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Village Coordinator Annual Reports 2009
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VC Newsletter Editor Michael Frank
-
Ährenfeld / Aehrenfeld, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Ährenfeld / Aehrenfeld, Saratov, Volga
This year, the research community for the Wiesenseite daughter colony of
Aehrenfeld has been rather quiet. A listing of the original settlers there
was discovered to have been filmed in 2003 by the LDS from the archives in
Samara, Russia - north of the traditional Volga German area (International
Film No. 2379339). Resettlement occurred from Bauer, Dietel, Doenhof,
Franzosen, Hussenbach, Kratzke, and Merkel with the largest number of them
coming from Kratzke. This information has been extracted and will be made
available shortly.
Brent Mai
Aehrenfeld Colony Research Coordinator
AHSGR Life Member since 1983
- Alexanderfeld, North Caucasus
-
Alexandertal (Neu-Schilling), Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Alexandertal
Oct. 2008-Oct.2009
For Alexandertal this was the busiest and most exciting year in a long time!
It started badly. I experienced a computer crash, a new computer and a new
operating system. This new operating system eliminated my ability to update
our Alexandertal website. The VC of our parent colony (Gary Martens,
Schilling VC) came riding to our rescue, created a new Alexandertal web-site,
and will update it until I learn how to do that myself. The new site although
still somewhat abbreviated is:
www.alexandertal.org.
Several inquiries and new bits of information were received, but I should
highlight the
work of Nancy Lytle of Brandon, Canada. She has obtained copies of, and
placed on disk, confirmation and birth records from Christ Lutheran Church of
Winnipeg. For some families these contain dates going back into Alexandertal!
Nancy’s focus is the Stattler family. She needs someone to translate these
records which could be a great boon to Alexandertal research. Are there any
volunteers?
Finally, some Alexandertal marriage records for 1901-1902 have been found.
Gary
Martens is ordering them because they include lots of information on Schilling
families. Gary needs help in paying for them.
Here is a copy of his first announcement:
I am considering the purchase of available Alexandertal birth records from the
Russian Archives at Volgograd. The only birth records (available so far) cover
the years 1901-1902, and there are approximately 1000 entries. Each birth
record includes the birth date and/or the baptism date, and the full names of
the father and mother.
As I have done with the purchase of birth records for the villages of Dobrinka
and Galka, I am asking for each person who is interested to contribute towards
this purchase, in this case $50. Contributing will entitle you to a copy of
the translated birth records. If you want a copy of the entire untranslated
birth records, I will have to charge $10 extra for copying charges and
postage. I'll send you a few individual pages at no charge.
Complete records will only be available to those people who contribute now to
this purchase. People who do not so contribute will be charged $50 for the
translated birth records for just one surname.
If you are interested in helping with this important purchase, please send me
an
email (gpmartens@sbcglobal.net)
and let me know your interest in contributing.
Checks or money orders for contributions can be sent to:
Gary Martens
1045 Albatross Lane
Aubrey, TX 76227-3559
So for a $50 donation now, you will get full translations. This is a deal and
will be a great contribution to Alexandertal family research. I have pitched
in. Can you too please?
Dick Kraus
Village Coordinator
for Alexandertal
-
Alt-Danzig, Kirovograd
- Alt-Schilling Saratov, Volga
- Alt-Schwedendorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
- Amilchin (Emilchin, Emilcin, Amilcin) Volhynia,
Ukraine, Russia
-
Anton, Saratov, Volga
-
2009 Village Report for Balzer
2009 was an active year for the Balzer group. We received a number of email
queries from Russia, Germany, South America, Canada, and the U.S. We were
able to help many of these researchers to trace their ancestors, sometimes
back to the roots in Germany or to others researching the same surnames.
Two important new documents were added to our growing library of Balzer
documents. This included the addendum to the 1857 census of which Brent Mai
kindly informed us. It lists those colonists who were sent to daughter
colonies. The second unique document was provided by headquarters. It is a
list of people sending relief packages to Balzer during the 1923 famine.
Jacob Volz was instrumental in arranging this delivery. Not only does the
list name the sender but it also lists the recipients in Balzer who had to
sign for the package. Both of these documents now need to be translated.
The German origins of a few more Balzer settlers were added to the known list.
This includes the families of Christoph Carl, Jacob Herzog, and Philipp
Leichner. We are looking for help finding more ancestors in Germany.
A presentation was given at the Medicine Hat convention and another lecture is
planned for January 2010 in the San Francisco area.
On the down side, my heavy workload all year has prevented the publishing of
any new issues of the Balzer/Moor newsletter. I’m looking for a new general
editor.
Wayne H. Bonner
Village Coordinator for Balzer
-
Bangert, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Bangert
I have received three inquires for the village
of Bangert this past year. I was able to help two of these inquires in their
search. The Bangert data base continues to grow at a slower pace.
I received information about fishing in the Volga River during the famine.
Here is the story about it:
THE GIANT CATFISH OF THE VOLGA RIVER, RUSSIA
Alex Huber of Nurenberg, Germany writes to Paul
Koehler on October 31, 2009:
My Grandmother, Berta Huber (1912-2002) told me that the beginning of the
1920’s was extremely lean in Bangert, Russia, they had almost nothing to eat.
The only salvation was the men fishing the Volga River. Her uncle Peter Huber
once caught a giant catfish, many feet long. The family ate themselves full
one time.
Peter’s signature is on a letter of appreciation (1923) from the village of Bangert
to the Volga Relief Society and to some of their relatives who were living in
North America at the time.
The Wels Catfish is a scaleless freshwater and brackish water catfish,
recognizable by its broad flat head and wide mouth. The mouth contains lines
of numerous small teeth, two long barbells on the upper jaw and four shorter
barbells on the lower jaw. It has a long anal fin that extends to the caudal
fin and a small sharp dorsal fin positioned relatively forward. It uses its
sharp pectoral fins to capture prey. With these fins, it creates an eddy to
disorient its victim, which it simply engulfs in its enormous throat. It has
very slippery green-brown skin. Its belly is pale yellow or white. Wels
Catfish can live for at least thirty years and have very good hearing. The
female produces up to 30,000 eggs. The male guards the nest until the brood
hatches, which depending on water temperature, can take from three to ten
days. If the water level decreases too much or too fast the male has
been observed to splash the eggs with its muscular tail in order to keep them
wet. The Wels Catfish lives on worms, insects, crustacean and fish. The
larger ones also eat frogs, mice, rats and aquatic birds such as a duck.
These catfish live in large water lakes and deep, slow moving rivers such as
the Volga. It prefers to remain in sheltered locations such as holes in the
river bed, sunken trees, etc. It consumes its food in the open water or on the
bottom.
Tell the stories.
Paul Koehler
Village Coordinator for Bangert
and Stahl am Tarlyk
- Bergdorf, Glückstal, Odessa, Kherson
-
Borodino, Bessarabia
2009 Village Report for Borodino, Bessarabia
2009 has been another productive year. Like 2007-2008, more and more
descendants of the Borodinians around the world are discovering my web site,
which is very good news. It has been listed in the Heidelberg University web
site and other sites as well as other organizations around the world.
The genealogy continues to grow every week and I cannot even begin to tell
everyone who have been so generous how much others and I appreciate everyone’s
efforts.
For those who have not visited the site I have different methods of dealing
with the family charts. I have gone into the records and placed them onto the
site as-is. There are no corrections, deletions, or speculations. They are
what they are. Then I took these names and tried to match children with their
parents, and I have clearly marked these as speculations. The next part
contains the family charts of people who have sent me their information which
may be the same or slightly different from the records. I've then placed all
my e-mails and letters under each section. There are names from A to Z. There
are individual family pages with stories, letters, and photographs.
Connected to this are my own personal ties to Borodino through both my
maternal grandparents, Ludwig Michaelovich Hein and Christina Schweikert (Schweigert/Schweickert).
Both were born in 1885 in Borodino. I knew them both and heard many stories
about Borodino and nearby villages. To add to this, my paternal side was also
German-Russian who settled in and around Worms/Odessa, South Russia. By the
time I found most of my ancestors, I discovered their lives and migrations
cover the area from Bessarabia to Tifilis in the Caucasus Mountains. It has
been a great adventure and I have shared much of it with you.
My husband's families, (Hubert, Jost, Goetz, and Hummel) were also German but
ended up in and around Temesvar and Arad in Romania. Because of this, I've
learned about an area where some of our German-Russians may have stopped for a
time before continuing to Russia. One family of mine, the Pfaffs did just
this, before heading to the Odessa area.
I have many kinds of maps. I've lost count. I must have hundreds of
photographs. When you have time, please stop by and take a look at my web
sites. Who knows, you might find ancestors or information of interest.
My German-Russian House Recipe site continues to grow because of all
the generous people who have contributed. It includes not only recipes, but
it's also filled with photographs with German-Russians who have traveled back
into Borodino and taken photographs. I've tried to discover what food was
eaten while our ancestors lived in Borodino and some recipes show step-by-step
ways to cook a particular food. Some people have sent photographs to me of
their favorite cook, like their grandmothers or aunts. Many people have
already set up websites and therefore there are a huge number of links.
A comment is needed to those whom I've failed to reply
this last year. Due to my aging parents and adding an addition to our home, I
may not be replying as quickly as I have in the past. But I will reply and get
YOUR Borodino family's page up and running as soon as I'm able. Please,
e-mail me, again, if I haven't contacted you by January 1, 2010.
Again, I'd also like to thank Ingrid Ruele who has gone into the records in
places where I never could have reached and has willingly
shared. Steve Mogck’s web site has been a real treasure. He's not returned
my e-mails, but that doesn't prevent me from thanking him for all his hard
work here and now. Of course, there are far too many names to mention here.
They are mentioned on my web
sites.
There are always misspellings, typos and errors so if you discover any, please
contact me. All additions are welcome!
Judy Remmick-Hubert
Village Coordinator for Borodino
-
Brabander, Samara, Volga
.
2009 Village Report for Brabander
It has
been an extremely busy and rewarding year for Brabander Colony research.
Since November of 2008, we have received the 1834 Brabander census
translation transcribed in English by Professor Brent Mai. Early in 2009
Professor Mai informed me that there were sixteen LDS microfilms available
from the Mormon library in Salt Lake City, Utah with 1850 and 1857 Volga
German census records that included records for both colonies that I serve,
Brabander and Dehler. Initially I ordered only the microfilm for Brabander
and Dehler, but I now have all sixteen LDS microfilm housed at the Newberry
Library in Chicago on permanent loan from the LDS Library in Salt Lake City,
Utah. I have also ordered five additional LDS microfilms with the 1834 Census
Records. Since there are five AHSGR Village Coordinators in the Chicago Area
and three of them do not have village censuses after 1798, these census
records should prove valuable for research.
The
1850 and 1857 Brabander censuses have been translated and will be available as
soon as an index can be formatted. In addition to the census records for
1834, 1850, and 1857 for Brabander we are finally receiving some Brabander
church records. Last week I heard the promising news that a series of Catholic
"Wiesenseite" church records had been discovered in the LDS microfilm index.
I located several microfilms that have Brabander and Dehler data and I have
ordered them for research. The microfilms are not well indexed and it is still
unknown exactly what is on them. I have noted that there is more than
Catholic church data. I have found Baptist church data also in the index for
these microfilms.
There
is still only one family chart, the Abt Family Chart, produced by Dr. Igor
Pleve, PhD for the village. Charts for the Bondank, Fuhr and Schwalje
families were ordered from Dr. Pleve in January 2006. An order for additional
family charts was not accepted. These family charts were promised in 1 to 1
1/2 years, but we have been anxiously awaiting their arrival for four years.
I
already have more than 75% of the data that will eventually appear on the
three charts. I have also corrected several errors and connected three lines
on the Abt family chart with family information that was not available to Dr.
Pleve when he drew the Abt chart. The Fuhr chart will include the family lines
from Rothammel, Dehler, and Brabander. The Schwalje chart will include family
lines in both Brabander and Dehler. Currently I can create a substantial
portion of a family chart for any Brabander family.
I have
received many photos of Brabander families that were exiled to Kazakhstan. I
am in contact with many of the families. I have received a list of "Spitznahmen"
(nick names) for the Schwalje family. I am awaiting Braun and Schwalje church
records for Brabander Colony.
There
is an Eberhardt family genealogy being written by Professor Alexander
Eberhardt and his cousins Michael Bergen, and Lydia Eberhardt. It will be a
welcome addition for the Brabander colony descendants.
I
continue to receive hundreds of e-mails from relatives and allied family
members from Brabander each year in Spanish, German, English, and Russian. If
you have Brabander colony ancestry, please contact me. Please note that
since I have ancestry in Rothammel, Seewald, Preuss, Hölzel and Seelmann, I
have substantial information from those colonies as well. Since Hölzel,
Seelmann, and Preuss are not represented by Village Coordinators I welcome
inquiries for those colonies also.
Jim Osborne
Village Coordinator for Brabander
-
Brunnental, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Brunnental
This year was a busy year again for the village of Brunnental/Brunnenthal. I
continue to find new families through my ongoing research using "Ancestry.com".
I've renewed my subscription for another year, as I'm still busy updating one
family at a time with census information, military records, death records,
passenger listings, etc. This year we started
getting access to Naturalization records and passport records, which gave us
many interesting records to look over.
I've said this before..... I keep thinking that I have found all of the
families that emigrated from Brunnental, but I continue to find more and more
each year! With each family I find, I write letters to living members, asking
for additional info and early photos of the families. I currently have
46,000+ names in my Brunnental Database with extensive documentation on each
family. My big push for the upcoming year will be to GATHER PHOTOS! I just
sat down this morning to scan my own photos....what a job!! In the
past year we have discovered some of the most compelling photos, and know
that often they are lost if we don't start "collecting them".
I've put together a comprehensive list of all passenger lists of those from
Brunnental. As I find each of these families, I'm paying close attention to
the notes regarding "nearest relative in county of origin", and "who they were
going to see in US". These have helped me pinpoint where they settled, and
often provided clues to relationships to other relatives. This comprehensive
passenger listing can be found online at our Brunnental
website.
We have also put together a listing of all those Brunnentalers found within
the WWI DRAFT REGISTRATION RECORDS which can be found online at Ancestry.com.
