Alexanderwohl 13

We are nearing the halfway point in our reconstruction; we are also drawing closer to the Wirtschaft in which our own Benjamin Buller (father of Benjamin, father of David, father of Peter D, and so on) lived out the last years of his life.

Most significant, this post also marks a dramatic shift in our approach, since, thanks to the Mennonite Heritage Centre (see here), we now have access to an English translation of the full 1835 census. John Richert wrote previously that everything became clearer once he secured a copy of the census translation that the Centre distributes. I see what he means. Instead of guessing what the index to the census might represent, we can now see the actual census, which will reduce significantly the number of lingering questions that we have typically had. We see the difference with the very first Wirtschaft of this post.

Wirtschaft 14

The index to the 1835 census lists three names for Alexanderwohl 14:

Kirsch, Kornelius Kornelius (b. ca.1797)
Hiebert, Klaas Sacharij (b. ca.1802)
Unrau, Heinrich Peter (b. ca.1796)

The ages of the three men in 1821, ranging from nineteen to twenty-five, would permit any one of them to have been an original settler. Of the three surnames, however, only Unrau is associated with the Przechovka church (PCB: 1149). Nevertheless, we should work through the evidence before we jump to any conclusions.

Fortunately, the evidence of the census itself leaves little doubt as to which of the three is the most likely candidate for being an original Alexanderwohl settler. Heinrich Peter Unrau is not only listed as head of household for Alexanderwohl 14, but his year of emigration is also listed as 1819. This accords with what we find in the emigration records: the visa that gave Heinrich Unrau (GM: 86839) and his wife permission to emigrate was dated 20 July 1819 (Rempel 2007, 136), a full year before the presumed date of the main migration of Przechovka church members. What we know of the birth of the couple’s children (the first was born in 1820) is consistent with the facts of the visa, that is, that only husband and wife made the trek.

Although there is, unfortunately, no Russian record of where the couple settled, we can safely assume that it was Alexanderwohl, given not only the evidence of the 1835 census (they are located in Alexanderwohl and nowhere else) but also the listing of Heinrich and Anna Schmidt Unruh early in the Alexanderwohl church book (ACB: 45 and 46), which strongly suggests that they were associated with that village and church early on. Thus, we can reasonably conclude that Heinrich and Anna were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 14. 

So how do we explain the listing of the two other men? Here is where the census provides details that the index cannot. The entry for the Unrau household adds two comments after their family members are listed. The first states that Klaas Zacharias Hiebert (GM: 60369) was “accepted into the [Unrau] household,” then notes that he transferred in 1832 to Lichtfelde, another Molotschna village. Turning to the Lichtfelde census entries, we see him listed at Wirtschaft 19 with a note that he transferred there from Alexanderwohl in 1822 (the two dates do not match in the translation, which means that the scans of the original need to be consulted). The second comment adds that “also accepted into the household” were Kornelius Kirsch, his wife Elisabeth, and his three children.

In other words, Hiebert and Kirsch are located at Alexanderwohl 14 only as residents of the Unrau household; these two were not original settlers on their own. Interestingly, the Unraus lived in Alexanderwohl until the entire church emigrated to the United States in 1874. Both spent their final years in Kansas, where they lie in rest. Klaas Hiebert, on the other hand, seems to have been a bit of a wanderer, since, according to GRANDMA, his children were born in at least four different villages.

Wirtschaft 15

We return to the Bullers with Alexanderwohl 15, specifically:

Buller, Jakob Jakob (b. ca.1795)

The 1821 age is right (twenty-six), and the name is obviously appropriate for the Przechovka church, so it is not surprising that he is listed in the church book (PCB: 1139). Another sign pointing toward Jacob Buller being a founding settler is the fact that his father Jacob Peter was the original settler of Alexanderwohl 9 (see here). However, here the matter becomes complicated. The index to the 1835 census lists Jacob Jacob twice:

Buller, Jakob Jakob (b. ca.1795): Franztal 5
Buller, Jakob Jakob (b. ca.1795): Alexanderwohl 15

What, then, does the census itself report? With the Franztal 5 listing, the household is headed first by Peter Andreas Richert, then by Peter Peter Janzen below him; Jacob Buller is listed as “accepted into the household.” Several additional notations help us to propose a reasonable chain of events. First, the census indicates that Peter Richert (who was a member of the Przechovka group) emigrated to Russia in 1819 and died in 1821. Second, Peter Janzen is said to have moved from the village Rudnerweide to Franztal in 1822. Third, Jacob Buller is reported to have moved from Franztal to Alexanderwohl in 1822.

Putting all the pieces together, one may reasonably suggest that the two Przechovka church members Peter Richert and Jacob Buller were part of the same group emigrating to Russia in 1819 (for Richert, see Rempel 2007, 153). Peter Richert became owner of Franztal 5, and Jacob Buller joined Richert’s household, perhaps waiting to secure his own Wirtschaft. Richert died in 1821, while Buller was still living with him, and Franztal 5 was sold/transferred to Peter Janzen. Suddenly Jacob Buller needed a place to live. Fortunately, in the interim his father Jacob Peter Buller had settled in Alexanderwohl 9, and he presumably encouraged his son Jacob Jacob to join him and other members of the Przechovka church in Alexanderwohl.

