that time have remembered more names for us to add to the map.
A young man, a Nazarenus, is living in Germany now, and he is able to
contact relatives who were living in Anton at the time they were taken
to Siberia.
There has been some interest in some of the Anton daughter villages, and
I am in contact with the Village Coordinator of Alexanderdorf, a
daughter village.
BALZER
Wayne Bonner VC
[Data Entry] Dr. Darrell Weber
Research progresses for the Balzer and Moor colonies. Additional
families have been added for the 1834, 1850, and 1857 revisions
(census). We have also added some new church record abstracts that were
ordered by individuals.
Our web page is still online. We hope to expand the information on it in
the coming months. The Balzer newsletter is also still active. At
present, there are about 35 subscribers. Moor does not have a separate
newsletter, but any new Moor information is placed in the Balzer
newsletter. Many of our subscribers have ancestry in both colonies.
The biggest break thorough this past year was getting a copy of the
First Settlers List for Balzer. From this, and other sources, such as
Dr. Stump's book and information from surname charts, we have begun the
search of our ancestral roots in Germany by using the LDS Family History
Library microfilms. They have been there for several years waiting for
us to find the key to connect with our people. The records of every
village are not available and many villages were too small to have its
own church, but enough information is there to get started.
In my research I found that our ancestors often were previously married
in Germany, then through terrible events like wide spread pestilence,
many spouses and children died. Some of our ancestors remarried before
leaving Germany, others remarried when they arrived in their new homes
in Russia. Because of this, we sometimes find out that who we thought
were the parents of the first children, may have been stepparents. We
also find that older children may have stayed in the German villages.
The stories are endless with this new information.
To date the baptisms of nearly one hundred original settlers and twenty
or so marriages have been found. Most of these were from the Isenburg
region of Hesse. We have found a few Moor marriages as well. A number of
people have volunteered to help read and translate the old script. It is
often difficult to read, but the results are truly amazing. A gentleman
in the Budingden area has contacted us and has supplied us with
photographs of the nearby villages including Dudelsheim, Rohrbach, and
Diebach.
We look forward to big achievements in the coming year.
BANGERT
Paul Koehler
I have taken on the position of Village Coordinator for Bangert as well
as for Stahl am Tarlyk. I am in the process of entering information
about our ancestors into a data base. We do not have a newsletter at
this time but if there is demand for one it will be pursued at a later
time. I also have found a man, Fred Bork, who lives here in my home town
of St Joseph, Michigan, who is 100 years of age and still going strong.
His father and my grandparents were all born in the village of Bangert.
I would appreciate any ancestry information, charts, pictures, etc.
regarding people from Bangert.
BEIDECK
Glenn & Elizabeth (Sinner) Barker
Beideck Village - Elizabeth (Sinner) Barker has suspended publishing
"The Beideck Newsletter" for the time being. She does have a
database for this village. The 1850 and 1857 census are semi-complete.
In 1999, Mr. Vlad Soshnikov was able to send two Census Appendix which
lists some of the families that moved from Beideck to Neu Beideck in the
1857 timeframe.
BERGDORF, Glueckstal, Odessa, Kherson
[See Glueckstal Colonies Research Association]
BORODINO, Bessarabia
Borodino Web Sites: Borodino
Genealogy & Borodino
History
Judy A. Remmick-Hubert
Still just trying to type up as many names as I've been sent for the
village of Borodino. The new list of colonists and descendants
[genealogy] can be found at: http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.Genealogy/
Dale Wahl has people working on census that will give us more
information
Sent or am sending copy of Borodino Genealogy for those who don't have
computers and can see what I have on web site. This changes everyday but
this is how it was 12 June 2001.
BRUNNENTAL (Kriwojar), Samara, Volga
Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl
We are busy as always collecting information on the village. I
continue to get inquiries weekly from new descendants from the village.
I gather their information and add it to our growing Brunnental Data
Bank, now over 20,000 names. We currently have two maps of the village
(available online from AHSGR - http://www.ahsgr.org); and we have a
homepage for our village.
We have "old newsletters" available for sale (1992-1998) which
contain lots of history, pictures and information about the village.
DINKEL
Leroy Nikolaisen
I have answered two inquiries about people that might have been from
Dinkel. One was concerning the REBENSDORF name. I had many names for
that family and was able to send the info that she needed to satisfy
some of her questions. The other query concerned the name of HOPPE. I
was not able to find much info in my files as they moved from Warenburg
to Dinkel back to Warenburg. I have some information on most of the
surnames from the 1798 census of Dinkel.
DOENHOF, Saratov, Volga
Karen Kaiser
Dick and Judy Leffler
As we have only been VC's for about 6 months, our biggest accomplishment
in that time was representing Doenhof Village at the Ancestral Village
Night during the AHSGR 2001 Convention in Denver. We had a good turnout
with over 30 people attending from six different states. We had Ralph
Stoll as a speaker who is from Ft. Collins, CO. He visited the Doenhof
area in the fall of 2000, and we showed parts of a video that was taken
while there. We had some interesting discussions, and most there were
willing to share family information. We received extensive information
from one of the attendees so far and expect more as we recontact them in
the near future. We have 2,086 individuals in our database at this time
and encourage anyone to send their family information to us in regard to
the Village of Doenhof.
DREISPITZ
Ardie Herbel and I continue to answer queries and develop our database
for Dreispitz. Rachel Smith has been a great help in compiling
information on this village. Mary Bartholomew received the census data
on Steinle for the years 1816, 1834, 1850, and 1857 for that village,
and Rachel and I have it in computer. The census data for the Heinze
surname is on order.
We also have the 25 families from Dreispitz who are in the
"Immigration to the Volga Region 1764-1767, Vol. 1 A-F" by
Igor Pleve and Alfred Eisfeld. This is also referred to as the
"Original Settlers List" This book is in both German and
Russian, and is available from AHSGR. Laura Ollek translated the
Dreispitz pages for us. The Steinle name in this book is listed as
Stengle, but their dates match what was received on the other censuses.
Oftentimes the records are difficult to read and translate. Spellings of
villages of origin are also imaginative at times.
See also Lower Volga Villages.
ENDERS, Samara, Volga
Randi Bolyard
I became VC for Enders in mid-2001. I maintain a list of researchers
and the surnames they are researching. So far, I have had inquiries from
9 parties.
I am planning a website within the next year to generate greater
interest in the village.
ERLENBACH, Saratov, Volga
Hilda Gillig Weber
This year I have been in correspondence with several people
concerning the GILLIG name and Erlenbach. Have exchanged information,
but have not been able to make a connection.
Ray and I went to Denver with high hopes of learning and researching.
But, from the time I arrived, I was very ill and spent the week in the
hotel room or in the hospital and was not able to attend the meetings or
do any researching. We made a three-week auto trip to Michigan, but did
not find any more information about Erlenbach. I translated letters sent
from Siberia to the Weber family - but these did not contain anything
about the villages or the family. The letters had been written in the
1970's.
Am continuing the e-mail to Argentina and connections to my mother's
family - LOOSE. The same problem - the older members of the family have
died or are ill, and the younger families have no information.
We continue to try and interest the younger members of the family in
family research, but the language is a problem. They cannot read or
speak German and the German relatives cannot understand English.
FISCHER
HERZOG
Fisher Web Site
Roger A. Toepfer
PROEM: The interchange/exchange of data and general assistance for
Fischer & Herzog continues to be handled through the Fischer and
Herzog web sites and has been a very successful means of assisting our
fellow members. (Jerry Braun is Webmeister for the Herzog Web Site). As
Webmeister, for the Fischer Home Page, I have included a site for the
Village of Katharinenstadt,
[Fischer/Katharinenstadt] (My Mother's side are descendants of
Katharinenstadt). With this bond, I have coordinated information of
queries regarding Katharinenstadt members. Also, queries for other
villages have come in and we attempt to assist them by posting the
queries on the "queries page" of our site.
QUERY SUPPORT We have had 5240 visits (and on going) to the Fischer/Katharinenstadt
site since January 1, 1999. This is a total of 2878 increase in visits
from last year. Last year there were 60 requests for family research.
This year that number is just slightly less, but the requests are more
extensive in content.
Some of the surnames that are subject in these queries are: BASILIUS,
BEFORT, BIESTERFELD, BISSING, BRAUN, BRUNGARDT, DECHANT, DINKEL, DOERR,
FISCHER, HAYS, Heinrich FRIEBUS from South Africa, KARLIN, KIRCHMEIER
from Germany, KOCH, KRAUS, LEIKER, LENK, LOCKE, MERKEL, OCHS,
PFANNENSTIEL, POLLAK from Germany, RUPP, SCHWAB, SCHLAGEL, SCHMIDT,
SCHWEDT, Dr. TOEPFER of Germany, RIMERMAN, STANG, SHAW, THIERBACH, VON
SAYER, WADE, WITT, WITTMANN, and Pastor Gutsche* of Canada.
These names, and the queries associated, can be found within the
Fischer/ Katharinenstadt, web site, either in the "Sign In
Page" or the "Query Page". We provided data of family
connections, ancestral data, help on how and where to search for further
information.
All of the queries were answered, and most all with positive results! If
they are of interest to you, please visit these pages for further brief.
*Note: Pastor Gutsche forwarded a 42 page document, mostly in German,
outlining the financial needs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and
Congregation in the village of Katharinenstadt. This documentation was
sent to Carol J. Nesewich with the impression that she was the VC for
Katharinenstadt. Carol contacted me with the same impression that I am
VC for Katharinenstadt - I am not (as yet). I set up the Katharinenstadt
web site because there was none in existence, and I felt information
needed to be posted and coordinated, etc.
If anyone is interested in a copy of this documentation, I can send it
out by snail mail, I no longer have it as an attachment to E-mail. It
may be possible to scan the doc. and send it to Acrobat, saving it in
PDF. I haven't tried that as yet to see if the results are acceptable.
However, I am concerned with the German text portions. A straight copy
with my HP copier seems the most reasonable.
Those that might be interested in the Pastor Gutsche document can let me
know via E-mail: RAToepfer@aol.com
WEB SITE The Fischer/Katharinenstadt & Herzog Home Sites have been a
continued source of information, inspiration and encouragement for
people to research their heritage. It has also stemmed encouragement to
bring in new members to the AHSGR.
TESTIMONIAL SAMPLES: Herzog: Clay and Julie W. "Received your
package today. Thank you so much for your dedication and efforts towards
preserving our German from Russia heritage. . . You've brought sunshine
into the overcast daylight..."
Katharinenstadt: Nadine W...."I am researching two siblings, John
and Dorothy WORMSBACKER, born 1902 & 1906. Came to America with
parents in 1912. Family members married into the BIENEMAN family. Any
information would be appreciated." (This request is still open).
Fischer: Hein F. from South Africa " . . I visited your web page
recently... I would like to link up with American research on the Volga
Germans. How do you suggest I do this. . . ." "Looking forward
to hearing from you" (Sent him all details for AHSGR membership).
Fischer: Viktor K., Cologne, Germany: . . . "I was very interested
for me to see the net-activities of the descendants of Russian- Germans
in the USA. I live in Germany and a friend of mine named Heinrich moved
his large clan to Germany some years ago from Fischer village. Russia.
Now living in Koblenz, Cologne etc. Other relatives, KREIGER, JUSTUS
etc. now in Germany. I was realy surprised with the site. Take
care" Viktor K., Cologne. (This is a German connection that I am
working on now.)
Fischer: Lucille B. (regarding correction to THIERBACH posting on ship
list). "I am related to these people. My family always visited the
Theirbach family in the area of Boston Harbor and Stevensville MI. back
in the 1940's and 1950's. I am still in contact with one lady, Ida
Theirbach . . . ." (Another good connection for further data).
Fischer: Janyce S. . . ."Words cannot begin to convey my excitement
over the materials I received when becoming a member of AHSGR. . . . I
have been glued to the computer now for over an hour, devouring any and
all information about Fischer, Russia" Thank you for getting me
started on the first leg of my journey!" Janyce S.
These are just a very few of many responses that I have received, and
they are an excellent indicator of the effectiveness of the Fischer,
Katharinenstadt & Herzog web sites.
The Fischer/Katharinenstadt Web Site at present consists of twenty one
pages of; History, Personal Stories, Maps, Surname Lists, Ship Lists,
Photo Pages, and much more! The web site contains links to the AHSGR
Home Page, the Herzog Home Page, and a link to most all of the other VC
Web Sites. If you haven't been there, I urge you to drop on by! (Jerry
Braun should make his report regarding the Herzog site.)
VC INFORMATION EXCHANGE I would like to give thanks at this time to Tim
Weeder, VC for Paulskoye, who gave me copies of the photos that he took
of the village of Fischer while on a trip to the Volga. The photos
include: the former Prayer House, the remains of he School Building, and
photos of three German style homes, probably built in the early 1900's.
The photos also confirmed that Fischer is still occupied as a village,
though in poor condition. The village's existence had been a subject of
contention until the data and photos from Tim Weeder.
SURNAME SEARCHES The following Web Sites have a very comprehensive
listing of 41 surnames and the person that purchased the searches. These
listings are posted on: Fischer and Katharinenstat Home Page: Roger
Toepfer Herzog Home Page: Jerry Braun Marienthal Home Page: Tony Leiker
Obermunjor Home Page: Kevin Rupp Please log on and review the listings.
It could save you a good deal of time and money by learning that a list
you are about to order has already been researched. We are here to help
and coordinate in the search for our Ancestry, History, and Notable
Heritage.
The Website addresses can be found by logging on to the AHSGR Home Page
at http://www.ahsgr.org/ and click
on: Favorite Russian/German Websites.
GERMANY CONTACTS So far this year, our contacts in Germany have not
yeilded any new information from former Fischer residents. It is
necessary for me to go through a second party for connections and this
is not always efficient. However, we are always hopeful.
AMERICAN CONTACTS The connection with the Fischer descendants in
Wisconsin, Michigan etc. has not yielded new information either. Finding
the correct and up to date addresses of former Fischer families in the
U.S. is a challenge. I have address and phone listings, but they always
seem to be one step behind! I have a stack of returned mail almost as
large as what was sent out, and the rest are non-responses. All I need
is one solid bite!!!