This listing of WWI Draft Registrations can also be found on our website.
We also have an ongoing "listserv" through Rootsweb,
where those who are interested in sharing information about Brunnental can
"join", and then receive emails from anyone else who has also joined the
list. This is where I post such things as obituaries, passenger lists as I
find them, or other interesting information about our village. It's a great
way to keep in touch with everyone, and only send ONE EMAIL to reach
everyone. You can
join our listserv from the Brunnental webpage.
AND NOW, FOR THE MANY THANK-YOUs
Thanks to Brent Mai who just finished translation of records from the Samara
Archives on the "Original Settlers to Brunnental" from the villages of
Schilling, Grimm, Norka, Kolb, Walter and Pobochnaya. This comes from LDS
films of the records and matches up quite nicely from the lists we received
back in 1997 by Vlad Soshnikov, which are for sale on the website for $10.
Thanks to Ken Hartung who arranged to have a number of very interesting
letters translated for the HARDT's from Brunnental. The letters covered
history from the years 1930-1940 and gave us an amazing peek into life in
Brunnental during those terrible years.
Many thanks for several people from Germany who continue to funnel great new
information to me, and act as interpreters with those who write German.
First is Viktor Klein who has handpicked many items off of the Russian
webpage
http://wolgadeutsche.net/. If he sees anything concerning Brunnental, he
acts as a go-between and helps me contact them and exchange information. He
just put me in touch with another part of my Gottmann family that now lives in
Germany. THANKS so much Viktor for all of your help!
Second is Sergej Kindsvater who has been such a help over the past
year with translation work, and research.
Third is Heidi Ristau from Spain whose HARDT family from Brunnental
has kept me on the "edge of my seat" for months! What a story this woman has
woven about her ancestors, and being part of that has been so inspirational.
Heidi has shared so many photos and stories, and weekly we are off on another
quest for answers, each one giving me another peak into the history of
Brunnental. Her ability to speak a number of
languages has made my job so much easier.
Many thanks to Arlene (Lebsack) Rolfs in Kansas for all her help this year in
translation work, and for her help with contacts in Germany.
And a special THANKS to Irma (Greenwald) Waggoner in Nebraska who always sets
me straight and has worked endless hours over the past years assisting me in
making
sense out of some of these families. When I get stuck, she is always a help,
and I consider her one half of the research team.
Also many thanks to Doris (Eckhardt) Evans in WA, the
Village Coordinator for Frank, and Jean Roth & Mary Mills, VC's for Walter,
who have shared much of their information on "overlapping families" that
started out in Frank and moved to Brunnental. They have helped me with many
missing details, and have shared "Pleve Chart" information with me -- thanks
gals!
Thanks to Steve Schreiber who shared with me the site:
http://imgsrc.ru/users/vovkakak which has photos taken by a photographer
from Russia of the village of Brunnental. If you look down through all the
photos, you'll see some towards the bottom of the page which are described in
English as Brunnental. Click on that link and you'll come to two pages of
photos of Brunnental today.
I, of course, could not do any of this research without the help of all of
the descendants from the village of Brunnental. You are such an enthusiastic
group of people, and you keep me motivated to continue to gather the history
and genealogy of our village. I consider it an honor to serve you.
Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl
AHSGR Village Coordinator for Brunnental, Samara, Volga, Russia
-
2009 Village Report for Chasselois
I knew when I added this village to the other villages in my care, that there
might not be much activity and maybe not a lot to report each year. Since
several of the settlers who lived in this village escaped to Mariental and
various other nearby villages when it was destroyed by the Kirghiz, I felt it
needed a home with me.
This will be another list of names to keep updated whenever I find new
material.
Thelma Mills
Village Coordinator for Chasselois
-
Dehler, Saratav, Volga
2009 Village Report for Dehler
It has
been another amazing year for Dehler colony research. The 1834 census,
translated and transcribed by Professor Brent Mai, arrived in November 2008.
It helped resolve several questions about missing families in the 1850 Dehler
census translated by Pavel Leuss and transcribed by Kevin Rupp. The 1850
census translation did not include the Trausch family or the Haag/Haagen
family. At least they were not recorded in the translation with those names.
The Trausch family was recorded as Fraum in household #28 in 1850. The 1834
census indicates that one of the two Trausch heads of household, Johannes
Trausch migrated to Seelmann colony. His brother Nicholaus remained in Dehler
and is the progenitor for the entire Trausch lineage in Dehler after 1834.
The Haag/Haagen family was recorded as Gall/Hall/Hall in household #53.
After seeing the actual handwritten census in Russian I can completely
understand why there are translation problems. It should be noted that the
Haag/Haagen family is the same family with name variations within the village.
Dr. Mattias Haagin PhD who spoke at an AHSGR Convention a decade ago was from
this family.
The
sixteen LDS microfilms mentioned in the Brabander colony village coordinator's
report also include the Dehler 1850 and 1857 census. The 1857 Dehler census is
being translated.
There
is still only one known family chart for Dehler colony prepared by Dr. Igor
Pleve, PhD for the Ostertag family. Dr. Pleve's chart was abruptly short.
This may be explained by an absence of Dehler church records. I have been
told that the first Dehler church burned. For about 30 years afterwards
baptisms, marriages, and deaths were recorded three miles away in the
Brabander church. After the Dehler church was finally rebuilt, the recording
of Sacraments is said to have been returned to Brabander until another church
fire that is said to have destroyed the church and the church books about
1917. The LDS microfilm with church records found last week may refute the
theory that the Dehler church books were destroyed, because the index for the
LDS microfilm clearly records Dehler church records for at least 5 years
during the time period from the building of the second church and destruction
about 1917. The Ostertag chart visibly shows that Dr. Pleve had no church
records to complete the Ostertag Chart. It can probably be enhanced by
obtaining Brabander Church Records for the Ostertag family.
I have
obtained the Masson family church records for the Dehler family from the
Brabander church records. I am currently attempting to order more church
records from the Samara Archives for both Brabander and Dehler families. I
have also received a 65-page "Stammeliste" (genealogy list) for the Masson
family from Dehler and Brabander with photos, addresses, telephone numbers,
and e-mail addresses. Most of the people on the list are in Russia and
Germany. There are many other surnames of Brabander and Dehler families on the
list which is helping with research of the families that were exiled to
Kazakhstan.
In
September 2009 I was able to visit my cousin Andy Kroneberger in Spicer,
Minnesota. Andy and I share the Kroneberger, Stoessel, and Kern ancestry. We
worked on merging family files.
A
major item of concern addressed was the problems with publishing his second
book which is historically significant for Dehler Colony and our family
members. I read his book A MAN CALLED ANDREAS in the original form and
a version that was supposedly edited for him. The work done on the edited
version can best be described as disturbingly incompetent. The edited version
was embellished, not proofread or even spell-checked and the photos included
appeared as if they had been produced on a worn out copy machine with serious
damage to the roller that created unsightly lines down the side of each photo.
The print was washed out and the margins were very peculiar. The so called
editor actually edited errors into the embellished version. The embellishments
were not necessary and not welcome changes. The story is a history and not a
fictionalized novel. The work was presented to Andy as a finished book on a
take it or leave it basis with a written refusal to make the required
corrections. A copyright had been obtained in his name. Since only minor
changes are possible without obtaining a new copyright the so called editor
refused to make the corrections that should have been made on a galley copy
before a copyright had been obtained. What was delivered to Andy was so
inferior that he had to refuse it. His well written historically significant
book had been destroyed by a so called editor unwilling or perhaps incapable
of doing the job that was paid for by contract. Fortunately for Andy, this
contract was seriously violated by the so called editor. He spent several
months trying to salvage the embellished version of his book, but since the so
called editor refused to make the corrections he has had to revert to the
original version and prepare to publish it. It only needed a few minor
corrections in 2007 and everything done by this so called editor had a
negative impact on the book. Hopefully A MAN CALLED ANDREAS, by Andy
Kroneberger will be published this spring in the original version. Anyone
interested in obtaining a copy of this historical Brabander and Dehler colony
book, please contact me. It is hoped that a Spanish and German version will
soon follow. Hopefully an updated version of Andy's book, I FOUND MY
FAMILY, a genealogy of the Kroneberger, Stoessel, Max, Bohn, and Meringer
families will follow with the new information that we have obtained.
I am
still searching for published records and copies of the videos of the trip of
the famous Argentina Stoessel brothers Adan and Andreas Stoessel, grandsons of
Michael Stoessel (born 1815 Dehler) and Catharina Hergenröther (born 1818) who
migrated to Argentina in the 1870s. Their grandfather, Michael Stoessel,
known in Argentina as Miguel Stoessel was Vorsteher of Colonia San Miguel, an
early Volga German Colony of mostly Dehler folks. Adan and Andreas started
out in 1927 driving north in their 1927 Chevrolet from about 200 miles south
of Buenos Aires. Their trip took them all the way to Washington DC, New York
City, and Detroit. Their route through Central America and Mexico was
basically what later became known as the Pan American Highway. In Argentina
their trip films are being shown with symphony orchestra music. If anyone
knows where to obtain copies of their journals and video please tell me.
These famous brothers also descend from Rothammel and Seewald families.
Catharina Hergenröther was the daughter of Valentin Hergenröther born 1794 in
Seewald Colony. The mother of the Stoessel brothers was Anna Maria Masson born
1863 in Dehler whose mother was Anna Maria Storck with Rothammel roots. Their
father was Andreas Stoessel born 1861 Dehler Colony who died in Puan,
Argentina in 1939. Their direct ancestry also includes the Büchner family from
Dehler which is also in my direct lineage.
I
continue to receive hundreds of e-mails from relatives and allied family
members from Dehler each year in Spanish, German, English, and Russian. If you
have Dehler Colony ancestry, please contact me. Please note that since I
have ancestry in Rothammel, Seewald, Preuss, Hölzel and Seelmann, I have
substantial information from those colonies as well. Since Hölzel, Seelmann,
and Preuss are not represented by village coordinators I welcome inquiries for
those colonies also.
Jim Osborne
Village Coordinator for Dehler
-
-
Dobrinka, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Dobrinka
The Dobrinka database continues to grow in size. It is a Master Genealogist
database, with 9500 people, 12,400 names and 17,500 events.
The Dobrinka mailing list is moderately active. A number of queries were
received in the past year from people in the US, Canada, Russia, Germany, and
Argentina. I continue to help people with their family history in any way
that I can, and add family information that everyone provides, to the Dobrinka
database. Queries are answered using family group sheets that are uploaded to
a folder on the Dobrinka web site at:
http://www.dobrinka.org.
A copy of the available church birth records for Dobrinka, covering 1852 –
1867 and 1882 – 1894, have been ordered. Purchase of these records was funded
by the Lower Volga Village Project, and by many people researching ancestors
from Dobrinka. Those records are expected sometime in the first quarter of
2010. A family communion list covering the years 1834 – 1846, was purchased,
and has been received. It is currently being translated.
Gary Martens
Village Coordinator for Dobrinka
-
Dönhof, Saratov, Volga
2009 Annual Village Report for Donhof
2009 has seen more activity than usual for Donhof with about a dozen
inquires. With the family data that I have along with the census records for
Donhof, I was able to help. We were able to take one family back several
generations using both census and church records and had another inquiry for
that family as recently as yesterday.
I am continuing the collection of obituaries for Donhof immigrants as well as
general family information. I also continue to collect
information of the families that attended the German-Russian church that we
moved and are continuing to restore. However, most of those families were not
Donhof immigrants, but were from other villages such as Grimm and Frank.
Finally, I have recently ordered two family charts from Dr. Pleve for my own
family and plan on sharing those when they become available.
Karen Kaiser
Co-coordinator for Donhof
2009 Annual Report for Donhof
The year 2009 was relatively quiet as I only had inquiries from 7 different
people. Three of them were international (Australia, Canada, and Germany). I
was able to answer them from the information I have in my database. The
database continues to grow slowly and now has more than 12,800 entries.
This year's convention was the first that we missed in ten years. As many of
you may know, Judy and I were involved in a terrible car accident in early
April. Due to massive injuries, we are both thankful that we are still alive.
Dick Leffler
Village Coordinator for Donhof
-
Dreispitz, Saratov, Volga
2009 Annual Report for Dreispitz
This has been another busy year for Dreispitz researchers. Numerous inquiries
have been received from a number of states and from Germany and Argentina. I
was able to furnish information or direct them to other sources. A few of
the surnames being
researched are: Bohl, Feil, Keller, Klein, Heffel/Heffle/Heffele, Heinz,
Heinze, Heinitz, Herbel, Hetze, Kabolel, Klein, Kraft,
Langhofer/Longhofer, Meier, Miller/Muller, Quindt, Schuber, Schultz/Schulz,
Schwein, Sokolowski/Sokolowsky, Steinle, Vogel, Vollert/Wollert, Wills and
Wurtz.
Many arrived in Dobrinka and then went to other colonies. The Dobrinka census
is valuable in connection with Dreispitz and Oberdorf. I prepared a list of
those who immigrated from Dobrinka to Oberdorf. This has been placed in the
VC Dreispitz file and the Dobrinka file.
I have received several inquiries locating people buried in cemeteries in
Kansas and Oklahoma. I have a number of cemetery listings. This summer I
plan on walking through cemeteries in Marion County, Kansas.
Numerous emails have been exchanged concerning the Heinze's that moved from
Oberdorf to Argentina, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. We are seeking more
information from other sources. We’re missing one and maybe two generations
that were born in Oberdorf after 1858 and before 1900. Correspondence is
still ongoing.
E-mails were exchanged with Mabel Heffele of Buenos Aires, Argentina regarding
the Heffele families in the United States and the Heinze families
in Argentina. Mabel/Mable sent me pictures of headstones in the
German cemetery of Ramirez. Pictures of interest were Alexander Quindt, born
1-12-1800 – deceased 8-8-1876, and Maria Heinze, born 4-1-1801- deceased
5-12-1881. Mabel is a
librarian and also an officer in the Volga German organization, Wolgadeutsche
de Escobar. Since Mabel speaks and writes
Spanish, it has been a challenge for both of us to translate
our correspondence using Alta Vista.