The fact that no other resident is listed for Alexanderwohl 15 gives us warrant, I think, to consider Jacob Jacob the founding settler of that Wirtschaft. We are told that at least eight Wirtschaften in Alexanderwohl were left unoccupied in 1820, after the first wave of settlers; thus, Alexanderwohl 15 may well have been vacant when Jacob Jacob decided to move there in 1822. Consequently, we will list Jacob Jacob as the founding settler of Alexanderwohl 15, even though that was not the first Molotschna village in which he lived.

Before we end this post, however, we should briefly introduce the village in which Jacob Jacob first lived. Franztal, which was located on the far eastern side of Molotschna, was established in 1820, just like Alexanderwohl. The Franztal community report (see here for the German) contains several key facts: (1) the original fifteen families who settled Franztal came from the Schwetz region near Kulm in West Prussia (aus dem Kreise Schwez bei Kulm in Westpreussen), which includes the area in which the Przechovka church was located (modern Chełmno [Kulm] is less than 5 miles from the location of the Przechovka church); (2) Franztal’s original founders faced significant challenges with its location and moved all or part of the village twice in the first year just to have access to water; (3) the founders initially wished to name the village Pschuchowka (= Przechovka), but government officials objected to giving a Polish name to this Russian village. We will certainly want to revisit Franztal to discover who else from Przechovka settled or lived there, but we end with this interesting observation: the first Molotschna village in which a Mennonite Buller lived may well have been Franztal, not one of those villages that we have previously suspected.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250; emigrated 1820
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	PCB ???; emigrated 1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	32966	PCB 1345; emigrated 1819
	Maricke Buller	32967	PCB 1355
6	Peter Johann Unrau	60318	PCB 1229; emigrated 1819
7	David Bernhard Voth	60325	Przechovka; emigrated 1820
8	?? Peter Franz Goerz	819683	to Alexanderwohl in 1826
9	Jacob Peter Buller	318737	PCB 377; emigrated 1820
10	David Johann Unrau	87011	PCB 987; emigrated 1820
11	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	14829	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820
12	Jacob Jacob Pankratz	43123	PCB 727; emigrated 1820
13	?????
14	Heinrich Peter Unrau	86839	PCB 1149; emigrated 1819
15	Jacob Jacob Buller	5587	PCB 1139; emigrated 1819; settled 1822

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 12

A funny thing happened on the way to this blog post: I was contacted by John D. Richert, who is also working to identify Alexanderwohl’s founding settlers, and he and I agreed to share information back and forth as we independently research this interesting question. 

As Buller Time readers well know, we have been approaching the question from after the fact, as it were, examining the 1835 Molotschna census to identify who lived at a Wirtschaft at that time, then exploring the evidence in GRANDMA and the passport and visa records collected by Peter Rempel (2007) to determine if the 1835 resident was a likely original settler. John started at the other end, working through the passport and visa records to identify who were likely founders, then consulting GRANDMA and the 1835 census to clarify and confirm details.

John sent me an Excel file containing his results, and I will consult it after I have arrived at my own conclusion about a founding settler for each Wirtschaft, to see if John and I agree. Having two people examine the evidence from different perspectives should increase the accuracy of the results. It is also nice to know that there are others interested in writing the histories of the individual Molotschna villages of the early nineteenth century.

With all that as background, we continue our series with …

Wirtschaft 12

The index to the 1835 census (here) contains two entries for Alexanderwohl 12, and both entries have the same name:

Pankratz, Jakob Jakob (b. ca.1795) 
Pankratz, Jakob Jakob (b. ca.-)

Although one might think that this is one individual whose name has been accidentally duplicated, there is a better explanation. Note carefully that the first name has a year of birth, while the second does not. Apparently the second Jacob’s year of birth was not known, which would imply that he was older and probably deceased by the time the census was taken. A reasonable working hypothesis, then, is that the second listing was the father of the first.

This helps us search GRANDMA to identify these individuals. Because both men were named Jacob Jacob, we are looking for a grandfather and father and son all named Jacob Pankratz. For this time frame, only one family fits the criteria. The father is GM 43123, the son GM 32880. 

According to GRANDMA, Jacob 43123 was born 29 December 1774, so he would have been forty-seven through most of 1821, the official year of Alexanderwohl’s founding. Clearly, he was old enough to have settled a household in the new village. In addition, Pankratz is a relatively common surname in Przechovka, and, indeed, Jacob himself is listed in the church book (PCB: 727).

Emigration records offer additional evidence that Jacob was likely a founding settler. Specifically, he was issued a visa on 17 August 1820:

Jacob Pankratz from Konopath, his wife Helena 55 (b. ca. 1765), son Jacob 25 (b. ca. 1795), Peter 17 (b. ca. 1803), daughter Maria 21 (b. ca. 1799). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 173)

The age of his wife does not match what our records indicate, but the names and ages of the children confirm that we have the right family in view. The Russian settlement record adds further details:

Jakob Pankratz (Якоб Панкрац), whose family consists of 3 males and 2 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had with them 2300 rubles cash, possessions valued at 610 rubles, 40 kopeks, 2 wagon, 4 horse, 4 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 730 rubles. Settled at their own expense. (Rempel 2007, 176).

So if Jacob Pankratz the father was the settler, as is clear (John Richert concurs), why was Jacob the son listed on the census? The explanation is simple: the father died in 1830 (so the census), and the son took over the family household. One final note: in 1826 Jacob the son finally married. His wife? Sara Buller, the daughter of Jacob Buller, who had settled Wirtschaft 9 (see here).

