Waldheim settlers 6

The previous post identified the first twenty-one settlers in Waldheim: eight in 1838 and thirteen in 1839 (here). Because there were forty total Wirtschaften (land allotments) in Waldheim, as there were in many other Molotschna villages, we have nineteen more persons to identify to round out the entire group of original settlers.

As noted earlier, the 1839 planting list (which can be viewed in its entirety here) includes twenty-one numbered names (the 1838 and 1839 settlers) and fifteen unnumbered names. Among the latter one would expect to find some of the 1840 and 1841 settlers. To discover if this is the case, we reproduce the fifteen names from the 1839 planting list on the left and, for comparison, two lists we have looked at previously on the right: the 1840 settler list (here) and part of a 1839–1841 list of Mennonites who were assigned land at Waldheim (here).

1839 Planting List	1840 Settlers	1839–1841 Land Assignments
Jacob Richert	Jacob Jacob Richert	Jacob Richert
Andreas Nachtigal	Andreas Peter Nachtigal	Andreas Nachtigal
Heinrich Sperling	Heinrich Peter Sperling	Heinrich Sperling
Johann Schmidt	Johann Johann Schmidt	Johann Schmidt
Heinrich Voth	Heinrich Jacob Voth	Heinrich Voth
Peter Schmidt	Peter David Schmidt	Peter Schmidt
Johann Wedel	Johann Kornelius Wedel	Johann Wedel
Cornelius Wedel		Cornelius Wedel
David Nachtigal	David Georg Nachtigal	David Nachtigal
Jacob Pankratz	Jacob Heinrich Pankratz	Jacob Pankratz
Cornelius Unruh	Cornelius Cornelius Unruh	Cornelius Unruh
Samuel Boese	Samuel Martin Boese	Samuel Boese
Heinrich Wedel	Heinrich Kornelius Wedel	Heinrich Wedel
Benjamin Voth

For the most part, the lists correspond, with only Cornelius Wedel absent from the 1840 list and Benjamin Voth missing from the 1840 and 1839–1841 lists. We will return to this in a moment; for now we need to recall that there are only fifteen names in this half of the 1839 planting list, and we are looking for the final nineteen settlers. Where are the others to be found?

The answer is simple: in the other names listed in the 1840 and 1839–1841 lists that do not appear on the 1839 planting list. Those names include the following:

1839 Planting List	1840 Settlers	1839–1841 Land Assignments
	Jacob Gregor Buller	Jacob Gregor Buller
	Benjamin Kornelius Unruh
	Martin Martin Bayer	Martin Martin Bayer
	Andreas Andreas Schmidt
		Tobias Schultz

There are five unique names on the 1840 and 1839–1841 lists. Adding these five to the fifteen on the 1839 planting list gives us twenty names … which is one too many; we have room for only nineteen. There is, however, a logical explanation that arranges all the data into a consistent picture. Notice that Benjamin Voth at the end of the 1839 planting list (above) does not appear on any of the other lists. This is telling. For whatever reason, there is no record that Benjamin Voth ever became a landowner in Waldheim.

With Voth excluded, the numbers match exactly, and we have a full complement of forty landowners from the years 1838–1841. All that remains is to decide which of these final nineteen settled in 1840 and which in 1841. Fortunately, that task is relatively simple. Of the nineteen names given, only two are not listed as 1840 settlers: Cornelius Wedel in the first list and Tobias Schutz in the second one. These gentlemen are the two 1841 settlers whom we have been expecting.

One last time (I think) we look back at, and then revise, the 1848 Gemeindeberichte, the community report. The original stated:

This village was founded in 1836. That year eight landowners settled in it, twelve in the year 1838, and twenty landowners in 1840.

The Gemeindeberichte correctly reports the number of landowners in Waldheim’s first year (eight), but everything else is mistaken. A corrected version of report would read:

This village was founded in 1838. That year eight landowners settled in it, thirteen in the year 1839, seventeen in 1840, and two in 1841.

A tediously complete version might even list all of Waldheim’s first forty settlers:

This village was founded in 1838.

That year eight landowners settled in it: Michael Teske, Peter Wedel, Johann Worbel (or Werbel), Peter Nachtigal, Friedrich Kunkel, Benjamin Ratzlaff, Christian Teske, and Peter Sperling.

Thirteen additional landowners settled the following year, in 1839: Tobias David Dirks, Peter Jacob Pankratz, Cornelius Cornelius Wedel, Cornelius Cornelius Wedel, Heinrich Johann Dirks, Peter Johann Schmidt, Jacob Aron Klassen, David Jacob Köhn, Benjamin Benjamin Buller, Benjamin Cornelius Wedel, David Heinrich Dirks, David David Köhn, and Johann Heinrich Ewert.

Seventeen landowners settled in Waldheim in 1840: Jacob Jacob Richert, Andreas Peter Nachtigal, Heinrich Peter Sperling, Johann Johann Schmidt, Heinrich Jacob Voth, Peter David Schmidt, BenjaminBenjamin Buller Jr., Johann Kornelius Wedel, David Georg Nachtigal, Jacob Heinrich Pankratz, Cornelius Cornelius Unruh, Samuel Martin Boese, and Heinrich Kornelius Wedel.

Two final settlers in 1841 filled the forty Wirtschaften allotted to the village: Cornelius Wedel and Tobias Schultz.

I believe we are finished with the Waldheim settlers series (but not the Benjamin Buller series). I am happy to report that the information presented over the last two posts is available in a slightly more formal document that has been posted on the Mennonite Genealogy Resources webpage. Thanks to Richard D. Thiessen for making it available on that site. The document is linked from the New Files page here and lives in the Russia section of the website here.