I prepared a packet of "Heinze Heritage" that I presented to cousins at the
Heinze Cousins annual meeting in Lucas in June of 2009. This
covered generations of ancestors from 1717 for six generations, the story of
John David Klein and Maria Catherine Heinze, life in Dreispitz, the fate of
those who stayed behind, Andrew G. Keller and Katharina Heinze, the German
Russian in America, letters from Dobrinka to the United States, and surviving
or fleeing from the Russian Revolution.
I did not attend the 2009 AHSGR International Convention in Medicine Hat,
Alberta, Canada. However, plans are being made to attend the convention
in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2010. I am looking forward to visiting the Village
Coordinators, both old and new.
Approximately 2,800 obituaries collected between December 2008 and July 2009
were added to the Lower Volga Obituary Project and furnished to the SOAR
Project. The obituaries are taken from online newspapers in Kansas, Oklahoma,
and Nebraska.
Others are sent to me by many researchers who have also been collecting
obituaries, and from those who want their families on record. You will
find obituaries in the last posting that are for persons born in Russia after
1858, which should be helpful to researchers. I have now collected another
600 plus that will be submitted to the projects after the first of the year
2010.
My prayers and deepest sympathy goes out to the family of Ethel Brack Lock,
who passed away on September 30, 2009. Ethel was a life member of AHSGR.
She sent me hundreds of newspaper clippings of obituaries and other articles
of deaths, which were entered on the website for the Lower Volga Obituary
Project when I started this project in 1998/1999.
Thanks to Gary Marten, Village Coordinator for Dobrinka. I have ordered church
records in Russia for Dobrinka. I look foward to associating with my Dobrinka
and Dreispitz ancestors.
I continue my volunteer work in the library for the AHSGR Golden
Wheat Chapter, and the Midwest Historical Library. I am the Registrar for
the Golden Wheat Chapter. I prepare the Golden Wheat Chapter article
for the Quarterly Newletter issued by Lincoln. New members of AHSGR
are invited to attend our local Chapter Meetings by sending them a special
letter and a copy of our Chapter Newsletter. They are advised that I am
the Village Coordinator for Dreispitz and that I will be happy to help them.
I am continuing research on the Heinze Family, which is my priority. However,
I still collect and store data on the Steinle Family. I welcome all
information.
Rachel E. Smith
Village Coordinator for Dreispitz
and Chairman of the Lower Volga Obituary Project
-
Eckheim, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Eckheim
Eckheim has been rather quiet. I've had one request, for the surname Heide.
I don't have that name in my database, and I wonder if it could be Heidt,
which I suggested, but Joyce Wheeler, a new member I recruited, is sure of the
spelling. Michael Frank has been working on setting up a website for me, and
I have added information for it through the year. I'm not quite ready to
publish the URL just yet, but I'll let this list know as soon as it's up and
running. I've been developing a surname and family file for the village, but
I need more Eckheimers to contribute their information, and I hope this may
stimulate some to do that.
Brent Mai has reported to me that he has nearly completed
the 1857 Eckheim census. As soon as he has it finished, I will be adding
those names to the surname list.
Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge
Village Coordinator for Eckheim & Mueller
- Eigenfeld, North Caucasus
-
Eigenheim, Akkerman, Bessarabia
2009 Village Report for Eigenheim
North Caucasus
No requests or information has come forth this past year. Most welcome would
be any names I could add to my ancestral residents of Eigenheim (N.
Caucasus). Arthur Flegel, in his e-mail dated 11/07/2008 wrote "As VC for the
North Caucasus, not to be confused with the Trans or South Caucasus
communities, we are dealing with a region of at least 120 individual villages
of varying sizes which are reflections of all the original German settlements
throughout Russia. This is an area of a unique history that remains obscure
because thus far we have been unable to acquire church or civil records which
would help identify and connect the population with that of their Volga, Black
Sea, Volhynian, Bessarabian, Chernigov or other origin." My ancestral
Eigenheim was in the vicinity and near another German village, Eigenfeld. In
my grandfather's obituary, it reads: "Friedrick Anhorn was fifth born to
Johannes and Magdalena (Esslinger) Anhorn on the 22nd of February 1873 in the
village of Eigenheim, Kubangebiet, Caucasus, Russia."
Co-Village Coordinator for Eigenheim (North Caucasus)
-
Erlenbach, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Erlenbach
In 2009 there were about 15 inquiries sent to my Erlenbach website e-mail
address. Two of those were from Germany, and I was able to help one person
but not the other. One inquiry came from Argentina, which I forwarded to Gary
Martens after discovering the correct village to be Dobrinka. Of the
remaining inquiries, I was able to actually help only three people and gave
the others suggestions as to where to look further for their ancestor or
village.
One of the German correspondents sent me an article written in Russian.
He said it was about Erlenbach. How can I get it translated? Should I send
it to Headquarters for them to keep on file?
Heidi Becker Langenbeck
Village Coordinator for Erlenbach
- Fischer, Saratov, Volga
-
Friedensdorf
- Friedrichsfeld, North Caucasus
-
Frank-Kolb Village Database, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Database Report for Frank and Kolb
This has been a busy year for the combined Frank-Kolb database. The year
started with Doris asking Kelly and I to serve as co-coordinators for the
villages of Kolb and Frank respectively. Kelly and I are both grateful for
and appreciative of the trust that Doris and Thelma have placed in us.
The combined Frank-Kolb database continues to grow. At this time last year,
the database contained records for approximately 210,000 individuals. As of
this writing, the database contains records for more than 214,000.
We currently use PAF 4, and Doris does the majority of the data entry, though
Kelly and I can also make additions and updates to the database.
Approximately once a month, we synchronize our data. I generate a GEDCOM file
of all of the records that I have changed or added over the previous month. I
send that to Doris along with any photos or documents that I have collected.
Doris sends me back a complete copy of the database, along with a new copy of
the photo collection and any other data collections that have
been updated. The files are too large to e-mail, and it is a hassle to send
CDs back and forth, so we are currently exchanging data using a service called
"Drop-Send". This allows us to securely and immediately transfer large
files.
I have answered inquiries from 49 individuals or families over the last year,
and Kelly reports that she has received 9 inquiries. Thelma reports that she
has had more requests this year than previous years and has been able to help
several people with the new information we have obtained from the Kolb church
records.
Based on the number of e-mails I have archived, it looks like I exchange
approximately a dozen e-mails with each requester as I obtain the information
needed to determine how they fit into the Frank family tree and answer the
questions they have about the materials I send to them. People are generally
looking for help with genealogy research, though I have received a few
requests from people seeking advice about visiting the ancestral villages in
either Germany or Russia (I have made both trips). I have also received a few
requests from people seeking relatives here in the United States.
Most of the requests come from people living in the U.S.
I have also received requests from five people currently living in Germany,
one in Russia, and one in Argentina. A lot of the people who contact me have
already done extensive research and put together large family trees, complete
with photos and documents. They are very generous about sharing the
information they have and are always excited about the amount of data we can
share with them about their ancestors. The inquiries from overseas have given
my limited
German language skills a real workout over the last year. I owe a huge debt
of gratitude to Tanja Schell who has been kind enough to act as translator
when a requestor speaks only Russian. With the information provided by the
descendants of the people who were deported in 1941, we are starting to piece
together what happened to some of those who were left behind when our
ancestors immigrated. This will be something that I will spend a lot of time
on over the next year.
I communicate with people almost entirely by e-mail. I can think of only two
instances over the last year where I talked to someone on the phone and then
sent out materials via US mail. It seems that most of the people who contact
one have found our e-mail addresses on the AHSGR website, or have found the
Frank website maintained by Clarence Kissler and Clarence has referred the
requester to one of us.
I have received several packets of information about new members from
headquarters over the last year. I also search the list of new members in the
AHSGR Newsletter for people who list their ancestral villages as either Frank
or Kolb. I write a letter to each person, letting them know what sort of
information we have available in the Frank/Kolb files and invite them to get
in touch with me if they need any assistance with their genealogy research.
Interestingly, out of the 29 letters I have sent out, I have received only two
inquiries in direct response to the letters. I will continue to write the
letters in spite of the low response rate if only for the simple fact that I
think it is good practice to acknowledge new members. Thelma reports that one
of the new members was someone who had joined because she had sent him
information.
Doris and I both attended the Medicine Hat convention. Those of you who have
attended the last couple of conventions know that Village Night has been
reorganized into Village Area Groups. Our group was the Lutheran villages of
the Frank Canton, and we had 25 people in our group. I think the Village Area
structure works well because participants frequently have ancestors from
several nearby villages.
Doris is currently in the process of entering all of the
available Kolb Church records into the database. I say "available" because
what we have are blocks of records for certain years, not a complete set of
all of the church records. It is certainly better than having nothing at all,
but it is still a very large amount of information. Thelma reports that this
has finally enabled her to determine the names of her ancestors back several
generations
to Germany.
Doris's next big project is entering the available church records for Frank.
This is a more massive project than the Kolb records because Frank had a much
larger population. The major problem here is the substantial cost and time
involved in getting the records translated so that they can be quickly and
easily input.
As Kelly indicated in her Kolb report, a combined Frank-Kolb web site is in
the works. We are looking forward to having that up and running next year.
Submitted by Maggie Hein, on behalf of the Frank & Kolb VCs - Doris Evans,
Thelma Sprenger, Kelly Horst and Maggie Hein.
-
Frankreich, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Frankreich
I took on the duties of the Village Coordinator for Frankreich in January
2009. At that point I started to collect information on Frankreich. I
received AHSGR information, files, links, databases and materials from Dennis
Zitterkopf, Betty Ashley, and Pam Wurst. I have also received valuable
Village Coordinator assistance from Gary Martens, Janet Laubhan Flickinger,
and Hugh Lichtenwald.
The Village of Frankreich had very little activity in 2009. I have had one
query in the past 12 months. I have participated with other Village
Coordinators in ordering records from the Volgograd Archives.
Frankreich had a 1912 population of 1000, 1103 in 1926. The Frankreich GED
file has 7 Entries listed with the surnames of Wunsch and Messerschmidt. No
1852 census exists.
My only regret is that with all of the startup activity in establishing a
source of information on the villages, I have not been able to develop a
website.
Ten census records (1850 and 1857) on different villages (which did not
include Frankreich) were purchased from Brent Mai.
I have submitted some obituaries to the obituary project.
Leland Riffel
Village Coordinator for Frankreich
-
Galka, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Galka
I took over as the Village Coordinator for Galka in May 2009, and at that
point started to build a Galka database. Besides census information, I
received information from Jayne Dye and a database created and maintained by
Kathy O’Malley which contained all 1798 census information for all villages in
the Lower Volga Village Project.
The Galka database continues to grow in size. The Galka database is a Master
Genealogist database, with 8600 people, 9000 names and 13,000 events. Galka
surnames include the following: Arne, Arndt, Arni, Bartelson, Bauer, Baum,
Beichel, Bender, Berg, Bergmann, Berhard, Bernhardt, Bickart, Bloch, Block,
Brunner, Busch, Dalinger, Dahlinger, Denner, Ebel, Egeus, Elsasser, Elzow,
Engel, Erbenson, Fisher, Fischer, Flor, Flohr, Frank, Fried, Fuchs, Gâckel,
Gaeckel, Gebel, Geier, Gelwer, Helwer, Gemsemer, Glaser, Göbel, Goebel, Gras,
Grass, Grunner, Hahn, Heinz, Heintz, Hellebach, Hirsch, Hirschbeck,
Hoffmann, Holstein, Just, Kandelin, Keil, Kerbs, Körbs, Klaus, Krebs, Knetzer,
Ladner, Lorenz, Malm, Martin, Meer, Mengin, Meng, Muller, Mueller, Nagel,
Nickel, Nikkel, Nordberg, Olf, Ott, Popp, Reich, Reis, Reise, Ruf, Ruff,
Schanzenbach, Schenc, Schick, Schimpf, Schmidt, Schneider, Schott,
Sinner, Spring, Steinbecher, Steinbrecher, Steinert, Stürtz, Stuertz, Thaut,
Vökler, Voekler, Waltz, Wegert, Wegner, Wenzel, Weisheim, Wiesner, Weismer,
Wunsch, Wünsch, Ziegler.
The Galka mailing list is moderately active. A number of queries were
received in the past year from people in the US, Canada, Russia, Germany, and
Argentina. I continue to help people with their family history in any way
that I can, and add family information that everyone provides, to the Galka
database. A Galka web site was created earlier in the year for the prior
Galka VC. Queries are answered using family group sheets that are uploaded to
a folder on the Galka web site at:
http://www.galkagr.org.
A copy of the available church birth records for Galka, covering 1863 – 1884,
have been ordered from the Volgograd archives. Purchase of these records was
funded by the Lower Volga Village Project, and by many people researching
ancestors from Galka. Those records are expected sometime in the first
quarter of 2010. While we wait for these records, I am adding about 700
people from birth records I had previously purchased for the Bernhardt surname
from Galka.
Gary Martens
Village Coordinator for Galka
-
Glückstal Colonies Research Association
GCRA Annual Report for the AHSGR VC Program
The Glückstal
Colonies Research Association currently has ca. 370 members, who receive our
two annual Newsletters (totaling 64 pages). An additional 21 German-Russian
organizations, genealogical societies, and research libraries receive
complimentary copies of our Newsletters. An annual financial report is
distributed to the membership. New members receive a list of members, and
lists of the surnames each member is researching – one organized by members
names and one organized by research surnames. Updated versions of these lists
are also available on an annual basis to members who request a copy. New
members also receive a list of surnames found in the Revision Lists for the
Glückstal Colonies;
as well as information about, and addresses for, German-Russian Genealogical
and Historical Societies, Resource Organizations, and websites of interest to
descendants of the Glückstal Colonies.
We continue to
receive frequent requests for research assistance from new and experienced
researchers. Many of them come directly to GCRA headquarters. Others come to
the individuals who maintain our master databases, or are posted on our
listserv. Those databases (Points of Origin, GEDCOM. and extractions from Ship
Passenger Lists) that we originally published in 2004 and updated in our 2008
book, make it possible to answer many of the requests via those sources. Our
2008 book added another database – extractions from the recently available
Martyrology records from ca. 1936-1938. In other instances the request is
posted on our listserv, if it has not already appeared there. Our publications
are also an important source of easily available information.
