Treffen Tuesday

A German from Russia Dreams of Karakul Sheep:  C. C. Young and His Return to Russia

Richard Sallet, in the foreword to his book, Russian-German Settlements in the United States, notes “two important advances which the American people owe to Russian-German initiative.” The first was Bernhard Warkentin’s introduction of Turkey [Red] wheat on his farm in Kansas. The second was Carl C. Young (Jung)’s, travel “to Russian Turkestan to negotiate the first importation, to his Texas ranch, of Karakul sheep.”

This presentation will provide an overview of Carl Young’s amazing and unusual career. Dr. Charles Christian Young, a Bessarabian German from Neu-Elft imported the first Karakul sheep into the United States and established the breed in North America. His remarkable life story starts with his birth as Karl Jung in Bessarabia, his immigration to the U.S., his training as a medical doctor, his personal friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt, and his return to Russia, where the Tsar’s government assisted his procurement of Karakul sheep from local tribesmen in Central Asia. As a naturalized American citizen, Young traveled widely in Russia, wrote a book describing his travels, and lectured on the Chautauqua Circuit, including a lecture at Carnegie Hall in New York. Selections from his passport application files, articles written by Young in historic newspapers, and documents provided by the Young family will be used to illustrate this story of accomplishment and adventure, which is still largely unknown to the Germans from Russia community.

Allyn Brosz –Bio

Allyn Brosz is a South Dakota native with German-Russian ancestry in Bessarabia and the Glückstal colonies of the Tsarist Empire. He grew up on the farm homesteaded by his great grandfather, Adam Brosz. Allyn holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science, public administration, and public policy, and studied in Germany on a Fulbright grant. He retired from a civilian position at the U.S. Department of Defense in 2021. Allyn is a life member of AHSGR, the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), and the Palatines to America Society, and serves on the steering committee of the Glueckstal Colonies Research Association and the GRHS editorial board. He has served on the AHSGR Board of Directors and has represented Germans from Russia societies on the U.S. National Archives committee for Russian American Genealogical Archival Research (RAGAS). He has published research articles and delivered presentations at GRHS and AHSGR conventions over the past 40 years.

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