GALKA, Saratov, Volga
Galka Web
Site
Lower
Volga Villages
Merrill & Dorothy Kerbs Younkin
Jayne Dye, Galka Research Consultant
The first news is a 90 page Doctoral Dissertation entitled "Galka,
a German settlement on the Volga" written in 1910 by a 23 year old
student at the University of Leipzig in Germany. It is my hope to have
an English translation available through the AHSGR by June 2002. The
delay is due to dependence on volunteers - but progress is being made.
There are some interesting passages that give us a look at our village
when my father and his family were still there. It was a pivotal time
period. The village government (all heads of families) had just voted
unanimously to change to private ownership of the land, eliminating the
MIR system of communal property, which had been in existence since the
founding of the village! This would give every family in the village
land ownership and land to sell in order to raise funds for emigration.
There are also some paragraphs that strike us as humorous today. There
is reference to the use of rubber galoshes as a fashion statement -
purchased in the city, worn to church and carefully protected so as not
to have a speck of dust or dirt on them. I wonder if my grandmothers and
aunts could have been so fortunate? The cost of these decorative
elements of 'Sunday best' dress was not given. This is an economic
dissertation on conditions in the village. It does not mention names so
it is not a gold mine of genealogical information. It is valuable for
the as a word painting of the living conditions of that year.
Very few Galka searchers have contacted me and all are encouraged to do
so. I became aware, through AHSGR data, of a branch related to my
paternal grandmother currently in Australia - having moved there from
Canada. After hunting four years for contact with this branch, and
failing, I was gratified that the family found me through AHSGR. We are
beginning to make information exchanges. This may lead to more Galka
information.
My family has received our Surname Chart and documentation (Dec. 2000) on
the WUNSCH surname. If there are other Surname Charts from Galka families
I would like to know of them. If there are questions about the other
surnames that might link to this chart, please contact me.
There are Galka descendents in South America - I would like some leads
to these Galkers. There are more in Canada that I do not have a link
for. Would the STEINERTS of Russell, Kansas please contact me?
I would like very much to move into collection of information on Neu
Galka. Currently I do not have a single name and yet there were families
from Galka who helped found Neu Galka so these links will become
valuable in uniting all Ger-Rus Galka searchers.
Please contact me through AHSGR's home page with questions, sources of
information, and/or suggestions for further areas of search and
interest. I will do my best to link searchers.
Glueckstal Colonies Research Association (GCRA)
Glueckstal Colonies Research Association includes colonies: Bergdorf,
Glueckstal, Kassel, Neudorf, Grigoriopol, and Hoffnungstal.
Glueckstal Colonies Web
Site
Margaret Freeman
Glueckstal Colonies has embarked on an ambitious project to produce a
video and a book to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of
this group of colonies in South Russia. Called the Bicentennial Project,
the committee is cooperating with the Germans from Russia Heritage
Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, and with the
Germans from Russia Cultural Preservation Foundation (www.grculture.org).
Committee volunteers include: Allyn Brosz, Harold Ehrman, Barbara Horn,
Jim Klein, Penny Raile, Rev. Ross Merkel, Michael Miller, Gwen Pritzkau,
Jan & Tom Stangl, Sally Sologuk, and Margaret & Bob Freeman. In
addition, staff from Prairie Public Television (producer of two
award-winning German-Russian documentaries) will produce the
video-documentary, and Ron Vossler of the University of North Dakota,
Grand Forks, and a Wishek, ND native, has been hired to write the
script. Homer Rudolf of Richmond, Glückstal Bicentennial Project
chairperson, states: "Our goal is to produce a book, a
video-documentary and CD-ROM that will include information about the Glückstal
mother and daughter colonies, a comprehensive look at the historical,
political, cultural and religious life of these German-Russian colonies
in South Russia, as well as the 'Glückstal' settlements in the U.S. and
Canada. We consider this the last real opportunity to gather much of the
information relevant to this people, especially their pictures, diaries,
documents, and letters." Plans are to have the projects completed
by the bicentennial year of 2004. A target date of 2004 was chosen
because in 1804 the first three families settled in the village of
Glueckstal, South Russia (today located in the Republic of Moldova and
near Odessa, Ukraine). By 1809, a total of 106 German families had
arrived, and at that time they were moved from Grigoriopol to the
village of Glinoje, which became Glückstal. In addition, by 1810, the
villages of Neudorf, Bergdorf, and Kassel were also established with a
total of 392 families in the four mother colonies. The proposed book
will also focus on the late 1800s and continue to the 20th century, to
cover the period when families from the Glückstal District villages
migrated to North America and many settled in the central Dakotas and
Canada. For additional information contact: Homer Rudolf, Chair, G200
Project Committee, Glückstal Colonies Research Association, 4819 W.
Seminary Avenue, Richmond, VA 23227 (E-mail: HRudolf@richmond.edu).
With this project, GCRA continues its goal of being a sharing
organization for those who have ancestry in the Glueckstal Colonies.
With our ancestry in a common group of colonies, those of us who have
found cousins and near cousins with this endeavor seek to preserve the
life of our homeland of the 19th and 20th centuries. As an additional
activity, along with preparing for the video, a memorial monument will
be placed in the village of Gluecktstal, the former county seat for
Bergdorf, Neudorf and Kassel, on May 24. Wording on the monument is to
recognize the previous inhabitants of the village. Present will be the
Prairie Public Television Crew, Bob Dambach and Dave Geck, Michael M.
Miller of North Dakota State University, and GCRA members Gwen Pritzkau,
Bernardine Lang Kuhn, Jan and Tom Stangl, Dr. Kenneth and Katharine
Vogele, and Bob and Margaret Freeman. Additional travelers with
confirmed reservations are Oscar and Helma Eberle of Germany, as Helma
lived in a daughter colony of the Glueckstal group, Marienberg, until
the March 1944 departure for the West. it will be her first return to
her birthplace which she left as a young child. The Eberles attended the
California District Council Heritage Fest in the year 2000.
GLUECKSTAL, GLUECKSTAL, Odessa, Kherson
Margaret Freeman F052
Glueckstal Colonies Database & Glueckstal Daughter Colonies see
Glueckstal Colonies Research Association
GNADENFELD, (Neu-Moor/Moor) Samara, Volga
Irma A. Waggoner, W098
Besides being the VC for Gnadenfeld, I am working with Wayne Bonner
as VC for Moor (Klyuchi). Please read the history of both Gnadenfeld and
Moor included in the AHSGR Web Site. If anyone has made trips to either
colony, we would appreciate any photos or information for these village
files.
Gnadenfeld, also known as Neu Moor / Moor, was a small "daughter
colony", on the weisenseite side of the Volga, with many of the
families coming from the "mother colony" of Moor, also some
from Balzer, Hussenbach, Norka, Donhoff and possibly other colonies.
There are no known published lists of families from either Gnadenfeld or
Moor. I continue to collect data of families from these two colonies
from family charts at AHSGR, ship records, declarations of intent and
naturalization records, bible records etc. I also have a copy of the
1775 and 1798 census for Moor, which lists the first families to settle
there.
Through email queries I have been able to help several people with their
research. I would appreciate copies of any family charts or church and
census records, which have been ordered for families from Gnadenfeld or
Moor to include in these village files. The KORELL chart has been
ordered.
GRIMM, Saratov, Volga
Ken Leffler
It was a good year for the descendants from Grimm since the church records were located and
have been restored
enough so that data extraction could begin. This data will fill the void
left between the 1858 census and the arrival of our ancestors in the
North and South America. To date nine charts have been ordered. They are
the surnames, FRITZLER, GROH, LEFFLER, SCHAFER, SCHMICK, SCHREINER,
WITTMAN, WOLF, and ZULAUF. Hopefully more Grimmers will seize this
opportunity and order their charts. If you do, please notify me so that
duplicates are not ordered. If you need instructions on how to order
contact me.
Attendance at Village night at the AHSGR convention set a new record.
Old friends and new acquaintances exchanged information and stories, but
the session was much too short. We finally got our own private room,
which is a tremendous improvement over the large meeting hall. Since the
room allocations are based on pre-enrollment for the convention, let's
all do it again in Des Moines in 2002.
Mary Ann Wolf Lyerda has volunteered to be the Grimm data base
coordinator, which will certainly help when the surname data starts
rolling in. She will start as soon as I find time away from the SOAR
project to get her started. We all owe her a big thanks.
The Grimm website has moved to http://www.webbitt.com/volga/grimm/
and a Spanish translation is at http://usuarios.tripod.es/aldeagrimm/
I hope to get more data on Grimmers in Brazil and Argentina from this
translation. Thanks to Elena Mercedes Vega in Argentina for doing the
translation.
GULDENDORF, Grossliebental, Odessa, Kherson
Curt. Renz
For the village of GULDENDORF - by Odessa I have collected 472
obituaries of people either born there or from a Guldendorf family who
had moved to another village; found 215 letters published in early
American German newspapers (28 have been translated.) A hand- drawn map
of Guldendorf has been sent to a cartographer and I am waiting for the
final product. I have just begun to investigate the EWZ records; in the
past year I purchased a photocopy of the Guldendorf Church book "Personnalbuch
der Gemeinde Guldendorf" from 1829 - 1850 from the Odessa archive;
currently in the process of obtaining birth, marriage and death records
from the Odessa archive for Guldendorf for 1902.
HERZOG, Saratov, Volga
Roger A. Toepfer
Jerry Braun
See Fischer
HOFFNUNGSTAL, Akkerman, Bessarabia
Curt Renz R002
For the village of HOFFNUNGSTAL in Bessarabia I have found 235
obituaries for people born there; obtained 138 letters (21 translated)
published in early American German newspapers; A newsletter, with Dale
Wahl at the helm, is published 3 times a year and we are in our 7th year
of publication.
HOLSTEIN, Saratov, Volga
The Holstein database has 13,000 plus names. This year, I heard from a
STEINMARK family in Canada. This is interesting because I wasn't aware
there were Steinmarks in Holstein. A Jauk, whose ancestors came directly
from Germany, is attempting to connect all JAUK/YAUK worldwide and is
making good progress. He is discovering the Volga Yauks are the largest
branch of that family. There are two branches of the Peil/Piel family
doing extensive family research. I was aware that the former Steinfeld
sauerkraut and pickle company near Portland, Oregon had its origins with
Holstein's Steinfeld family. Because of information on the web pages, I
received emails from the Steinfeld family asking about their background
because some didn't know they were German-Russian descendants. A
Steinfeld living in Colorado plans to start family research in the next
couple of years.
A lot of information has been collected and contacts made during the
past three years. Since Don and Lorna live in another area of the US, I
anticipate exciting discoveries during their tenure as VCs. My thanks to
Kathy O'Malley, Janet Flickinger and Rachel Smith for their support and
friendship. I will continue to do the web pages for the Lower Volga
Village Project.
HUCK (Splaunucha), Saratov, Volga
Dennis
Zitterkopf
2001 has been a good year for the Huck village. Our web site, initiated
at the end of 2000 with a list of 16 researchers, now includes 32
researchers using e-mail and one person using only snail mail. I sent
letters to all the names in CLUES (excluding my list of 16) that had
indicated an interest in Huck. The response was not overwhelming but a
few new names were added to the Researcher Page as a result. Our
researchers are located from the west coast to the east coast of the US,
including two in Canada. My web counter stopped working when the
original ISP was purchased by another ISP (more about that later), so I
do not have an exact count of the number of visits. I do know that it is
being used by a variety of persons because I continue to receive new
queries, including two from Germany and one recently from Argentina (the
Argentina contact is of particular interest to me because it is from a
Zitterkopf man!).
Research for Huck continues to be stymied due to the lack of any records
from 1857 to 1899. Periodic queries to Russia result in the familiar
"no new records are available" response, but we remain hopeful
that new information will be located.
The web site contents are being translated into Spanish for posting on a
site in Argentina. Several of the researchers are anxiously awaiting the
completion of this because of their belief that a portion of their
family emigrated from the US (or possibly directly from Huck) to
Argentina. We continue to look for a project that will enhance the site,
but have not agreed on one yet. One idea we are considering, instead of
surname descendent trees, is an alphabetic posting of all the surnames
the researchers have in their databases (and an indication of which
researcher(s) has information about a particular surname). I welcome
suggestions from other coordinators about projects they have had success
with.
We have obtained a copy of a video documenting a visit to Huck in 1993.
The trip, on the Volga, passes through Saratov and includes some
interesting dockside scenes. After passing though several sets of locks,
the visit to the village is presented. Our plans are to make the tape
available to anyone desiring a copy via the AHSGR headquarters.
Now the ISP story: After Southwind (my original ISP) was purchased by
OneMain, OneMain was purchased by EarthLink. I've recently been notified
that I must move the home page to a new server with a new address. This
would not have been a concern if the instructions about the new location
and the move had been more specific-but we've moved.
HUSSENBACH (Linevo Osero), Samara Volga
2001 has been an exciting year for us. There has been much sharing of
material with AHSGR members and non-members alike. We have a few surname
charts which have been entered into the database: HILDERMAN, JORDAN,
LAIS, MUCK, PROPP, RIEL, SCHATZEL, STENZEL and SUPPES. If there are
other Hussenbach charts that have been received and you
would like to share them please contact either Paul or Louise. We know
of three charts that are on order: FROMM, ROMMEL and ROTHENBERGER and
they will be coming to us as soon as received.
One of the highlights of this year was Village Night at the 2001
Convention at Denver. Rose Mary Guenthner from Laurel, Montana gave a
program on sugar beet syrup making which she and her family do
periodically. A special treat was in store for each of us when she
shared some of that precious syrup and rye bread with us. Timothy and
Rosalinda Kloberdanz joined us and also enjoyed the treat. A Folklore
special!
There is personal satisfaction from time to time when we are able to
help connect families, one such time happened when we were able to
connect a family with loved ones they had been out of touch with for
over 40 years! What joy that was for all of us. Stories such as this
justify our many hours of research and correspondence. We also have
received inquiries from Argentina and Denmark as well as Canada and the
United States, however, it takes each of us to share our information to
be able to help others.
