2015 VC Report - American Historical Society of Germans from Russia

To Village Coordinator Reports (alphabetized by village name):
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Anton 2015 Village Report

2015 Anton research has been slow with one exception; a request for Stark information. I have been in correspondence with a gentleman requesting information on his Stark family. I was hoping to tie into our Stark and Hert families but to date that has not happened. The positive result has been renewed interest in pursuing anything Stark. It is my intention to order records from Russia after the first of the year.

Anton is interesting with its mobile population; relocating to the Caucasus is being studied at this time.

The intermountain chapter (Utah) hosted a booth at the local Salt Lake City Christmas Market which resulted in increased chapter membership, interest in AHSGR, GR questions from the community; also Anton interest.

Local chapter members plan to attend and participate in the Concord, CA convention, information on Anton will be available, along with a new poster and binder.

NAMES; Anton, Antonow, Antonowka, Sadovoye, Sebastinovka, Sebastjanowka, Sebastyanovka, Sewastjanowka, Sevastinovka, Sevastjanovka,

LOCATION 51º2′ N 45º51′ E

I had one inquiry this year from the Anton database potentially connected to the Caucasus Alexanderdorf; surname Starck

Records are needed from Russia to address questions completely, I will be setting up an account for future record purchases.

In my personal library I have the census records, numerous books and maps, and a complete collection of Journal and records from AHSGR.

Living in Utah I have easy access to the Family History Library and their resources, such as EWZ records. I am collaborating with the library for a “Germans from Russia” display at the library. Donations from the public for this display are continually accepted and appreciated.

Our local AHSGR chapter (intermountainchapterblogspot.com) will be donating a set of maps which were ordered from AHSGR for the library.

I designed an Excel program to organize village data.

I was fortunate to attend the Billings AHSGR convention and met a few individuals interested in Anton. I plan to attend the Concord, CA convention and hope to locate additional Anton researchers.

Research is on-going with the hope of connecting additional individuals with their Anton heritage.

Dee Hert and Sharon White.
Anton and Alexanderdorf VC

Alexanderdorf 2015 Village Report

2015 Alexanderdorf (Volga) research has been slow. Although I have had no inquiries this year I have spent a lot of time researching the village and surrounding areas. It has been interesting to note the confusion over the geographic area of Alexanderdorf; are researchers looking at the Volga, Caucasus and other areas of Russia. Numerous villages with the same or similar spelling exist. I am considering expanding my VC duties and taking on additional vacant villages.

Alexanderdorf is interesting with its mobile population; relocating to and from the Volga and various areas is being studied at this time.

Local chapter members plan to attend and participate in the Concord, CA convention, information on Alexanderdorf(s) will be available, along with new posters and binders.

NAMES: Anton, Antonow, Antonowka, Sadovoye, Sebastinovka, Sebastjanowka, Sebastyanovka, Sewastjanowka, Sevastinovka, Sevastjanovka,

LOCATION 51º2′ N 45º51′ E

I had one inquiry this year from the Anton database potentially connected to the Caucasus Alexanderdorf; surname Starck

Records are needed from Russia to address questions completely, I will be setting up an account for future record purchases.

In my personal library I have the census records, numerous books and maps, and a complete collection of Journal and records from AHSGR.

Our local AHSGR chapter (intermountainchapterblogspot.com) will be donating a set of maps which were ordered from AHSGR for the library.

I designed an Excel program to organize village data.

I was fortunate to attend the Billings AHSGR convention and met a few individuals interested in Anton. I plan to attend the Concord, CA convention and hope to locate additional Anton researchers.

Research is on-going with the hope of connecting additional individuals with their Anton heritage.

Dee Hert
3889 W. Tuscaloosa Way
West Jordan, Utah
deeehert@gmail.com
Anton and Alexanderdorf VC

Alexandertal 2015 Village Report

We are a very small village, so the volume of correspondence is small … in 2015 messages to and fro with 5 individuals.

This has enabled me to devote seemingly endless hours to the AHSGR Germanic Origins Project which now indexes among other basic sources the Volga German portions of Karl Stumpp’s big volume, all of the published Original Settlers lists for the original Volga colonies as well as settled first in what is now Denmark before moving on to the colonies in Russia, plus those who settles, all of the entries in Brent Mai’s and Dona Reeves-Marquardt’s German Migration to the Russian Volga 1764-1767, those settlers listed in Alexander, Jacob and Mary Eichhorn’s work on Germans who settled in Ukraine in the Belowescher colonies, as well as in Glueckstal (district and colony) in southern Russia.

Dick Kraus
Alexandertal VC Coordinator

Balzer 2015 Village Report

2015 was another slow year for Balzer research. This was partly due to the lack of new information coming out of Russia. Although extensive copies of Balzer church records, family lists, and the 1897 census are archived in Russia, the cost of obtaining copies is too prohibitive. Unlike other village groups, the Balzer team does not have a research fund.

No newsletters were issued this year. I was not able to attend the convention.

Several new Balzer descendents joined AHSGR. Headquarters was kind enough to give me their contact information.

I was able to travel to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, where we had an “informal” convention consisting of members from the Rocky Mountain, Portland, Southern California, and Sacramento chapters. It was a great pleasure to meet members from other chapters. I used my brief time there to review some of the Danish records for Balzer settlers and did find baptisms for a number of their children. Sadly, none of the children I found survived the year-long trek to the Volga or perished during the first couple of severe winters when living conditions were deplorable. My research into the Danish church books continues since many parish records are involved.

I am grateful to Brent Mai who gave a series of presentations commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding Balzer. Regrettably, my schedule conflicted with his. However, this month, he will be the guest speaker at my local chapter (Southern California), so I look forward to conferring with him.

Inquiries were received from researchers in the United States and Germany, and I was able to fulfill many of their requests. The lack of information post 1857 still poses a research problem for most researchers.

VC Neu Balzer Coordinator Marvin Heckmann contacted me. He was able to attend one of Brent Mai’s presentations. I look forward to meeting Marvin at the 2016 convention inConcord, and help him determine which Balzer families first settled Neu-Balzer. We also will be hosting a long-overdue Balzer get-together.

I have been asked to give a presentation at the 2016 convention. My tentative topic will be the paper trail left by Balthasar Barthuly, the first Vorsteher of Balzer, and for whom the colony was named. Some enlightening and unexpected event shave been revealed for this man of leadership and his ability to overcome a life of adversity. His French/Walloon ancestry is also demonstrated.

With my retirement from work and my wife’s pending retirement, I am looking forward to amazing progress in 2016 with new German origins and hopefully renewal of the newsletter.

Wayne H. Bonner
Balzer Co-VC

As a footnote, I notice that several VC are mentioning use of Ancestry.com to research. A word of caution. Ancestry.com is a great tool if one is aware that anything submitted by an individual must be verified by proper references. Recently, I found my father listed with the correct parents and grandparents and married to the correct women. BUT his birth place and date and death date and place are TOTALLY wrong with no references. I don’t even know the person who submitted this information. Must be a cousin but? FamilySearch is an excellent tool, with LDS film numbers used as reference.

Bangert 2015 Village Report

The year of 2015, I had no inquires this year. The data base for Bangert has 5389 persons recorded for the village of Bangert and it continues to grow as the information becomes available. There is a need for any census after 1857.

I was unable to attend the convention this year but was there in mind if not matter.

Paul Koehler, Village Coordinator for Bangert, the village of my Grandparents birth place.

Beideck Village Report 2015 (also known as Talovka)

I again volunteered for the Beideck Village Coordinator position at the 2015 Convention, and have now attended 24 consecutive AHSGR conventions. Since July, I have had 5 inquiries and was able to help most of them.

In addition, I have also started to slowly translate and add to the database, information on Beideck families listed in “The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and Their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766” by Dr. Alexander Eichhorn, Dr. Jacob and Mary Eichhorn. This will be a wonderful addition to researchers because it lists exactly where in Germany they came from, some maiden names of the wives, and in most cases the exact dates of travel. If they stayed in Denmark for any length of time it gives the village they lived in, and the exact dates when they traveled on to Russia. In many cases these families were not listed in the transport listings previously held by AHSGR and translated by Donna Marquardt and Brent Mai. This book fills in some gaps of time between Germany and Russia for Beideck families.

I continue to be at a loss and totally baffled as to why some of our GR people copy whole family lines listed on Ancestry.com with no sources listed as references and then paste that into their own genealogy… and then they don’t understand that some of this information is not even their family and dates do not match anything in their family, and then it all becomes a junk genealogy. I have had a few of these type of inquiries over the years. AHSGR has so many more resources now than 20 years ago when I first became the AHSGR Beideck Village Coordinator. We have church records, Census, and family charts which are excellent source documents, and more accurate, to complete family lines.

I am looking forward to the 2016 AHSGR Convention in Concord, California.
Hope to see more Beideck descendants there.

Respectfully submitted
Elizabeth (Sinner) Barker
Village Coordinator for Beideck

Beideck 2015 Village Coordinator Report

I have answered all the few inquiries that I received. There is no new info that I am aware of. I have a data base with all the known info up to the 1857 census and data from online sources beyond that. Elizabeth Barker has also signed up to support Beideck and she may have more to add.

John Lauck – Co-village chair

Bergdorf 2015 Village Report

Village coordinator for *Bergdorf, Marienberg (Glückstal colonies), and Töplitz, Bessarabia, Black Sea Region, S. Russia.*

Having just accepted this position in, I think, July, 2015, and not receiving the files and spread sheets until September, I haven’t had a lot of time to accomplish much yet. I have, however, figured out how I want to go about developing the information on these villages. I have the
“Marienberg: Fate of a Village” by Johann Bollinger and Janice Huber Stangl, and I decided to use that as a template for rebuilding all three villages. That is, developing a timeline for the residents of each house. The same can easily be done with the school, church, civic history, etc. I can do this in both a hard copy format and on Word, and therefore, can avoid the immediate need for a website, which has been an unsuccessful endeavor, so far.

Bergdorf may prove to be a little more difficult to accomplish this with, but with some ingenuity, I think it can still be done. Concerning Bergdorf, I was very surprised at the lack of information on people who lived there, but I can build it up fairly quickly, I think, by starting with my own tree. I’m seeking out a plat map for the village, and then, using the Karl Stumpp book, will proceed from there.

I have three books on Töplitz: “Colony Töplitz” by Herbert Weiss, “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1835 Census” and “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1850 Census”, both of the latter published by the GRHS.

For all three villages, I also have the Karl Stumpp book for a vast amount of the information I will need, and for Bergdorf, and to a much smaller extent, Marienberg, I have the “Glückstal Colonies, 1833-1900: Births and Marriages”, and “……Deaths” books published by the GCRA. I also have the “Glückstalers in New Russia and North America”, also published by the GCRA, and recently purchased the 2015 thumb drive from the GCRA, which will be a tremendous help, especially for Bergdorf.

On top of that, I have multiple other resources, access to Ancestry.com, and a number of other genealogy websites, and I have the Family Tree Maker software for publishing purposes.