Wirtschaft 13

The census evidence for Alexanderwohl 13 is similar to that for 12, in that the same name is given in two separate entries, one with a year of birth and one without. What sets this Wirtschaft apart is the listing of a third name, presumably another member of the same family.

Franz, Heinrich Heinrich (b. ca.1797)
Franz, Heinrich Heinrich (b. ca.-)
Franz, Kornelius Heinrich (b. ca.1797)

The explanation of the repeated names for Alexanderwohl 12 applies in this case as well: the name with a year of birth is the son; that without is the father, who died before the census and whose year of birth was not known by whoever supplied the information.

Consulting GRANDMA again, we can offer more details about this family. The father is GM 60378, and he was born around 1772; he was apparently a member of the Montau church, where his baptism is recorded. The Montau congregation was 15–20 miles downriver (northeast) from Przechovka, so it was in the same general area, though clearly distinct from Przechovka. Heinrich the father had two sons: Heinrich (GM: 273755), who was born in 1798; and Cornelius (GM: 60387), who was born in 1800. These are obviously the other two persons recorded in the census.

So, were these non-Przechovka Mennonites founders of Alexanderwohl? Almost certainly not. The family—Heinrich, his wife Elisabeth, sons Heinrich and Kornelius, daughter Elisabeth—emigrated to Russia a year later than most in the Przechovka church, in mid-1821. Further, the 1835 census reports that son Heinrich lived in another village first, namely, Tiegerweide; he (and his father and brother?) reportedly moved to Alexanderwohl 13 in 1833. 

What confuses the issue further is that father Heinrich is reported to have died in 1832, that is, a year prior to the family’s move to Alexanderwohl. This raises the question as to why the father is listed with that village at all, since he presumably never lived there. Perhaps all will be made clear when the translation of the census arrives. For now, all we know is that Heinrich Franz was presumably not the foundling settler of Alexanderwohl 13. Who that settler was is not, and may never be, known. 

This raises a question of why the original settlers of this and a few other Wirtschaften are not listed. It seems reasonable to think that when a Wirtschaft passed from one family to another, especially to an “outsider” family, a family not part of the Przechovka/Alexanderwohl church, it would not be surprising for the original owner’s name to be forgotten. Speaking from personal experience, this happens frequently today, and I assume it was the same two centuries ago. Thus, since this was the first census to be taken since the village was established fourteen years earlier, there was no documented record of a prior inhabitant, merely the potential that someone knew who had lived there previously—and the reality that sometimes no one remembered at all. Does that explain why the only listing for Alexanderwohl 13 is for a later resident? Perhaps, but only time and further research will tell us if that remains a viable explanation.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250; emigrated 1820
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	PCB ???; emigrated 1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	32966	PCB 1345; emigrated 1819
	Maricke Buller	32967	PCB 1355
6	Peter Johann Unrau	60318	PCB 1229; emigrated 1819
7	David Bernhard Voth	60325	Przechovka; emigrated 1820
8	?? Peter Franz Goerz	819683	to Alexanderwohl in 1826
9	Jacob Peter Buller	318737	PCB 377; emigrated 1820
10	David Johann Unrau	87011	PCB 987; emigrated 1820
11	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	14829	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820
12	Jacob Jacob Pankratz	43123	PCB 727; emigrated 1820
13	?????

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 11

Right on cue, another Buller pops up as we work our way through the village. In addition to locating this Buller on our family tree, we want to continue to note the varying circumstances under which all the families emigrated to Molotschna. When did they make the journey? What possessions did they bring along? Did they receive a governmental loan to establish themselves in Alexanderwohl or pay for their expenses out of their own funds? With those questions in mind, we turn to Alexanderwohl 9.

Wirtschaft 9

The 1835 census lists only one name for this plot, and he bears all the signs of an original settler:

Buller, Jakob Peter (b. ca.1758)

Jacob Peter Buller was certainly old enough to be an original settler in Alexanderwohl (sixty-three in 1821, when the village was founded), and we know well that Buller was a common last name in the Przechovka church. Further data both confirm our hunch and clarify a few details about Jacob Buller.

According to GRANDMA, Jacob (GM 318737) was actually born in 1760; his estimated date of birth in the census is a few years off, so he was only sixty-one when he emigrated. After bearing him eight children (Anicke, Eva, Heinrich, Lencke, Elscke, Maricke, Jacob, and Sara), Jacob’s first wife Elscke Wedels died in 1809; he remarried, but his second wife, Ancke Pankratzen, passed away in 1813. Consequently, Jacob apparently emigrated as a single person (unless a third marriage took place but was not recorded), accompanied by his two youngest children, who turned twenty-five and eighteen in 1821. Jacob does not appear in any of the passport or visa records documented in Rempel 2007, so we know nothing further about the circumstances of his move.

The easiest way to explain his relation to our family line is via the Buller chart that we have consulted previously. Our line is the one with red names; Jacob’s line is to the right, and he is directly opposite Benjamin Heinrich Buller. Jacob’s father was Peter, whose father was George, whose parents were George Buller and Dina Thoms.

Equally important is Jacob’s relation to other Bullers living in Alexanderwohl. His daughter Maricke, for example, was married to Heinrich Schmidt, and they were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 5, a mere four houses down the street from Jacob (see the post here). Other close relatives of Jacob will also appear in Alexanderwohl, and we will note them as they do. For now it is enough to add Jacob Peter Buller to the roster of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers: our seventh identification out of nine Wirtschaften, six of whom came from the Przechovka church.