We share with you Noble's concluding correspondence with us "Good
morning friends. I address this to both of you for I wanted to thank you
for the help you provided for my project. My aim was to supply a
starting place for some of the younger members of the family and I have
handed off to them what I have learned. It has created some excitement
among them so now I can sit back and let them explore on their own
computers."
Our thanks to Sherrie Stahl who maintains our web page.
HUSSENBACH (Gaschon), Samara, Volga
Hussenbach
Website
Paul Lais VC Hussenbach, Gaschon
See report above.
JOHANNESDORF, Stavropol, North Caucasus, South
Russia
Bonnie Anderson
Village Info: No censuses, church or other records from the Russian
archives are available at this time. Currently collecting surnames and
village information from secondary sources, individuals and other
contacts. For additional information, see also "Caucasus
Project" (below), or contact VC.
Caucasus Project The Caucasus Germans are an important and largely
unexplored segment of the history of Germans from Russian. The Germans
from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) - Clearing House launched the
Caucasus Project in November, 2000, with Bonnie Anderson, AHSGR/GRHS
member, as Overall Coordinator. Arthur Flegel has also volunteered as
Co- Coordinator. The history of the German minority in the North and
South Caucasus involves ancestors of many AHSGR and GRHS members.
North Caucasus colonies were all daughter colonies, developed primarily
in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to changing
conditions, crop failures and overpopulation in the older settlement
areas. The North Caucasus colonies were generally composed of Volga
Germans intermingled with Black Sea Germans and other German newcomers
who shared the same religious beliefs. There were more than 150 German
colonies sprinkled across the North Caucasus, which extended roughly
from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and from Rostov southward to the
foothills of the Caucasus.
The South Caucasus colonies had a different beginning: Colonization
which was motivated by the religious zeal of Wuerttemberg separatists
who arrived from Germany in 1818 and lived in an isolated area which was
separated from the other German settlements of Russia by a major
mountain range. These colonies (about 20) existed in areas which are now
the independent Republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Russian Archives, thus far, have produced very few records for the
Caucasus. Efforts to locate and acquire village and church records for
North and South Caucasus villages have been initiated.
In order to work around the gap caused by the lack of primary records,
Bonnie's Year #1 focus has been collecting any available information and
family data for all North/South Caucasus villages, and doing extensive
research to locate additional sources. Year #2 plans include further
collection, research and acquisition efforts, and compiling collected
data for on-line publication.
Arthur Flegel's expertise will be a great addition to the foundation of
this new project. He is currently working on a book about three
Bessarabian villages.
JOHANNESTAL, Berezan Odessa, Kherson
Ray Heinle
JOSEFSTAL, Saratov, Volga
Edward Gerk
The Josefstal web site is up and running.
Nothing else to report...still slowly getting material from the archives
in Volgograd, and some additional Church records from Saratov archives.
KAMENKA & PFEIFER, Saratov Volga
Kamenka Website
Rosemary Larson
This report is combined for the villages of Kamenka and Pfeifer in the
Volga River area.
The two websites have been updated with the addition of a Spanish
translation of the Home Page and the History of the village since there
are so many émigrés to South America. There are many queries from
South America, primarily Argentina; from Canada, Mexico as well as the
United States. Some of the requests have been complex but have been
answered in good time.
The requests in other than English languages have been placed in the
BABELFISH translation website and are clear enough to respond to the
request. Most requests are by Email but some are regular mail.
At present I am working on a Church Register of families in Ellis
County, Kansas. This entails much time and accuracy. The Register is
compiled from birth, marriage, and death records of the church, Federal
and State census, and other resources.
This register is similar to the HOLY CROSS PARISH FAMILY REGISTER that I
published for Pfeifer, Ellis County, Kansas several years ago. All sales
proceeds from this Family Register are given to Holy Cross Catholic
Church for its upkeep since it is only open for special occasions now,
such as weddings and anniversary celebrations.
It is a pleasure working with Patrice Miller, Webmistress for AHSGR, in
updating the Kamenka and Pfeifer websites. Thank you Patrice.
KARLSRUHE, Burlatzki, North Caucasus
Bonnie Anderson
Village Info: Also called Dowsunskoje; part of a small cluster of
villages which included Dowsunskoje, Herrmansburg and Wilhelmshoehe. No
censuses, church or other records from the Russian archives are
available at this time. Currently collecting surnames and village
information from secondary sources, individuals and other contacts. For
additional information, see also "Caucasus Project" (under
Johannesdorf, N. Caucasus) or contact VC.
KATHARINENFELD, Luxemburg, Cuacasus, South Russia
Bonnie Andersont
Village Info: Located 70 km. southwest of Tiflis, Georgia. No censuses,
church or other records from the Russian archives are available at this
time. Currently collecting surnames and village information from
secondary sources, individuals and other contacts. For additional
information, see also "Caucasus Project" (under Johannesdorf,
N. Caucasus) or contact VC.
KATHARINENSTADT, Samara, Volga
Katharinenstadt
Web site
Marvin & Raynona Bohrer
Carol Nesewich N087
We have been doing several things for Katharinenstadt. We made contact
with a family that still lives there and have sent items to the Lutheran
church. We are in contact with the Catholic church also. We are trying
to see what civil records are still in the city and what availability
there is to get copies. We have made contact with people in Germany and
are seeing what information they might have for everybody.
KAUTZ - (Werschinka)
D. Michael Frank
Following the passing of the previous Village Coordinator, Elaine Frank
Davison, in late March 2001, I was able, finally, to get confirmed as VC
in her place about the middle of July. I did not attend the AHSGR
convention.
In April, with the help of Elaine's family, I brought the bulk of
Elaine's Kautz records (Unsere Leute von Kautz masters, correspondence,
computer files) to Vancouver, where I live, from Walla Walla. I have
spent a couple of months sorting them out and getting established.
During this "on-hold" time of several months, I worked with
Darrell Kautz, Village Coordinator for Merkel in establishing a website
for that village.
Updates to that website will be performed by me in the future at
Darrell's request.
I am answering Kautz queries from all over the world and have made
enough connections from these queries to the Kautz database to brighten
the days of many people.
Surname charts for 19 Kautz surnames have been examined to verify that all
identified individuals have been entered into the Kautz database.
I created a new index, accessible at the Kautz website, which lists
surnames, by volume, from all volumes of Unsere Leute von Kautz.
Previous indices reflected only individual volumes. There were many
changes made to that website to reflect Elaine's passing.
My current project is to take Elaine's 10 volumes of "Unsere Leute
von Kautz" (the paper version with substantial hand-notated
corrections and additions), compare them to the current database, and
recreate the volumes in electronic format. There are a lot of Family
Group Sheets, pictures, and text to be taken into consideration. This
should take about 2 years to complete, given my schedule.
Electronically, changes will be easier to make and people getting new
volumes electronically will get the latest information.
KOEHLER, Saratov, Volga
Joseph A (Joe) Gareis
I took over the VC assignment for Koehler this past year, allowing
Ted Gerk to concentrate more on the research he is doing as VC for
Josefstal. Ted has been very helpful in getting me started, although
there is much to learn.
By way of background, both of my parents -- Adam Gareis and Marie (Hasenauer)
Gareis -- were born in Koehler and lived there until the 1930s. They
were accepted into Germany as citizens during World War II and migrated
to the States (suburban Chicago) after the war. Personally, I am more
interested in the history of Koehler and of the Volga-Germans in general
than in detailed genealogical mapping projects.
Research:
Waiting to receive a Surname Chart on surname Gareis,
ordered jointly with Judy Gareis of Washington State in the summer of
2000.
- Purchased copies of German government immigration files (EWZ
records) on individuals with the surnames Gareis and Hasenauer.
- Received copies of information on the village from the AHSGR‘s
files.
- (On a more personal note) We finally found a surviving relative
from several of my fathers relatives who were evicted from Koehler
in the early 1940s and sent to central Asia.
Requests: Responded to 12 requests this past year. About a
third of these were related to the EWZ files. Others asked for
information on specific common relatives and surnames. Also heard from
several people looking for general information on researching Koehler.
Goals for next year:
Primary objective is to compile a list of people interested
in Koehler (including mailing addresses for individuals not connected
to the Web) and survey them about their needs, interests and the
resources they have. That should help determine how to proceed, for
example, whether a website, list-serv or some other approach would
best serve our information sharing needs.
- Continue personal family research and familiarizing myself with
various sources of information on Koehler and on Volga Germans.
KOLB, Saratov, Volga
Thelma J. Sprenger
Pauline Dudek D018, Honorary Village Coordinator, 920 Hill Street #A,
Hastings, NE 68901
What have I done this year as VC for Kolb? Pretty much the same as last
year. Continue to answer queries to the best of my ability and collect
obituaries.
With much encouragement, my husband translated the German minutes for
the annual and board meetings for the Ritzville, WA Zion UCC church.
These covered the years 1888-1946. It was a long project as they were
written in script and had several different, difficult handwritings. We
are going to start on the birth, death, and baptism records soon. Many
of the members have roots from Kolb.
Gary Jenkins has extractions from the Ellis Island records and has so
generously shared the Kolb data with me. I have always found him willing
to help out. Many thanks to him for the time and effort.
It feels great when I am able to help someone find a connection. This
past June I had the most delightful letter from a student doing a
research paper on her Rosenoff family and was able to fill in some of
the blanks for her.
A friend found a box of old pictures in the attic of the house she was
living in. Turned out there were many that could be identified by
several people around town. Names include THIEL, ACHZIGER, KANZLER,
STROMBERGER, OESTREICH. These names have Kolb ties. Doris Evans has
graciously put all of the pictures on a disc for our records and the
pictures themselves will be returned to family members if they can be
found and they want them.
I joined AHSGR to help myself find out more about my Ancestors. I have
had some good results on my mother's side but am not sure which of the
dozens of KOCHs I belong to. I saw this cute cartoon in the paper
recently. It is so true. Two cats sitting at a computer. One is telling
the other "So far I've discovered I was in a litter of eight and my
mother's name was Fluffy!"
KONSTANTINOVKA, Samara, Volga
Gary Martens
See Schilling.
KRASNOYAR, Samara, Volga
Susie Weber Hess
In the last year I received about 20 queries from people that found my
name on the AHSGR web page. The requests for information were evenly
distributed between the 2 villages above. For all the requests I
received, I worked with the requestor and gave advice how to find
information from churches, funeral homes, newspapers and government
agencies. If I had information on their family already, I worked with
them and tried to put them in contact with others that were researching
the same names.
The largest contribution that was made in this last year was for the
village of Krasnojar. My cousin George Valko (a Veller relative by my
grandmother) has completed and published 2 volumes of THE VOLGA GERMANS
Krasnoyar (aka Krasnojar), Chicago, Everywhere. Volume 1: Their stories,
their words: A compendium of history and family was completed Oct 2001.
Volume 2: Their stories, their words FRANZ / FRANTZ FAMILY was completed
January 2002. Volume 3: Their stories, their words VELLER / FELLER
FAMILY is expected to be released in the near future.
Plans for the future are to obtain a Weber chart from the village of
Krasnojar. I have been informed that the information
is available. Now the challenge is to obtain financial support from
relatives, friends and other interested parties. The Weber family was
very well known in the Jefferson Park area of Chicago.
KRATZKE, Saratov, Volga
Ethel Lock L026
Brent Mai
Ethel Lock now has email. The Kratzke web page has moved.
Research ("charts") from Dr. Plehve are currently available
for the following surnames: BENDER, BLÄHM, BOXBERGER, DEINES, DIETZ,
FABRIZIUS, KOLEBER, KNAUS, KRUG, MAI, MAIER, MICHAELIS, SCHÄFER,
SCHNEIDER, and SCHWIEN. These charts can be purchased for $35 from Brent
Mai.
The 1767 and 1798 census records are available as well as part of the
1850 census. Janet Flickinger has been working on a Russell County
Kansas database that includes many families with Kratzke origins. Joint
research efforts are being explored with the coordinators for the
neighboring colonies of Kautz and Dietel.
KUKKUS
Betty Muradian
Eleanor Sissell, Kukkus Village Data Base Coordinator
We are still looking for new information on Kukkus, especially from
people who have visited the village in recent years or have had their
genealogy chart done. The book, Kukkus, a German Village on the Volga,
can still be ordered from the AHSGR Central California Chapter
Library-Museum. Their e-mail address is: Info@AHSGRFR-CentralCal.org
KUTTER / BREHNING, Saratov
Frances Nelson N088
We have been publishing a newsletter since 1997, MEINE HEIMAT II.
Earlier, Esther Trekell of Houston, TX published MEINE HEIMAT I. Our
subscription list has been about 60 readers. John Butler has had a
genealogy page in each issue in which he highlights one family group.
Esther Trekell has had accounts of her trips to Russia and to some of
the colonies, including Kutter. We have published many photographs both
in black and white and in laser color, giving our readers some insight
as to the condition of our village today. Several years ago, I visited Büdingen
and the Hesse area and included some photographs of that area. We have
also published biographies of some of our people and their families. The
last issue has a report of the tour led by Gary Reifschneider in the Büdingen
and Vogelsberg area. We have published the last issue of our newsletter,
unless someone comes forward to take it over. I'm sure there is much
more information and many more stories from our village, but
circumstances make it necessary for me to give up the newsletter. John
and I will still be available to help with genealogy searches and
historical data. John has probably the most data one will find anywhere
on the genealogy of descendants from Kutter. Back issues of the
newsletter will remain available. The Denver Chapter of AHSGR has done a
great deal of research on churches, as well as legal documents. They
have cataloged all of the Naturalizations of Germans from Russia who
obtained them in Colorado giving us another source of data. I received
only one query in the past year and was able to supply some missing data
from this source. John may have had other queries. We welcome other
queries and will do our best to aid in research.
LAUWE / LAUBE
Helen Bernice Madden M363
Newsletter: Die Lauwe Lampe
I chose to act as VC for Lauwe / Yablonovka because it is my GÖRINGER /
GOERINGER ancestral home. My mother's birth village, Shcherbakovka, is
in very capable VC hands.