I’ve had no requests for help from anyone for any of these villages yet, but in reading some of the other reports that are already in, it dawned on me that I can email family researchers of people in these towns to make them aware that I’m here. I was planning to email them later for the purpose of gathering any new information they might have, but I think I’m going to email them earlier instead, and that is at the top of my agenda now.

Hopefully, 2016 will see a lot of progress in developing these villages. Alles Gute für 2016!

Sincerely, Sylvia M. Hertel, *Village Coordinator*

Sylvia M. Hertel*
sdak.goth1@gmail.com <sdak.goth1@gmail.com>*

Blumenfeld 2015 Village Report

I have not had any inquiries on Blumenfeld Russia this past year at all. I am looking for information regarding Blumenfeld, Russia, which is not very much.

Village Coordinator – Deb Dumler

Borodino 2015 Annual Report:

Borodino / Bessarabia is always gaining new information. I continued to work on the “original villages” of the early colonists. The German states are listed as are many of the districts with location and a little history if I found any. Plenty of maps. Lots of photos. The additional data on various families continue to grow and can be found at:

http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.Genealogy/index.html. Take a look at:

History: http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.History/PageMigrRoutes.html

Genealogy: http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.Genealogy/index.html, or http://www.remmick.org/Borodino.Bess.History/index.html

I took part of the year to add to my husband’s family history (Norway and Rumania) by using ancestry.com. I’ve met a lot of nice people and caught up on some of my American cousins who then added to our family who lived in Russia.

If you’ve written me and I’ve failed to continue our conversation, please contact me again.

Judy A. Remmick-Hubert
Borodino / Bess, VC

Dietel 2015 Annual Report

Surname requests I worked with this year were Bangert, Bucks, Engelman, Hill, Jarger, Kindsvater, Koch, Kramer, Meisner, Michel, Mill/Muhl, Miller/Muller, Ring, Schadt, Schlotthauer, Simon, Spreuer, Weizel, Yeager, Zier.

At the Billings convention I met two volunteers to help enter data into the Dietel database. Debbie Granner is inputting Dr. Pleve surname charts. So far, the Hildermann chart is complete and the Kindsvater chart is in progress. Gwen Mayer donated her Grauberger and Steinmetz charts for this project and when completed I will give those two charts to Dr. Brent Mai per Gwen’s request. Karen Hergett is entering census data; 1798 and 1834 are completed; 1850 is about half completed; and left to enter are 1857 and 1874.

Michael Frank is still translating birth-marriage-death documents (births: 1885-1891; marriages: 1836-1904; deaths: 1870-1916 (but missing a few years)) and then I enter into the Dietel database. So far there are ~11,000 entries.

Maggie Hein shared twenty-eight Frank marriages (1839-1891) that had Dietel connections and have been entered into the Dietel database.

The Dietel Facebook page now has 140 members and growing!

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Bouton
Co-VC Dietel Village

Dinkel 2015 Village Report

I had the usual number (6-8) inquires regarding Dinkel. I was able to help them all in some form. For anyone seeking info regarding Dinkel; I have the 1798, 1834, 50, 57 Dinkel Census’s that might help you. I give thanks to Sharon White; VC, for Warenburg and Straub, for sending me information she comes across reg. my Dinkel people. LEROY NIKILAISEN VC

Dobrinka Annual Report 2015

Surname requests I worked with this year were Schlotthauer, Rusch, Peil, Zwetzig, Biehl, Schoen, Chrispens, Neuwirth, Nuss, Schimpf, Meier, Ehrlich, and Weber, from over 40 requests for information.

I had over 30 requests for information about people from Dobrinka, primarily from people living in the US and Canada.

The Schilling website is at: http://www.dobrinka.org/

There is a Dobrinka mailing list with subscription information here:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SARATOV-DOBRINKA.html

I am in the process of building a very large database of villages in the Lower Volga Village Project, which includes the Dobrinka, Galka, Dreispitz, Holstein, Kraft, Mueller, Shcherbakovka, Schwab and Stephan. The database will trace all people back to First Settler Lists, and marriage connections to all possible villages. I have completed Dobrinka, Galka, Shcherbakovka, and Mueller, and currently working on Holstein. Holstein has translated birth death and marriage records from 1800 to 1850. The database will also include all daughter colony connections, which are numerous since just Dobrinka had 8 daughter colony connections and Galka had 13 daughter colony connections, and the other villages had numerous daughter colonies.

Gary Martens

Doenhof 2015 Village Report

I had several inquiries for Doenhof families in 2015. Researchers were seeking information for the following families: Schriener, Behm/Boehm, Boltz, Altergott, Keller, Kraus, Kaiser, Frank, Maier, Jaeckel, Robertus, Gomer, and Rutz.

I was able to help with information for most of the families, but some were for the missing time period for records between 1857 and the late 1800’s. Along with census records, church records, and a few other resources, such as Ancestry, I was able to fill in a few missing family members after 1857. I agree with other coordinators that while Ancestry and FamilySearch websites can be useful, one must use information found there with caution and verify and document any information used, particularly with individual family trees.

My resources include:

1. Census records for Doenhof for 1775/1798, 1834, 1857

2. Vol. 1&2-Volga German Settlers Identified in Isenburg and German Church records compiled by Herb Femling and Wayne Bonner

3. St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church records – Windsor, CO -from 1909-1992. Many Doenhof immigrant families settled in the Windsor, CO area.

4. Naturalization Records of Immigration from Russia in CO – Vol. 1

5. Some birth, death, and marriage records for Peace Lutheran Church in Sterling, CO. Peace Lutheran Church was the first German speaking church in the Sterling area and included many German-Russian immigrants.

6. Individual family group sheets and genealogies for Doenhof families that I have collected or have been shared from Doenhof descendants and researchers.

I have also done DNA testing for myself through both 23andMe and Ancestry websites and have downloaded those results to Gedmatch.com. Through those results I have made several contacts with genetic relatives with family ties to Doenhof and Balzer, Russia and have been matched with cousins with German-Russian backgrounds. Using genetic matches to me, I have been able to help other researchers on Ancestry and 23andMe fill in blanks for missing family members. Some I have been able to take back to the original immigrant to Russia from Germany. The primary names I have been able to help with are Baus from Doenhof and Bender and Schwabauer from Balzer, Russia. I have encouraged these genetic cousins to become members of AHSGR if they do not already belong.

Last year at this time, we were notified that records for Doenhof had been obtained through donations from Doenhof researchers and later found that the records sent were for Neu-Doenhof, which was wonderful for both Neu and Alt-Doenhof researchers. We are hoping that records for Alt-Doenhof will be obtained in the near future and that we will be able to fill in many of the research blanks many of us have from 1857-1900.

In closing, I would like to thank Delores Schwartz for her help this past year and for hosting the Doenhof village group at the convention in Billings, as I am not able to attend conventions due to work commitments.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Kaiser
Village Coordinator for Doenhof

Doenhof Village Information

2015 began with what appeared to be a windfall for Doenhof, with the acquisition of the Church Books 1863-1903. Much of the first quarter it was thought that these records were from Doenhof.

In the beginning we were told by the Archive Committee that we would have to raise funds for translating these records. I undertook a fundraising campaign, the latest figures, $3,590 (as of Aug.). As it turned out Dr. Brent Mai and Dr. Dona Reeves-Marquardt agreed to translate these records for free, both have Doenhof ties.

A great deal of waiting, then translating, was spent before determining that these records were, in fact, from Neu-Doenhof. As the translation proceeded, correspondence between myself, the Archive Committee, the Executive Director, Germany, Russia and various descendants of both villages took place to determine how this happened. Once verified, it was determined that records are available for Doenhof.

The translation and fund raising continues!

Mila Koretnikov has translated a Neu Doenhof list “to liquidate the kulaks as a class. . .the same have to leave the village as follows:” Bauer, Fleglers (3), Jakobi, Keller, Lind, Reinhardts (5), Schoenhals, Schwab, Schwarzkopfs (2), Steinbrecher, Stoll, Wolfs (3).

I was able to put together a Neu-Doenhof notebook to go with the tri fold for convention. However, apparently, I mailed it into headquarters too late to make it to Billings. I left it up to Diane Wilson to leave it as a separate notebook or make one notebook with two sections; a notebook for Doenhof/Neu-Doenhof as their histories are closely linked.

Other important discoveries: Before Neu-Doenhof was established in 1863 there where villages where Doenhoffer’s relocated. Rosenberg was settled by Doenhoffers in 1847/52 (Deines’, Franks, Huwas, Kellers , Reinhardts, Schwarzkopfs and Wiedemanns); Unterdorf, 1852/53, where a third of the souls consisted of Doenhoffers in the 1857 census (Boeckings, Dross’,Eichhorns, Erbes’, Gomers, Haas’, Hettingers, Huwas, Kellers, Kraus’, Pappenheims, Riehls, Rutz’, Schmerrs. Schreiners, Sprengs, Steinbrechers, Steinmarks, Stolls,Streckers and Wagners) and, lastly for now; Podsosnovo, Altai, 1889/91 (Erbes’,Fendels, Gomers, Haas’, Jakobis, Kaisers, Kraus’, Linds, Pappenheims, Schenkels,Steinbrechers, Strombergers and Wiedemanns).

The 1897 revisionist list has been received at CVGS for Doenhof, however, it is one of the larger census and Dr. Mai will make no commitment as to when he will be translating it.

Barbara Stromberger is working to identify an original immigrant, Mary Stromberger, who left a modest written description of the village of Doenhof. It is unknown whether Stromberger was Mary’s maiden or married name.

Patti Fracker of Ohio is working on translating a number of early, late 1800s, letters from the Wauseon/Pettitsville, Ohio area. For those who do not know, Wauseon was probably the first settlement of Doenhoffers inthe U.S. followed by Rush County, Kansas and Burlington and West Burlington, Iowa, simultaneously. It would be great to have a written history of what brought Doenhoffers to Wauseon.

I’m looking for a copy of the book written by Rev. William J. Lind aka Joh. Wilhelm Lind of Doenhof and Kansas titled Ein Rhatgeber fur die Familie in der Krankenpflege. A second known copy, in a private collection, surfaced this year and I’m looking for a third. Rev. Lind mainly Pastored in various locations in Barton County and built the hospital in Hoisington.

The known records available in Russia for Doenhof are:(Engels) Birth Records 1815-1859 & 1866; Marriage Records 1838-1851; Actsof Pre Marriage Exams 1870-1903; Death Records 1838-1851, 1860-1894; Personal Church Book 1834, 1900; Family Lists 1874, 1888 (Saratov) Birth Records1869-1921; Marriage Records 1895-1921; and can be obtained at a discounted rateas a result of the mix up with the Neu-Doenhoff records. The funds we have raised will go towards the purchase of these records.

I e-mail four letters a year toboth Alt and Neu-Doenhoffers but it would be wonderful if we had a newsletter, website/page, blog or Facebook page. Susan Nakaji wrote of a webpage site she uses that is free, has templates, bells, whistles, etc. A volunteer would be appreciated.