Wirtschaft 10

Two names of equal plausibility, at least at first glance, are given for Alexanderwohl 10:

Schmidt, Andreas Peter (b. ca.1777)
Unrau, David Johann (b. ca.1764)

Both are old enough to be original settlers, and both bear surnames with long-term associations with the Przechovka church. So little is known of Andreas Schmidt (merely the names of his father and mother) that we cannot suggest him as a likely original settler; we do not know when he emigrated to Molotschna or where he first settled, so we must set him aside as a probable candidate, although it remains possible that he originally settled Alexanderwohl 10.

We know much more about David Unrau (GM 87011; PCB 987), who emigrated to Russia at the same time as the rest of the Przechovka church, along with his third wife Catharina/Trincke and their sons Heinrich and David (David’s earlier children were either deceased or married, it seems), as the 17 August 1820 visa attests (Rempel 2007, 173). The Unraus were well off, as reflected in their settlement report:

David Unrau (Давид Унрау), whose family consists of 3 males and 1 female. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had with them 800 rubles cash, possessions valued at 406 rubles, 50 kopeks, 1 wagon, 2 horses and 2 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 316 rubles. Settled at their own expense. (Rempel 2007, 177)

The next entry in Rempel’s 2007 collection is also named David Unrau, but the one described above is almost certainly the resident of Alexanderwohl 10, since the family composition matches exactly that of David and Catharina. Given what we do know about David Unrau and family and what we do not know about Andreas Schmidt and family, the safest, most reasonable conclusion is that David Unrau was a founding settler of Alexanderwohl. Until clear evidence indicates otherwise, we will add him to the list as such.

Wirtschaft 11

The 1835 census entry lists a single name for Alexanderwohl 11:

Schroeder, Heinrich Isaak (b. ca.1769)

The birth year would place Schroder’s age at around forty-two when Alexanderwohl was founded, which is a reasonable age for an original settler. Unfortunately, the surname is not one found in the Przechovka church, and the information provided on his visa (see Rempel 2007, 174) confirms that Schroeder probably did not come from that church. The village listed on Schroeder’s visa, Podwitz, was, to be sure, only six miles east of Przechovka, on the other side of the Vistula River. However, according to Glenn Penner (here), Podwitz Mennonites generally attended the Schönsee church, which seems to indicate fairly clearly that the Heinrich Schroeder family were not members of the Przechovka group.

Nevertheless, since Schroeder did live extremely close to Alexanderwohl’s founders, one cannot help but wonder if he was part of the larger group that emigrated to Russia in late 1820. He secured his visa at the same time (early September) as they did, and he settled in Russia and established a household there in the same year, as the Russian settlement report indicates: 

Heinrich Schroeder (Гейнрих Шретер), whose family consists of 3 males and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had with them 100 rubles cash, possessions valued at 206 rubles, 60 kopeks, 1 wagon, 1 horse and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 260 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 1 horse, 2 head of cattle, at a sum of 160 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 489 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 176)

Two final pieces of evidence deserve consideration. First, the 1835 census lists no one else as having resided at Alexanderwohl 11, which might imply that only Schroeder lived there between 1821 and 1835. Second, the census does not list any other location for Schroder (i.e., he appears only once in the census, for Alexanderwohl), which we would not expect if he settled first in some other village and then moved to Alexanderwohl later.

Taking all the evidence together, we can reasonably conclude that Heinrich Schroeder was a founding settler in Alexanderwohl. The fact that he emigrated from near Przechovka but was not a member of that church does add a new wrinkle to our understanding of the origin of Alexanderwohl. Perhaps the Gemeindebericht (community report) overstates things when it claims that “this community … had existed as a church in Prussia for over 200 years.” Of course, the majority of Alexanderwohl’s early settlers did come from the Przechovka church; nevertheless, it may be that Mennonites from other churches in the immediate area accompanied them and then settled alongside them. Only additional research will reveal the extent to which this impression accurately represents the historical reality.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	PCB ???
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	32966	PCB 1345
	Maricke Buller	32967	PCB 1355
6	Peter Johann Unrau	60318	PCB 1229; emigrated 1819
7	David Bernhard Voth	60325	Przechovka
8	?? Peter Franz Goerz	819683	to Alexanderwohl in 1826
9	Jacob Peter Buller	318737	PCB 377; emigrated 1820
10	David Johann Unrau	87011	PCB 987; emigrated 1820
11	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	14829	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Johann Leonhard Sommerfeld

As promised, we are taking a brief detour to learn more about this mysterious fellow. As noted in the previous post (here), Heinrich Heinrich Somerfeld and Johann Johann Leonhard are listed in the 1835 census as residing at Alexanderwohl 7. The fact that Elisabeth Sommerfeld, wife of Peter Goerz (or Goertz), lived at Alexanderwohl 8 caught our attention.

According to GRANDMA, Elisabeth was the aunt of Heinrich Somerfeld (whose father died before the family emigrated to Russia) and the older sister of a boy named Johann Leonhardt Sommerfeld. As suggested in the previous post, it seems likely that Heinrich and Johann were listed at Wirtschaft 7 by accident and that they should have been listed for Wirtschaft 8. 

This explains why Heinrich and Johann were listed at Alexanderwohl at all, but it raises yet another question: Was Johann’s name Johann Johann Leonhard or Johann Leonhardt Sommerfeld—or both? This single person is the source of some confusion in the GRANDMA database, since he is listed twice: as Johann Johann Leonhard (60331) and as Johann Leonhardt Sommerfeld (600063). In the first case he is identified as the son of an otherwise-unknown man named Johann Leonhard, in the second as the last-born son of David Sommerfeld, eleven years after his closest sibling, the sister Elisabeth mentioned above.