One of our recent
interesting inquiries was from the Casa Teutsch Haus (the Central Archive of
the Evangelical Church A. C. of Romania). They requested supporting
information for an individual who was applying for citizenship in Germany,
based upon ancestry in Klein Bergdorf (a daughter colony of the Glückstal
Colonies). They requested verification that Klein Bergdorf did exist as a
village, that the applicant’s father was born there in 1926, and verification
that the family did live there.
We were able to
provide them information that certified that the village did exist (citing
references in various published monographs); as well as a map showing the
location of the village along with its coordinates, excerpts from a Resident
List for ca. 1941 compiled after WW II from memory by a former resident (it
listed the family, including the father and his birth year); a village map,
representing the village ca. 1944 (again drawn from memory) that clearly shows
the family farmstead; extractions from the Einwandererzentralstelle (EWZ)
records of the family application for German citizenship in 1944 (including
the father and his birth place and birth date); and the Point of Origin
information for the family (originally from Neckarwestheim/Heilbronn,
Württemberg, who immigrated to Bergdorf, South Russia, in 1831).
We continue to
purchase copies of available original documents from archives in South Russia.
In the case of Russian documents, one of our members will provide a
translation, or we will purchase a translation. German documents are
translated by our membership. GCRA subsequently publishes the documents (with
commentary) in book form, on disc, or in our Newsletter.
We are currently
involved in a major revision of our website:
www.glueckstal.org which will provide general background information on
the mother colonies, daughter colonies and chutors of the Glücksttal Colones;
two indices of our Newsletters (by issue and by topic), information on our
publications, as well as a collection of maps, and a listing of Glückstal
Colonies research sources, and general Germans from Russia research sources.
We anticipate that it will be online shortly.
Submitted on behalf
of Margaret Freeman
Homer Rudolf
-
Gnadenfeld, (Neu-Moor/Moor), Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Gnadenfeld
Gnadenfeld, (Russian name Kirovskoye), small "daughter" colony, is located in
the Samara Province, on the weisenseite (meadow side) of the Volga, (Stumpp,
District of Krasny-Kut).
Due to its small population, I do not receive many inquiries.
This past year I assisted one person researching a Gnadenfeld family, but have
not heard back from him.
I assisted six families from Moor.
I am awaiting the completion of the translation of 1857 Samara films, so I can
bridge the gap between the families who remained in Moor and those who moved
to Gnadenfeld in 1855, when Gnadenfeld was organized.
I continue to collect surnames from Gnadenfeld and the "mother" colony of
Moor, including ship records, declarations of intent, naturalization records,
census records and obituaries.
Irma A. Waggoner
Village Coordinator for Gnadenfeld
-
Goebel, Saratov, Volga
2009 Annual Village
Report for Goebel
I took on the duties of the Village Coordinator for
Goebel in September 2009, and I have started a village chart in Family Tree
Maker 2010 format. I received AHSGR information, files, links, databases and
materials in addition to the 1798, 1816/1834 and 1850/1857 census reports I
had already obtained from AHSGR, Rosemary Larson and Brent Mai respectively.
The Village of Goebel has had little activity to date. I have not had any
direct inquiries, but have been in contact with some other VCs with
Goebel-related questions and some common surname contacts I had made prior to
becoming Village Coordinator. I did receive a forwarded inquiry just today
from Argentina who may have a Goebel connection. Thanks, Rosemary! I hope to
participate in
the coming year with fellow VC's in obtaining records from the Volgograd
Archives.
I am currently working on researching the German origins of several of the
Goebel first settlers and have been ordering microfilms and reviewing them as
quickly as I can. I hope to finish entering all the census information into
the village chart in the coming year and pursue getting a website established
for Goebel village.
Ben Markel
Village Coordinator for Goebel
-
Graf, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Graf
I received a number of e-mails from Germany and South
America for families looking for connections. Currently I am trying to get
the 1878 Graf Family List, one family name at a time. While I was in Russia I
tried to visit the colony, but was taken to Neu-Obermunjou instead.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Graf
- Güldendorf, Grossliebental, Odessa, Kherson
-
2009 Village Report for Herzog
I don't have much to report as a Village Coordinator for
Herzog this year except for the following:
I've been a poor Village Coordinator in 2009 but plan to be a much better one
in 2010.
I have answered queries I have received, but not really
kept good track of the numbers. I have already started working on a project
for 2010 and hope to have it done to be able to share at the convention this
summer. I am cross-referencing and compiling a single document encompassing
all Herzog inhabitants from all Russian censuses for which I have access. It
has been very interesting already and I can't wait to see what else I uncover.
Jerry Braun
Village Coordinator for Herzog
-
Hoffnungstal, Akkerman, Bessarabia
-
Holstein, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Holstein
We are processing the information in the birth, marriage, and death records
(1800-1849) for Holstein.
Ed Hoak and Donna Weiss contributed financially in purchasing the records.
Maria Leimann read and computerized the records. David Nelson is presently
connecting families using available primary sources (1st settlers list, 1798,
1834, 1850, 1858 census, and the church records).
David discovered the Holstein birth records were not always recorded under the
correct year. For instance, several 1819 birth records were recorded with the
1813 births and several 1816 records were recorded with the 1819 records.
Copies of the original 1834, 1850, and 1858 Holstein census were placed in the
AHSGR library. The translated census can be purchased from AHSGR.
Edith Bottsford
Village Coordinator for Holstein
-
Huck, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Huck
2009 was a "good" year in terms of correspondence with
persons interested in the village. I received 35 inquiries from persons in
the US, Germany and Argentina (thank goodness for on-line translation help).
The gap in Huck records from 1858 to 1888 still hasn't been resolved but I
continue to think, someday, that will no longer be a brick wall for Huck
researchers. Argentina continues to be a very active German-Russian area with
numerous (often large) village and family reunion events.
Another highlight for the year…I (finally) completed the entry of all the
available published data for the village into the Huck database using the
Pleve Einwanderung volume 2 and our four census records. This resulted
in almost 28800 names. There are some duplicate entries because I began the
database
using GEDCOM files I received from researchers plus Pleve charts for which I
had access. Now that I've finished the work I certainly would change the
process if I were starting anew. Weeding out the duplicates is a time
consuming task. One thing became evident. The name Katharina was very common
for women and without surnames being provided in most censuses it is
impossible to determine a family relationship for a Katharina in a marriage.
I never received anything from the student at the University of Missouri,
Kansas City (UMKC) I mentioned last year so I don't know if he decided on a
different research topic or he forgot his offer to send me a copy.
I contact each person listed in the "New Member" section of the AHSGR
Newsletter who indicates an interest in village Huck but am surprised how few
respond to my offer to assist them with their research. Some have submitted
Family Group Sheet information to Lincoln and I receive copies of those for
additions to the database.
Dennis Zitterkopf
Huck Village Coordinator
-
Husaren, Saratov, Volga
-
Hussenbach, Linevo Ozero, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Hussenbach (Linevo Osero)
I became the Village Coordinator for
Hussenbach (LO) in March 2009, after the passing of Louise Potter. From AHSGR
I received a GEDCOM of people of Hussenbach and I purchased copies of the
Hussenbach Newsletter. Frank McLean sent me a CD of Louise’s Database. I
received two boxes of documents from her daughter, Kathy Covert, in August.
Brent Mai also brought me a suitcase full of records from Yakima and I
purchased copies of the 1834 and 1857 Hussenbach Censuses from him. Doris
Evans sent me nine CD’s of the Hussenbach Birth, Marriage and Death records
they purchased from Volgograd.
I began a new database with the information from AHSGR. I entered all
the Hussenbach people I could find from the Surname charts available on the
SOAR database. Next I entered/matched the Hussenbach people found in Brent
Mai’s: 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga. After that
I entered/matched the data found in Brent’s 1834 Census from Hussenbach. Then
I translated the Volgograd 1822-1838 marriage records and entered that data.
(Some of these will be updated when I get a more refined translation of some
of this information.) Currently I am working on the 1818-1838 Births
translation. I also have someone working on the translation of the Volgograd
records that are in Russian, from about 1890
forward. The database currently has 12,000 people in it.
Since Hussenbach was not included in the Einwanderung in das
Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 book series, I am working with Dick Kraus on a First
Settlers Origins List using the Surname Charts and other data.
I developed a new Hussenbach web page:
http://hussenbach.weebly.com/. I
have contacted many places trying to get them to replace Louise’s old web
page, since it is no longer viable, with my new page, not all attempts have
been successful.
I have received a number of e-mail inquiries including two in Russian,
some from Germany, South America, Canada and quite a few in the USA. Some I
have been able to make a connection and have supplied them with a Family
History Report. I am sure as I get through the 1857 Census and into more of
the recent data on the CD’s, I will be able to add more connections.
Susan Hopp Nakaji
Village Coordinator for Hussenbach (Linevo Osero)
-
2009 Village Report for Johannestal (Beresan, South Russia)
During 2009 I continued fielding queries for information and I received about
six queries. I translated a few odd leftovers that were not translated from
the 1899-1919 St. Petersburg records that were sent to us from the Nikoaeve
archive.
I updated the Johannestal web page (http://members.cox.net/beresan)
to include a short section on the Johannestal Lutheran church. My friend and
cousin, Gary Schortzman commissioned an artist to draw what the church looked
like before it was destroyed by the Soviets. I included this picture on the
web page with Gary¹s kind permission.
Ray Heinle
Village Coordinator for Johannestal
-
Josefstal / Schwabe Khutor, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Josefstal
This last year has not seen a major increase in contacts
for information relating to Josefstal. However, it has been a good year for
getting our Josefstal data out:
The Josefstal web site continues to get a large amount of visits. I try to
get historical material out on a
regular basis. The Josefstal site now also is iPhone and Smartphone
compatible.
I've published the complete Josefstal database on Rootsweb. It is located at:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gerk1
The Maus Bremen passenger list site was a goldmine. Over 200 Josefstal
residents traveled to South America in October of 1908 alone.
My cousin in Germany and I have written and published a book on the history of
Josefstal:
Das Leben an der Wolga:
Chronik der Kolonie Josefstal Kanton Erlenbach
It is a hardcover book in German, 172 pages. It only
took thirty years to compile! The availability of
village files in Volgograd has been a huge blessing. Cost of the book is
$45.00. You can e-mail me if you are interested. Someday we hope to get it
translated into English and maybe Spanish.
Ted Gerk
Village Coordinator for Josefstal
-
Jost, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Jost
It’s been a quiet year in the Village of Jost. There have been several
requests for
information. Most exciting has been the number of inquiries that continue to
come from Germany.
With the recent acquisition of Jost Census Records through 1857, the Jost
database has grown considerably. Many descendants are now only one generation
from linking their last known ancestor to the village records. I am also in
the process of adding Jost surnames that may have moved to or from adjacent
Kanton Kukkus villages.
The Jost website, freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jost, has been updated
with research materials and contributions of family photographs.
I look forward to the 2010 convention in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I hope to
meet more Jost descendants.
Beth Mueller-Rohn Davenport
Village Coordinator for Jost
-
2009 Village Report for Kamenka
Some of the names about whom I received queries are: Weiman, Roth, Meier,
Vogel, Froshauer, Schwindt, Hohl, Kuhn, Hoffman, and Wiesner. An unusual
e-mail request came from New Zealand requesting information for a friend
living in Brazil.
E-mails have been exchanged with a cousin in Russia concerning my maternal
grandfather who lived in Katherinestadt and the village of Zug, Russia. Since
he made a Russian genealogical website this year, he has been busy with
keeping up with requests. He has posted information about the various Volga
villages. Contact me if you would like to see his website.
The LDS microfilms of baptisms, marriages and deaths of the Catholic Volga
Wiesenseite that came to light recently may help to fill the gap that exists
between the 1857/1858 village censuses and the time when many of our ancestors
left the Volga villages at the turn of the century.
The 1834 and 1850 Kamenka censuses are available. The 1857 Kamenka census is
nowhere to be found in Russia.
Rosemary Larson
Village Coordinator for Kamenka
- Kassel, Glückstal, Odessa, Kherson
-
Kautz, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Kautz
This year was a somewhat quiet one for Kautz. I was in contact with over 30
individuals regarding Kautz genealogy. Charts and reports were provided for
most from the Kautz database which now contains 23,870 individuals. Thirteen
CD's of 'Unsere Leute von Kautz' (Our People from Kautz), release 5.0, have
been provided to those with an interest in Kautz genealogy during the year.
The fund to acquire Kautz Parish (Church) records is growing. Approximately
3,900 pages of these records (births, deaths, marriages) for Kautz are known
to exist in the Volgograd archives. Current price is $2.00 per page, as I
understand it. These pages are written in German. Hopefully, I'll be able to
acquire a part, if not all, in 2010. I'm not sure if these records will
provide a clue as to village origination in Germany for the Kautz founding
families, but I am willing to delay further reading of LDS microfilm for
German towns with my known surnames, until I know for sure. Microfilm reading
has not been too productive thus far. At the least, these records should fill
in the wide gaps of knowledge of the founders of Kautz and their descendants
through to the 1920's, especially after the 1857 census.
Again I wish to thank those who contribute obituaries to the Listserv and to
me personally. Henry Schmick, in particular, has regularly provided
information on 2009 deaths which consistently hit against my Kautz database.
I attended an open-house at Concordia University in September for the new
Center for Volga German Studies. The facility is quite a statement to the
dedication and resolve in furthering Volga German genealogy. My thanks go to
all who played an important part, especially Brent Mai.
Michael Frank
Village Coordinator for Kautz
- Klosterdorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
- Köhler, Saratov, Volga\
- Kolb, Saratov, Volga
- Konstantinovka, Samara, Volga
-
Krasnojar, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Reinwald and Krasnoyar
Activity for these two villages was very limited in the beginning of the
year. The only significant activity in the beginning of the year was a
meeting in Chicago with five other Village Coordinators. It was a productive
meeting. We all learned what each other has done in the past and all learned
ways we could work together. I think it is extremely important that all the
Village Coordinators can work together. In the first nine months I received a
few queries and have been working with those people. I made an extra effort
to contact any new members that had been listed in the AHSGR publications.