This year we topped 100 Doenhoffers, Alt and Neu, on our e-mail list.
Lee Ann Schlager, Village Coordinator

Dreispitz 2015 Village Report

It’s been another slow year as I have only had only a few inquiries and all were from within the United States.

I still remain hopeful that we will be able to obtain other village records from the archives in Russia with the bequeath by Timothy Montania.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend this year’s convention but with any luck will make 2016.

I also remain involved in maintaining the AHSGR Store website which as you know has a new look. This transition required a lot of time and effort but I feel it was well worth it. The new software running the website allows us better functionality and is now more compatible with mobile devices. Over the year we have added many new items, so if you have not been checked it out I encourage you to do so. https://ahsgr.site-ym.com/store

Mark Wills
Village Coordinator for Dreispitz

Enders 2015 Village Report

Enders has had a few inquiries this year. With each inquiry, I’m able to add new information to the database, and make new surname connections as I research the name from the top down with German Origins, Transport Lists, and Census Lists, then from the bottom up with Ship Manifests, U.S. Censuses, Social Security Lists, FindaGrave, and other Ancestry records. I agree with Wayne Bonner’s word of caution when reviewing Ancestry trees; I too have found direct ancestors in the wrong families and subsequently copied to multiple other trees without further reference.

Most of Enders was first settled in 1765, prior to the 1766 “Kuberg Lists;” with some families settling in 1766, and a few as late as 1767. A few are from Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden. Documents for Enders are limited to the village census of 1765, 1798, 1834, 1850, 1857 and partial 1874 Family Lists. There are photocopies of several pages of handwritten vital records in the village file. Most are illegible.

Brent Mai hosted a conference in Frankenmuth, Michigan, to honor four of the colonies celebrating their 250th Anniversaries in 2015: Fischer, Enders, Rosenheim, and Schwed. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the conference which coincided with the 2015 AHSGR convention.

Facebook continues to be a great way to reach village descendants worldwide seeking village and family information. One descendant in Germany is going the extra mile by contacting public officials to track down an original ancestor. My goal in the coming year, is to identify and periodically post village information from various resources in the hope of generating more interest in the village.

Submitted by Beth Mueller Davenport

Fischer 2015 Village Report

Every year I get 2 or 3 inquiries regarding the village of Fischer. I have entered on the Family Search Data Base many Fischer residents on the 1798, 1850 and 1850 censuses. I have sent several relatives in Europe the written history of my Heinrich line. A Russian friend was able to find relatives of mine via the internet in Russia and Germany. I believe this is the next step for many of our members to reunite with our long lost relatives. I believe our organization can really expand its membership abroad. I plan to visit my relative in Kazakhstan in the next year. If we miss making these connections, a lot of our peoples history will be lost forever.

Brad Hertz – Fischer VC

Frank 2015 Village Report

Submitted by Maggie Hein

We have had a busy year, both with respect to requests for research help and the acquisition of new records.

We had more than 90 inquiries this year, quite a bit higher than last year. The single largest source for new inquiries continues to be Facebook. Our Frank-Kolb Facebook page has nearly 850 members. We have had a steady increase in membership on the Facebook page, gaining more than 100 members over the past year. I also monitor the numerous other German-from-Russia groups and other village pages on Facebook, keeping an eye out for people seeking help with Frank & Kolb research. DNA testing continues to be a source of new contacts. There are a considerable number of people with Frank and Kolb ancestry who have tested at the three major DNA testing companies, and this will increase as the popularity of DNA testing for genealogy increases. We receive a few e-mails directly from people who find our contact information on various web sites, we receive referrals from various sources, and we met quite a few new people at the AHSGR convention.

All of the available German-language church records for the Village of Frank for 1839-1891 have now been translated. We have a total of 25,572 birth, marriage, and death records for that time frame. Doris has now input all of the records from 1839-1882 into the database, with 1883 currently underway.

Having so many of the church records translated and input has made it much easier to answer research requests. In prior years, I sometimes had to spend hours searching through the records, attempting to find the appropriate births and marriages. That is now rarely a problem. At this point, we have enough information to easily answer most Frank inquiries. We do have some gaps in the Kolb records, so unfortunately, we still run into situations where we can’t make all of the connections for Kolb ancestry.

The church records switched to Russian in 1892, so we still have some records in Russian that are not yet translated. We have Frank birth records in Russian from 1896-1906, marriages from 1892-1910, and deaths from 1892-1901 and 1904. We also have Kolb draftee records in Russian from 1908-1917 that are not yet translated. If necessary, I can glean information from the Russian records in order to answer a specific question, but my Russian skills are very limited.

For the typical query, we are able to provide an ancestral report (Ahnentafel Chart) that gives the requestor all of their ancestral lines from Frank or Kolb. Depending on which family lines that a person has, the report may go back 10 generations or more (back into the 1600s if church records for the German Origin location have been researched). We provide complete source footnotes for all of the data so that if the requestor wishes to review the source material, they can easily see which Pleve charts or census records or church records were used to generate the report.

Doris and I were both able to attend the convention this year. We spent almost the entire day, each day of the convention, at a table in the library/research room.The attendance of Frank Village and Frank Canton people at conventions is quite large, so we always expect to have numerous people looking for research help. This year was no different. The turnout at our Frank Canton village night filled our assigned room. The only way that we can possibly manage all of the inquiries is to try to sit down with as many people as possible before village night, or to take people’s e-mail addresses and get back to them after the convention. After the library closed for the day, we relocated to a sitting area outside the hotel restaurant, and along with Mary Jane Bolton, Walter co-VC, and Susan Nakaji, Hussenbach co-VC, spent many hours comparing notes, matching up records, and exchanging data.

We have made amazing progress this year in documenting the German Origins of the individuals who immigrated to Frank and Kolb. Several factors contributed to this. A Frank descendant that I was helping pointed out to me that the Höchst-im-Odenwald church records, which had long been available on microfilm, were now indexed on Family Search. We already knew that many families from the Höchst-im-Odenwald area immigrated to Frank, Yagodnaya Polyana, and other Volga villages. The first English-language publication identifying these individuals that I am aware of is in the book Pennsylvania German Roots Across the Ocean, published in the year 2000. This book included a chapter entitled “Some Eighteenth-Century Emigrants from Höchst in dem Odenwald”. The data in this publication was extracted from the church records by Trudy Schenk, and included families who immigrated to Russia. The chapter also referenced the work of Ella Gieg. Ms. Gieg is a German researcher of the Odenwald region. She had written an article titled “Neue Erkenntnisse zur Auswanderung Nach Russland 1766” in which she connected specific families who departed the Odenwald region with specific families in the Transport Lists and First Settler’s Lists. This article had been translated by Dick Kraus and provided the starting point for research on many families. The availability of the Family Search indexes made it considerably easier to add details to the data already published, to determine how the Yagodnaya Polyana and Frank settlers were related to each other, and to extend many of the lines back into the 1600s.

We are gradually working our way through these parishes. So far, we have positively identified eight families (three that immigrated to Kolb, two that immigrated to Frank, two that immigrated to Messer, and one that immigrated to Warenburg). The Archion database is very well organized and easy to use, and the image quality is generally very good. The records are not indexed, so using the database requires first identifying a likely origin location and then paging through the records until you find the individuals you are seeking. The biggest challenge, as with any handwritten documents, is the quality of the scribe’s handwriting.

Sometimes German Origin data comes to you in unexpected ways. One of the researchers in the Dietel Facebook group posted about her quest to determine the origin location for her ancestor. Several of the families that settled in Dietel had come from a place called Kork. She had recently learned that Kork is located in what is today Baden-Wuertemberg, in a place formerly known as HanauerLand. This was consistent with what Dick Kraus had posted on the AHSGR German Origins web site. I took a look at the families that she had identified and noticed that they were all on the same ship in the Kulberg book. One of the individuals in this group, a son in the Batt family, eventually settled in Frank. All of the place names listed in the First Settler’s List were places that could be identified except for one – the Batt family was listed as being from a non-existent place called “Biszugottenstein”. I asked for help in the Baden Genealogy group on Facebook. The admin of that group suggested that the place surely must be Bischofsheim, today the municipality of Rheinbischofsheim, and that I should check the church records, which conveniently the church had posted on their own web site. I quickly found the Batt family members, and another family that settled in Dietel, confirming another German origin location.

On the records acquisition front, we turned our attention to census records this year. We are working with The Center for Volga German Studies (CVGS) at Concordia University to obtain these records. One of this year’s acquisitions was the 1817/1834 census for Kolb. We’d gotten the 1850/1858 census several years ago, and in the process of going through that census, we were able to correct quite a few errors in the Kolb data. We have made some additional changes after analyzing the 1817/1834 data. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Frank 1817/1834 and 1850/1857 census records. We know, based on sample pages that we previously received for individual Frank families, that data is missing from the census compilation book published by AHSGR. We expect that, similar to the Kolb census materials, we will be able to resolve many problems once we have the actual records.

As other VCs have stated in their reports, having family information from descendants in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Germany, and Russia, is essential to successfully connecting families. We want to thank everyone who has shared family data and family photographs, help locate records, and helped with translations.

Maggie Hein
Village of Frank

Visit us on Facebook –
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kolb-Russia-Database/336156650349

Friedenberg 2015 Village Report

During the year 2015 I did not receive any inquiries for information on Friedenberg.

I continue searching for more information to add to the collection.

Brenda Silvey – Village Coordinator for Friedenberg, Russia, AHSGR

Galka Annual Report 2015

I had over 20 requests for information about people from Galka, primarily from people living in the US and Canada.

The Galka website is at: http://www.galkagr.org/

There is a Galka mailing list with subscription information here:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SARATOV-GALKA.html

Gary Martens

Gnadenfeld 2015 Report

Gnadenfeld, (Russian name Kirovskoye), small “daughter” colony, located in the Samara Province, on the weisenseite (meadow side) of the Volga, Quandrant E-5, Map #6 (Stumpp, District of Krasny-Kut.

In the past year I have only had three requests for information on Gnadenfeld families. All were living in Germany and the information they had on their families did not reach back to the 1857 census, so I could not help them.

Irma A. Waggoner, V.C.
iawagg9@gmail.com

Göbel 2015 Village Report

Map 6, coordinates B7

Goebel A.K.A. Gebel, Goebel, Göbel, Ust-Gräsnucha, Ust-Grjasnucha, Ust-Grjaznucha, Ust-Gryaznukha, Ust-Grasnukha, or Ust-Graesnucha: A Russian Catholic German village situated on the western side of the Volga.

I have a working file for Goebel village of names, births and marriages known regarding the village of Goebel. I have some received AHSGR information, and then 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.

I also have a copy of Pleve’s Vol II with the FSL for Goebel. I also have Göbel birth records (1894-1900) acquired from the Volgograd archive, with the help of Kevin Rupp.

I received a handful of requests again this year, along with a couple of reference question emails for other VCs. I have not done as well with my responses this year due to family commitments.