In the past few years, I have been remiss in communicating with the VC
chairpersons about my activities as village coordinator for Lauwe. This
was due in part to lack of interest (inquiries) from people connected to
this village.
It was reported in Die Welt Post that in the year 1939, there were 30
old family names as well as 23 additional names in Lauwe. The focus for
research and data in the past has been a narrow one. I have received
inquiries from folks connected to only 7 of these names. I must
say, however, that the Internet had increased research requests in the
year 2001 by 100 percent. Family histories and/or stories input has been
in short supply. I would really like to have more of this sort of
material to make the village newsletter more interesting.
Several inquiries have come from folks associated with the village of
Laub. The spelling for this village closely parallels one of those used
for Lauwe [Laube]. Since there is no VC for Laub, I always respond to
these and have made an effort to help whenever I had information that
connected to their request.
The village newsletter, Die Lauwe Lampe is still published once a year.
LOUIS
Thelma Mills
This will be a short report this year, as I have been trying to build a
web page for the village of Louis. Louis is the first village that my
ancestors settled in before moving to Mariental. And as there was no VC
for that village, I volunteered to be the VC, and have been busy
gathering information to include in my web page. If any of you have
information: diaries, interviews, pictures, stories, etc. or want to
share your lineage with me, concerning Louis, Russia, please contact me
either by email or at the address posted above.
LOWER VOLGA VILLAGES, Saratov, Volga
Dobrinka, Dreispitz, Galka, Holstein, Kraft, Mueller, Schwab,
Shcherbakovka, Stephen
See individual villages for contacts.
Lower Volga Villages Project Annual Report
August 2001
By Kathy O'Malley, Project Coordinator
Introduction:
Since 1997, volunteers have been working together on this project to
compile and share information on the 9 Villages in the two Parishes of
Galka and Stephan. They are Dobrinka, Dreispitz, Galka, Holstein,
Schwab, Kraft, Mueller, Shcherbakovka, and Stephan. A summary of this
information is on our web site.
It includes:
1.) Articles of interest: Information on the Lower Volga area, and some
letters of general interest
An alphabetical Index listing all the surnames in these villages which
are in the 1798 Census
2.) A page for each of these 9 villages, some with photos, lists of
Surname Charts, and other resources
3.) Map of the lower Volga area
4.) Village and Family History Lists
5.) List of Research from Russia, including Family Trees, received and ordered.
6.) A summary of village newsletters, published twice a year since 1994,
& how to order
7.) Obituary summaries, primarily of this area, and listed
alphabetically for easy access
8.) Links to other web sites of interest, including daughter colonies
and additional resources
Compiling: In the nine years that I have been a Village Coordinator, I
have received information from over 500 people, which has been entered
in village databases. Much of it is not documented, but it is all
useful, because Volga Germans tended to marry within their own group.
They also moved around a great deal within the Volga German area. From
the 1798 Censuses of our 9 villages, we learn that in the 10 year period
between 1788 and 1798, 246 people left their home villages. Over 60 % of
these moved to another village in our two Parish area. Therefore, it is
useful to have information on neighboring villages.
Each of our Village Coordinators or Contacts continues to develop a
database on his village. These databases range in size from hundreds to
thousands of names of residents and descendants. Shcherbakovka now has
about 24,000 names and Dreispitz has 9,800. There are some duplicates on
these two, as many people from these two villages--as well as from Galka
and some other villages--first settled in Marion County, Kansas. Others
settled in Russell County, KS.
I also have a resource database of about 8200 names, including all the
names from our village 1798 censuses and information on daughter
colonies on the Lower Jeruslan River Colonies on the east side of the
Volga, which was obtained by Sue Kottwitz and
Betty Ashley. It also contains data from some Family Tree Charts and some family histories.
In an effort to improve the accuracy of this information, and link
families, our obituary project has been very useful. Rachel Smith, Edith
Bottsford, Janet Flickinger, Ethel Lock and others have done yeoman work
this year in getting obituary summaries entered in computer and
alphabetized so that they are easy to locate. Many people have donated
their obit. collections. Many of these are not included in the AHSGR
obituary files. If you have obituaries, send them to Rachel Smith.
Sharing In March, I mailed to Doris Evans, a Village Coordinator
representative on the AHSGR Board of Directors, the documents which we
received with the Family Tree Charts. Copies of the
charts were given to her at the Wichita Convention. Doris had sent me a
C. D., which she prepared of the charts themselves, and she included a
chart copy of the Kaufmanns who moved from Shcherbakovka to Frank. I
included print copies of the indices and the lists of documents, which
Janet Flickinger and I prepared for the Shcherbakovka Charts. I also
sent her gedcoms of my databases, with the notation that these are only
working files. It is hoped that these will be passed along to village
coordinators in the future, if they are interested in gedcom files.
We have also sent some photos of our villages to Hart Postlethwaite who
has compiled them on a C.D. He has presented these at a number of
California events.
At our Village Night at the AHSGR Convention in Denver, Ed Hoak
presented a report on his second trip to Russia last summer. He took
time to visit most of our villages and take photographs. He also talked
to local residents, and got names of some of the former village
residents. Dick Kraus, Village Coordinator of Alexandertal, was on the
same Russian tour as Ed, and he was there to meet with those from the
Rosenberg Parish. Teri Helzer, V. C. of Oberdorf, met with that group
also. Others who chaired village groups are: Don Schimpf, Kraft; Don
Kutchera, Stephan; Janet Flickinger, Shcherbakovka & Mueller; Wilann
Sefton, Dobrinka; Rachel Smith, Dreispitz; Jayne Dye, Galka and Schwab;
Edith Bottsford, Holstein;
Looking Forward Jayne Dye, one of the Village Coordinators for Galka, is
working with a volunteer on a translation of the book on that village by
Max Pretorius. We have been trying for some years to get this done, and
we are now on the way.
Rolene Kiesling is the new editor for our village newsletter starting
next year. She is Village Coordinator for Schwab, and has a wealth of
experience in genealogy and the Volga Germans.
Lorna Young is working with Edith Bottsford on Holstein. We always need
more data and more volunteers. Thanks to all of those who have
contributed this year.
MARIENFELD,
Saratov,
Volga
Rosemarie
Krieg
Dinkel
I
don't
have
anything
to
report
on
either
villages,
Rohrbach
or
Marienfeld.
With
all
the
information
on
the
Internet
there
isn't
much
for
me
to
work
on
at
this
time.
At
one
time,
I
did
get
snail
mail
queries
regarding
Rohrbach....not
even
that
anymore.
I
volunteer
at
the
local
LDS
library,
and
there
are
a
few
people
coming
in
that
are
Ger-Rus
and
I
help
them
connect
to
their
villages.
MARIENTAL,
Samara,
Volga
Thelma
Mills
My
Mariental
web
page
will
have
an
interesting
life
story
from
a
cousin
of
mine
living
in
Germany.
I
have
been
requesting
her
life
story
for
several
years,
and
I
did
receive
it
this
year.
Also
there
will
be
photos
of
Mariental.
These
will
be
added
as
soon
as
Patrice
gets
caught
up.
I
also
have
in
my
possession,
two
different
books
about
Mariental.
They
are
written
in
the
German
language,
and
I
am
presently
trying
to
get
one
of
them
translated.
The
other
is
being
translated,
but
I
do
not
have
permission
to
include
any
of
the
information
from
the
book
in
my
web
page.
The
book
that
I
purchased,
is
written
by
Anton
Schneider
and
is
titled:
"Aus
der
Geschichte
der
Kolonie
Mariental
an
der
Volga."
There
are
many
surnames
mentioned
in
it.
I
found
this
book
through
the
information
I
received
from
Denise
Grau
and
her
husband.
Many,
many,
thanks
to
them.
The
other
book
is
entitled:
Mariental
-
Sowjetskoje
and
It
is
written
by
Peter
Hermann
and
Joseph
Gossnitz.
This
book
is
owned
by
Elmer
Dreher
of
Hays,
and
the
translation
is
being
done
by
Connie
Leikam,
also
of
Hays.
I
received
information
about
this
book
from
Gerald
Schmidt.
Again,
many
thanks
to
him
for
this
information.
The
last
I
heard,
the
translation
is
not
quite
half
done.
I
am
anxious
to
get
the
completed
transcribed
book.
In
between
these
projects,
I
have
also
been
collecting
Obit's
from
the
e-Lists
and
other
resources,
and
hope
to
(one
of
these
days)
be
able
to
spend
some
time
on
researching
those.
I
have
received
many
requests
for
help
from
various
searchers,
and
have
been
able
to
help
some
of
these.
As
I
continue
to
collect
information,
I
should
be
better
equipped
in
the
future
to
handle
your
requests.
I
have,
during
the
year,
purchased
several
books
for
my
library
that
I
will
be
able
to
use
as
reference
material.
MOOR,
Saratov,
Volga
Irma
A.
Waggoner,
W098
Wayne
Bonner
Research
progresses
for
the
Moor
and
Balzer
colonies.
Additional
families
have
been
added
for
the
1834,
1850,
and
1857
revisions
(census).
We
have
also
added
some
new
church
record
abstracts
that
were
ordered
by
individuals.
Our
web
page
is
still
online.
We
hope
to
expand
the
information
on
it
in
the
coming
months
Moor
does
not
have
a
newsletter,
but
any
new
Moor
information
is
placed
in
the
Balzer
newsletter.
Many
of
our
subscribers
have
ancestry
in
both
colonies.
(read
also:
the
Balzer
site,
above)
We
have
found
a
few
Moor
marriages
in
the
Isenburg
region
of
Hesse.
A
number
of
people
have
volunteered
to
help
read
and
translate
the
old
script.
It
is
often
difficult
to
read,
but
the
results
are
truly
amazing.
A
gentleman
in
the
Budingen
area
has
contacted
us
and
has
supplied
us
with
photographs
of
the
nearby
villages
including
Dudelsheim,
Rohrbach,
and
Diebach.
We
look
forward
to
big
achievements
in
the
coming
year.
NEU-SCHILLING
I
&
II
Samara,
Volga
Gary
Martens
M405
See
Schilling
NEU-STRAUB,
Saratov,
Volga
Lillian
Larwig
We
have
the
1857
census
of
Neu-Straub
for
the
KEIL
and
HEINTZ
names.
We
have
shared
this
information
with
several
people
who
have
been
able
to
make
connections
in
their
research.
There
is
a
Neu-Straub
website
that
Patrice
Miller
set
up.
We
ask
anyone
who
has
connections
with
Neu-Straub
to
contact
us
so
we
can
compare
information.
We've
found
a
lady,
originally
from
New
York
State,
who
is
researching
the
Keil
name.
We
are
related
but
have
not
been
able
to
connect
that
one
generation.
Have
also
come
to
the
conclusion,
that
the
HEINTZ
name
is
spelled
differently
in
other
areas
of
the
United
States
but
almost
have
to
be
the
same
families
as
legal
papers
signed
by
a
minister/preacher
for
a
Heintz
document
has
the
same
minister/preacher
name
on
another
document
where
the
name
is
spelled
Heinitz.
Both
documents
were
from
Neu-Straub.
The
Russian
to
English
translation
of
the
marriage
certificate
we
have
is
spelled
Heintz
which
is
the
spelling
they
used
in
the
U.S.
after
arriving
here
in
1913.
If
you
Heintz
or
Heinitz
have
any
comments
to
add
to
this
theory
of
spelling,
contact
me.
NIEDER-MONJOU,
Samara,
Volga
Carolyn
&
John
Gorr
This
year
we
put
to
rest
the
rumor
that
Nieder-Monjou
was
used
for
firewood
or
is
lying
deep
beneath
the
lapping
waves
and
currents
of
the
Volga
River.
Through
the
GR
grapevine,
we
heard
that
fellow
VC
Tim
Weeder
was
headed
to
the
Volga
on
a
John
Klein
tour.
We
emailed
Tim,
who
we
have
traded
information
with
before,
and
asked
if
he
would
please
take
a
photo
of
Nieder-Monjou
while
there.
Not
only
did
he
provide
photo
proof
(10
of
them)
of
the
colony's
existance
but
he
drew
a
map
of
the
village
while
there.
Tim
deserves
an
award
for
going
above
&
beyond.
Database
&
Photobase
If
the
people
who
visit
the
Volga,
yearly,
take
a
leaf
from
Tim
Weeder's
book
and
begin
taking
photos
of
villages
other
than
their
own-AHSGR
and
we
village
coordinators
would
have
a
good
photo
base
of
what
is
actually
left
of
the
Volga
villages.
Photo
documentation
of
the
location
should
become
part
of
the
quest
for
information.
Unfortunately,
Nieder-Monjou
looks
a
bit
run
down.
These
houses,
after
all,
have
been
standing
there
for
a
century
or
so
and
basically
neglected
for
the
past
60
years-so
what
can
we
expect?
However,
the
grass
around
each
house
was
green
this
spring
and
the
bushes
that
bloom
were
doing
what
comes
naturally.
Tim
told
us
that
no
Germans
lived
in
the
village
and
that
not
many
Russians
are
still
there,
either.
The
ANSCHUTZ
family
still
awaits
their
research.
The
Anschutz
family
has
produced
a
couple
of
notables
since
arriving
in
Kansas
in
1878.
One
is
Wendall
Anschutz,
KCTV
news
anchorman
(Kansas
City)
who
was
named
Kansas
Broadcaster
of
the
Year
in
1972.
The
other
notable
is
Philip
Anschutz
who
entered
the
Kansas
Business
Hall
of
Fame
during
2000.
The
family
is
from
Russell,
KS.
Anschutz
owns
interest
in
the
Union
Pacific
RR
and
owns
40
percent
of
Qwest
Communications.
His
Anschutz
Corp.
has
ownership
interest
in
major
soccer
teams
in
Chicago
and
Denver
as
well
as
in
the
LA
Kings
and
Lakers
basketball
teams.
The
Anschutz
Foundation
recently
gave
$60
million
to
the
University
of
Colorado
Medical
Center.
You
can
read
more
at
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/020900/bus_halloffame.shtml
As
village
coordinator
we
are
continually
interested
in
gathering
village
records
from
the
Russian
Archives.