All of the documentation I had collected over the years has now been scanned
to files and copies of those files are stored in a safe deposit box.
Since retiring, I have more time to devote to research. In late October, I
started receiving e-mails from Russia and Germany from people who are
descendants of Reinwald and Krasnoyar. I was able to help several of them
and, in turn, they provided a wealth of information. I am now organizing what
I have received and am trying to pass this information to families of the same
name that are members. I know of several members who will be delighted to
find out that they have living relatives in Germany and Russia. The people who
have contacted me have apparently given my name out and since then I have
received at least one e-mail a day. Some of the e-mails I have received do
not really pertain to either Reinwald or Krasnoyar so I have forwarded those
emails to the appropriate Village Coordinators.
Susie Weber Hess
Village Coordinator for Reinwald and Krasnoyar
-
Kratzke, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Kratzke
This year has been perhaps a bit less active than past years. Many requests
are received from researchers currently living in Germany, some from those
remaining in Russia. Copies of parish records have been obtained for Kratzke,
Dietel, and Merkel and are currently being translated under the leadership of
Dr. Dona Reeves-Marquardt.
I had a wonderful opportunity to speak at the Bundestreffen of the
Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland near Dusseldorf, Germany, in June.
My family and I also had a wonderful dinner with researcher Sergej Kindsvater
in Munich.
We lost a couple of key Kratzke researchers this year. Co-Village
Coordinator for many
years, and a mentor since I was in high school, Ethel Brack Lock, 89, died on
September 30th in Kansas. The Rev. Louis Fabrizius, a speaker at numerous
international and regional AHSGR events, died August 18th in Bakersfield,
California, at the age of 94. Those of us from the close-knit and very
inter-related Kratzke family miss them greatly.
Brent Mai
Kratzke Colony Research Coordinator
AHSGR Life Member since 1983
- Kronental, North Caucasus
-
Kukkus, Samara, Volga
- Kulm, Bessarabia
-
Lauwe, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Lauwe
During 2009 I continued fielding queries for information and I received about
four queries. Since Brent Mai published the LDS film numbers for the 1850 and
1857 censuses, I ordered those films from the LDS and digitized the censuses
for those years. Those data I passed on to Brent. I also translated the 1850
census and passed those results to Brent, who checked my translations for
accuracy. These two censuses have been published.
I updated the Lauwe web page (http://members.cox.net/lauwe)
to include a head-of-household index of the 1850 census. I also included
links to the Center for Volga German Studies, thus hoping to encourage the
purchasing of Brent¹s census publications.
An additional finding was that I checked the 1834, 1850, and 1859 against a
Pleve chart of my Goeringer family. Pleve¹s accuracy was excellent and I
found only a few instances where individuals might have been missed.
Ray Heinle
Village Coordinator for Lauwe on the Volga
-
Leichtling, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village
Report for Leichtling
This was a very quiet year for Leichtling. We have had a few inquiries this
year. I
believe the posting of all the information I have collected on Leichtling
(including the 1834 and 1850 census records) to the website has allowed many
to answer their own questions. There seems to be less interaction with me and
it is more convenient for them. I'm still trying to decide if that is good or
bad.
The website gets a good amount of hits (views), so I know people are actively
working in the village. I continued to work with a couple of people and have
added names to the village database which is also online.
Darryl Boyd
Village Coordinator for Leichtling
- Leipzig, Bessarabia
- Lillienfeld, North Caucasus
.
-
Louis, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Louis
This was not a very busy year for the village of Louis. I received two
inquiries, but I was unable to find either surname. I sent some of them
onward to Kevin Rupp, as my reference library is limited to census from the
First Settlers Lists through the 1850's. As in the some of the Mariental
requests, they are looking for information from the later 1800's. I feel that
I need to update my reference material whenever possible in order to be able
to answer some of these later queries. This also depends on my financial
resources.
I had received a CD containing Kansas Catholic Volga Germans Obituaries
from Frank Jacobs and Gary Ubert. I am working on inserting them into my PAF
data base . This will be an ongoing project, as they are updating their list
with each of their Chapter Newsletters.
Thelma Mills
VC Coordinator for Louis
- Luzern, Samara, Volga
-
Mariental, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Mariental
There have been about 35 requests for information of the
Mariental Village this year. Some of them were received during my summer in
Kansas, and I had to get back to them after I arrived home where all of my
reference material is stored. I can only take three large volumes along with
me, as I am limited for what we can haul in the car for our summer trip. I
feel several of them were very understanding of my unusual predicament. Plus
there were Kansas storms which knocked me off the Internet for about two weeks
each time. I have found it to be an interesting year in spite of these snags.
I had received a CD containing Kansas Catholic Volga Germans Obituaries
from Frank Jacobs and Gary Ubert. I am working on inserting them into my PAF
data base. This will be an ongoing project, as they are updating their list
with each of their Chapter Newsletters. What a great Newsletter it is.
Speaking of newsletters, (my favorite task as VC), I have been gathering
photos and stories from our people to publish in the newsletter, and this has
been another very interesting portion of my Newsletter on Mariental, Louis,
and Chasselois. It is great to be able to put a face to many of these names
and to learn about their lives and searches for their ancestors.
I was unable to attend the convention in this summer. I feel so left out of
things when I am unable to attend. Hopefully I will be able to attend this
next summer in Lincoln. Hopefully, my daughter/VC assistant will be able to
go also. These are the most informative and fun conventions we have
attended. Everyone should attend. Volga German people are FUN!
Thelma Mills
VC Coordinator for Mariental
- Markosowka, North Caucasus
-
Messer, Saratov, Volga
2009 Annual Village
Report for Messer
There is no VC report for the village of Messer as Bob Weigand died suddenly
this fall. He was also the President of Greater Seattle Chapter of AHSGR.
I do want to advise that we have talked to Bob's family and when someone steps
forward to take over as Messer's Village Coordinator, we will be able to
download his database and get his Messer records.
Please let me know when we have a replacement.
Jean A. Roth. Village Coordinator for Messer
Vice President - Greater Seattle Chapter of AHSGR
- Molochna Colony Mennonite Villages
-
Moor, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Moor
2009 was an active year for the Moor group. We received a number of email
requests from Russia, Germany, South America, Canada, and the U.S. We were
able to help many of these researchers to trace their ancestors, sometimes
back to the roots in Germany or to others researching the same surnames.
The addendum to the 1857 census of which Brent Mai kindly informed us was
available was added to our collection of Moor related documents. The text
lists those colonists
who were sent to daughter colonies. The census needs to be translated.
The German origins of a few more Moor settlers were added to the known list.
This included the families of Georg Eberhard and Nicolaus Eckel. We are
looking for help finding more ancestors in Germany.
On the down side, my heavy work load all year has prevented publishing any
new issues of the Balzer/Moor newsletter. I am looking for a new general
editor.
Wayne H. Bonner
Village Coordinator
for Moor
-
Mueller, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Mueller
I was asked by Dennis this year if I would take over the Mueller VC post, but
I have nothing new to report for Mueller. It seems as though so much research
has already been done for this village, I'm not sure what more I can do right
now. I am waiting to learn if a census is available for later than 1857.
Most people seem to need the later years, so they can connect all the dots in
their family trees. There is a multitude of information
available on the web for Mueller. Among some of the sites are:
http://www.webbitt.com/volga/lower/muellerpics.htm
This is the documentation by Brian Ebel of a trip he
made to Mueller in 2000. He has
posted several photos as well as the story of his trip.
http://www.webbitt.com/volga/lower/mueller.html
The information from the
Lower Volga Project, and includes a family list of first settlers.
Doing a Google search will help a person find even more. I plan to set up a
Mueller website sometime next year, and will have links on it to other Mueller
sites.
Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge
Village Coordinator for Mueller & Eckheim
-
Mühlhausendorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
-
-
Neu-Galka, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Neu-Galka
Neu-Galka, Samara, Volga
I took on the duties as the Village Coordinator for Neu-Galka in January 2009,
and at that point started to collect information on the village. I received
AHSGR information, files, links, databases and materials from Dennis
Zitterkopf, Betty Ashley, and Pam Wurst. I have also received valuable VC
assistance from Gary Martens, Janet Laubhan Flickinger, and Hugh Lichtenwald.
The Village of Neu-Galka had very little activity in
2009. I have had twelve inquiries in the past 12 months. I have participated
with other VC's in ordering records from the Volgograd Archives. Ordering
these records will have a double purpose for me personally. Besides
establishing records for the villages, they will also hopefully answer
relationship questions on my ancestral family surnames of Riffel, Hanschu,
Langhofer, Lorei and Weimer with connections to Galka and/or Neu Galka (or any
other Volga village where they resided) after 1857. We were able to connect
with three descendants of Frederick Riffel in trying to sort out the makeup of
Riffel line from Russia to Argentina. We were able to connect with the
descendants of Johann Heinrich and Georg Heinrich Riffel in trying to sort out
the makeup of the Riffel relationships in Marion and Dickinson County Kansas
from Volga Russia.
Origination of Neu-Galka
The largest movement of families took place in 1860 when
610 people from Galka and 20 people from Dobrinka founded the village of
Neu-Galka. Neu-Galka started out with about 650 people in 1857, and had a
population of 2377 in 1912. Subsequent to 1857, there were approx 25-50
births per year which were all listed on four to five pages. Neu-Galka GED
file has two entries with the surnames of Siebenlist and Schimpf. An 1860
census of Neu-Galka is currently being translated, currently estimated to be
available sometime in 2010 or later. The church birth records are available
for Neu-Galka covering the years 1902-1907.
My only regret is with all of the startup activity in
establishing a source of information on the villages, I have not been able to
develop a website.
Information Riffel Surname Background
The main origination of the Riffel line is the Karlsruhe
area in Germany. In the movement of Riffel families, some went eastward to the
Volga Russia area and later to North America, some directly to North America,
some to South America (Argentina and Brazil) and some from North America to
South America (Argentina and Brazil).
A Riffel family descendant in Mexico researching the
Riffel surname has identified the oldest Riffel in the family known as Johann
Bernhard Riffel, born 1636. The Riffel family surnames in the town of
Karlsdorf, Germany have published in 2003 a family historical book that I am
trying to obtain.
A Riffel family descendant in South Africa researching
the Riffel surname inquired about which branch of the Riffel's he belonged to
and the family genealogical relationship that exists.
Ten census records (1850 and 1857) on different villages
were purchased from Brent Mai.
I have submitted some obituaries to the obituary project.
Leland Riffel
Village Coordinator for Neu-Galka
- Neudorf, Glückstal, Odessa, South Russia
-
Neu-Moor, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Neu-Moor
Neu-Moor (Russian name Pogranichnyy), was a "grand-daughter" colony, formed in
the 1920's by people living in the "mother" colony of Moor. It was located in
the Balzer District on the Bergseite (west or hilly side) of the Volga River,
and was approximately 30 - 40 miles from the "mother" colony of Moor.
Very little information is available on Neu-Moor. So far there has been only
one person seeking information on this colony.
Irma A. Waggoner
Village Coordinator for Gnadenfeld
-
Neu-OberMonjou, Samara, Volga, Russia
2009 Village Report for Neu-Obermunjou
I have not had any inquires this year for the colony of Neu-Obermunjou,
which is a daughter colony of Obermunjou.
I was able to visit the colony unexpectedly when I went to Russia with the
AHSGR delegation this September. I then asked to be taken to Graf since it
was close to Rohleder and Herzog, but it seemed that it was taking a long time
to get there. When we arrived we walked around the village and we saw a group
of people walking down the street. A man was playing an accordion and all
were singing and dancing. My interpreter told me that this was a third day of
a three-day wedding. The groom was dressed as the bride and the bride
was dressed as the groom, lipstick and all. A lady came up to me and offered
me a shot glass and a piece of bread. My interpreter told me that this was
part of the local wedding tradition.
We then found an older couple and spent some time inside their home. She had
been a teacher for many years. After we talked for a while she proceeded
to take us to an older building that was used as a “Club”, an area where the
whole colony socialized. In this building they kept a historical record of
the colony, which looked as if the book started in about the 1950’s. They
read me a newspaper clipping from the book which told about the area. Graf
was nowhere listed in the article, not even by its Russian name. I was a
little disappointed when we left that it was not Graf. While we were leaving
I was thinking about the names that were listed and remember the name of Neu-Obermunjou
in Russia. It was a very nice surprise, visiting the colony where my Wolf
family lived before they left for the United
States.
Our next scheduled stop was Louis. When we got there I must have asked my
interpreter if this really was Louis, and she said yes. I was surprised to
see how large the colony/town really was, thinking
that this was where my grandmother left in 1909 as she immigrated to the
United States.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Neu-Obermunjou
- Neu-Schilling I and II, Samara, Volga
-
Neu-Straub, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Neu-Straub
I had several inquiries from Germany. One requested a copy of the book I
compiled on the Keil name. I sent it to him but have not heard if it was any
help.
I would like to hear from others who had family in Neu-Straub. To date, I
have only two names but no information about their family.
I still have a Confirmation Certificate on Hilda Elisabetha Nuss, dated 11th
April 1909 from a church in Fillmore County, Nebraska. The Pastor was Michael
Hofer. This is printed in German and a beautiful "Konfirmations-Schein". I
purchased it some time ago just because it was in German and so beautiful. If
this lady is part of your family, I would be happy to send it to you.
Lillian Larwig
Village Coordinator for Neu-Straub
-
Neu-Weimar, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Neu-Weimar
I
took on the duties of the Village Coordinator for Neu-Weimar in January 2009,
and at that point started to collect information on the village. I received
AHSGR information, files, links, databases and materials from Dennis
Zitterkopf, Betty Ashley, and Pam Wurst. I have also received valuable VC
assistance from Gary Martens, Janet Laubhan Flickinger, and Hugh Lichtenwald.
The
village of Neu-Weimar has very little activity. I have had seven inquiries in
the past twelve months. I have participated with other VC’s in ordering
records from the Volgograd Archives.