Ben Markel
Goebel Village Coordinator

Grimm 2015 Village Coordinators Annual Report

We were busy this year assisting fellow Grimmers in researching their Grimm families. As a result, our dual data bases have grown and become more complete. We have entered all the Grimm surnames starting with the Germans to Denmark list, the Kulberg List, the First Settlers List, the 1775 Census, the 1798 Census, the 1816-1834 Census, the 1850-1857 Census, the 1889 Heads of Family list, and the 1897 Census. We are able to trace most surnames back to their German origins, with some exceptions.

There are many on-line tools, such as SOAR Obit files, Social Security death indexs, Find a Grave, and Ancestry.com we can use to trace most surnames. Working with other VCs is a great resource also. We can be reached at John Groh: gramskids2@gmail.com [1] or at Henry L. Schmick: hschmick@bresnan.net [2].

We look forward to another great year in 2016.

Respectively Submitted by,

John Groh and Henry Schmick, Co-VCs for the Colony of Grimm

Huck Village 2015 Report

Dennis has asked that I do the report again this year. He and I have helped 5 individuals with information on their families from the village of Huck. They were from Kansas, Arizona, Texas, South America and Canada. Our information and data bases continue to grow. I am slowly getting the information in my database from the genealogical library that was left to me by the Ruth Mosby Estate but it is slow going. We like many of the other coordinators are at a loss for the time period of 1857-1870’s. This is the hardest time slot to fill. With the help of Ancestry, Family Search, Obits, Find a Grave, Surname Charts, Church Records and the old Newspapers we can fill in some of the blanks but not all.

We look forward to a New Year filled with Peace.

We can be reached at the following email addresses.

Dennis Zitterkopf at zitter@cox.net
Pam Wurst at volgariver@windstream.net.

Hussenbach 2015 Village Report

I attended the Convention at Billings, Montana and I recruited a Co-coordinator for the village: Shari Stone. We held a Frank Canton meeting and each Village Coordinator in attendance gave a brief summation of their work and then we broke up into individual villages. The coordinators of the Frank Canton set up in shop in the AHSGR Library room to coordinate and to give one-on-one assistance to people. After the convention, we added Alexander Baumung, of Germany as another one of our consultants. He will help with translation of postings on the Russian forums and other information found in Russian or German.

I received about 20 email inquiries for information on Hussenbachers. The Facebook page continues to be quite active and also had many requests and discussions.

Translation of the Volgograd records is an ongoing process. David Nelson and Viktor Zinn translated the records past 1896 that were in Russian. Viktor has continued to work on some of the German records which has been a tremendous help. I thank both of them for their generous donation of their time. I have been working inputting the 3000+Neu-Hussenbach birth records into the Hussenbach database. Shari has been working with the ~1500 Neu-Hussenbach and Hussenbach death records.

Hussenbach Records found in the Volgograd Archives: For Linevo Osero:
Births: 1818-1838 and 1839-1853;1861 translated by Viktor Zinn, 1896-1904,1906-1909, translated by David Nelson;1854-1860needto be translated. Records are missing for part of 1904, all of 1905, and part of1906.
Marriages: 1818-1838, 1902-1908, translated by David Nelson.
Deaths: 1818-1838; 1900-1908translated by David Nelson. 1839-1858, 1862-1881, 1891-1895, still have to be translated.
For Gashon:
Births: 1862-1895 which were translated by Viktor Zinn.
Marriages: 1878-1902, translated by Viktor Zinn.
Deaths: 1882-1890, translated/to be translated 1896-1899, translated by Viktor Zinn. The Gashon records have been given to Shirley Ainsley, the Village Coordinator for Neu-Hussenbach (Gashon).

The Hussenbach database continues to grow. I now have 40,571 names in the database consisting of 31,255 families.. I appreciate all of the information fellow Hussenbachers have shared with me. I have found numerous times that the information from one person combined with another’s can be the connection that links that family back to the German immigrant ancestor. Please send me anything you have on your family that you wish to share.
I continue to receive requests for information from the Hussenbach webpage at: Hussenbach (Linevo Osero), the Facebook page at: Hussenbach (Linevo Osero) and Neu-Hussenbach (Gashon) Russia Descendants, and email. I receive inquiries off of the webpage, my Facebook page for Hussenbach now has206members. Facebook posts generate many postings generating multiple comments. Connections have been made with people from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Germany. There is also a Suppes Hussenbach Facebook page for people that descend from that name.

As many people know, a First Settler’s List for Hussenbach has not been found. I have reconstructed a list of people who were probably the First Settlers of Hussenbach.I used Pleve’s: Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766: Reports to Ivan Kulberg;” Dr. Brent A. Mai’s: 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture, Volumes 1 and 2; Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga 1766-1767;Maiand Marquardt’s: GermanMigration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767): Origins and Destinations; Combined Surname Index to All Volumes of Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 by Igor Pleve compiled by Brent Alan Mai, and Femling’s website: “Budingen Marriages 1766.” Using the above resources I was able to come up with 116 probable families. The list has more entries because I listed the females separately when the maiden name was known, even though they may have arrived as a married couple. This will facilitate the next step of discovering their origins in the German Nations of 1766, Poland and other countries. Questions, corrections or comments are Welcome. During 2015 I made updates to some of the families in the list and posted the revision on the Hussenbach Facebook page.

I obtained a copy of the 1897 Census for the Hussenbach village. I am awaiting a translation of this census.

The Excel page showing which Family names are found in different sources, including: Kuhlberg lists, Volga transport list, 1798, 1816, 1834, 1850, 1857 censuses, Volgograd records to 1845, and Hussenbach database. You can download the file from my Hussenbach web page :http://hussenbach.weebly.com/names-found-in-records.html.It is 16 pages, and includes some of the names found in the daughter colonies of Ährenfeld, Langenfeld, Neu-Bauer and Neu-Hussenbach and their original colony if known. This will need to be updated when the records are finished with translation.

Susan Hopp Nakaji Co-Hussenbach Village Coordinator

susan.nakaji@sbcglobal.net

Hussenbach 2015 Village Report (Co-Village Coordinator)

I attended the Billings AHSGR Conference this past July. Sue Nakaji ever so graciously asked me to help her out with the Hussenbach VC duties. I was surprised and then over whelmed by all of the information that the Hussenbach data base has. There are a lot of names on this and so the first month I studied and restudied the information. I’m still finding new people on the database and trying to help Sue in establishing the family lines that I know more about.
Sue and I have decided that it’s best right now that she handle all the data entry and I send her the information. She then sends me updates on the data base.

I have been helping a few requests from the Facebook page and one from Lincoln that I sent on the other VC since that Village had more of the family names in it. I have found 3 family members in Russia, 1 in Germany who was born in Kazakhstan. I have helped one contact in British Columbia, 1 in Colorado. I was referred by a friend of mine for their family friend who is GR and was born in Siberia. She lives in Utah and I now have her information and I will be sending this on to Sharon White for help with the Warenburg records. I will be contacting her to encourage her to join the Salt Lake Chapter.

Sue gave me the opportunity to research the death dates for Hussenbach1900-1908. (1444 death records) I am going through each person and the record states how old they were when they died ex.: (30years, 5months, 29 days old) and I have a nifty app on my I-pad that will give me the birth day and year from the information provided. I then go and find them on the data base and then I go through all the information and try to find the family lines if they aren’t already there. So this takes time. I have found numerous from my family lines and other families that came from Hardin. I have the first 2 years completed and sent to Sue to input into the database.

I really enjoy the research and puzzle that every family line has become. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of it.

Shari Mehling Stone Co-VC Hussenbach

sharistone2007@gmail.com

Johannestal 2015 Village Report

I received four queries for Johannestal families in 2015. Fortunately I was able to help most of them, mostly from a large database compiled for a 2001 family reunion and the St. Petersburg records.

My wife, daughter, and I visited the Stuttgart area of Germany in March. This was an area in which many of the Johannestal colonists originated. I was intrigued to find many of the foods in Schwaben made it to Russia and even to the United States! (The kuchen was nearly identical.)

Ray Heinle
Gilbert, Arizona, USA

GRHS and AHSGR Village Coordinator for Johannestal, Beresan, Odessa, Russia http://www.grhs.org/korners/heinle/johannestal.html

Josefstal 2015 Village Report:

I have to report that I had no requests for information from this tiny village located near Kamyshin.

However, I have been busy working on the Josefstal database, and tweaking other documents dealing with records from Josefstal. I do hope to have an English translation of a German-language book on Josefstal, published by my cousin and me in Germany, later this year. Also, Josefstal researcher (and cousin) Alexander-Josef Dreser passed away in 2015 in Germany. The following are documents available on Josefstal:

Josefstal Database:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gerk1

Josefstal 1858 Census:

https://josefstal.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/josefstal1858census.pdf

Military Draft Records for Josefstal, 1880-1919:

https://josefstal.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/josefstal-draft-list-20152.pdf

Josefstal Archive in the Volgograd State Archive (GASO) Fond 270:

https://josefstal.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/josefstalgavo.pdf

Josefstal Residents in Nizhny Tagil Labour Camp, Sverdlovsk Region 1941-1946:

https://josefstal.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/nizhny-tagil.pdf

More to come, including Josefstal passenger lists.

Edward (Ted) Gerk, Village Coordinator – Josefstal

Jost 2015 Village Report

Jost has had several inquiries this year. With each inquiry, new information is added to the database. Surnames of interest are researched from the top down with German Origins, Transport and Census Lists, then from the bottom up with Ship Manifests, U.S. Censuses, Social Security Lists, FindaGrave, and other Ancestry records. I agree with Wayne Bonner’s word of caution when reviewing Ancestry trees; I too have found direct ancestors in the wrong families and subsequently copied to multiple other trees without further reference.

Many original Jost settlers can be found in the 1766 “Kulberg Lists.” Documents for Jost are limited to the village census of 1767, 1798, 1816-34, 1850, and 1857. In addition, we have Jost births 1794-1811 retrieved by Dodie Rotherham and generously donated to AHSGR. A few years ago, I purchased Stier births in Warenburg and Jost from 1795 – 1864. I also have Wenig births 1858 – 1864. Dodie Rotherham is working to retrieve more Kanton Kukkus records, which will include Jost. We patiently wait while the process continues very slowly.

Facebook continues to be a great way to reach village descendants worldwide seeking village and family information. Facebook descendants are generally there to seek information about their family and/ or the village; they often find distant relatives. My goal in the coming year, is to identify and periodically post village information from various resources in the hope of generating more interest in the village.

The Jost webpage on Rootsweb is stagnant. It can no longer be accessed for updates. Rootsweb administrators have not been able to find the source of the problem.

Submitted by Beth Mueller Davenport

Kamenka 2015 Village Report

The big event this year was the 250th Anniversary Celebration of the founding of Kamenka in Russia in July at Hays, Kansas. It was hosted by Brent Mai, Director of the Center for Volga German Studies, Portland Oregon. Brent had a guest speaker from Argentina. A delicious Volga German meal was served: Bierocks, Galushkies, Green Bean Dumpling Soup, Potatoes mit Dumplings, and Beans mit Noodles.

Most of the requests for Kamenka family information came from Argentina I was able to help some but some wanted answers for the post 1850 Kamenka census.