It
takes
dollars
to
get
records
and
if
anyone
reading
this
report
wants
to
help
purchase
census
records
for
certain
surnames
in
the
village
of
Nieder-Monjou
please
contact
me.
(address
at
the
top
of
this
report).
NORKA,
Saratov,
Volga
Robert
Benson
B504
Jerry
Krieger
K175
Joanne
Kreiger
K254
[Charts]
Norka
Database
Krieger's
Root
Cellar
/
Jerry
Krieger
Norka
Newsletter
is
now
in
it
seventh
years
of
publication.
John
and
Marcella
Wark
began
the
newsletter
and
published
volumes
I
(1996)
and
II
(1997).
Jerry
Krieger
then
took
over
the
duties
and
published
volumes
III
(1998)
through
VI
(2001).
The
first
issue
of
volume
VII
went
in
the
mail
early
in
March,
2002.
Circulation
of
the
newsletter
has
held
steady
at
about
245
readers.
Highlights
of
recent
issues
have
included
profiles
of
the
Albina
neighborhood
in
Portland
and
the
Globeville
community
in
Denver;
ship
passenger
lists
from
Galveston
1896-1906,
and
ship
passenger
lists
from
Ellis
Island
1892-1913.
Regular
features
include
the
"Root
Cellar
Chat
Room"
for
correspondence
and
reader
queries;
and
"Deep
Roots"
descendancy
charts
from
original
Norka
settlers
to
current
subscribers.
OBERDORF,
Saratov,
Volga
Oberdorf
Web
Site
Teri
Helzer
I
had
approximately
172
email
inquiries.
No
snail
mail
inquiries.
I
publish
all
correspondence
on
a
private
web
site
for
Oberdorf
researchers
to
peruse
and
use
as
a
resource.
I
perform
the
following
research
on
a
regular
basis:
- Extract
Oberdorf
data
from
the
internet,
obituaries,
family
group
sheets,
ship
manifests,
other
village
newsletters
(Lower
Volga
Villages
in
particular)
and input
that
data
into
the
Oberdorf
spreadsheet.
The
spreadsheet
currently
holds
197
Surnames
and
1253 given
names
associated
with
the
197
surnames.
Data
includes (if
known)
date
of
birth;
place
of
birth; emigration
location(s);
source(s)
of
data;
contact
person
or
persons
researching
that
surname;
and
family
relationships
such
as
parents,
siblings,
children.
- Maintain
the
Oberdorf
websites.
Additional
pages
were
added
to
the
web
site
in
2001.
- Correspond
on
a
regular
basis
with
other
lower
Volga
VC's
sharing
common
surname
data.
- Encourage
Oberdorf
researchers
to
send
me
their
Oberdorf
ancestor
lists.
- Encourage
Oberdorf
researchers
to
explore common
surnames with
other
Oberdorf
researchers.
- Search
Ellis
Island
Records
for
Oberdorf
immigrants
and
the
associated
relationships
revealed
on
the
manifests.
OBER-MONJOU,
Samara,
Volga
Kevin
Rupp
R311
The
Ober-Monjou
VC
continues
to
collect
censuses
of
families
from
Russia.
Research
has
been
quite
exciting.
We've
gotten
many
First
Settlers
lists
out
of
Russia
through
a
friend
and
hope
to
have
more
out
by
spring.
Please
check
our
recently
updated
web
site
for
Ober-Monjou.
ORLOVSKOYE,
Samara,
Volga
Carol
J.
Nesewich
Carol
Nesewich
continues
with
the
work
on
this
village
so
ably
started
and
carried
forward
by
Dr.
Irma
E.
Eichhorn.
For
the
village
history
and
maps
see
the
VC
Report
of
1994
and
for
a
comprehensive
review
of
the
work
done
to
date,
please
see
the
VC
Report
of
1999.
There
are
few
descendants
from
Orlovskoe
and
this
past
year
brought
me
only
one
inquiry
for
information.
Therefore
there
is
little
new
to
report
except
to
note
that
the
following
Surname
Charts
have
been
received:
ERFURT
and
BONACKER.
Contact
me
if
you
are
interested
in
either
one.
PAULSKOYE,
Samara,
Volga
Timothy
C.
Weeder
W372
This
year
I
once
again
returned
to
Russia
and
spent
time
in
Paulskoye
(Pavlovka).
One
new
development
since
my
first
visit
in
1996
is
the
existence
of
a
German
Cultural
Center
in
town.
While
modest,
it
contains
several
shelves
of
books
about
Volga
German
history,
including
many
books
written
in
the
German
language.
It
also
has
a
few
old
photographs
and
documents,
and
handsome
wall
displays.
Ludmilla,
the
center
director,
who
is
also
the
school
principal,
encourages
Russians
and
Germans,
both
children
and
adults,
to
learn
about
the
German
heritage
of
the
town
and
the
area.
Meetings
are
held
for
persons
with
German
heritage
to
improve
on
language
skills,
discuss
topical
issues,
and
observe
holiday
celebrations.
I
was
very
encouraged
by
this
new
development.
While
there,
Ludmilla
took
us
on
a
tour
of
the
village
where
I
met
with
some
German
Russian
families
and
learned
where
the
church
and
old
schoolhouse
had
stood
until
the
1980s;
one
having
burned
in
an
electrical
fire
and
the
other
having
been
dismantled
for
fear
it
would
burn
too.
Finally,
Ludmilla
informed
me
that
a
GR
now
living
in
Germany
had
recently
visited
Paulskoye
and
was
collecting
information
for
a
book.
She
said
his
name
is
Ivan
Herber.
The
Paulskoye,
Russia
Homepage
continues
to
attract
researchers
with
family
connections
to
the
village.
I
have
heard
from
one
GR
living
in
Germany
inquiring
about
Schwabecher
surname.
I
have
also
had
several
contacts
with
US
descendants
concerning
the
surnames
Bisterfeldt,
Lenk,
Wormsbacher,
Erlenbach,
Scherer,
Gauss,
and
Merkel,
among
others.
I
have
also
been
in
contact
with
my
Wede
relatives
who
now
live
in
Germany
who
have
supplied
me
with
names,
dates,
and
allied
families,
and
with
two
maps
of
the
village,
hand-drawn
from
memory.
As
of
this
time,
the
only
research
request
that
I
know
of
is
for:
1)
a
SCHERER
extraction
from
the
1850
Census,
and
2)
a
WEDE
extraction
from
the
new
documents
that
were
reportedly
found
last
year
for
Paulskoye.
I
am
not
sure
exactly
what
documents
were
found,
but
I
will
report
them
when
I
learn
about
them,
hopefully,
by
the
next
report.
I
should
also
report
that
I
own
an
incomplete,
although
extensive
JOST
family
chart
that
was
completed
by
RAGAS
from
a
while
back.
I
did
not
describe
it
in
any
previous
report.
Other
successes
I've
had
this
past
year
include
finding
a
few
individuals
hailing
from
Paulskoye
in
several
Sheboygan,
WI
websites.
When
entering
surnames
of
persons
common
to
Paulskoye
at
the
Ellis
Island
website
then
searching
the
ship's
manifest
I
was
able
to
find
others
who
sailed
with
them.
I
have
also
picked
up
people
while
searching
through
the
Saginaw,
MI
Public
Library
Obituary
Index.
The
village
name
is
sometimes
spelled
so
bizarrely
that
one
must
try
many
different
variations
to
get
a
hit.
Sheboygan
and
the
Thumb
Area
of
Michigan
were
two
popular
areas
for
GR
immigrants
from
Paulskoye
and
neighboring
villages,
in
addition
to
the
major
site
of
Chicago
(Maywood,
Bellwood,
Jefferson
Park,
etc.).
Finally,
I
have
been
in
contact
with
a
few
persons
from
South
America
about
ancestors
who
came
from
Stahl
am
Karaman--the
village
of
my
great-grandmother.
I
have
not
found
any
persons
from
Paulskoye
who
went
there,
but
I
have
a
least
one
possible
family
I
am
investigating.
The
1997
book
by
Carlos
Alberto
Schwab
titled
"Resumo
Historico
e
Genealogia
dos
Alemaes
do
Volga"
is
extremely
helpful
for
anyone
who
suspects
they
have
or
had
family
in
Brazil
and
Argentina.
It
contains
extensive
family
trees
and
family
photographs.
PFEIFER,
Saratov,
Volga
Rosemary
Larson
See
report
for
the
village
of
Kamenka
POBOCHNOYE,
Saratov,
Volga
Laurin
Wilhelm
Except
for
Pobochnoye
(Pobotschnoje
in
German),
which
was
located
c.
4l0
miles
NW
of
Saratov,
these
villages
were
daughter
villages
started
when
the
new
lands
open
up
c.
1855
and
located
c.
65
miles
SE
of
Saratov
on
the
Jeruslan
River.
Schoenfeld
and
Strassendorf
were
daughter
colonies
of
Pobochnoye.
Schoendorf,
Schoental,
and
Neu
Jagodnaya
were
daughter
colonies
of
Jagodnaya
Polyana.
National
Convention
in
Denver.
I
attended
the
"Village
Coordinators"
meeting
at
the
convention
and
scarcely
recognized
anything.
It
was
totally
unlike
previous
Village
Coordinator
meetings
that
I
have
attended--going
back
to
the
very
first
Village
Coordinator
meetings
in
Milwaukee.
This
Denver
meeting
was
a
"training
meeting"
in
how
to
lnput
information
into
computers
and
onto
computer
disks.
I
was
totally
confused
by
the
meeting,
as
I
am
sure
most
"older"
members
were.
No
reports
from
Village
Coordinators
'were
given;
and
no
annual
report
or
compilation
was
handed
out
to
the
Village
Coordinators.
In
fact,
most
Village
Coordinators
were
not
even
there.
Individual
Village
Reports:
1)
Pobochnoye,
founded
in
1772:
I
have
received
half
a
dozen
inquiries
from
persons
looking
for
ancestors
from
Pobochnoye.
I
was
able
to
connect
one
lady
up
with
her
first
cousin
Sol
(and
Betty)
Schlagel
of
Greeley,
Colorado.
I,
along
with
my
wife's
computer
skills,
was
able
to
access
the
Ellis
Island
records
and
learn
the
name
of
the
ship
and
the
exact
date
or
entry
of
my
grandfather
Philip
Wagner
when
he
came
to
USA
in
1892
and
again
in
1909.
I
have
waited
15
months
for
AHSGR
to
check
the
1834
and
1857
Pobochnoye
censuses
for
the
name
of
Philip
Wagner
and
his
father
Philip
Wagner.
They
keep
promising.
2)
Schoenfeld.
This
daughter
colony
of
Pobochnoye
was
established
in
1856
by
c.521
people
from
Pobochnoye.
Roberta
Greenway
has
made
some
major
finds
recently
at
a
family
reunion
in
La
Crosse,
KS.
She
has
copies
of
her
grandmother's
passport
and
travel
papers,
and
obituary.
I
translated
parts
of
them
from
Russian,
German,
and
French
into
English.
Now,
in
late
August
she
is
presenting
them
at
another
family
reunion
in
Kansas.
I
typed
the
tape
recorded
"family
story"
of
my
Aunt
Marie
(Wilhelm)
Neufer
Matthewson.
It
is
a
gripping
account
of
living
and
farming
in
Schoenfeld,
coming
through
Ellis
Island
in
December
1907,
and
finally
coming
to
Kansas
and
starting
a
new
life.
Correspondence
with
family
members
in
Russia
in
the
1920s
and
1930s
revealed
how
poor
and
starving
the
people
of
Schoenfeld
were
and
how
some
people
even
had
to
resort
to
cannibalism
to
survive.
She
died
in
1982.
3)
Strassendorf:
No
significant
activity
here.
4)
Schonedorf:
I
continue
to
correspond
with
Otto
Felker
of
Nuremberg,
Germany.
He
was
born
in
Schoendorf
in
1926
and
was
deported
to
Siberia
in
1941.
He
worked
in
the
coal
mines
for
fifty
years
in
the
Chelyabinsk,
Siberia
before
going
to
Germany
c.
1994.
His
health
continues
to
be
good
and
he
writes
articles
for
the
Landsmannschaft's
"Heimatbuch"
and
"Volk
auf
dem
Weg'.
Otto's
90
year
old
Aunt
Marie
came
from
Kazakhstan
to
Bremen,
German
in
2000
and
is
enjoying
it
there.
Several
family
members
live
nearby.
Marguerite
Palmquist
and
her
friend
sent
a
box
of
more
than
100
packets
of
seeds
to
Otto
in
Germany
in
the
spring
of
2001.
Otto
sent
some
of
the
seeds
to
Aunt
Marie
in
Bremen.
Others
he
sent
to
Kazakhstan
to
help
provide
garden
vegetables
to
remaining
German
people
there.
Otto's
half-brother,
Johann
Rudy,
also
in
Germany
and
also
from
Schoendorf,
is
in
poor
health
and
is
receiving
good
medical
care
from
the
German
medical
system.
5)
Schoental
was
a
German
village
established
in
1856
by
people
from
Jagodnaya
Polyana
and
by
c.
164
people
from
Pobochnoye.
No
significant
activity
here.
6)
Neu
Jagodnaya
(New
Yagodnaya)
This
village
was
also
a
daughter
colony
of
Jagodnaya
Polyana
and
was
founded
c.
1856
primarily
by
folks
from
YP.
There
have
been
a
couple
of
queries
on
the
e
mail
circuit,
but
no
significant
activity.
I
hope
that
the
computerization
of
village
records,
or
whatever
is
going
on,
does
not
exclude
Village
Coordinators
who
do
not
know
how
to
access
the
Internet
and
whatever
else
was
talked
about
at
the
so
called
Village
Coordinators
meeting
in
Denver.
If
it
does,
you
will
soon
be
the
beneficiary
of
"coordinating
my
villages"
REINWALD,
Samara,
Volga
Susie
Weber
Hess
See
Krasnoyar
VC
report
ROHRBACH,
Berezan,
Odessa,
Kherson
Erwin
Ulmer
U003
Rosemarie
Krieg
Dinkel
I
don't
have
a
thing
to
report
on
either
of
my
villages,
Rohrbach
or
Marienfeld.