In 1912, Neu-Weimar had a
population of 2298 and in 1926 a population of 2044. Weimar [for Neu-Weimar]
GED file has 129 Entries listed with the surnames of Bauer, Bischoff, Fass,
Flath, Fox, Garlack, Gerlock, Graf, Gross, Heffel, Heinze, Kerbs, Krenz,
Maier, Meyer, Miller, Moore or Mohr, Neiwert, Neiwirth, Neuwerth, Rusch,
Scheidt, Schmidt, Schneider, Spindler, Utz, Weichhold, and Weimer. No 1852
census exists.
My only regret is that with all of the startup activity in establishing a
source of information on the villages, I have not been able to develop a
website.
Ten
census records (1850 and 1857) on different villages were purchased from Brent
Mai. These did not include Neu-Weimar.
I
have submitted some obituaries to the obituary project.
Leland Riffel
Village Coordinator for Neu-Weimar
-
Neu-Yagodnaya, Samara, Volga
-
Nieder-Monjou, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Nieder-Monjou
During the past year we received nine queries concerning the following
Nieder-Monjou surnames: ANSCHUETZ, BISTERFELDT, EURICH, HERBER, HILGENBERG,
MUELLER, RIEB, RIEFFER, ROSENGREN and SCHAEFER.
We added quite a few items to the Nieder-Monjou web site. These include many
photographs taken in Russia of individuals from Nieder-Monjou. A few of the
photographs were taken in Siberia and Kazakhstan after the exile of the Volga
Germans. We added a "Scheine" page with some examples of birth certificates
and confirmation certificates. Also added was a German translation of the
1857 Nieder-Monjou revision list.
Michael Grau and Steven Grau
Village Coordinators for Nieder-Monjou
-
North Caucasus
-
-
Ober-Monjou, Samara, Volga
2009 Village
Report for Obermunjou
The year 2009 was a good year for receiving information
and photos, especially. I have made contact with a number of researches from
Germany who all had requested information from me this year and in return,
have been able to share family information back and forth. I probably
received about ten e-mails or so, for people wanting information about
Obermunjou. Some of these people have sent me their genealogies. From these,
I am able to make some connections of some of the people who stayed in
Russia. I have baptism records from various years that are not complete from
1821 – 1918, marriages 1839-1911, and deaths 1850-1918.
On my trip with the delegation from AHSGR to Russia and the archives I was
able to look at one book of the Tirspol records and it just happens to be the
deaths from Obermunjou in 1896. Unfortunately, it does not look very feasible
to get whole records from the archives, just bits and pieces.
I received a number a letters that were sent from family members
in Obermunjou, Russia to family members in Ellis County, Kansas from Frank
Jacobs. I really appreciate these letters.
While I was in Russia I was not able to visit the colony of Obermunjou, but
accidentally stumbled into the colony of Neu-Obermunjou, which is a daughter
colony of Obermunjou.
I have also received a number of e-mails from South American and have been
exchanging information.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Obermunjou
-
Odessa, Odessa, South Russia
2009 Village Report for Odessa
Enquiries this year have been few and far between. I continue to work on the
master list that I started last year.
Ella M. Melik
Village Coordinators for Odessa
-
Old Swedish Villages
2009 Annual Village Report for Old Swedish Villages
Alt-Schwedendorf, Mühlhausendorf, Schlangendorf and
Klosterdorf
I received numerous inquiries, mainly from people in
Canada and one from Germany, on family names of Buch, Meier/Maier, Rexin,
Oppenlaender, Bisslinger, Ehmann, Fahlmann, Frei, Tauberger, Geissler,
Glubrecht, Stuhlberg, Netzel and Kowalsky. With the help of fellow
researchers of these villages I have helped them to further their research.
I have referred these researchers to the on-line
microfilms that are now available on the LDS website FamilySearch.org where
they have had quite a lot of success finding their relatives in the Lutheran
Parish Records.
Karen Wright
Village Coordinator for the Old Swedish Villages
Alt-Schwedendorf,
Mühlhausendorf, Schlangendorf and Klosterdorf
- Orlovskoye, Samara, Volga
-
2009 Village Report for Paulskoye
It has been a good year in terms of inquiries and data collection. While we
await Brent Mai's translation of the Paulskoye 1850 census (LDS #2362213) and
Paulskoye 1857 census, I can now, since my last report was filed, report the
1857 census revision is located on LDS microfilm #2373695.
I received a query from Siberian-born Katharina Gomer of Germany concerning
the BARTH surname. Through our exchange and subsequent research I have learned
that a daughter colony named Lilienfeld was in part settled by villagers from
Paulskoye. Her ancestors also hailed from Orlovskoye.
Jim Parsonage, Village Coordinator for Schaffhausen, and I studied the BALLART
and SPAHNAGEL families as part of a large contingent of temporary settlers who
wintered in Paulskoye in 1767/68. Some of these wintering colonists
later founded Schaffhausen. Pleve has noted in his writings that some
villages reportedly founded in 1767 were in truth settled in 1768 due to
the lack of initial housing for colonists. I believe it is possible to
reconstruct a partial First Settlers List for villages lacking a FSL by using
the FSLs of Paulskoye, Beauregard, Boaro, Katharinenstadt, Philippfeld, Kaneau,
and Nieder Monjou, among others (as they had "wintering" colonists), as well
as the 1798 Volga German census collection, including its Movement Tables.
George Valko of Chicago, Illinois sought information about several Paulskoye
SCHWABAUER families here in the US and how they were related to the Krasnojar
SCHWABAUER families; the short answer is that the Paulskoye SCHWABAUERs are a
branch of the Krasnojar SCHWABAUERs.
A query from Siberian born Eugen Reinhardt of Germany led to a search for LENK
and ALBACH relatives. As a result I have learned a great deal about the LENKs
of Bellwood, Illinois and the ALBACHs of Kilwinning, Saskatchewan, Canada
based on archival documents and personal contact with descendants. Mr.
Reinhardt has provided me with family information, photos and documents on his
ancestors who remained in Russia.
Thanks to Kind Village Coordinator Bill Pickelhaupt, I now have a parish
record extraction from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Port Huron, MI for
Paulskoye family REIGE/REICHE. Bill Pickelhaupt's soon to be released book
The Right Place at the Right Time: The Volga-Germans of Michigan's Thumb
will contain the complete parish register for St. Paul's and most certainly
contain more Paulskoyer families. Bill also sent me parish records for St.
John's Lutheran Church in Port Sanilac, Michigan. These records contain
Volga-German families beginning in 1906 and draw from a number of Wiesenseite villages.
Surnames include:
BACHMANN, DIETZEL, DORN, DUBS, EURICH, FINK, HORST, JUNKER, JURKE, KNOLL,
HARTMANN, LEHR, LOEFFLER, MARKGRAF, MUELLER, OEHLERT, REIGE, REIS, REUSCH,
RICHTER, SCHERER, SCHNEIDER, SCHWABAUER, WAGNER, WEDE, and WOLF. These
families were drawn to this part of Michigan due to the expanding sugar beet
industry.
I also received a query from Ward Richter concerning his father's cousin Maria
Elisabeth RICHTER from Schulz colony who married a Heinrich SCHWABAUER from
Paulskoye. They lived most of their lives in Croswell, and later Port Huron,
Michigan.
Hugh Lichtenwald has translated several Die Welt Post famine articles
(archived on GER-VOLGA List) pertaining to Paulskoye. Surnames:
LEMKE, MERKEL, and SCHNEIDER.
This year I became aware of a partial list of Volga colonists who died over
the age of 80 years at (http://www.wolgadeutsche,net/pleve.htm). There I
found three Paulskoyer and their age at death for years of 1889 and 1908.
Surnames: KALBFLEISCH, MERKEL (nee KNOLL), and WERNER (nee LOBES).
For anyone who has not visited (http://lists.memo.ru/),
you probably should. I periodically revisit this website as it is updated
with new information. Contained there is an alphabetical list of victims of
Soviet repression, including Volga Germans, and a brief biography for each.
While it is in the Russian language, a person with only a minimal
understanding of what your village or surnames of interest look like in
Cyrillic can find many entries of interest which can then be translated. For
example I found over two dozen persons with my paternal surname of WEDE from
Paulskoye. Thus, it is a potential gold mine of information about persons who
remained in Russia. I plan to extract all Paulskoye individuals for the
coming year.
Along the same vein, from the GER-VOLGA List I learned this year of a website
at (http://www.rusdeutsch.ru/?tagil=5)
about prisoners of the Ural region Tagillag Trudarmee (Labor Army Camp).
I located ten prisoners from Paulskoye by the surname of DAMM, DORN, FELSING, KOLMAI,
KRAUSE, MACHLEIT, MERKEL, NICKELMAN, RERICH, and WALTER. Many thanks to Mr.
Eugen Reinhardt of Germany who translated the information from Russian
into English for me!
Finally, the Paulskoye website has been down for nearly a year now.
Unfortunately AOL decided suddenly, and without warning, to get out of
the business of providing website services for their members. I am still
undecided as whether to construct another one elsewhere.
Respectfully submitted,
Tim Weeder
AHSGR Village Coordinator for Paulskoye
-
Pfeifer, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Pfeifer
It has been quite a busy year answering queries about the village of Pfeifer.
Some of the names concerned are Heim, Schoenfeld, Burgardt, and Falkenstein.
I also have been answering questions for members on the Volga List
I have been creating a list of the Catholic immigrants to Russia from
Kuhlberg's listing on the ship "Anna Catherina" shown in Pleve's book "The
German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century".
This is fascinating. I am checking the names against the First Settler Lists
and the Transport Lists. Some of the Germanic origins in the Kuhlberg lists
are different from the First Settler Lists.
I attended the Kansas Roundup of Chapters in Topeka, Kansas in October.
Martha Issinghoff gave a great presentation about a Stremel relative in
Germany. There were videos shown of the early Volga German settlement in
Topeka and the unique architecture of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the
area. Many of the settlers were from Pfeifer and Kamenka, Russia.
The 1850 Pfeifer census is available, listing the spouses as well as the head
of families. Kevin Rupp has the 1834 and 1857 censuses available for Pfeifer.
Rosemary Larson
Village Coordinator for Pfeifer
-
Pobochnoye, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Pobochnoye (Nebendorf)
There have been about fifty requests for information on family members,
immigration records, census records, etc.
Kenny Stugart attended the Medicine Hat Convention and represented Pobochnoye
there. He joined forces with others from Yagodnaya Polyana.
Kenny Stugart, Alexander Wilhelm and Laurin Wilhelm have been obtaining,
studying and translating official communist records on the men of the village
who played a part in the rebellion in the spring of 1921. Many were our
relatives. Some men were shot; some were imprisoned; others were deported
to Siberia. More research still needs to be done here.
Laurin and Gracie Wilhelm attended the "Kansas Round Up of Germans from
Russia" held in Topeka, KS October 23rd & 24th this year. About 80 of our
people were present. Most were from Hays, Wichita, or Topeka. We are all
looking older this year. Programs given by Martha Issinghoff, Ike Appelhanz
and others stressed our Volga German people coming to Kansas between 1874 to
1918 in search of personal freedom, religious freedom, land, jobs and
education. A memorial service was held honoring those members who had died in
the past year, and a salute honoring those who had served in the military was
held.
Laurin Wilhelm
Village Coordinator for Pobochnoye (Nebendorf)
-
Polish Volhynia
- Reinhard(t), Samara, Volga
-
Reinwald, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Reinwald and Krasnoyar
Activity for these two villages was very limited in the beginning of the
year. The only significant activity in the beginning of the year was a
meeting in Chicago with five other Village Coordinators. It was a productive
meeting. We all learned what each other has done in the past and all learned
ways we could work together. I think it is extremely important that all the
Village Coordinators can work together. In the first nine months I received a
few queries and have been working with those people. I made an extra effort
to contact any new members that had been listed in the AHSGR publications.
All of the documentation I had collected over the years has now been scanned
to files and copies of those files are stored in a safe deposit box.
Since retiring, I have more time to devote to research. In late October, I
started receiving e-mails from Russia and Germany from people who are
descendants of Reinwald and Krasnoyar. I was able to help several of them
and, in turn, they provided a wealth of information. I am now organizing what
I have received and am trying to pass this information to families of the same
name that are members. I know of several members who will be delighted to
find out that they have living relatives in Germany and Russia. The people who
have contacted me have apparently given my name out and since then I have
received at least one e-mail a day. Some of the e-mails I have received do
not really pertain to either Reinwald or Krasnoyar so I have forwarded those
emails to the appropriate Village Coordinators.
Susie Weber Hess
Village Coordinator for Reinwald and Krasnoyar
-
Rohleder, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Rohleder
I didn’t receive too many inquiries for the colony of Rohleder this year,
although I am helping one person with his family line. This included getting
baptism and marriage records from the archives.
The highlight of the year was the trip that I made with the AHSGR delegation
to the archives and to a few of the colonies. I was able to visit the colony
of Rohleder. Since there was a German from Russia gathering a number of miles
away, many of the locals were not available to answer many of my questions.
The church is still standing although it is now used as a “Club”, an area for
people of the colony to gather for dances and social gatherings. I was
told that they have a museum in the building with a book if it’s history.
Unfortunately, the person who was in charge of the “Club” was at the German
from Russia gathering.
In the center or platz of the colony is a walkway leading
to a bust of Lenin. The colony does have a school and also a General store
where canned goods, fresh meat, and liquor are sold. My interpreter was able
to talk to a local who was Polish, having moved here to the colony about ten
years ago and is handicapped. He said that he thought there was a Weber
family that still lived in the colony, but most of the Germans from Russia
all left in the 1990’s and went to Germany after the Berlin wall came down.
Toward the south (I think) of the village is the
cemetery. There were many graves but most were from the recent twenty years,
and all Russian. One thing of which I was totally surprised was how littered
the outside of the colony was kept and that small little trash piles that were
either burned, burning or had just been dumped. I was able to get some good
pictures of the church and various buildings.
After we left Rohleder we look a dirt road towards Herzog.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Rohleder
-
Rohrbach, Berezan, Odessa, Kherson
2009 Annual Village Reports for Worms and Rohrbach
I have concentrated on sharing information about Worms and Rohrbach through my
website. During 2009, I have had 8096 hits on this website. The Rohrbach
site has received 5679 hits during the year, and the Worms site has received
5653 hits. I want to thank Michael Frank for helping me to set up this
website. The information contained there is both historical and genealogical.