Additional notes in GRANDMA for Elisabeth’s father David Summerfeld (269479), sourced from Unruh 1955 and Rempel 2007, suggest that Johann was either “an illegitimate child or foster child named Johann Leonhardt.” The listing of the boy on a 12 September 1820 visa hints toward the latter explanation, since it identifies him as a “nursing child” named Johann Leowhard (Rempel 2007, 173). One might then suggest that Johann was perhaps a foster child named Johann Leonhardt who later was adopted into David’s family (and thus became Elisabeth’s adopted brother) and then added his adoptive father’s last name to his birth name, producing Johann Leonhardt Sommerfeld.

This seems a reasonably accurate explanation of how this individual came to be known by both names, but that is not the reason we took this detour. Thanks to the wonder that is Google, I learned that we have crossed paths with Johann Leonhard(t) Sommerfeld before. In fact, he features several times in the Johann Cornies papers that we consulted last year. Sommerfeld was well known to Cornies, serving as the secretary for the Forestry Society for at least several years. Cornies mentions him in four letters to others, three of which are worth quoting partially or in full. We begin with a brief extract that informs the second letter.

357. Johann Cornies to Andrei M. Fadeev. 5 April 1833. SAOR 89-1-276/11.

I am concerned that this Society’s Office may be without a secretary after 15 April, because the current Society secretary, Sommerfeld, will be away in Prussia on pressing family business.

362. Johann Cornies to Heinrich van Steen. 24 April 1833. SAOR 89-1-276/16.

Esteemed Mr. van Steen,

I have succeeded in obtaining a death certificate for your late son, as you requested. I will today mail it to Odessa to have it certified by the Imperial Prussian consul. I will not neglect to forward it to you immediately upon its return. In accordance with your wishes, I have given the money received for your son’s clothing to Gerhard Reimer, Ohrloff, administrator for the support of the poor in our community.

I take the liberty, esteemed Mr. van Steen, of commending to you the messenger delivering this letter, Johann Leonhard Sommerfeld. While in my employ, he was, for some time, on good terms with your son and can provide you with greater detail about your son’s stay in our community than could any letters from me. Please do not view the liberty I have thus taken unkindly. I have permitted the young man, Sommerfeld, to make a visit to Prussia on family matters and thought you might find it profitable to question him about your son’s stay and behaviour. …

Here we learn that in April 1833 Johann Leonhard Sommerfeld was entrusted to carry a letter on behalf of Cornies all the way back to Prussia, to Danzig, to be specific, where Heinrich van Steen was a merchant. Sommerfeld was returning on account of “pressing family business.” What this business might have been, indeed, even which family it concerned, the Leonhardt family or the Sommerfeld family, is forever lost to us.

Two years later Cornies referenced Sommerfeld again. 

476. Forestry Society to village offices. 28 January 1835. SAOR 89-1-428/3.

To village offices in the new settlement,

The Society is dispatching its secretary, Mr. Sommerfeld, to inspect journals for forest-tree, orchard, silk, and wine cultivation in each village office to determine that each journal is in good order, as required by [directive] Nos. 215 to 217, dated 29 November. The inspection is intended to ensure that the entries for tree planting have been done. Specifically, on the Society’s orders, Secretary Sommerfeld should be shown the above-mentioned journal in each village office. He will have with him copies of all notices dealing with planting directions sent out previously. At his request, these notices must be copied into each journal in order that they are widely known in every village office. A further order regulating such notices will follow later.

Village offices are likewise ordered to provide Sommerfeld with a conveyance at each location without delay and in a way that enables him to travel through several villages, not just over short distances. This must be observed.

Ohrloff, 28 January 1835
Chairman Cornies

If this is the same individual as discussed above—a highly probable identification—then we should marvel at how quickly young Johann advanced in society. At age seventeen (in 1833) he was already serving at Cornies’s side as secretary of the Forestry Society and could be entrusted not only to return to Prussia on his own (apparently) but also to deliver an important letter to a grieving father. Two years later, still before his twentieth birthday, he represented the Society in all the villages of Molotschna and was responsible to inspect the village journals recording their compliance (or noncompliance) with the colony requirements for cultivating various types of trees. The foster child made the most of his opportunity, it seems. It is too bad that we do not know, as far as I can tell, whatever became of him.

Works Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Unruh, Benjamin H. 1955. Die niederlandisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Karlsruhe-Rüppurr: self-published.

Alexanderwohl 10

In our effort to re-create the list of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers, thus far we have identified four of the founders of Alexanderwohl 1–5; three of these four families emigrated from the Przechovka church in West Prussia/Poland, which accounted for the majority of Alexanderwohl’s residents. 

As we continue to document who Alexanderwohl’s earliest settlers were, we also want to note when each family settled in the village and from where they came. We do so not merely as a historical curiosity but also so that perhaps we can gain a sense of whether or not the twenty-two families who settled in 1821 came in a single large group or a number of smaller groups. We will also, of course, continue to note especially any Bullers we encounter.

Wirtschaft 6

The 1835 census lists only one name for Alexanderwohl 6:

Unrau, Peter Johann (b. ca.1785) 

As noted earlier (Anna Unrau in Wirtschaft 1), Unrau was a fairly common last name in Przechovka church. Couple that with Peter Unrau’s age in 1821 (thirty-six), and we have a likely candidate for the original settler of this plot.