With
all
the
information
on
the
Internet,
there
isn't
much
for
me
to
work
on
at
this
time.
At
one
time,
I
did
get
snail
mail
queries
regarding
Rohrbach
....
not
even
that
anymore.
I
volunteer
at
a
local
LDS
library
and
some
people
have
come
in.
who
have
Ger-Rus
backgrounds,
that
I
have
been
able
to
help
find
ancestral
villages.
ROSENBERG
(Umet),
Saratov,
Volga
Dr.
Richard
McGregor
M236
This
has
been
a
very
quiet
year.
The
web
page
has
had
relatively
few
visitors
in
the
last
six
months
but
the
latest
Newsletter
(no
8)
online.
With
few
recent
contributions
it
has
become
more
difficult
to
decide
what
material
might
best
be
in
the
Newsletter
given
that
much
is
now
downloadable
from
the
rest
of
the
Rosenberg
site.
Some
new
contacts
have
been
made
but
these
tend
to
be
isolated
families/family
names
about
which
there
is
comparatively
little
information.
Of
the
well-known
families,
particularly
MARTIN,
ZEIGLER,
WEITZEL,
KUXHAUS,
MAJOR,
DAHLINGER,
MANNWEILER,
there
has
been
only
a
limited
amount
of
new
information,
suggesting
that
either
all
the
emigrant
families
are
known,
or
that
any
other
branches
have
not
become
known
to
the
Society.
I
have
supplied
information
to
individual
enquirers
but
because
of
the
need
to
retain
privacy
to
later
generations,
are
not
published.
Heide
Langenbeck
made
good
progress
on
the
databasing
of
actual
Rosenberg
resident
families
and
early
emigrants
but
has
had
to
stop
for
personal
reasons.
It
would
be
good
if
there
were
someone
prepared
to
undertake
the
rest
of
this
databasing,
of
which
something
over
a
half
remains
to
be
done.
It
seems
worth
reminding
Rosenberg
village
researchers
that
there
is
a
list
of
village
from
which
the
original
inhabitants
of
Rosenberg
came
to
be
found
on
the
web
page.
From
this
it
is
possible,
through
contact
with
Russia,
to
get
enough
genealogical
information,
when
taken
with
the
1798
census
published
by
the
Society,
to
piece
a
family
chart
together,
provided
the
name
is
not
too
common.
Researchers
who
have
not
tried
this
and
who
don't
mind
spending
some
money
on
research
in
Russia
can
contact
me
for
further
information.
The
most
recent
updates
of
the
web
page
have
brought
in
pictures
taken
during
recent
trips
to
the
Volga
by
Hart
Postlethwaite.
Marvin
Ziegler
has
sent
some
material
from
his
visits
in
the
early
1990s
and
also
sent
a
rough
sketch
plan
of
the
village
which
I
have
reworked
a
little
for
display
on
the
web
page.
I
am
always
happy
to
have
any
new
information
to
add
to
the
file
which
currently
stands
at
160
pages
of
family
tree
information.
Photographs
and
scans
of
pictures
are
also
welcome.
When
sending
material
it
would
be
helpful
to
know
what
can/may
be
published
or
displayed
on
the
web
page.
ROSENHEIM,
Samara,
Volga
Randi
Bolyard
I
became
VC
for
Rosenheim
in
mid-2001.
I
have
had
several
inquiries
regarding
the
village,
to
which
I
have
responded.
I
maintain
a
list
of
all
researchers
and
the
surnames
they
are
researching.
So
far,
I
have
inquiries
from
2
parties.
I
am
planning
a
website
within
the
next
year
to
generate
greater
interest
in
the
village.
ROSENTAL,
CRIMEA
Judy
Klee
This
is
my
last
year
as
village
coordinator.
I
have
no
news
that
can
be
used
in
this
forum.
ROTHAMMEL,
Saratov,
Volga
Nicholas
and
Barbara
Bretz
This
has
been
an
exciting
year
for
Rothammelers.
We
had
15-20
members
attend
Village
Night
at
the
2001
AHSGR
Convention
held
in
Denver.
We
were
able
to
share
family
information
and
photos.
Plan
to
attend
the
2002
Village
Night
at
the
AHSGR
Convention
in
Des
Moines
during
the
first
week
of
July.
Kathy
Jones
set
up
a
private
ListServ
for
the
village
and
we
now
have
in
excess
of
sixty
members.
The
list
has
enabled
us
to
share
our
family
history
and
help
with
questions
we've
had
about
family
connections.
To
join
the
list,
please
contact
Kathy.
Joe
Gertge
has
become
our
database
coordinator.
He
has
begun
entering
family
information
into
the
Rothammeler
file.
Joe
spent
many
hours
at
the
AHSGR
Convention
extracting
data
from
the
AHSGR
files.
If
you
haven't
submitted
your
family
file
to
him,
please
do
so.
It
will
be
very
interesting
when
we
are
able
to
show
how
the
various
Rothammel
families
are
connected.
We
are
also
investigating
preservation
of
Rothammel
and
family
photos.
We
have
added
additional
census
data
secured
from
Russia.
We
now
have
the
1811,
1834,
and
1857
census
for
the
following
surnames:
APPELHANS,
BASGAL,
BIEBER,
DISTEL,
FISCHER,
FRANK,
GERTIE,
HARTMAN,
KLOBERDANZ,
LAUER,
LECHMAN,
MATZA,
MILDENBERGER
and
WEINGARDT.
Orders
are
pending
for
BAUER
and
MAURER.
We
also
have
secured
the
ARTZER
census
from
Seewald,
the
HOCHNADEL
census
from
Schuck,
and
the
SCHAMBER
census
from
both
Schuck
and
Degott.
These
combined
with
the
First
Settlers
List
and
the
1798
census
have
enabled
us
to
trace
most
of
the
families
from
1767.
We're
hopeful
this
project
will
be
more
complete
as
members
receive
the
following
surname
charts
that
have
been
ordered:
APPELHANZ,
BASGAL,
BIEBER,
DISTEL,
FRANK,
GERTIE,
HARTMAN,
KAISER,
KLOBERDANZ,
LAUER,
LECHMANN,
and
WEINGARDT.
It
has
communicated
that
they
will
be
completed
after
the
first
of
the
year.
SCHILLING,
Saratov,
Volga
Gary
Martens
M405
NEGenWeb
Lincoln
County
Coordinator
http://lincoln.wathenadesigns.com/
The
SCHILLING
web
pages
were
redesigned
about
a
year
ago,
and
people
continue
to
add
names
to
the
list
of
Researchers
listed
on
the
pages.
Emails
are
received
are
a
fairly
constant
basis
regarding
all
of
the
Schilling
villages.
In
the
1850's,
there
were
5
daughter
colonies
founded
with
people
from
Schilling,
and
one
of
the
problems
encountered
is
that
people
who
lived
in
the
daughter
colonies
continued
to
say
they
where
from
Schilling,
even
though
they
lived
in
one
of
the
other
villages.
The
NEU-SCHILLING
village
known
as
ALEXANDERTAL,
which
was
in
Saratov
Province,
is
coordinated
by
Dick
Kraus.
I
have
worked
with
Dick
in
the
past
year
to
exchange
a
lot
of
information
about
Schilling
families.
Of
note
for
people
who
may
have
family
who
moved
to
Alexandertal,
there
was
a
census
done
in
Alexandertal
in
1857,
and
census
extractions
done
on
the
July
1850
and
November
1857
census
usually
include
information
on
families
that
moved
to
Alexandertal
in
1854
or
1855.
In
addition
to
the
1775
and
1798
census
records
there
are
1816,
May
1834,
July
1850
and
November
1857
census
records
for
Schilling.
Also,
I
have
been
told
that
there
are
very
good
church
records
for
Schilling
(Alt-Schilling)
up
into
the
early
1900's.
The
biggest
challenge
for
many
people
is
that
they
only
have
family
information
for
Schilling
people
from
about
1880
on.
Connections
to
the
1850's
are
then
nearly
impossible,
especially
for
any
large
family,
without
church
records.
For
the
two
Neu-Schilling
villages
in
the
southern
part
of
Samara
Province,
the
primary
church
for
those
villages
was
at
Friedenfeld,
which
is
south
of
Krasny-Kut
about
15
kilometers.
A
German-Russian,
with
connections
to
the
village,
saw
the
church
records
in
Krasny-Kut
in
about
1990.
Apparently,
these
records
are
now
in
the
Engels
Archive
and
at
least
one
Schilling
researcher
with
connections
to
Neu-
Schilling
I
or
Neu-Schilling
II
in
southern
Samara
Province
has
ordered
a
family
chart,
and
has
been
informed
that
the
records
were
available.
I
encourage
anyone
with
connections
to
the
Schilling
villages,
including
Konstantinovka,
to
submit
what
family
information
they
have,
to
me,
so
that
it
can
be
included
in
the
Schilling
database
that
I
maintain.
There
are
about
4500
names
in
the
Schilling
database.
Submitting
family
information
helps
others
with
Schilling
connections
to
obtain
additional
information
about
surnames
they
are
researching.
Information
is
also
shared
with
Dick
Kraus
for
families
with
Alexandertal
connections.
Status
of
family
charts
for
Schilling
families
are
as
follows:
DAMM
-
chart
has
been
produced,
data
being
added
to
Schilling
database,
DREITH
-
chart
has
been
produced,
FILBERT
-
on
order,
ROH
-
available,
family
data
in
Schilling
database,
SCHMIDT
-
on
order,
SINNER
-
available,
family
data
in
Schilling
database,
WORSTER
-
on
order
Census
extractions
covering
the
1816,
1834,
1850
and
1857
census
periods
have
been
received
and
added
to
the
Schilling
database
for
the
following
surnames:
WORSTER,
MAUL,
KRAUS(E)
and
SINNER.
Census
records,
particularly
the
1850
and
1857
records
can
be
of
great
value
because
of
movement
to
daughter
colonies
during
that
time
period.
The
surname
charts
usually
do
not
include
information
regarding
the
families
that
moved
to
a
daughter
colony.
I
would
also
ask
anyone
who
is
interested
in
making
census
record
extractions
for
surnames
from
Schilling
to
contact
me.
I
am
looking
to
make
some
additional
joint
purchases
of
census
records,
especially
for
the
larger
families
from
Schilling.
SCHOENDORF,
SCHOENFELD,
SCHOENTAL,
NEW
YAGODNAYA,
STRASSENDORF
and
POBOCHNOYE
Laurin
Wilhelm
I
continue
to
correspond
with
Otto
Felker
of
Nuremberg,
Germany.
He
was
born
in
Schoendorf
in
1926
and
was
deported
to
Siberia
in
1941.
He
worked
in
the
coal
mines
for
fifty
years
in
the
Chelyabinsk,
Siberia
before
going
to
Germany
c.
1994.
His
health
continues
to
be
good
and
he
writes
articles
for
the
Landsmannschaft's
"Heimatbuch"
and
"Volk
auf
dem
Weg'.
Otto's
90
year
old
Aunt
Marie
came
from
Kazakhstan
to
Bremen,
German
in
2000
and
is
enjoying
it
there.
Several
family
members
live
nearby.
Marguerite
Palmquist
and
her
friend
sent
a
box
of
more
than
100
packets
of
seeds
to
Otto
in
Germany
in
the
spring
of
2001.
Otto
sent
some
of
the
seeds
to
Aunt
Marie
in
Bremen.
Others
he
sent
to
Kazakhstan
to
help
provide
garden
vegetables
to
remaining
German
people
there.
Otto's
half-brother,
Johann
Rudy,
also
in
Germany
and
also
from
Schoendorf,
is
in
poor
health
and
is
receiving
good
medical
care
from
the
German
medical
system.
see
also:
Neu-Yagodnaya
Pobochnoye
Strassendorf
SCHOENCHEN,
(Paninskaya)
Samara,
Volga
Schoenchen
Web
Site
Bertha
Haas
This
has
been
an
incredibly
active
year
for
Schoenchen.
Requests
for
assistance
have
come
from
all
corners
of
the
US
and
Argentina.
A
'Genealogy
of
Schoenchen,
Russia'
will
be
available
soon
from
Tony
Leiker
of
Texas.
He
has
also
published
genealogies
of
the
following
surnames
of
the
original
settlers
OF
SCHOENCHEN,
RUSSIA:
GEIST,
GOETZ,
HAMMERSCHMIDT,
KLAUS,
MEIER,
MILLER/MUELLER,
MUNSCH,
PAUL,
PFEIFER,
ROHR,
RUDER,
SAUER,
UNREIN,
WASINGER,
WERTH,
WINDHOLZ,
WOLF.
These
books
are
available
from
Gullivers
Book
store,
Hays,
KS
or
directly
from
the
author.
(I
might
mention
also,
since
there
is
no
Liebental
Village
Coordinator,
that
he
has
also
completed
"Liebental,
Russia,
a
Genealogy
of
the
Village".)
The
highlight
of
the
year
came
in
July,
the
125th
anniversary
celebration
of
Schoenchen,
KS
attended
by
Bishop
Joseph
Werth,
Roman
Catholic
Bishop
of
Siberia,
whose
parents
were
born
in
Schoenchen,
Russia.
The
Bishop
celebrated
Mass
with
a
crowd
that
overflowed
onto
the
front
lawn.
His
homily
was
delivered
in
German.
The
choir
provided
music
in
German,
English
and
Latin.
A
traditional
German
dinner
was
served
to
750
guests.
The
crowd
enjoyed
a
beer
tent,
polka
dancing,
games
for
all
ages,
and
tours
of
the
cemetery,
village
and
parish
buildings
-
all
under
a
109
degree
sun.
The
celebration
was
planned
and
executed
by
the
Sunflower
Chapter
of
AHSGR.
(The
same
Chapter
planned
and
executed
celebrations
in
the
other
four
German
villages
of
Ellis
County,
Kansas:
Liebenthal,
Munjor,
Pfeifer,
and
Herzog.)
I
plan
to
go
to
Germany
in
November
or
December
to
continue
tracing
my
family
roots
into
the
German
villages
from
which
they
originated.