My expertise lies in historical information, but the information posted on the
site has led to a number of contacts by individuals seeking both additional
historical and genealogical data about their family background. I have also
added an article about the fate of German Russians who were purged by the
Stalin regime. Some of the information included was provided by individuals
who contacted my website.
I have been collecting surnames for both Worms and Rohrbach. This has put me
in contact with family members of Reichert, Ehly, Klundt, Bier, Trautmann,
Werner, Zimblemann, Gall, Griess, Odenbach, Moser, and other lines whose roots
are in Worms and Rohrbach. I have also posted pictures of some of these early
residents, which were provided by family members.
It is exciting to meet individuals who are related to me that I did not know
existed. A number of these individuals have expressed their own excitement in
acquiring additional information about their family background. My only
regret is that I do not have additional time to spend developing the website
and updating it more frequently. I am also collecting information about where
former residents of Worms and Rohrbach have settled in the United States.
Sutton, Nebraska, Yankton, South Dakota, and other communities in the Dakotas
seemed to have been the major areas of settlement. Because Sutton was the
first German Russian settlement in Nebraska, beginning in 1873, the community
acted as a distribution center. Many of the original settlers moved on to
other areas of the United States.
Jim Griess
Co-Village Coordinator for Worms and Rohrbach
-
Rosenberg / Umet, Saratov, Volga
2009
Village Report for Rosenberg
Once again it has been rather a quiet year for queries
and information about Rosenberg, a daughter colony on the Volga. During the
year I received queries about Kuxhausen, Dahlinger/Schneider, Schmunk (3
separate queries), Sterkel, Rahmig, Huhlmann, Reizenstein (2 queries), Herdt,
Stricker/Horst, and Armbruster: sixteen in all.
From those who enquired I obtained some additional information about the
Dahlinger, Seifert, Kuhlmann, Reizenstein, Schmunk, Kuxhausen, and Rahmig
families. For the most part this confirmed details already known but usually
allowed me to update more recent generations. Of all the families the most
new information related to the Kuhlmann family.
At the time of writing, the Rosenberg website is temporarily unavailable as a
result of the closure by Yahoo of Geocities. At the moment the information is
stored in a Yahoo business file and in a folder on my computer at home
(suitably backed up). I hope to be able to work on the site to bring it back
online during the Christmas vacation.
Richard McGregor
Village Coordinator for Rosenberg
- Rosenfeld, North Caucasus
- Rothammel, Saratov, Volga
-
Schaffhausen, Samara, Volga
2009 Annual Village Report for Schaffhausen
There was one surname enquiry during 2008-2009 for the HELZER family which was
handled by me and Pat Lipphardt. E-mail contact was established with
descendants of the LIPPHARDT and SPAHNAGEL families, home village of
Schaffhausen, who are now living in Germany after migrating from Kazakhstan.
In the absence of a Schaffhausen First Settlers List (FSL), I am compiling a
proxy using the 1798 census and FSLs of villages where settlers wintered prior
to establishing Schaffhausen. Tim Weeder, the Paulskoye Village Coordinator
has been very helpful in this endeavour. Any similar information from other
village First Settlers Lists and Movement Tables would be appreciated.
Information supplied by Pat Lipphardt and Brent Mai (see Mai GER-VOLGA
Digest 4/01/2009) indicates that the 1857 census for Schaffhausen is
incomplete. This census is contained in LDS Film #2373696 which lists
households 1-69 with the remaining households, number unknown, missing.
Obtaining the full census for 1857 would be a great help in establishing the
full surname history of Schaffhausen.
I continue to research Volga Germans who resided in China as part of the
White Russian Diaspora. While the Mennonite community in Harbin is well known,
little has been published on other Volga Germans who found refuge in China
after the Russian revolution. I would welcome any information on this
subject. Patrick Lipphardt has recently updated his "Lipphardts of Russia"
research document. This provides an intriguing overview of the experience
of a Volga German family who lived in China during this period.
I attended celebrations for the 60th Anniversary of the arrival in Australia
of White Russians from the Tubabao resettlement camp in the Philippines. This
was held in Sydney, Australia and included a fascinating exhibit of
photographs and documents that covered Russia, China and Tubabao. The Tubabao
experience is relevant to some of the Volga Germans who resided in China. To
my knowledge the following Volga German families have a connection to Tubabao:
BALLART, BALABOUKHIN, LIPPHARDT, and SONNTAG. Once again I would welcome any
information on these or other Volga German families who transited through
Tubabao during 1949-50 when some 5,500 White Russians (including Volga
Germans) were resettled to Australia, the USA and South America.
I must thank the following for their assistance during the year:
Tanja SCHELL for her
assistance to me and the AHSGR in general
Pat LIPPHARDT for his advice and sharing his research
Tim WEEDER for his assistance in compiling a Schaffhausen FSL
Thanks also to Vladimir KOKORIN who resides in the
Saratov region. Vladimir has published an extensive array of
contemporary photographs of what remains of the Volga Villages. See
http://imgsrc.ru/main/user.php?user=vovkakak and
http://imgsrc.ru/main/user.php?user=vovkakak.
Although the past year has been positive regarding general research, I am a
bit concerned about the lack of enquiries regarding Schaffhausen. I would
encourage anyone with a connection to Schaffhausen to contact me (see the
Volga Village Census Index on the AHSGR website which lists known surnames of
Schaffhausen colonists). Note: Schaffhausen surnames which are not accurately
listed in existing census data include ARNOLD, LIPPHARDT and UNGEFUGT/ UNGEFUG.
Jim Parsonage
Village Coordinator for Schaffhausen
Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
- Schilling, Samara, Volga
-
Schilling, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village
Report for Schilling Villages
(Alt-Schilling, Schilling, Konstantinovka, Neu-Schilling
I, Neu-Schilling II)
The Schilling database, consisting of the listed villages, continues to grow
in size. It is a Master Genealogist database, with 11,500 people, 15,900
names and 22,600 events.
The Schilling mailing list is moderately active. A number of queries were
received in the past year from people in the US, Canada, Russia and Germany,
and I continue to help people with their family history in any way that I
can. Queries are answered using family group sheets that are uploaded to a
folder on the Schilling web site at:
http://www.schillinggr.org.
A few people are ordering record information for Alt-Schilling from the
Russian Archives in Engels. Information in the archives for Schilling
consists of church birth records for 1764 – 1878, register of the Lutheran
congregation for 1865 – 1931, and a family list for 1883. When information is
ordered, Engels does not supply copies of the pages of information, but
instead supplies a written report of family information for the requested
surname.
A census for 1857 for Konstantinovka, in Russian, is available in LDS Film
2379339, and will be translated sometime in the future. The existence of
records for the daughter colony Schilling, adjacent to Konstantinovka, and Neu-Schilling
I and Neu-Schilling II are unknown. Some records for Neu-Schilling I and Neu-Schilling
II may be including with the church records for Friedenfeld, the primary
parish for that part of Samara Province.
Gary Martens
Schilling Villages VC
-
Schlangendorf, Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
-
Schönchen, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for
Schoenchen
We received only a few requests this year and are currently working with a
researcher whose Herz/Hertz family moved to Germany. We've had several
inquiries we've been unable to answer due to the lack of
available records past 1857. We're hopeful that the Schoenchen baptism,
marriage and death records found on the LDS microfilm for the years 1879-1914
will be helpful to Schoenchen researchers. We are in the process of copying
the Schoenchen records from microfilm and having them translated. Anyone
interested in assisting with this project or interested in learning more,
please contact us.
Terri Dann and Denise Grau
Co-Village Coordinators for Schönchen
-
Schöndorf, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Schoendorf
There has been activity in the Schoendorf records in 2009. Granddaughters of
Jacob Wilhelm (born 1888 in Schoendorf, died in Wheatland, Wyoming) and
Alexander Wilhelm (born 1898 in Schoendorf, died in Wheatland, Wyoming) live
in Nevada and Wyoming. I sent them immigration records, marriage records and
other family records this year.
Laurin Wilhelm
Village Coordinator for Schoendorf
-
Schönfeld, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Schoenfeld
There has been no activity in the Schoenfeld records in 2009.
Laurin Wilhelm
Village Coordinator for Schoenfeld
-
Schöntal, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Schoental
There has been no activity in the Schoental records in 2009.
Laurin Wilhelm
Village Coordinator for Schoental
-
Schuck, Saratov, Volga
-
Schulz, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Schulz
One of the most pleasant events this year was receiving the names of the first
settlers for Schulz as shown in Dr. Pleve's book. I joined the AHSGR in 1983
and for the last twenty years the question for that list has plagued my life
from a lot of people. Therefore it is with a big THANK YOU to those
who were instrumental in preparing the list.
The 1850 revision list was also found as part of LDS films.
Peter and Judie Kaland made second trip to Russia to the area where Schulz
was. There is only an essence of the village as it existed until the later
part of 1941. The purpose of this visit was to document what is left of Schulz
by taking a lot of photos to verify what I and my grandaunt Katherine Zitzer
Lerch put together on our circa 1919 village map.
Another significant activity in the beginning of the year, as Susie Hess said
in her report: "there was a meeting in Chicago with 5 other VC's. It was a
productive meeting. We all learned what each other has done in the past and
all learned ways we could work together. I think it is extremely important
that all the village coordinators can work together." I was one of those VCs.
Dietz, Dotz, Gorde, Gross, Hartmann, Holzwardt, Richtard, Weber, Weinberger,
Yurk,and Zitzer were surnames that I assisted in researching. I furnished
obituaries from my Sheboygan, Wisconsin collection of more than 2200 to
various researchers and Susie Hess.
Fred Zitzer
Village Coordinator for Schulz
-
Schwab, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Schwab
I have received no new data on Schwab this past year. I have had eight
queries, all of which were answered or forwarded to someone else for an
answer.
Up until this year, I have also produced the Lower Volga Villages Sheet. It
has, however, now been discontinued, due to lack of paid subscriptions. I
think that we got blindsided by the overall economy. Normally December and
January were good months for renewals. This year there were less than 10
renewals.
Rolene Eichman Kiesling
Village Coordinator for Schwab
-
Schwed, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Schwed
This year had a wonderful start.
In February I received the Wiegel chart from Dr. Pleve. It was wonderful,
almost 900 names and everything I had hoped for except, where in Germany the
Wiegel family came from. It was most disappointing, but wonderful all the
same. I have been able to link several Wiegel families together. Wiegels that
grew up in the same area of Chicago, but didn't know how they were related are
now true cousins.
I got together with a group of village coordinators from the Illinois, and
Wisconsin area. We shared information, what we were doing, and what we wanted
to accomplish. I truly was surprised by all the information the coordinators
had and were able to share.
While the publication of Dr. Pleve's fourth book still contained no Wiegels, I
was able to get the German location of several other family names.
While sharing the Wiegel chart with several cousins, one of them asked if I
had a copy of a photo of my Grandfather's brother, wife and children, and my
Great grandmother. My Dad had never seen it. It was a great find.
My Dad celebrated his 90th birthday, with a family gathering of over 50
people. There were many stories, and questions about Schwed, and Russia.
Hoppe, Schnarr, Christ, Kramer and Wiegel cousins, all with roots in Schwed
attended.
I have had several Wiegel inquiries. They are mostly known Wiegels, who we can
now tie together. A Herzog inquiry led to the identification of a Herzog chart
that was not registered at Lincoln. It is now available via the list of
Surname Charts.
I am still working on developing a web site, and organizing a "Schwed
database".
I agree with Fred Zitzer, and Susan Hess that we need to work together,
especially for those villages that are close together.
There is a lot to do, but it has been a very good year for Schwed.
Keith Wiegel
Village Coordinator for Schwed
- Seewald, Saratov, Volga
-
Shcherbakovka, Saratov, Volga
2009 Village Report for Shcherbakovka
I am the village coordinator for the village of Shcherbakovka (aka
Tscherbakowka and Mühlberg). Information for this village can be found at our
website.
Communication activity has been down this year, but I've had contact with
several people researching ancestors from our village and was able to supply
helpful information to them. I maintain several databases, but the most
helpful is my database that is made up SOLELY from information from the 1798,
1834, 1850 and 1857 Censuses, Pleve charts for our village, and extracted
church records from the Lutheran Church in Shcherbakovka.
Janet Laubhan Flickinger
Village Coordinators for Shcherbakovka
- Solodyri, Volynsk, Volhynia U
-
Stahl am Tarlyk, Samara, Volga
2009 Village
Report for Stahl am Tarlyk
The year 2009 has been slow in the quest for information about the village and
its people. There have been four inquires and of these, I was able to help
three in their search for their family tree. We are here to help when we can.
Paul Koehler
Village Coordinator for Stahl am Tarlyk and Bangert.
-
Strassburg, Samara, Volga
2009 Annual Village Report for Strassburg
I took on the duties of the Village Coordinator for Strassburg in January
2009, and at that point started to collect information on Strassburg. I
received AHSGR information, files, links, databases and materials from Dennis
Zitterkopf, Betty Ashley, and Pam Wurst. I have also received valuable VC
assistance from Gary Martens, Janet Laubhan Flickinger, and Hugh Lichtenwald.
The Village of Strassburg has very little activity. I have had ten inquiries
in the past twelve months. I have participated with other VC's in ordering
records from the Volgograd Archives.
Strassburg had a 1912 population of 2518, and a 1926 population of 2800.
Strassburg GED file has 268 Entries listed with the following surnames:
Heinze, Metzler, Weber, Blehm, Seigfried and Clauser.
Since the Gedcom file that I received from AHSGR for Strassburg contained any
information on a person who had Strassburg in the location name for an event,
including death, I received information that included Strassburg, ND,
Strassburg, Manitoba, Strassburg, Odessa, Russia, Strassburg, KS, Strassburg,
SD, Strassburg, Saskatchewan, and Strassburg, Germany. Only 6 of those 268
entries of surnames listed above are for Strassburg, Samara Province, a
daughter colony of Dobrinka. Index to the 1852 Strassburg census contains 8
pages.
My only regret is with all of the startup activity in establishing a source of
information on the villages, I have not been able to develop a website.