I continue to help other VC’s as well. Some requests received were forwarded to the particular village VC.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemary Larson

Kautz 2015 Village Report

Research continues for this village. I processed 25 obituaries received from contributors, mainly Henry Schmick, which matched against my Kautz database. As of January 14, 2016, the database now contains 30,624 individuals and 9,785 marriages. The software I use is Family Treemaker for Windows – 2006.

I correspond with many people from the United States who have Kautz ties and I am normally able to provide substantive information to them from their initial query. In many cases, I’m able to receive additional information on their families from the requestors which then updates my database.

The only Lutheran church records for Kautz which I now lack are for the years 1850-1899. In checking the Volgograd archives, these records haven’t been found. It is possible they are misplaced at Volgograd or are located at another archive. The lack of these documents result in my inability to assign certain adults to specific fathers and mothers since those parents are not shown on the death records. Once I have completed transcription of Kautz records handwritten in Cyrillic, I will go back to try to use census records to recover some of these relationships. An effort will continue to locate these birth records.

Some of my time in 2015 was spent transcribing church records for the village of Dietel, a sister village of Kautz where permanent unions were made among families of the two villages. For the period of 1870-1916, I have translated all death records written in German. Of these, there are about 16 years (most of 1893-1910) in which the records are written in Cyrillic only.
For these, the translation of death records is nearing completion. Several years of the birth records, handwritten in Cyrillic are done and more work needs to be done. The quality of Cyrillic handwriting varied widely over the years. Poor handwriting of some of the pastors, the mismatch of alphabet letters between Cyrillic and German, and the Russian use of phonetics to translate some of the names contribute to the difficulty. As I translate more Cyrillic records, I am finding my task is becoming much easier. My transcriptions have been forwarded to Karen Bouton for inclusion into her Dietel database. I continue to strive to complete the translations of the Kautz and Dietel church records and build family relationships in the databases between those two villages.

Of the Kautz and Dietel records I current have, all have been scanned and indexed. It is so much easier to deal with the electronic copies than copies of the originals on paper.

The Kautz group in Facebook continues to attract members. I posted a lot of Kautz material to that group in 2015. It’s located at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/425613657484126/.

My activities have also included publication of the Oregon Chapter Newsletter which comes out every two months. I accepted the job of 2nd Vice President for the chapter, beginning January 2015.

In July, I attended the national convention in Billings, Montana. I gave a talk on Volga-German immigration to the Yellowstone valley of Montana. Many Volga-Germans originated in villages west of the Volga (the Bergseite villages). Many of these people, if not most, were related to my grandparents in Walla Walla. I had a chance to talk to many friends and cousins while there.

In October, I attended a celebration in Walla Walla, Washington dedicated to the Volga-Germans who settled in the ‘Rooshian’ section there, including my grandparents, Johann Conrad Frank, his brothers and sisters, and his father.
Other related families were honored also. I gave a talk about these families and spoke about a manuscript written by Carl George Frank (1914-2000), my first cousin once removed, who detailed his life growing up in Walla Walla. It was a fascinating story.

The Kautz DVD, Unsere Leute von Kautz (Our People from Kautz), has been updated to version 6.1, now with 283 pages in volume 9. A lot of new information has been added.

A great effort is underway to prepare for the upcoming 250th year anniversaries of the founding of Volga-German villages by Catherine the Great. The Center for Volga-German Studies (CVGS), headquartered at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, is one of those great organizations spearheading this effort. It will be a great opportunity to get people interested in their Volga-German roots. If you wish to volunteer your time in helping with genealogical activities of Volga-German villages through CVGS, please contact me or Brent Mai. Volunteers are greatly appreciated and don’t need to reside in the Portland metropolitan area to be able to contribute.

Michael Frank
Village Coordinator for Kautz (Werschinka)

Kolb 2015 Village Report

Submitted by Maggie Hein

We have had a busy year, both with respect to requests for research help and the acquisition of new records.

Doris and I were both able to attend the convention this year. We spent almost the entire day, each day of the convention, at a table in the library/research room. The attendance of Frank Village and Frank Canton people at conventions is quite large, so we always expect to have numerous people looking for research help. This year was no different. The turnout at our Frank Canton village night filled our assigned room. The only way that we can possibly manage all of the inquiries is to try to sit down with as many people as possible before village night, or to take people’s e-mail addresses and get back to them after the convention. After the library closed for the day, we relocated to a sitting area outside the hotel restaurant, and along with Mary Jane Bolton, Walter co-VC, and Susan Nakaji, Hussenbach co-VC, spent many hours comparing notes, matching up records, and exchanging data.

The new German Lutheran Church records database (Archion.de) has been a fantastic source for new German origin data. The database includes many church records that have never been available on microfilm. I have focused on records from the Kassel archive, and specifically the Fulda, Hanau, and Gelnhausen regions. This is the southeastern portion of present-day Hesse – an area from which many immigrants to Russia originated. Several years ago, we hired a professional genealogist in Germany to extract the data for the numerous families that immigrated from Gersfeld to Frank and Walter. She was not allowed to make copies of the church records, so we didn’t have the actual church record images. The Gersfeld records are included in the Fulda regional collection, so now I am able to download all of the images to verify and support the research that was previously done. I have also been able to complete several family lines that were missed in the additional round of research. The Gersfeld records begin in 1596, so for all of these families, it is possible to document the ancestral lines back to the early 1600s. There are also numerous families that settled in Frank and Kolb who came from the towns in the Hanau and Gelnhausen regions. We are gradually working our way through these parishes. So far, we have positively identified eight families (three that immigrated to Kolb, two that immigrated to Frank, two that immigrated to Messer, and one that immigrated to Warenburg). The Archion database is very well organized and easy to use, and the image quality is generally very good. The records are not indexed, so using the database requires first identifying a likely origin location and then paging through the records until you find the individuals you are seeking. The biggest challenge, as with any handwritten documents, is the quality of the scribe’s handwriting.

Maggie Hein

Village of Frank

Visit us on Facebook –
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kolb-Russia-Database/336156650349

Konstantinovka Annual Report 2015

Surname requests I worked on this year were Filbert.

I had 3 requests for information about people from Konstantinovka, from people living in the US, Canada, and Germany.

The Schilling website, which includes Konstantinovka, is at:
http://www.schillinggr.org/

There is a Schilling mailing list with subscription information here:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SARATOV-SCHILLING.html

Church records for Konstantinovka are at the Russian Archives in Saratov, and include births for 1880-1919, deaths for 1895-1910, and marriages for 1895-1908. A search for a record costs about $30 per surname per year, and the cost of a copy of a record costs about $11. The price varies depending on the value of the Russian Ruble versus the US Dollar.

Gary Martens

2015 Kraft Village Coordinator Report

Several years ago, we were able to obtain some Kraft church records from Volgograd. This year, we were able to have them retranslated and this has provided some clarity. Kraft (Verkhnyaya Gryaznukha) records comprise: Births; 1848-1866, 1885-1896, 1901-1902. Deaths; 1904. Marriages; 1895, 1905. These can be helpful in some cases, but still do not provide the definitive link between our migrating ancestors and their parents and grandparents listed in the 1857 census. Hopefully, one of these days, more records will turn up.

Ron Burkett
Kraft Village Coordinator

Krasnojar Samara Volga Russia 2015 village report

Krasnojar is located on Map 6, Quadrant D-2, 51 38 N 46 25 E. There have been no new inquiries this past year. The face book page (Krasnojar ( aka Krasnoyar & Krasnyy Yar ), Volga, Russia) shows that over 125 people have seen and liked the information posted. There are numerous maps, articles and pictures available. The 1798, 1834, 1850 and 1857 censuses are available and I have copies of them all. I have gone through all the census records and have incorporated all the data into my genealogy family program.

Sue Hess
VC – Krasnojar

2015 Kukkus Village Report

This has been an interesting year. I have been on a Church full-time mission, at the Family History Library, in Salt Lake City, Utah. I serve on the International floor, helping people from all over the world. While here, I was able to research and learn more about the Germans from Russia resources.

The first day here on duty, I met a lady who was looking for information about a Phillipp Krum from Kukkus, Russia. She happened to be searching for one of my grandfather’s cousins, who lived in Fresno, California. She attended the last meeting of the Sacramento Valley Chapter. She lives only 20 minutes from where we live in California.

I have been able to help many people who were looking for ancestors from various German villages in Russia. We have encouraged them to join AHSGR. I know of at least three people who have become life members. Others we encouraged to join local chapters where they live.

My husband, Alton, taught a class in 2015 about the Germans from Russia. He had trained the paid staff here how to help guests with this research. One of the staff persons has come to the Utah chapter meetings and plans to continue to learn more about this heritage. One very special lady, who volunteers here at the Library, does Poland and other nearby countries that have at times been part of Russia research. She has joined AHSGR as well, so she can help GRs. Elder Dolberg, one of our new life members, will be a great resource for AHSGR, if you nee help translating documents. He has been a professor of German studies and has taught the German language for over 30 years. He is exceited about AHSGR and has had much success in finding records.

The Intermountain Chapter in Utah has donated a complete set of maps for the German villages and they are now cataloged into the Family Search Library system. They are looking to get more censuses for the villages. Last week a person seeking to catalog the maps brought me a map and asked if I could tell him what it was and how it should be cataloged. I was able to tell him which village it was, that it listed the persons who lived in Kukkus and where they lived. There are many people looking for information about their villages and family names. The AHSGR Obituary Collection at FamilySearch.org is wonderful help to many of our guests.

The database for Kukkus is up to 13,100 plus names and is steadily growing. Alton and I are finished with our mission on March 24, 2016, and will be going home to Orangevale, California. My Krum(m) relatives in St. George, Utah, started a Krum family association in June 2015. I met a lady from Medicine Hat, Canada, who had the Maser (Maaser) surname, the same as my paternal grandmother. Her family went to the Black Sea villages.

I am looking forward to helping our local chapter and to help with the convention planning.

Eleanor Sissell
esissell@gmail.com
Kukkus Village Coordinator

Lauwe 2015 Village Report

I only received three queries all year. One of these was, strangely, about where to get general village information to compile a list of villages. I referred them to various lists already available. The other two queries were about people about whose Lauwe connection was tenuous and I was unable to provide help.

I still have been indexing the 1886 Lauwe Family list that I previously translated. Progress is slow as I keep finding more interesting things to do.

Ray Heinle
Gilbert, Arizona, USA

AHSGR Village Coordinator for Lauwe, Volga, Russia http://www.grhs.org/korners/heinle/lauwe/lauwe.html

Leichtling 2015 Village report

Research is still slow in this village. It is probably due to the fact that many of the villagers did not get out of Russia and stayed to well past the famines.
We have had 5 inquiries this year. Most of those were directed to other families from Leichtling so they could exchange information. We maintain a email list of descendants of Leichtling.

We have located 6 family names from Leichtling to towns in Germany (and know there parishes in Germany) just this year. I took a vacation to some of these parishes in Germany.