Terri
Plans
will
be
taking
over
as
Village
Coordinator
of
Schoenchen.
She
has
many
plans
for
expanding
the
website
and
carrying
on
the
village
activities.
SCHOENFELD,
Samara,
Volga
Laurin
Wilhelm
W022
This
daughter
colony
of
Pobochnoye
was
established
in
1856
by
c.521
people
from
Pobochnoye.
Roberta
Greenway
has
made
some
major
finds
recently
at
a
family
reunion
in
La
Crosse,
KS.
She
has
copies
of
her
grandmother's
passport
and
travel
papers,
and
obituary.
I
translated
parts
of
them
from
Russian,
German,
and
French
into
English.
Now,
in
late
August
she
is
presenting
them
at
another
family
reunion
in
Kansas.
SCHOENTAL,
Samara,
Volga
Laurin
Wilhelm
W022
Schoental
was
a
German
village
established
in
1856
by
people
from
Jagodnaya
Polyana
and
by
c.164
people
from
Pobochnoye.
No
significant
activity
here.
SCHUCK,
Saratov,
Volga
Roger
Mellow
There
were
no
requests
for
information
this
past
year
nor
did
I
receive
any
information
from
any
descendants
of
former
residents
of
Schuck.
The
best
source
of
information
at
this
time,
I
believe,
is
the
"1798
Description
of
the
Saratov
Colony
of
Gryaznovatka,
also
known
as
Schuck."
This
is
available
from
AHSGR
for
a
small
fee.
Basically
I
am
hoping
that
new
translations
of
documents
from
the
Russian
will
give
us
more
information
soon.
However,
I
also
wonder
how
many
of
you
have
information
on
your
families
when
they
lived
in
Schuck
which
you
could
share
with
us?
SCHULZ,
Samara,
Volga
Fred
Zitzer
Z043
This
is
my
first
report
because
when
not
much
happened,
I
did
not
think
to
send
one
in.
But,
I
see
others
reporting
nothing
happening.
I
do
have
some
information
for
the
Schulz
village
file.
The
following
was
received
from
Vlad
Soshnikov
as
part
of
an
inquiry
by
me
to
the
RAGAS
organization
in
1998
on
the
ZITZER
surname,
Schulz
and
Reinwald,
Russia:
Archival
source;
Samara
archive,
F.
150,S.
1,
item
#73.
Revision
list
of
the
colony
of
Lugovaya
Graznukna
(Schulz),
Saratov
province.
Compiled
on
12
July
1850.
Family
#
19
-
Martin
ZITZER
and
his
sons
Family
#
20
-
Christian
ZITZER,
his
wife
Margaretha
and
their
sons
and
daughters
Family
#
21
-
Heinrich
ZITZER,
his
wife
Catherina
and
their
sons
and
daughters
Family
#
28
-
Johan
Heinrich
ZITZER,
his
wife
Rosina
and
their
sons
with
extended
grandchildren.
Family
#
42
-
Christian
ZITZER,
his
wife
Magdalene
and
their
son
and
extended
grandchildren
Family
#
3
-
(Christian
#
42's
son-in-law),
Gottfried
LERCH
and
his
wife
Catherina
Family
#
55
-
Johan
Georg
ZITZER,
his
wife
Maria
and
their
sons
and
daughters
Family
#
62
-
Johan
Heinrich
ZITZER,
his
wife
Gertrude
and
their
sons
and
daughters
and
extended
grandchildren
Family
#
66
-
Georg
ZITZER,
His
wife
and
their
sons
I
will
be
glad
to
share
the
details
on
these
families
upon
written
request
from
the
researcher.
Totally
there
were
72
families
(369
men
and
362
women)
with
these
names:
KREIS,
LENING,
MILLER,
WEINBERGER,
TRAPP,
Z(S)ESLER,
SCHULTZ,
HERZOG,
HORN,
RICHTER,
WEBER,
GROSS,
NIEDERKQUEL,
MARKUS,
MEYER,
BECKER,
LERCH.
This
is
all
I
received
on
these
names.
No
details.
And
from
the
colony
Staritza
(Reinwald)
in
the
1850
census
totally
865
men
and
805
women:
GARNUA,
RUPPLE,
HERZOG,
STEINPREISS,
LAND(G)MAN,
NEUWRIT,
KAUCHER,
MILLER,
GORDE,
KOBER,
KERBER,
WIGAND,
EIRICH,
ZITTZEL,
RHEIN,
REIMER,
GOPPE,
DAHMER,
JURK,
FISCHER,
G(H)ORNUS,
FLEK,
BERINGER,
LINNER,
SCHORCH,
WINKLER,
NICOLIA,
KRAUS,
G(H)OLZWIRT,
SCHWEVEL,
MERZ,
LETTERER,
HARTMANN,
MARKGRAF,
BOHL,
SCHRIMER,
WEBER,
KAISER,
ROYH,
EIRICH,
MATEIS,
ALBAUM,
REBHUN,
BART,
GILDENBRANDT,
FRIEDRICH,
RASCH,
ZEIFERT,
and
BENDER.
This
is
all
I
received
on
these
names.
No
details.
The
spelling
I
have
edited
with
parenthesis.
In
addition
to
the
above,
I
have
been
working
on
my
family
ancestral
home
layout
with
a
detailed
identification
of
each
area
of
the
home
and
site.
This
has
been
sent
to
headquarters.
As
a
follow
up
to
the
layout
I
am
in
the
progress
of
writing
a
story
behind
each
item
as
described
to
me
by
my
Great
Aunt
Katherine
(ZITZER)
LERCH.
I
also
have
been
updating
the
obituary
file,
started
in
1984,
of
the
Greater
Sheboygan
Area
AHSGR
Chapter.
Only
I
do
not
have
them
on
the
AHSGR
file
card
system.
However,
I
will
pass
along
copies
for
any
requests
received
just
as
I
have
been
doing
since
the
beginning
of
the
collection.
It
must
have
around
2500
entries
now.
These
include
many
families
from
Schulz.
I
have
some
detailed
folklore
on
the
families
of
Schulz
that
corresponds
to
the
village
map
on
file.
This
material
is
in
rough
draft
form
at
the
present.
In
the
future
I
plan
to
formalize
this
information.
God
willing.
SCHWAB,
Saratov,
Volga
Schwab
Web
Site
Rolene
Eichman
Kiesling
Schwab
is
one
of
the
smaller
villages
and
there
has
not
been
more
than
a
small
handful
of
queries
within
the
last
year.
I
answered
all
of
them,
even
if
the
answer
was
negative.
I
am
still
working
on
the
database,
which
includes
the
1798
census,
my
correspondence
file
(over
30
years
worth)
and
the
data
from
Lincoln.
It
has
not
yet
been
submitted
to
Lincoln.
There
is
a
web
site,
which
I
did
not
put
on
the
Internet
nor
do
I
maintain
it.
Effective
this
fall,
I
will
be
the
Editor
of
the
"Lower
Volga
Villages
Sheet",
which,
to
date,
has
been
the
work
of
Kathy
O'Malley.
Kathy
has
decided
that
she
would
prefer
to
have
more
time
to
work
on
the
various
databases.
This
newsletter
covers
the
villages
in
the
two
parishes
of
Galka
and
Stephan.
SCHWED,
Samara,
Volga
Schwed
Web
Site
Carolyn
&
John
Gorr
Adventures
in
accumulating
information
regarding
Schwed
was
concentrated
within
the
USA
this
year.
Non-stop
queries
generated
throughout
the
year
regarding
village
surnames
came
from
grandchildren
and
great-grandchildren
of
the
original
immigrants.
The
GORR
surname
picked
up
several
cousins-not
only
second
cousins
but
also
third
half-cousins
twice
removed.
One
of
our
favorite
stories
this
year
was
the
mystery
we
left
hanging
in
last
year's
VC
report.
We
finally
made
a
connection
with
Shirley
Gorr
Loose
of
Scottsbluff,
NE.
We
had
been
conversing
via
email
for
about
a
year
while
trying
to
connect
her
grandfather
to
our
father-in-
law.
The
missing
information
finally
came
to
light:
Fred
C.
Gorr
was
actually
christened
Gottfried.
Then
Shirley
came
up
with
her
grandfather's
grandmother's
maiden
name
and
we
had
a
match
with
our
surname
chart
for
the
Gorr
surname.
You
can
imagine
how
excited
we
were.
So
much
so,
that
we
arranged
to
meet
the
family
on
our
way
back
from
the
AHSGR
Denver
convention
in
June.
We
left
Denver
on
Saturday
and
drove
north
on
US
25
toward
Wyoming
where
we
picked
up
US
80
and
headed
toward
Nebraska.
When
we
got
to
Kimball,
NE
we
turned
north
on
state
highway
71
toward
Scottsbluff.
As
we
drove
up
hwy
71
we
wondered
if
people
really
lived
this
far
out
as
it
looked
like
we
might
be
driving
on
another
planet.
We
spent
three
days
with
the
Scottsbluff
cousins.
On
Sunday
there
was
a
picnic
attended
by
38
Gorr-related
cousins
from
Nebraska,
Colorado
and
Wyoming.
That
day
we
were
probably
the
most
photographed
group
of
people
in
Nebraska
as
everyone
seemed
to
have
a
camera.
On
Monday
Shirley
and
her
cousin
Pat
Lind
gave
us
a
tour
of
the
beautiful
Scottsbluff
valley.
A
family
mystery
solved
and
a
new
family
found.
We
have
a
new
GORR
contact
in
Florida
who
originated
in
Maywood,
IL,
two
more
from
our
Chicago
and
surrounding
suburban
area
and
discovered
two
female
Gorrs.
The
females
were
found
through
a
query
from
Dorothy
Hardt
Peterson
in
CA.
Finding
females
is
not
the
easiest
if
you
do
not
know
their
married
names.
Turns
out
Dorothy's
ladies
were
direct
cousins
to
my
father-in-law.
A
WIEGEL
query
came
from
Colorado
but
no
connection
as
yet
with
our
local
Wiegels.
We
are
still
waiting
on
the
Wiegel
chart
and
hope
it
will
prove
a
connection.
Another
ongoing
project
is
the
photographing
of
tombstones
at
St.
Luke
(formerly
St.
Lucas)
Cemetery
in
Chicago,
IL
where
many
of
the
Jefferson
Park
GR
are
buried.
We
have
more
than
300
stones
copied.
As
village
coordinator
I
am
always
interested
in
gathering
village
records
from
the
Russian
Archives.
It
takes
dollars
to
get
records
and
if
anyone
reading
this
report
wants
to
help
purchase
census
records
for
certain
surnames
in
the
village
of
Schwed
please
contact
me.
(address
at
the
top
of
this
report).
The
Schwed
Censuses
available
are
for
the
years:
1816,
1835,
1850,
1857
SHCHERBAKOVKA
(Muehlberg),
Saratov,
Volga
Janet
Flickinger
In
June
of
2000,
we
(the
Lower
Volga
Village
Project)
received
7
long-
awaited
surname
charts
for
the
village
of
Shcherbakovka
and
the
surnames
of:
BECKER,
KRAFT,
LAUBHAN,
OBLANDER,
REISIG,
STRICKER
and
WASENMÜLLER.
Kathy
O'Malley
and
I
worked
together
on
extracting
the
information
from
each
chart
and
putting
the
information
in
separate
databases
in
Family
Tree
Maker.
We
assigned
coordinates
to
each
of
the
charts,
thus
allowing
us
to
give
each
name
a
reference
number
that
makes
individuals
easy
to
find
on
the
chart.
We
also
assigned
coordinates
to
the
EHRLICH
chart
that
was
received
in
1997
and
applied
those
ref.
numbers
to
the
names
that
Kathy
had
already
entered
into
a
database.
An
index
was
then
made
up
for
each
chart,
giving
us
a
quick
reference
when
corresponding
with
others
to
see
if
their
ancestors
are
included
on
the
chart.
We
can
then
recommend
that
they
purchase
a
copy
of
the
surname
chart
from
us
for
$35.
Those
funds
are
kept
in
a
bank
account
maintained
by
Peter
and
Faye
Schantz
who
are
our
coordinators
for
ordering
the
charts
from
Russia.
We
were
so
encouraged
with
all
the
new
information
from
these
7
charts,
that
we
have
4
more
on
order
currently
(WINTER,
ZWETZIG,
HANSHU,
and
STEINERT)
and
are
considering
HAFFNER
from
Shcherbakovka
and
NUSS
from
Dobrinka
and
MUELLER.
I
continue
to
extract
church
records
in
my
three
areas
of
interest
of
the
Germans
from
Russia
(Russell
and
Marion
Co.,
KS
and
Ellis
Co.,
OK).
Those
records
are
then
printed
on
the
computer
and
spiral
bound
and
made
available
at
nominal
costs
to
help
other
genealogists.
Any
money
received
over
the
cost
of
printing
and
mailing
also
goes
into
this
Lower
Volga
Village
fund
for
further
Russian
research.
At
this
time,
I
have
extracted:
St.
John
Lutheran
in
Russell
(1900-
2000);
Trinity
Lutheran
in
Bender
Hill,
Russell
Co.
(1883-1980);
Milberger's
three
Lutheran
churches
in
Russell
Co.
(1883-1969);
Trinity
Lutheran
in
Lehigh,
Marion
Co
(1890-1950);
and
Schoenfeld
Reformed
in
Barton
Co,
KS
(1883-1978).
I
have
also
extracted
all
the
Germans
from
Russia
applying
for
citizenship
in
Russell
and
Marion
Co.
These
are
also
published
and
available
for
purchase.
I
have
extracted
all
the
Germans
from
Russia
on
more
then
200
ships
and
have
posted
that
information
as
well
as
the
Declaration
of
Intentions
in
Russell
and
Marion
Co.,
on
my
web
pages
for
easy
assess.
Because
of
these
postings,
I
get
a
lot
of
queries
from
web
surfers
as
to
how
to
go
about
finding
this
information
on
their
ancestors.
I
have
several
printed
sheets
in
the
template
folder
on
my
computer
that
I
forward
on
to
them
in
hopes
of
helping
them
get
started.