Other evidence points in the same direction. GRANDMA indicates that this Peter Unrau (GM 60318) was born in 1786 and identifies him as a resident of Alexanderwohl 6. A 20 July 1819 visa reports that Peter was a Mennonite from Przechovka who emigrated along with his wife and two daughters (Rempel 2007, 136). Indeed, Peter, who was married to Helena Harpart at that time (his first wife died), had two daughters in 1819. 

A Russian settlement record fills in the picture somewhat:

Peter Unrau (Петр Унрау), whose family consists of 1 male and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1819. They wished to settle at their own expense. They had with them 600 rubles cash, furniture valued at 204 rubles 20 kopeks, 1 wagon, 2 horses and 2 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 245 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 154) 

GRANDMA comments further that the Peter Unrau family came from the village of Dworzysko (or Dworzisko), which as far as I know is an unidentified small village in the Przechovka area (note that Glenn Penner does not provide coordinates for this village at the list here). Peter’s association with the Przechovka church is further confirmed by his listing in the church book: PCB 1229. His wife Helena Harpart (GM: 37902) is also listed: PCB 1338. (As an interesting sidebar, the Harpart family is reported to have been Jewish. See a 23andMe blog post by Tim Janzen plus a comment mentioning Helena here.)

It seems fairly certain that Peter Unrau and Helena Harpart were Alexanderwohl 6’s original settlers. Perhaps more important, all the evidence we have indicates that they settled in 1819, not in 1821. This raises the question about the “official” version of the founding of the village. As we saw earlier, the Waldheim Gemeindebericht (community report) contained demonstrable errors. It may be that the Alexanderwohl report likewise contains mistakes. It is too soon to decide at this point, but if other early settlers entered Russia before 1821, we may need to question the assumed founding date of the village.

Wirtschaft 7

Identifying the settler of this plot is not so straightforward, since the 1835 census lists three residents:

Somerfeld, Heinrich Heinrich (b. ca.1815)
Leonhard, Johann Johann (b. ca.1815)
Voth, David Bernhard (b. ca.1793) 

By now we know the clues to look for: date of birth and surname. Clearly, the first two individuals were too young to be the original settlers (six years of age in 1821), whereas the third person would seem a promising possibility, since he was twenty-eight years old. Further, the surname Voth was common in the Przechovka church, which further buttresses the case that he might be an Alexanderwohl founder.

GRANDMA knows a little more about the family but also seems to contain a mistake. First, David Bernhard Voth (GM 60325) is said to have been married to a woman named Helena whose surname is unknown. They are reported to have had three daughters and two sons, all but the oldest (Helena) having been born after the move to Alexanderwohl. The mistake relates to the number of children in 1820.

A 17 August 1820 visa issued by the Russian General Consulate in Danzig reports:

David Vodt from Przechowko, his wife Helena 26 (b. ca. 1794), son David 22 [sic: 2] (b. ca. 1817 …1818), daughter Helena 6 months (b. ca. February 1804 [sic: 1820]). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

This seems to be a solid match with the family listed in GRANDMA, except that the database lacks the couple’s firstborn son named David. The settlement report supports and supplements this conclusion.

David Voth (Давид Фот), whose family consists of 2 males and 2 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had with them 685 rubles cash, possessions valued at 410 rubles, 30 kopeks, 1 wagon, 2 horses, 3 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 433 rubles. Settled at their own expense. (Rempel 2007, 177)

Before we conclude that Voth was the original settler at Alexanderwohl 7, we should spend a moment exploring the other two individuals listed for that plot. The story behind Heinrich Heinrich Somerfeld and Johann Johann Leonhard is more difficult to trace. Heinrich emigrated with his grandfather David Sommerfeld from Insel Kueche (in the Marienwerder district, approximately 30 miles northeast of Przechovka) to Molotschna in September 1820. Also among the party was a “nursing child,” four-year-old Johann Leonhard (Rempel 2007, 173; see also 176–77). Because the grandfather is not listed in the census, we do not know where the family settled. Also unclear is why they are listed at Alexanderwohl 7.

In light of all the evidence, it appears safest to conclude that David and Helena Voth were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 7. Although they are not listed in the Przechovka church book, they were presumably members of that congregation, thus a part of the large movement of Przechovka members to Molotschna colony in late 1820.

Wirtschaft 8

Once again the 1835 census lists only one name for the Wirtschaft:

Goerz, Peter Franz (b. ca.1797)

The age seems right for settlement (twenty-four in 1821), but the surname Goerz is not a Przechovka name. The notes to the census (referenced in GRANDMA) indicate further that Peter Goerz (GM 819683) was not among the earliest Alexanderwohl settlers. In fact, he emigrated to Russia in 1819 and then settled in Grossweide. He moved to Alexanderwohl seven years later, in 1826. This leaves us to conclude either that Peter Goerz took over Alexanderwohl 8 from its original owner, just five or so years after the original owner had settled, or that Alexanderwohl 8 was not immediately settled in 1821 and that Goerz was its first settler, even though he was not among the earliest founders of the village. The latter option is a (remote) possibility, but we will not be able to offer a final conclusion until we have worked through the entire village.