We added three families to our database (on line on the web) and continue to see if we can locate the 1857 and 1887 census. We may have located them, but at the price to get them out, it may be some time.

Still looking for any photos or information on Leichtling.

Darryl Boyd, VC for Leichtling, Russia

Louis 2015 Village Report

I have not had much action this year for new material. I have had about a handful of requests, some from Germany and some for the states. About two year ago I had commissioned Olga Litzenberger to do a write up on my village which she did. It’s about 13 pages and the topics it covers are:

1.. Geographical Location and Administrative-Territorial Situation in the 18 and 20th Centuries.
2.. Brief History of the Settlement
3.. Schools and School Instruction
4.. Denomination of the Residents and its Peculiarities
5.. The Parish
6.. Sate of the Church Construction and its Architectural Features
7.. Population Numbers
8.. Excerpts from History of the Church Community and the Parish
9.. List of the Clergy of the Louis Parish
10.. The Village Today
11.. Archival Sources
12.. An Especially Interesting Archival Document
13.. Louis in the Press, April 1, 1898 Plus a number of footnotes.
This information will be included in the next Sunflower Chapter Newsletter and in the AHSGR Summer Journal.

At the current time my database contains 103,526 people from all my villages.

Kevin Rupp
VC for the colony of Louis, Russia

Kevin Rupp
www.volgagerman.net
www.ahsgr.org
volgagerman@ruraltel.net

Marienberg 2015 Village Report

Village coordinator for *Bergdorf, Marienberg (Glückstal colonies), and Töplitz, Bessarabia, Black Sea Region, S. Russia.*

Having just accepted this position in, I think, July, 2015, and not receiving the files and spread sheets until September, I haven’t had a lot of time to accomplish much yet. I have, however, figured out how I want to go about developing the information on these villages. I have the
“Marienberg: Fate of a Village” by Johann Bollinger and Janice Huber Stangl, and I decided to use that as a template for rebuilding all three villages. That is, developing a timeline for the residents of each house.
The same can easily be done with the school, church, civic history, etc. I can do this in both a hard copy format and on Word, and therefore, can avoid the immediate need for a website, which has been an unsuccessful endeavor, so far.

I have three books on Töplitz: “Colony Töplitz” by Herbert Weiss, “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1835 Census” and “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1850 Census”, both of the latter published by the GRHS.

On top of that, I have multiple other resources, access to Ancestry.com, and a number of other genealogy websites, and I have the Family Tree Maker software for publishing purposes.

Hopefully, 2016 will see a lot of progress in developing these villages. Alles Gute für 2016!

Sincerely, Sylvia M. Hertel, *Village Coordinator*

*Sylvia M. Hertel*
*sdak.goth1@gmail.com <sdak.goth1@gmail.com>*

Messer 2015 Village Coordinator’s Annual Report

During 2015, I was able to help several people with their research and continued to expand the Messer / Neu Messer distribution list. There are now 50 people on the email list as well as 7 individuals without email addresses that I communicate with via the US Postal Service.

Messer / Neu Messer Newsletters were sent out in April and November. They included articles on:

Origin of Messer Colonists not found in the First Settlers List A Story of life in Neu Messer Additional Messer and Neu Messer records found on the Internet Nebraska Homestead Records available online The 1892 Famine in the Volga Colonies Historic Newspapers Online List of German Colonists with surnames found in Messer who appear in the Russian Oath Lists but not in the Kuhlberg lists Social Security Application Index on Ancestry Index to Alien Case Files Messer Entries in “Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the Colonies on the Volga 1766 – 1767”
New German Origin found for Messer Family

During the Lincoln Convention, I hosted a Messer / Neu Messer Dinner that was attended by 7 Messer descendants.

A fund has been established to obtain additional documents from Russia on Messer and Neu Messer. This fund is currently small, but hopefully it will grow through additional donations from Messer and Neu Messer descendants and we will be able to obtain new information.

2016 marks the 250th Anniversary of the founding of Messer. Dr. Brent Mai of the Center for Volga German Studies will be hosting an Anniversary celebration in Fort Collins, Colorado on Saturday, July 23rd. I will be attending and will be presenting what I know about the history of Messer.

I continue to receive family history information from Messer and Neu Messer descendants and I’m sure this will be of great value to current and future Messer and Neu Messer researchers as they explore their family’s history and links to other Germans from Russia.

Mike Meisinger
Village Coordinator for Messer and Neu Messer

Moor Village 2015 Report

2015 was another slow year for Moor research. This was partly due to the lack of new information coming out of Russia. Although some church records are archived in Russia, the cost of obtaining copies is too prohibitive. Unlike other village groups, the Moor team does not have a research fund.

No newsletters were issued this year. I was not able to attend the convention.

I was able to travel to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, where we had an “informal” convention consisting of members from the Rocky Mountain, Portland, and Sacramento chapters. I used my short time there to review some of the Danish records for Moor settlers and did find baptisms for a number of their children. Sadly, none of the children I found survived the year-long trek to the Volga or perished during the first couple of severe winters when living conditions were deplorable. My research into the Danish church books continues since many parish records are involved.

Work on issuing a new volume of German Origins is still in the making. My thanks to Herb Femling for helping on this mega task. We always welcome new recruits to this effort and stress the importance of sharing information with Dick Kraus and his German Origins project and Brent Mai on his Volga Origins website.

Inquiries were received from researchers in the United States and Germany and I was able to fulfill many of their requests. The lack of information post 1857 still poses a research problem for most researchers.

With my retirement from work and my wife’s pending retirement, I am looking forward to amazing progress in 2016with new German origins and hopefully renewal of the newsletter.

Wayne H. Bonner
Moor Co-VC

As a footnote, I notice that several VC are mentioning use of Ancestry.com to research. A word of caution. Ancestry.com is a great tool if one is aware that anything submitted by an individual must be verified by proper references. Recently, I found my father listed with the correct parents and grandparents and married to the correct women. BUT his birth place and date and death date and place TOTALLY wrong with no references. I don’t even know the person who submitted this information. Must be a cousin but ?
FamilySearch is an excellent tool, with LDS film numbers used as reference.

Neu-Balzer 2015 VC Report by Marv Heckman

I received no requests this past year concerning residents of Neu-Balzer. However, I have increased the database and currently have over 300 names of people that have connections with Neu-Balzer.

The database consists of the following:

220 names of people that were born in Neu-Balzer with many of these immigrating to the United States.

Obituaries of 30 individuals that were born in Neu-Balzer and died in the U.S.

The ship and immigration records of 60 people that were born in Neu-Balzer and entered the U.S.

Naturalization records for 3 individuals.

I found 72 people that were born in Neu-Balzer (or their relation) and involved in the 1941 Deportation. Most of these people were sent to Siberia or Kazakhstan. I also found a report that stated the exact day they were deported and the route to Siberia. I am trying to connect the families who came to the U.S. with those who stayed behind and were deported in 1941. I have found the family trees for these individuals but have not had contact with the person putting the information on the internet.

The goal for next year is to connect the people that left Balzer and moved to Neu-Balzer when the daughter colony was started. I have been in contact with the VC’s from Balzer and will try to accomplish this goal. It is hoped that we can trace the travels to the new colony.

Neu-Balzer 2015 VC Report by Marv Heckman

Neu-Doenhof Village Report 2015

2015 began with what appeared to be a windfall for Doenhof, with the acquisition of the Church Books 1863-1903. Much of the first quarter it was thought that these records were from Doenhof.

The translation and fund raising continues!

The 1897 revisionist list has been received at CVGS for Doenhof, however, it is one of the larger census and Dr. Mai will make no commitment as to when he will be translating it.

This year we topped 100 Doenhoffers, Alt and Neu, on our e-mail list.
Lee Ann Schlager, Village Coordinator

Neu Messer 2015 Village Coordinator’s Annual Report

Messer / Neu Messer Newsletters were sent out in April and November. They included articles on:

During the Lincoln Convention, I hosted a Messer / Neu Messer Dinner that was attended by 7 Messer descendants.

Mike Meisinger
Village Coordinator for Messer and Neu Messer

Neu-Moor 2015 VC report

Neu-Moor (Russian name Pogranichny), 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. I have not had anyone seeking information on this colony this past year.

Irma A. Waggoner, V.C.
iawagg9@gmail.com

Neu-Norka 2015 Village Report

As I have reported before I have taken Brent Mai’s Neu-Norka 1857 Census report of 65 families and traced them back to the 1767 Norka Settlement List and their arrival in Norka. I also used the Igor Pleve’s list of colonists to Russia in 1766 and the 1764-1767 4-volume set entitled Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet By Igor Pleve. I now have over 15 thousand names in my data bank and continuing my research of off springs, wife’s maiden names, son’s wife’s maiden names and relatives that have moved on to other villages. Because the computer does not know how to connect the different way’s of spelling (ha), I used in a lot of cases the spelling of the original family name as listed in the 1764-1767 book # 3, and carried that name thru out my data bank. I would also in the title name list the varies way’s of spelling. As Brent Mai has reminded more than once there are no new record’s of Neu-Norka after 1857, they were destroyed in a wear house fire. So the bottom line here is I’m open to answer any question on the Neu-Norka 1857 families back to 1767.

I’m interested in any information on the Following Names: Schwartz, Fischer, Haas, Kleer, Deines, Thilemann, Kuhn, Spady, Gobel, Wacker, Adam, Walter, Schafer, Scheuermann, Geiss, Hahn, Kessel.

So my year of 2015 has been mostly research. I have had six inquires, with some reasonably good amount of answers and data sent from my data bank. The biggest one was on the Burbach family from Beverly Burbach Holt and Pamela Smith. I only hope that I was good and helpful with my answers.

I would like to thank Diane Wilson for sending me names of family researchers.

Marvin L. Schwartz
Neu-Norka VC

Neu-Straub 2015 Village Report

I had two inquiries this year, asking about my family names. They found my name and email from other sources. I was able to give them some information which is helping them further their research. Outside of persons related to my names, I have had no inquiry of others coming from Neu-Straub. If you have any connections to this village, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Lillian Larwig, Neu-Straub village coordinator researching Heintz and Keil, my grandparents

Nieder-Monjou 2015 Village Report

We received queries or correspondence regarding the following Nieder-Monjou surnames ANSCHUTZ, BINEDELL, ECKART, MOELLER/MUELLER, RIEB, and SCHMIDT. The queries and correspondence came from Germany, South Africa, and the United States.

Mike connected with an individual in Germany with Nieder-Monjou roots as a result of DNA testing at 23andMe.

We were unable to attend the AHSGR 2015 Convention in Billings, Montana.

Nieder-Monjou AHSGR Village Coordinators Michael Grau and Steven Grau

Neu-Weimar Annual Report 2015

There were 3 requests for information for people with Neu-Weimar connections, for surnames Neuwirt, Kahl, Dieterle, Rusch and Riehl.

Neu-Weimar was founded in 1861 by people from Galka, Stephan, Schwab and Dobrinka, all villages that are part of the Lower Volga Village Project.