Ten census records (1850 and 1857) on different villages, which do not include
Strassburg, were purchased from Brent Mai.
Leland Riffel
Strassburg Village Coordinator
-
Strassendorf, Samara, Volga
-
Straub, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Straub
I have had the following inquiries about these Straub families
this year: Winter, Schwabenland (5), Bopp, Bollinger, Scharton, Metzler, Roth,
and Wirth.
I contacted Brent Mai for help getting the 1834 Straub census from the Engels
archive. Brent reports that the archive is unable to locate this census right
now.
Pleve's Volume 4 is available for purchase at the AHGSR Bookstore. This book
has the 1767 Straub first settler's list of 58 families.
I have recently obtained the 1850 and 1857 Straub census records in Russian.
I was translating them until I learned Brent Mai was also working on them. In
1850 Straub had 101 families, with a population of 952 (486 males and 466
females). In 1857 Straub had 122 families, with a population of 1170 (595
males and 575 females).
I continue to collect obituaries, ship records and EWZ records of people who
came from Straub.
Sharon White
Village Coordinator for Straub
- Swedish Colonies, Nikolaev and Kherson
-
Unterwalden Meinhard, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Unterwalden/Meinhard
Shortly after joining AHSGR last winter, I made the discovery that there had
never been a Village Coordinator for Unterwalden, so I volunteered.
Let me first share a bit about Unterwalden. Unterwalden/Meinhard was a
Luthern village established on 12 June 1767 by Baron Caneau de Beauregard. It
is located on the Wiesenseite of the Volga River between Sussanental & Luzern.
Since there was very little information to begin with, I set out to remedy
this by writing every possible lead I have been able to find. I have been
able to make contact with several others with ancestors from my village and
have been able to share information back and forth with them. One of the most
exciting experiences has been connecting with the grandchildren of my
grandfather's brothers and uncles. This connection was lost over 50 years
ago! My family traveled to Lovell, Wyoming to meet many of them at a
Winterholler/Fink reunion. I was able to see the St. John's Lutheran Church
which was constructed by Germans from Russia immigrants, and visit the local
cemetery which is the final resting place for many Germans from Russia.
Lovell also has a very small German cemetery.
I give my thanks to all who have worked so hard to provide a foundation for
the rest of us to build upon. A very special thank you to Kerry Thompson the
Village Coordinator for Sussanental, who was so very generous to share her
databases with me and gave me a starting point. I was able to use this as a
reference in finding ship manifests, pictures of the ships that our village
ancestors arrived on, WWI documents, and census records on Ancestory.com for a
number of immigrants from my village.
I am anxiously awaiting the translation of the 1857 Census which is on LDS
microfilm.
I look forward to 2010 and seeing what discoveries and connections are made.
I have a number of projects that I hope to accomplish for the village of
Unterwalden, as information is made available.
Pennie Elder
Village Coordinator for Unterwalden/Meinhard
- Volhynia
2009 Village Report
for Polish Volhynia
There have been four queries over the past
year. Two were looking for the location of villages and two researching
surnames.
The highlight of the year was the 2009 Convention in Medicine
Hat, Alberta. The Volhynian guest speakers were Jürgen Janke from
Germany and Jerry Frank from Calgary and SGGEE. Along with Leona Janke,
there were three very knowledgeable researchers to help the many
convention-goers and members that took part in the Village Night at the
Volhynian table. I made a Polish Volhynian display board to complement
the other display boards in Heritage Hall, including a display binder with
maps, resources, village names and an index of surnames being researched.
The binder can be used at future Conventions with the Volhynian display in
Heritage Hall. The local
newspaper, Medicine Hat News, published a photo of me with the display board.
In July 2009, I attended the
Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe Convention in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. It was very interesting and provided some new sources of
information plus the opportunity to network with other Polish Volhynian
researchers. In October, I used the display board and my resources at a
Calgary Family Roots Seminar East European Special Event. There is an
increasing interest here in East European research.
During the year, Lincoln has forwarded
to me, new member Family Group Sheets. My project for the coming year is
to create a database and to contact people listed in the "New Member" section
of the AHSGR Newsletter. Surnames
being researched include: Arndt, Berezowski, Benz, Berg, Bieberdorf,
Borchert, Busse, Cantor, Chepel, Daher, Domrose, Fetter, Fitzer, Gertz,
Goering, Gramm, Hartwig, Hepp,
Hiller,
Hintz, Hinz, Janke, Jenke, Jenz, Joseph, Kapro(w)sky, Katha, Kathke, Katke,
Kopp, Krentz, Lucas, Lutz, Marks, Matz, Morganstern, Muhlbeier, Muehlbeier,
Neumann, Nickel, Nikkel, Olufka, Olsufka, Olszowka, Patzer, Pfenning, Plieske,
Plines, Plischke, Rappauhn, Rast, Ratz, Rosen, Schroeder, Schultz, Schwanke,
Schwandtke, Schwark, Schwarz, Sempf, Ulm, Weick, Wendler, Woitt, Zedelmayer
A translation by Leona Janke of the
book "Legends of the Germans in
Volhynia and Polesye" Karasek-Langer/Strzygowski will soon be published by
AHSGR.
Mabel Kiessling
Polish Volhynia Village Coordinator
-
2009 Village Report for Volmer
I just took over responsibilities as Village Coordinator for Volmer this
fall, and my website is up, but not quite ready. It is located at
www.volmer.ca
Angela Gartner, the previous Village Coordinator, has agreed to keep her
website up and available, which I think we all appreciate. I've had some
queries which I have answered as best I could. I am still getting myself
organized, and I will work on the Volmer website as quickly as I can.
Cathy Hawinkels
Village Coordinator for Volmer
-
2009 Annual Village Report for Walter and Walter Khutor
This has been an exciting year for researchers for the Volga Bergseite
villages of Walter and Walter Khutor. Our Walter Research project has been
very active. Through the efforts of Doris Evans, Village Coordinator of
Frank, records for the various villages of Frank Canton have been obtained.
We are working on donations from Walter researchers to cover the cost of these
records. At the present time we will do look ups for Village Coordinators and
for contributing researchers. They will be made available at a later date when
all the records are obtained and translated, and the records paid for.
Since May, Mary Mills and Jerry McInnis have been translating German and
Russian Church records and preparing an index. There is still much to do.
Additionally, we are awaiting some school and military records in the future.
With the new records, the Walter database will expand considerably from
approximately 40,000 entries as we add the new births, marriages, and deaths.
There is still a major gap in records from the 1798 census to the beginning of
the extant records starting in 1839. We hope to create an artificial record
from various Pleve charts and family histories to bridge that gap.
Two more volunteers need to be recognized on the Walter
Records Project:
Dorothy Elrod is indexing of thousands of
records
Michael Fyler is doing translations.
We are also combining a number of versions of the Walter First Settlers List
and making a new list with corrections and comparisons. There are many errors,
even on the new list from Dr. Pleve and Dr. Eisfeld in the four book series.
We have been able to obtain new photographs of the village of Walter and
interiors of buildings. Many come from Tanja Schell and Vladimir Krajnev.
Others come from Oksana Dorn. We hope to make these available either on the
Walter web site or on a CD.
The web site for Walter is active and maintained by Teresa Sardina and we will
eventually do some revisions which will reflect the new material.
The VC's of the Canton of Frank and Brunnenthal are sharing data as we find
many of our people crossing into other nearby villages.
Jean A. Roth
Mary Mills
Coordinators for Walter and Walter Khutor
-
Warenburg, Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report
for Warenburg
I have had the following
inquiries about these Warenburg families this year: Schroder, Arnst, Kinzel
(2), Adolph, Muller, Seibert, Stumpf, Schutz, and Schmidt.
The 1834 Warenburg census is available
for purchase from Brent Mai. There are 220 families and a population of 2010
on this census.
Pleve's Volume 4 is available for
purchase from the AHSGR Bookstore. This book has the 1767 Warenburg first
settler's list of 179 families.
I have recently obtained the 1850 and
1857 Warenburg census records in Russian. I was translating the census
records with help from Jacob Leisle until I learned Brent Mai was also working
on translating these census records. In 1850 Warenburg had 269 families. The
census is smudged but it looks like there were 2536 people (1411 males and
1125 females). In 1857 Warenburg had 303 families. The population was 3377
(1685 males and 1692 females).
I continue to collect obituaries, ship
records, EWZ records and photographs of people from Warenburg.
Sharon White
Village Coordinator for Warenburg
-
Wiesenmüller, Samara, Volga
2009 Village
Report for Wiesenmueller, Samara, Russia
Village Coordinator: CWO H. H. Lichtenwald, US Army (ret.)
From October 2008 through October 2009, I have sent or received 240 e-mails
concerning the village of Wiesenmueller. Most queries have come from from
folks seeking information about surnames on the "Surname Summary" posted on
the Jeruslan Nachrichten website or about individuals in the Village of
Wiesenmueller database posted on Rootsweb.
The Wiesenmueller database currently consists of 9,451 souls. I am slowly
purging a number of people from the database who were added during follow-up
research of families associated but not actually descended from Wiesenmueller
families. These are mostly US families from which a member married a
Wiesenmueller descendant. I researched these families until I discovered
their place of origin and if it was not from Wiesenmueller I ceased
researching them. I have been slow in removing them from the database because
their entries represent a lot of work, not just on my part, but also the work
of a number of very helpful contributors.
I began using SKYPE mid-year 2008 and find it a very useful tool in finding,
contacting and exchanging information with people interested in genealogy.
SKYPE has been particularly helpful when I interact with German speakers.
When my language skills cause me to err I can immediately see and understand I
have made a mistake and can hasten to correct myself...much better than the
dead silence I used to encounter using the telephone. I might add that SKYPE
is far and away less expensive to use than the telephone. My two year SKYPE
subscription costs less than half my monthly domestic telephone bill.
Hugh Lichtenwald, from the farm in Monetta, SC
Village Coordinator, Wiesenmueller
-
Wittman (Soloturn), Samara, Volga
2009 Village Report for Wittmann (Solothurn)
Going through one of my stacks in my office I need to make a correction to
the 2009 report for Wittmann. I did receive a number of e-mails for this
colony mainly from just a couple of people. I did receive a hand drawn map of
the town of Wittmann that was drawn from the time period of 1941. They sent
me two copies, one in Russian and the other in German. The map details where
different businesses were located as well as residents. As soon as I get this
together I will send copies to headquarters and also get a copy posted to
my website.
In 1941 the town had a veterinary, hospital, small oil-pressing factory where
they processed sunflower for oil, grain elevator and many more buildings. The
family who sent me this map also sent me a few photographs.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Wittmann
-
Worms, Berezan, Odessa, Kherson
2009 Annual
Village Reports for Worms and Rohrbach
Black Sea Region
I have concentrated on sharing information about Worms and Rohrbach through my
website. During 2009, I have had 8096 hits on the website. The Rohrbach site
has received 5679 hits during the year, and the Worms site has received 5653
hits. I want to thank Michael Frank for helping me to set up this website. The
information contained there is both historical and genealogical. My expertise
lies in historical information, but the information posted on the site has led
to a number of contacts by individuals seeking both additional historical and
genealogical data about their family background. I have also added an article
about the fate of German Russians who were purged by the Stalin regime. Some
of the information included was provided by individuals who contacted my
website.
I have been collecting surnames for both Worms and Rohrbach. This has put me
in contact with family members of Reichert, Ehly, Klundt, Bier, Trautmann,
Werner, Zimblemann, Gall, Griess, Odenbach, Moser, and other lines whose roots
are in Worms and Rohrbach. I have also posted pictures of some of these early
residents, which were provided by family members.
It is exciting to meet individuals who are related to me that I did not know
existed. A number of these individuals have expressed their own excitement in
acquiring additional information about their family background. My only
regret is that I do not have additional time to spend developing the website
and updating it more frequently. I am also collecting information about where
former residents of Worms and Rohrbach have settled in the United States.
Sutton, Nebraska, Yankton, South Dakota, and other communities in the Dakotas
seemed to have been the major areas of settlement. Because Sutton was the
first German Russian settlement in Nebraska, beginning in 1873, the community
acted as a distribution center. Many of the original settlers moved on to
other areas of the United States.
Jim Griess
Co-Village Coordinator for Worms and Rohrbach
-
2009 Village Report for Yagodnaya Polyana
Yagodnaya Polyana has two village co-coordinators: Kris Ball and Patrice
Miller. Elizabeth Meyer needed to step down as a coordinator, but we are
grateful for her years of service.
The village had a good representation by descendants at the AHSGR convention
in Medicine Hat. Many descendants from Yagodnaya Polyana emigrated to the
Calgary area and many still live in the area St. John's in Calgary celebrated
their 100 year anniversary and published an updated version of their history
book, which included many people who came to Canada from Yagodnaya.
Two issues of Usu Leut, our village newsletter were published in 2009. Many
queries were answered and copies of the village book (published by Kris,
Patrice, and the late Bill Scheirman) were purchased and mailed out.
Newsletters for the past 30 years were scanned into .pdf format and copied
onto a CD by one of our village descendants, Kristian Andersen. We plan to
update our village web page in the coming year.
Kris Ball
Co-Village Coordinator for Yagodnaya Polyana
-
2009 Village Report for Zug
I have received a few inquiries for Zug, mainly those that overlapped from the
other villages. I continue to add to my database whenever new material is
presented.
Kevin Rupp
Village Coordinator for Zug
-
2009 Annual Village Report for Zürich
(also known as Eckardt)
I started as the Village Coordinator for Zürich in November 2008, and began
collecting information and data. This included the English translations of the
1798 and 1834 censuses, at present the only ones available in English. The
1857 census is in the queue to be translated soon. At that time I also
received all the AHSGR information on file for the village.
Since my ancestors are from this village, my research on my own family tree is
coincident with research on the village, and I have made some progress.
I also received three inquiries for Zürich this past year, for the surnames
Fink, Junemann, and Keil. I was able to give some limited information in these
cases, with the intent of following up with more detail when more recent
census information is available.
While these may not seem like many inquiries, they do give me hope that there
may be more families with interest in their ancestors from this village. I
have no doubt I will also find distant relatives of which I was unaware!
Keith Wilberg
Village Coordinator for Zürich
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