One final interesting observation before we wrap up this post. Peter Goerz was married to a woman named Elisabeth Sommerfeld (GM 60334). If that last name sounds familiar, it is because we just encountered it in relation to Alexanderwohl 7, where we could not explain why Heinrich Somerfeld and Johann Leonhard were listed alongside David Voth. There may be a simple explanation.

According to GRANDMA, Elisabeth Sommerfeld (the spelling with mm rather than m seems to be correct) was Heinrich’s aunt. Unexpectedly, a Johann Leonhardt Sommerfeld is listed as her younger brother. We will take a brief detour to learn more about young Sommerfeld in a separate post; for now it will suffice to explain his presence on the 1835 census.

It seems more than coincidental that Heinrich Somerfeld and Johann Leonhard were listed as residing at Alexanderwohl 7, where there is no known connection, while their aunt and possibly sister lived at Alexanderwohl 8. This smells of a clerical error. The boys were supposed to be listed on the line for Alexanderwohl 8 but ended up on line 7 instead. I would be interested to know if the microfilm of the original census offers any evidence for this suggestion; perhaps it is time to look into getting a copy to consult.

***

Three more Wirtschaften, with two confirmed settlers—both from Przechovka. The only surprise in this group is that Alexanderwohl 6 was settled earlier than expected: in 1819 or 1820, not in 1821. Did other early settlers arrive before the “official” year of the founding of the village. Only time—and further research—will tell.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	PCB ???
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	32966	PCB 1345
	Maricke Buller	32967	PCB 1355
6	Peter Johann Unrau	60318	PCB 1229; emigrated 1819
7	David Bernhard Voth	60325	Przechovka
8	?? Peter Franz Goerz	819683	to Alexanderwohl in 1826

  

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 9

We continue our search into Alexanderwohl’s history, having identified the village’s original settlers for Wirtschaften 1 and 2 but not for 3 (see the previous posts and below). We pick up where the last post left off.

Wirtschaft 4

As often is the case, the available evidence is a little messy, although in this instance we are able to sort through it adequately to identify the original inhabitant of plot 4. The 1835 census lists three names for Alexanderwohl 4:

Voth, Jakob David (b. ca. 1796)
Voth, Peter Jakob (b. ca. 1786)
Wichert, Heinrich Heinrich (b. ca. 1791)

All these men were old enough that they could have been adult settlers of the village in 1821, so the dates of birth are of no help. Voth is a common surname in the Przechovka church, while Wichert is never attested. That may incline us to think that one of the Voths was the original settler. Until the translation of the 1835 census arrives (it is en route), we must depend on other records to sort through this information.

According to Rempel (2007, 174), Peter Foth of Schönsee (a village near the Przechovka church), along with his wife Eva and his nephew Johann (b. 1798), were issued a visa on 12 September 1820; their passport had been issued just three days prior to that. GRANDMA identifies this Peter Jacob Voth (GM 268847) with the person who settled Alexanderwohl 4. GRANDMA also identifies Jacob David Voth (GM 60306) as the nephew of Peter Jacob and wonders if this could be the same as the nephew Johann listed on the visa. Assuming until proven otherwise that Jacob and Johann were the same person and thus the nephew who traveled along with the head of household Peter Jacob, we can conclude that Peter is the more likely of the two to have been Alexanderwohl’s original settler—unless, of course, Heinrich Heinrich Wichert, the third name listed, has a better claim.

The census information recorded in GRANDMA about Heinrich Wichert is confusing: “In the 1835 Molotschna Census entry for Alexanderwohl #4, he is said to have moved from there in 1823. He is listed at Liebenau No. 9, where it says he came to Russia in 1820 and moved to Liebenau in 1823. The passport record says he came from Gross Lunau, Prussia.” Several points are worth unpacking.

First, the census apparently says that Wichert moved from Alexanderwohl in 1823. This would mean that he could have been the original settler of Alexanderwohl 4 in 1821. The census also reports that he immigrated to Molotschna in 1820, presumably to Alexanderwohl, then moved from there to the village of Liebenau in 1823. There is just one problem with this account: Wichert’s actual visa is dated 18 September 1822, two years after the census states that he entered Russia, two full years after Peter Jacob Voth emigrated to Russia, and less than a year before Wichert moved on to Liebenau. 

It is difficult to believe the census comments when they are contradicted by a Russian visa. Wichert apparently did reside at or was associated with Alexanderwohl for a few months; perhaps that was the first place he settled (temporarily) after he entered the colony. Nevertheless, it is certain that Peter Voth preceded Wichert to Alexanderwohl by two full years, and so Peter Voth, not Wichert or even Peter Voth’s nephew Jacob/Johann, was the original settler of Alexanderwohl 4.

Wirtschaft 5

The 1835 census offers only a single entry for lot 5:

Schmidt, Heinrich David (b. ca. 1792) 

Schmidt seems a likely candidate to have been an original settler of Alexanderwohl: he was roughly twenty-nine when the village was founded in 1821, and the Schmidts were a prominent family within the Przechovka church, as over a hundred Schmidts are listed in the first part of the book alone.

The GRANDMA entry for Heinrich David Schmidt (GM 32966) identifies him as the resident of Alexanderwohl 5 but also notes that he was a resident of Jeziorka prior to moving to Molotschna; if you recall (see the blog series beginning here), Jeziorka was a small village approximately 10 miles west-northwest of the Przechovka church whose residents were usually associated with that church. More specifically, several families of Bullers lived in Jeziorka, so it is not surprising to discover that Heinrich Schmidt’s wife was Maricke Buller (GM 32967). Maricke’s line was only distantly related to ours, but this reinforces our sense that there was a strong Buller presence in Alexanderwohl.