Gary Martens

Norka, Saratov Province, Russia 2015 Village Report

Our primary goals are to document the history of Norka and assist those who are researching their families from this colony. I am sad to report that our long-time Norka Database Coordinator, Judy Curtis, passed away in February of this year. Judy did an amazing amount of work documenting Norka families and helped many descendants discover their family history. She is dearly missed.

Louis Schleuger has stepped into the role of the Norka Database Coordinator and continues his work as the Norka Census Records Coordinator.

Jerry Krieger has done excellent work publishing the Norka Newsletter since 1998 and decided it was time to step down from those duties in July 2015. There are no plans to continue the newsletter at this time.

In 2015, the Norka team completed a significant amount of work and this report highlights some of the key accomplishments.

Norka Outreach: A Norka Facebook page was established late in 2011. The purpose of this page is to serve as a social media forum for people researching their ancestors from Norka, Russia and to serve as a repository for genealogy, stories, history and photographs related to this German colony in Russia. Currently there are 763 people following the page from the USA, Canada, Argentina, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru and the United Arab Emirates. This is an increase of 154 people from December of 2014.

http://www.facebook.com/norka.russia

The Center for Volga German Studies hosted the second Norka Founders’ Day on August 8th in Edmonton, Canada. The first colonists arrived in Norka on August 15, 1767. Thereafter, August 15th was celebrated in the colony each year as “Herrkommstag” or Founders’ Day.

http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/exhibits_events.cfm

A new Norka website is in the development stage and is expected to be completed in early 2016. The old web address will be discontinued at that time.

http://www.norka-russland.net

Judy Wiese has kindly agreed to assist as the website editor.

Norka Church Records Acquisition Project: We have a tremendous window of opportunity to obtain copies of three Norka family registers covering the following dates:

1834-1845 (726 pages)

1846-1860 (750 pages)

1876-1890 (768 pages)

The family registers record each member of the family (including maiden names) with birth date and place, confirmation year and location, marriage date and place, and death date (if the person dies during that date range).

These records are a goldmine of information for Norka researchers! Until now, most of us have had access to Norka records only from 1767 to 1857. The 1876-1890 family list will enable many of us to bridge that gap back to 1857 and then on back to 1767. In the 1834-1845 family list, there are even original settlers recorded – those over age 67 who would have been born in Germany!

We are working with The Center for Volga German Studies (CVGS) at Concordia University to obtain these valuable records. It will take $12,600 to get these documents from the Russian archives. As I’m sure you’re aware, the political climate in Russia is tenuous at best right now.

Volunteers are ready to begin translation once the records arrive, and those who contribute $200 or more will automatically receive a copy of the completed English translation.

We ask all Norka researchers to make a tax-deductible donation toward this effort today! Click the GIVE NOW button on the CVGS donations page below, fill out your information then select the Operating Fund and put “Norka Records” in the Comments Box.

http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/support.cfm

Norka Database Project: The Norka Database Project continues to grow as more Norka descendants contact us and request our assistance in finding their ancestors. We had 43 requests during 2015.

The Norka Database contains over 37,428 individuals (an increase of 4,711 from last year) and is a merged collection of Norka Pleve surname charts, some Norka census records and “connecting link” genealogy information provided by many Norka descendants on the generations of their Norka ancestors who extend forward from where both the Norka census records and Norka Pleve surname charts end.

Norka Census Records: In our continuing efforts of comparing Norka’s censuses information and the various family surname charts researched by Dr. Igor Pleve listed in the Norka database, additional errors were noted on Dr. Pleve’s charts and within the censuses which resulted in more corrections and linkages of family members and updated notes were made to Norka’s censuses databases.

The cross referencing all of the families listed in Norka’s 1767-1857 Censuses is progressing slowly, but well. In this cross-referencing effort errors were noted on Dr. Pleve’s charts listed in the Norka Database and within the censuses concerning family members’ marriages, number of children and their linkages with other families. Part of the linkage effort, includes the linage of females when they married since Dr. Pleve did not include that linage on his charts. The research by many other Norka descendants is being included in this effort, which results in a much more complete family chart from 1767 to the current year. The Hinkel (1,433 people), Urbach (3,263 people) and Schleuger (3,780 people) databases are still work in progress.

2015 Report to the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR)

Respectfully submitted on December 27, 2015 by: Steve Schreiber, Norka Village Coordinator for AHSGR and Norka Webmaster – steven.schreiber@gmail.com ‘Louis Schleuger, Norka Database and Census Records Coordinator – ohashi70@gmail.com

Oberdorf 2015 Village Report

During 2015 I received several queries related surnames for Oberdorf Village. Juana Eckerdt Graf has brought her story and photographs of her trip to Oberdorf. All material you find on the site of Oberdorf in Facebook. I still work with each family to expand the database of this village. https://www.facebook.com/groups/183076058528244/https://www.facebook.com/elena.vegastehle.1?fref=ts
http://aldeaprotestanteer.blogspot.com

Elena Vega Stehle, Buenos Aires- Argentina AHSGR Oberdorf Village Coordinator

Paulskoye 2015 Village Report

Overall it has been a productive year. I continue to correspond with Irma Merkel of Wuppertal, Germany who is essentially my counterpart there.
</sdak.goth1@gmail.com>

Together we obtain a great deal of information from people looking for answers and generously provide family histories. We may speak different languages, but Irma and I manage just fine.

New Information compliments of Luba Miller of Germany:
Kalbfleisch Family List 1874, 1882
Schneider Family List 1874, 1882
1920 Family List for a single Schneider family

New information obtained by Rick Gieser of Illinois, Charles Millard of Maryland and Tim Weeder: Scherer Family List 1874, 1882

I would like others to know the information contained in a family list may extend a few years beforehand or afterwards. For example, the 1874 Family List may note the year of death for a family member even though it occurred well before 1874. Similarly the marriage year and even the name and birth date of a child may have been added after the list was compiled. That is a bonus to researchers!

The origin of the Scherer family to Paulskoye has finally been confirmed thanks to Charles Millard. For the record it is Ober-Breidenbach in Hesse-Darmstadt. The Kuhlberg Lists gives only “Darmstadt” and the sole surviving member of the family to arrive in the colonies does not appear in any of the 1767 first settlers lists. This region of Germany known as the “Vogelsberg” gave up many colonists to Paulskoye. The book “Die Geschichte Der Wolgadeutschen-Vom Vogelsberg Zur Wolga” is informative, but incomplete because the Scherer family isn’t listed among those having gone to Russia as colonists. There are probably many other cases too. Church records for this community and other parishes in the vicinity are available via www.familysearch.org

Contacts in Germany and Russia have provided several interesting photographs: Paulskoye school class photos, The Paulskoye 1936 Brass Orchestra, and many family photos and family histories.

A noteworthy exchange I had this year was with a Daniel Felsing of Sweden. His ancestors migrated to Sweden from Russia, but she and her family were from the German Swedish colonies such as Muhlhausen, Eigenfeld and Kronos. He contacted me because his Felsing ancestor was born in 1875 in Paulskoye. I had never heard of any Paulskoyer having migrated to that area of Russia and marrying there. I believe him, but it is still a bit of a mystery. I referred him to the VCs for the Swedish Colonies for follow up.

More locally I corresponded this year with David Markgraf of Wisconsin who has written a book about his Markgraf Family. His family hailed from Reinwald colony, however they first started out in Paulskoye and some branches of the family lived in Paulskoye up until 1941. His book will need revision to accommodate all the new found cousins!

In July I attended the CVGS Conference in Frankenmuth, Michigan celebrating the 250th anniversary of several villages including Fischer – a village without a village coordinator at the moment. I have unofficially taken this village under my wing answering inquiries as I am able. There were a lot of connections between families of Fischer and Paulskoye due to their proximity to one other. At this conference I met up with many familiar folks from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. I also made several new friends there too.

In October I presented to the members of the Flint Chapter of AHSGR about my previous trips to Russia and available research avenues wherein I was warmly welcomed.

Finally, I submitted photos of Paulskoye, as well as of Fischer, Stahl am Karaman and Schwed to be used by Brent Mai on the CVGS website.

Respectfully submitted.

Tim Weeder

Pfeifer Village Annual Report 2015

This year I received a number of requests about families – Stegman, Jacobs, Thome, Berberich. Also received some requests from Argentina.

Last year the Pfeifer website was removed from the Internet along with other webbitt.com sites. Thanks to Jorge Bohn from Argentina we are now able to revisit my website in the Wayback Machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010517173351/http://www.webbitt.com/volga/pfeifer/

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemary Larson

Reinhard Village 2015 Report

I was able to direct 2 people with research inquiries for Reinhard. There isn’t much in the Village files to help these individuals and I am slowly building up sources as I can. I was able to provide some names and ages for their requested surnames as I have bought the 1798, 1850, and 1857 Reinhard Census records. My hope is to continue to grow this database.

Brenna Stokes
brennastokes@gmail.com

Reinwald Samara Volga 2015 Report

Reinwald is located on Map 6, Quadrant E-2, 51 34 N 46 31 E. There have been minimal inquiries during this last year. The 1798, 1850 and 1857 have been available for some time and recently the 1834 census has become available and I have ordered a copy. Hopefully it will help link some families from the 1798 and 1850 census records. The Descendant of Reinwald face book group currently has 96 members. The group page offers many pictures, a few maps, and some articles. There has been a lot of interaction between those in the group.

Sue Hess
VC – Reinwald

Rosenberg 2015 Village Coordinator Report

There has been very little activity with respect to Rosenberg village (also known as Umet IIovlinnska). This is not surprising as the village was only created out of a small farm settlement in 1852, and, as many others have observed, official records after the census of 1857 are few and far between -although this online source gives a list of marriages in 1894 and 1895:

http://duhovenstvovd.ru/dokumenti/rozenberg.html
This year I have answered three queries only, one on the Stricker family and the other on the Kuxhausen family – both families provided a small amount of information relating to more recent members of the family. In addition, I was contacted by a researcher in Russia who descends from a branch of the Major (Maior) family from Rosenberg [originally Grimm] that stayed in Russia. This was of particular interest to me since it is my own family. The lack of records has hindered making a direct connection between the researcher’s and my own family but since there was only one family with this particular spelling in the Volga colonies the link seems quite secure.

Living in the United Kingdom means that I can not attend the Conventions in America but the website http://rosenbergvillage.org/Default.htm is still active. As this is hosted by a commercial provider at present the intention is to migrate the content to a genealogy website such as Rootsweb. I’d be grateful to learn if there is anyone reading this report who might be willing and able to help with this process. Please contact me on richardmcgregor1ATyahoo.co.uk or rosenbergvillageATyahoo.com (substituting @ for AT).

Schaefer Village 2015 Report

I was able to help 1 individual with their research inquiry for Schaefer. The village file contains little and I am slowly building up sources. I was able to provide them with some names and dates as I have bought the 1798, 1850, and 1857 Schaefer Census records. My hope is to continue to grow this database.

Brenna Stokes

brennastokes@gmail.com

Schaffhausen 2015 Village Report

Unfortunately another quiet year with no enquiries regarding village matters.