Now
for
my
REALLY
big
project
for
the
year
.......
I
was
raised
in
Russell
which
is
concentrated
with
a
large
percentage
of
Germans
from
Russia.
Currently,
the
median
age
is
probably
70-75
years
of
age.
I
feel
"called"
that
the
time
is
NOW
to
get
the
interviewing
done
and
the
documents
extracted!
I
started
a
Russell
Co.
(KS)
Database
about
a
year
ago,
and
decided
to
dedicate
my
full
time
for
a
year
to
this
project,
hoping
to
have
the
majority
done
in
time
for
their
Prairesta
(which
is
a
once-every-ten-year
celebration)
in
June
2001.
I
appealed
on
the
Ger-Rus
list
for
others
to
send
me,
via
gedcom,
their
families
and
got
only
a
couple
of
responses.
I
added
them
to
what
I
could
pull
from
my
own
database
and
the
one
I
maintain
for
Shcherbakovka.
This
totaled
about
3-4,000
names.
I
currently
have
31,857
individuals,
so
at
least
27,000
have
been
entered
one
at
a
time
involving
much
time
and
labor!
Most
individuals
have
birth
and
death
dates,
siblings
and
parents.
I
have
entered
most
of
the
individuals
from
my
church
extractions;
a
Strecker
genealogy
book;
Ethel
Lock
in
Ulysses,
KS
has
typed
hundreds
of
obits
and
sent
them
to
me
from
her
large
collection;
Rachel
Smith,
Wichita,
(who
serves
as
our
Obit
extractor
for
the
Lower
Volga
Village
Project)
has
sent
me
disks
of
her
thousands
of
obits
which
I
was
then
able
to
search
through
and
pull
out
the
Russell
Co.
ones
and
cut
and
paste
them
into
the
database
on
the
notes
page
as
well
as
use
info
in
the
obits
to
connect
and
add
more
family
members.
I
extracted
all
of
the
obits
that
I
could
find
online
for
as
far
back
as
newspaper
archives
exist
for
local
newspapers,
and
Vonnie
Jones
continues
to
watch
the
online
newspapers
of
the
area
for
current
deaths.
She
accumulates
those
and
sends
them
to
me
once
a
month
to
work
with
as
I
did
Rachel's
(cut
and
paste
the
obit
to
“notes
page”
and
use
the
included
info
for
family
data).
My
next
source
was
finding
that
a
Russell
couple
had
been
collecting
newspaper
clippings
from
1936
until
the
wife's
death
in
1994.
They
had
10
scrapbooks
filled
with
clippings.
I
spent
3-4
weeks
reading
and
typing
in
all
that
information.
Vonnie
Jones
(mentioned
above,
an
Ehrlich
descendent
also
formerly
of
Russell)
and
I
are
in
the
middle
of
teaching
genealogy
classes
in
Russell
this
month.
We
were
surprised
&
encouraged
by
the
enrollment
of
30.
We
are
hoping
to
spark
interest
in
recruiting
people
to
interview
the
senior
citizens
and
extract
the
documents
as
well
as
documenting
their
own
ancestors
on
group
sheets.
I
have
offered
to
extract
any
other
churches
in
the
county
at
no
charge
and
had
at
least
3-4
interested
churches
responding
to
the
announcement.
My
Russell
database
includes
emigrants
and
descendents
from
the
Ger-
Rus
villages
of
Dietel,
Eckheim,
Kratzke,
Grimm,
Blumenfeldt,
Hussenbach,
Friedenfeld,
Schwab,
Dreispitz
and
more,
as
well
as
Shcherbakovka.
Since
there
were
a
lot
of
Germans
from
Russia
who
settled
in
these
counties
of
KS
and
OK,
I
have
broadened
my
research
to
include
more
than
just
the
village
of
Shcherbakovka.
SOLODYRI,
Volynsk,
Volhynia
U
Dr.
Richard
Benert
B160
Once
again
I
have
utterly
failed
to
get
any
Solodyri
research
done.
Next
June
I
intend
to
go
on
Don
Miller's
tour
of
the
area
and
get
acquainted
with
the
archive
in
Zhitomir.
Perhaps
then
I'll
make
some
contacts
that
will
lead
to
some
knowledge
of
Germans
in
Volhynia.
STAHL
AM
TARLYK,
Samara,
Volga
Paul
Koehler
I
have
recently
taken
on
the
responsibility
of
Village
Coordinator
for
Stahl
am
Tarlyk
as
well
as
for
Bangert.
I
am
in
the
process
of
entering
information
into
a
data
base.
I
would
appreciate
any
ancestry
information,
charts,
photos,
etc.
regarding
the
people
from
the
village
of
Stahl.
Diana
Bell
of
the
Central
California
Chapter
of
AHSGR
will
now
edit
the
newsletter,
"der
Stahler."
It
is
published
semi-annually,
May
&
November,
and
costs
$1.00
per
issue.
We
ask
for
your
contributions
of
stories,
queries,
and
photos
with
village
connections.
Comments,
suggestions
or
questions
will
be
reviewed
and
answered.
STRASSENDORF,
Samara,
Volga
Laurin
Wilhelm
W022
Strassendorf:
No
significant
activity
here.
SUSANNENTAL,
(Winkelmann),
Samara,
Volga
Kerry
S.
Thompson
Mail
list:
To
subscribe
send
an
email
message
to
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SUSANNENTAL.html
In
the
body
of
the
message
write
the
word
-
subscribe.
In
the
second
year
as
coordinator,
I
would
like
to
thank
all
those
who
have
been
so
kind
to
me
in
sharing
their
information
and
assisting
in
gathering
new
information.
Our
data
base
keeps
growing.
We
added
1,000
names
to
our
data
base
this
year
making
a
total
of
3,356
names
of
those
born
before
1960.
We
received
information
on
three
surnames
this
year
for
the
1830
census
-
SCHMIDT,
WEGNER
and
LEHMAN.
Three
other
surnames
are
on
order.
From
the
First
Settler
List
we
have
been
able
to
begin
searching
in
Germany
for
the
original
SCHMIDT
settlers
and
have
made
connections
to
church
records
of
early
ancestors
in
Kemel,
Germany.
Our
newsletter
mailing
list
keeps
growing
and
we
have
added
20
names
of
US
descendents
in
18
states.
We
hope
to
add
some
of
our
German
cousins
this
year.
As
we
have
researched
our
ancestors,
we
have
come
in
contact
with
many
"cousins"
from
the
neighboring
villages
of
Kind
and
Meinhard
and
have
added
their
information
to
a
new
data
base.
So
until
they
get
their
own
coordinator
we
are
adopting
them
for
now.
The
web
page
is
not
moving
along
very
fast
due
to
the
computer
illiteracy
of
the
coordinator.
I
hope
to
improve
it
this
year.
VOLLMER,
Saratov,
Volga
David
Easterday
The
Vollmer
Village
Coordinator
is
back
on
the
job
after
a
couple
of
years
tending
to
health
issues.
Please
contact
David
at
the
email
address
above
with
queries
or
to
add
to
the
Vollmer
information
base.
WALTER,
Saratov,
Volga
Jean
Roth
R044
Our
Walter
web
site
is
still
active
and
Mary
Mills
continues
to
add
to
the
Walter
Data
Base.
We
currently
have
about
24,000
entries.
She
also
maintains
an
extensive
obit
file
of
Walter
people.
We
had
an
excellent
turn
out
for
village
night
at
the
Denver
Convention
with
about
35-40
Walter
people.
We
had
our
own
room
and
for
the
first
time
we
could
communicate
without
shouting.
This
year
we
have
had
some
success
in
the
German
lineages
of
some
of
our
families
on
the
original
emigration
list
for
Walter.
We
have
been
able
to
add
several
generations
in
the
lines
from
German
parish
records,
back
into
the
1600's
WINKELMANN
See
Susannental
WITTMANN
(Soloturn),
Samara,
Volga
Kevin
Rupp
R311
We
hope
to
have
a
web
page
up
and
running
for
Wittmann
by
summer.
YAGODNAYA
POLYANA,
Saratov,
Volga
Co-Coordinators:
Kris
Ball
Elizabeth
Meyer
Database
Coordinator:
Patrice
Miller
2001
has
been
a
year
of
discoveries
and
sharing
for
the
village
of
Yagodnaya
Polyana!
We
are
fortunate
to
have
4
dedicated
people
serving
the
descendants
of
Yagodnaya
Polyana:
Kris
Ball
and
Elizabeth
Meyer,
Village
Coordinators,
Patrice
Miller,
our
phenomenal
database
coordinator,
and
the
ever-faithful
Bill
Scheirman,
our
newsletter
editor.
Kris
receives
queries
from
AHSGR
and
from
people
who
found
us
on
our
web
site.
She
is
into
the
third
printing
of
"Yagodnaya
Polyana,
daughter
and
granddaughter
villages,"
having
sent
out
over
300
copies.
She
was
able
to
slip
in
one
day
of
AHSGR
national
convention
activities,
and
will
be
a
speaker
at
the
AHSGR
Kansas
Roundup
in
October
in
Hays.
At
the
convention
in
Denver,
she
and
Bill
Scheirman
spent
some
time
catching
up,
and
Kris
was
thrilled
to
meet
Bill's
lovely
wife,
Marian.
Bill
and
Marian
are
online
now:
Bill
does
the
talking
and
Mariam
does
the
typing!
Kris'
email
is
krisball@dodgecity.net
.
Elizabeth's
activities
this
past
year
have
involved
responding
to
individual
inquiries
about
family
history
and
information
on
the
colony
of
Yagodnaya
Polyana.
She
has
translated
some
letters
and
put
some
people
in
Germany
and
the
U.S.
in
touch
with
each
other.
She
writes:
"Kris
Ball's
book,
compiling
history
and
family
data
about
our
village
has
been
a
very
valuable
resource
to
send
to
those
who
have
limited
knowledge
of
the
history
of
the
Volga
Germans.
I've
corresponded
with
Yagaders
who've
immigrated
to
Germany
and
hope
that
a
product
of
those
contacts
will
be
a
couple
of
articles
for
the
"Usu
Leut"
newsletter
edited
by
Bill
Scheirman.
Unfortunately,
I
did
not
get
to
the
convention
this
year,
maybe
next
year.
My
husband
and
I
were
able
to
attend
the
memorial
meeting
in
Portland
last
month
commemorating
the
sixtieth
anniversary
of
the
deportation
order.
It
was
a
worthwhile
trip.
The
presentation
by
J.
Otto
Pohl
was
very
informative
regarding
facts
that
are
now
available
in
the
Russian
archives.
In
what
has
become
somewhat
of
a
tradition,
I
plan
to
visit
Little
York
(Pine
Island),
NY
this
October
with
my
mother
to
catch
up
with
old-time
Yagada
friends
and
attend
the
annual
Sauerkraut
Supper
at
St.
Peter's
Lutheran
Church."
Elizabeth's
email
is
elizmeyer@aol.com
During
the
year
Patrice
Miller
compiled
a
ship
list
index
of
individuals
from
Yagodnaya
Polyana
who
came
to
America
(Canada
&
the
USA).
This
index
has
over
2,000
individuals
included
in
passenger
ship
lists.
The
majority
of
the
people
listed
came
from
the
German
Volga
village
of
Yagodnaya
Polyana,
Russia
or
one
of
its
daughter
colonies,
Schontal
(Schoenthal)
or
Neu-Yagodnaya.
A
few
of
the
individuals
listed
came
from
the
nearby
colony
of
Pobochnoye
or
one
of
its
daughter
colonies.
The
information
was
compiled
from
Ellis
Island
Index,
AHSGR
Clues,
Ship
Indexes
by
Janet
Flicklinger,
Canadian
ship
lists
at
the
Odessa
Digital
Library
by
George
Dorscher
and
other
copies
of
lists
collected
over
the
years.
The
ship
list
is
available
in
paper
format
for
purchase
for
$12
and
can
be
obtained
from
Patrice
Miller.
As
the
database
coordinator
for
Yagodnaya
Polyana,
Patrice
Miller
worked
with
descendants
of
the
village
to
help
them
collect
information
from
Russia,
make
contact
with
other
researchers
and
build
their
family
trees.
This
year,
from
Russia,
5
electronic
descendant
trees
(1767-1857)
were
built
for
the
surnames
of
Benner,
Schadt
/
Schad/
Schat,
Kniss
/
Knis
/
Kneiss,
Kaiser
and
Machleit
/
Machlied
/
Machleid.
Electronic
(gedcom)
or
printed
copies
can
be
obtained
from
Patrice
Miller
with
a
$10-$20
donation
to
reimburse
the
person
who
ordered
the
information
or
to
purchased
additional
census
extracts.
A
lovely
family
history
book
titled
"All
In
the
Family
of
'Bahma'
Heinrich
Kromm"
was
published
by
Bernice
Lambert
Krom
of
Colfax,
WA.
This
200
page
book
contains
many
beautiful
photos
and
costs
$25.
Contact:
Kris
or
Patrice
for
Bernice's
address
if
you
would
like
to
order
a
copy.
A
query
from
Germany
by
Anastasia
Ladigan:
She
was
born
in
Omsk,
Siberia,
now
lives
in
Germany
and
her
ancestors
originated
in
Yagodnaya
Polyana.
The
information
she
requested
is
still
somewhat
confusing
but
here
is
what
we
know
so
far.
Anastasia
is
searching
for
her
relatives
that
came
to
the
USA
or
Canada
around
1917?.
Her
gr-
grandmother
was
Marie
Katherine
(Marika)
Daubert
and
it
appears
that
Marie
Katherine's
aunt
(name
unknown)
came
to
America.
It
is
not
clear
if
Marie
Katherine
Daubert
came
to
America
or
stayed
in
Russia.
Her
great-grandfather's
name
was
Johann
Dippel
and
he
remained
in
Russia
and
died
in
Omsk
Siberia
in
1944.
The
last
letters
and
packages
came
to
Omsk
in
1933
from
the
USA.
If
someone
would
like
to
correspond
with
Anastasia
contact
Kris
or
Patrice
for
her
snail
mail
address.
We
look
forward
to
another
fruitful
year
in
2002!
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