I visited Russia during 2015 and cruised down the Volga from Moscow to Astrakhan then onto Rostov on Don. I will submit some notes on this trip to the forum at a later date.

Jim Parsonage

VC Schaffhausen

Schilling Annual Report 2015

There were 17 requests for information about people from Schilling, from people living in the US, Canada, Russia and Germany. The requests from people in Germany and Russia frequently don’t have information on people older than those born in 1910, or more recent. Making connections with that lack of information makes finding connections difficult. The other problem with requests for information, for people with dates after 1860, that they say people were from Schilling, when in fact they were really from Konstantinovka, Alexandertal or one of the other Schilling daughter colonies. Information on the Schilling daughter colonies is here: http://www.schillinggr.org/schillings.html

The Schilling website is at: http://www.schillinggr.org/

There is a Schilling mailing list with subscription information here:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/RUS/RUS-SARATOV-SCHILLING.html

Church records for Schilling are at the Russian Archives in Engels, and include births for 1764-1878. There is also a register of the Lutheran congregation covering 1865-1931, and a Family List from 1883. The best way to find information is to have a report created using the Family List. The Russian Archive currently charges $30 per surname to search the Family List, then $5 for each page of records found. They create a report, in Russian, of the information found. The report is in a Microsoft Word file.

Gary Martens

Schoenchen 2015 Village Report

I received and responded to several queries regarding Schoenchen in 2015. Thanks to the 1920 family list obtained by AHSGR, I was able to help two researchers who I had been unable to assist in the past. I hope for an opportunity to spend more time with this information in the coming year.

Entry into the Schoenchen database continues for census, church records, naturalization records, and from other sources. The Schoenchen website can be found at www.schoenchen.org

As part of a German Heritage celebration at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, I gave a presentation on Researching Volga Germans.

Denise Grau

Schuck 2015 Village Report

I am still village coordinator for Volmer and Schuck I attended the AHSGR Convention in Billings, and reconnected with fellow researchers and volunteers.

Due to some computer issues, I can’t access my 2015 village file for those whom I assisted – but … I was contacted by several people requesting help, through AHSGR and otherwise. I sent information to those I could help; and I continue my research. Everybody is looking for information for those lost years 1857-abt 1920; myself included! I have been in contact with some researchers I worked with in the past I hope everyone has a great year!

Cathy Hawinkels
Village Coordinator for Volmer and Schuck

Schwab 2015 Village Report

It has been a very quiet year; only a handful of requests.

However, I have been working a lot on Find-A-Grave and I have been able to connect a few people and made additions to existing entries.

I sent Lincoln a GEDCOM last year and I believe that it is current.

Rolene Eichman Kiesling, VC Schwab

Shcherbakovka 2015 Village Report

It’s been another slow year as I have only had only a few inquiries. One from Germany and the others from the U.S.

ViktorBleichrot@aol.com (assumed to be from Germany) wrote in German which I used Google Translator to translate. He had surnames of: Reisig, Steinert, Laubhan, Eirich, Meyer, Kraft, Frankfurt, & Ehrlich. He offered to translate any records that we get that are in German. I passed his name and email on to Kevin Rupp to contact Viktor and accept his generous offer to translate.

As my fellow Lower Volga V.C. Mark Wills stated, I still remain hopeful that we will be able to obtain other village records from the archives in Russia with the bequest by Timothy Montania. He left large sum to AHSGR several years ago specifically for purchasing and transcribing records for Shcherbakovka (firstly) and Dreispitz (secondly). To the best of my knowledge, very little has been purchased. We are anxiously awaiting any records that are available.

I attended the seminar celebrating the “250th Anniversary of the First Volga German Colonies” that was held in Lindsborg, Kansas, on 19 June 2015. The seminar was given by Brent Mai representing the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University. Shcherbakovka was founded 15 June 1765. Also discussed at the seminar were the villages of Galka, Holstein, Dobrinka, Kraft, Dreispitz, Schwab, and Müller. The seminar was well attended and an informative good time was had by all.

Janet Laubhan Flickinge
V.C. for Shcherbakovka

Stahl am Tarlyk 2015 Village Report

This past year I had 4 inquiries and was able to help them with their research.

I have 20057 individuals in the data base for Stahl and it continues to grow as the information becomes available. If census records, after 1857 becomes available, this number will grow. I was unable to attend the convention but my heart was there in mind if not matter.

Paul Koehler, Village Coordinator for Stahl am Tarlyk, the village of both my parents’ birth place.

Straub 2015 VC Report by Sharon White, Straub VC

I have had inquiries about the following Straub families this year: Lung, Seher, Will, Deubert and Winter.

The most important addition to the Straub records this year has been getting the 1834 Straub Census from the Volgograd Russian archive by AHSGR. Getting this record was made possible by Kevin Rupp and Dodie Rotherham. The archive has restricted access to this record.

The 1834 Straub census has been translated and is at Lincoln. This record can be viewed at Lincoln. This record was brought to the Billings convention and will be brought to the 2016 Concord convention. The AHSGR staff will also look up information on this record for you.

There are more Straub confirmation, birth and death records at the Russian archives. I hope to buy more of these records in the future. It will be expensive to get more records for Straub. I have asked Mila Koretnikov to let me know what information is on the Straub confirmation records. I have been told these confirmation records contain a good source of genealogy information by Maggie Hein.

I am still finding Straub women in nearby village census records and on the 1874 and 1885 Warenburg Family Lists. I am also finding obituaries for Straub villagers on Family Search.

There is a large collection of Ortsippenbuchs and Ortsfamilienbuchs at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I hope to find some Straub villager family origins in Germany when I look for these books at the FHL.

Straub 2015 VC Report by Sharon White, Straub VC

Toplitz 2015 Village Report

Village coordinator for *Bergdorf, Marienberg (Glückstal colonies), and Töplitz, Bessarabia, Black Sea Region, S. Russia.*

The same can easily be done with the school, church, civic history, etc. I can do this in both a hard copy format and on Word, and therefore, can avoid the immediate need for a website, which has been an unsuccessful endeavor, so far.

I have three books on Töplitz: “Colony Töplitz” by Herbert Weiss, “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1835 Census” and “Töplitz, Bessarabia, 1850 Census”, both of the latter published by the GRHS.

On top of that, I have multiple other resources, access to Ancestry.com, and a number of other genealogy websites, and I have the Family Tree Maker software for publishing purposes.

Hopefully, 2016 will see a lot of progress in developing these villages. Alles Gute für 2016!

Sincerely, Sylvia M. Hertel, *Village Coordinator*

*Sylvia M. Hertel*
*sdak.goth1@gmail.com <sdak.goth1@gmail.com>*

Volhynia 2015 Village Report

For many years Leona Janke was the Village Coordinator. She passed away in September and her expertise will be greatly missed. I am actively looking for a replacement. At the Billings Convention I was able to volunteer in the well organized research room. Our small group of Volhynian researchers met and discussed what would be most helpful to them. A suggestion was made to provide sources of the information found in the Volhynian binder that is displayed in Heritage Hall at conventions. A Board committee is working to update the village trifolds and what information could be passed along to them was discussed such as photos from a trip someone was taking later in the summer. One of the researchers asked that those researching Karlswalde connect with each other and that was facilitated. There were no inquiries during the year. I was unable to attend the SGGEE annual convention in August but plan to this coming summer to hear the two speakers from the Ukraine that will be in attendance.

Mabel Kiessling
Volhynia Village Coordinator

Volmer 2015 Village Report

I am still village coordinator for Volmer and Schuck I attended the AHSGR Convention in Billings, and reconnected with fellow researchers and volunteers.

Cathy Hawinkels
Village Coordinator for Volmer and Schuck

Warenburg 2015 VC report

I have had inquiries about the following Warenburg families this year:
Pfeiffer and Nickel (2). I have been in contact with people about their Brott, Schiffman, Klamm, Kaiser, Boos, Yost, Gobel, Roth, Gammel, Simon and Constanz ancestors. These Warenburger family descendants had contacted me previously about their Warenburg ancestors.

AHSGR has purchased more 1874 Warenburg Family Lists this year. They are being translated and these records will be restricted when the translation is done. The Russian archive has restricted the access to these records. Getting these records has been made possible by Kevin Rupp and Dodie Rotherham. These records can be viewed at Lincoln in the future when the translation is finished.

I have purchased these 1885 Warenburg Family Lists from the Engels archive this past year: Brott (14 pages), Schiffman (12 pages), Klamm (17 pages), Kaiser (18 pages), Boos (4 pages), Yost (5 pages), Gobel (21 pages), Roth (12 pages), Gammel (2 pages), Simon (9 pages) and Constanz (10 pages). I didn’t receive all of the Stumpf and Kramer families on the 1874 Family Lists when they were ordered in 2013. The rest of these are now on order from the Engels archive. I couldn’t have paid for all of these records without help from Warenburger descendants.

The cost of these records goes up every time I order them. The cost per page in April 2015 was $7.42. The cost per page in July 2015 was $16.22. The cost per page in December 2015 was $21.78 per page. My cousin, Jake Leisle, helps me translate these records from the Russian so we do not have to pay extra to have them translated. I have 17 of the 1874 Warenburg Family Lists. I have 17 of the 1885 Warenburg Family Lists.

Maggie Hein found the Ries family who were Warenburg first settlers in 1767 in Altenhasslau, German records. She used the Archian German website to get this information.

There is a large collection of Ortssippenbuchs and Ortsfamilienbuchs at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I hope to find some Warenburg villager family origins in Germany when I look for these books at the FHL.

Warenburg 2015 VC report by Sharon White, Warenburg VC

Yagodnaya Polyana 2015 Village Report

Yagodnaya Polyana, Saratov, Volga

This past year has been steady in terms of the number of requests asking for assistance. There has been an increased interest from Germany which has been good to see. The database for YP is growing steadily and we now have over 26,000 names.

The 1857 census records for YP have been translated and everyone is chomping to get their hands on a copy.

The newsletter is sent out 4 times per year and continues to receive many positive comments. We were fortunate to have Dr. Olga Litzenberger write an article about the history of YP specifically for the newsletter. She also provided current and historical pictures of the town. One of our German contacts, Andreas Zilke, wrote a short article about YP descendants and their “new” village in Siberia – called New Jagodnaya Polyana.

The interest in the YP Facebook page continues to grow.

I have started collecting photographs for a photo album of YP colonists. The basic criteria are the folks in the picture must have been born in YP or its daughter colonies and the date of birth and death must be known. Of course the nice to know information would include parent’s names, date of marriage and place, name of spouse, and if they emigrated, when and where. The project has already had some wonderful results. There have been submissions from Russia and Germany and already we have found pictures of the same folks submitted by different people, who do not know each other! I hope to have it completed by the time the YP 250th reunion happens in April 2016 in Leavenworth.

On a personal note I final finished and published my book on the history of the Germans from Russia living in Bridgeland/Riverside, a subdivision in Calgary, Alberta.

Marlene Michel
Village Coordinator for Yagodnaya Polyana</sdak.goth1@gmail.com>

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