Back to the matter at hand. Peter Rempel (2007, 137) records a visa issued 20 July 1819 to Heinrich (Henri) Schmidt, from Przechovka, with his wife and one son. This information matches what we know of the family (i.e., their other children were born later), so this is presumably the right Heinrich Schmidt. So also the record of their settlement in Russia , which reads:

Heinrich Schmid (Гейнрих Шмид), whose family consists of 2 males and 1 female. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 308 rubles, 75 kopeks, 1 wagon, 1 horse, 2 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 264 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 1 horse at a sum of 50 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 176)

All indications, then, are that Heinrich and Maricke Schmidt were among the original founders of Alexanderwohl. We can fill out our list of early settlers a little further.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	PCB ???; see note * below
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	32966	PCB 1345
	Maricke Buller	32967	PCB 1355

  

* A GRANDMA note identifies Peter Jacob Voth as PCB 1111, but this cannot be correct. The father of Peter Voth 1111 was named Hans (PCB 1053), not Jacob, and the PCB listings for Voth seem to distinguish these two names from each other. Moreover, Peter Voth 1111 must have been born decades before the Peter Voth who settled Alexanderwohl 4. In fact, his number in the PCB sequence (1111) is far too early for someone born in the 1780s; he should be listed in the 1270s or thereabouts. It appears that neither Peter nor his nephew Johann/Jacob is listed in the Przechovka church book. It may be that their residence in Schönsee, which was reasonably close to Przechovka but on the other side of the Vistula River, led to their omission from the church records, even if they were tangentially associated with the church. 

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 8

The 1835 census of Molotschna (see the index here) lists sixty-nine names for Alexanderwohl, spread across thirty-four Wirtschaften (village plots). Our goal in the next posts is to draw from the census in order to identify as many of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers as possible. We will keep a running list of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers and hope that it is at least fairly complete by the time we finish.

Wirtschaft 2

Having established that Martin and Anna Unrau Kornelsen settled Wirtschaft 1, we move on to  plot number 2. The 1835 census (here) provides only one entry for that plot:

Block, Heinrich Peter (b. ca.1794) 

Based on what we learned in the previous post about multiple names being listed for the same plot, we might begin by postulating that the listing of only one name hints that the person was the only resident of that plot the entire time between Alexanderwohl’s founding in 1821 and the 1835 census. 

However, there is something different about this listing. We have been working under the assumption that the founders of Alexanderwohl had all emigrated from the Przechovka church. The problem is: Block is not a name associated with that church. How, then, do we explain Heinrich Block’s presence in the Alexanderwohl? Fortunately, GRANDMA provides the basis for a plausible answer.

Heinrich Peter Block (GM 29475) emigrated to Molotschna from Klein Lubin, a Prussian/Polish village approximately 15 miles northeast of the Przechovka church. According to van der Zijpp and Thiessen 2013, the Mennonites of this village were likely members of the Montau church. Block had emigrated to Molotschna in 1819, a full year before the Przechovka church members made their own journey, and had settled in the village of Franzthal, a village founded in 1820 on the far east side of the colony. 

So when did he take up residence in Alexanderwohl? According to the full text of the census, Block moved in 1823. This is confirmed by the fact that, as expected, Block is listed twice within the census:

Block, Heinrich Peter (b. ca.1794): Franztal 14
Block, Heinrich Peter (b. ca.1794): Alexanderwohl 2

Does this mean that Block took over someone else’s Wirtschaft in Alexanderwohl, someone who left after only two years in the village? Probably not. If you recall, the community report indicated that the village was founded by twenty-two families in 1821, followed by seven more in 1823 and one additional family in 1824 (see further here).

In other words, Block may well have been one of the 1823 families. If so, then Wirtschaft 2 was prsumably not assigned in 1821 and thus remained available for Block in 1823. If all this is correct (we will assume it is until other evidence indicates otherwise), Block was one of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers, although not among the earliest founders of the village.

Wirtschaft 3

The census lists only one name for Wirtschaft 3 as well:

Goerz, Heinrich Franz (b. ca.1809)

Once again, this is not a name generally associated with the Przechovka church. Weighing against the idea that his individual was an original settler is the fact that we has only twelve years old when the village was founded. GRANDMA reports that in 1819 Heinrich Goerz (GM 285981) emigrated with his family from Treul bei Neuenburg in the Schwetz region; like Block above, the Goerz family was associated with the Montau church.

Like Heinrich Block, Heinrich Goerz is also listed twice in the census:

Goerz, Heinrich Franz (b. ca.1809): Grossweide 21
Goerz, Heinrich Franz (b. ca.1809): Alexanderwohl 3

As before, the full text of the census provides additional details: Goerz moved to Alexanderwohl in 1833, just two years before the census and twelve years after the village had been founded. Obviously, he was not one of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers. 

This realization raises two significant questions. First, from whom did Goerz acquire Wirtschaft 3? It seems unlikely that the Wirtschaft was left unclaimed and unoccupied for over a decade, so someone must have owned it before Goerz. Unfortunately, at present we do not have any indication of who that original settler was. Perhaps our continued search will turn up other clues—although I am not terribly hopeful. Second, why does the 1835 census not list Alexanderwohl 3’s original settler? If the census sought to record all the details of residency since the last census, then the failure to record the earliest resident of Alexanderwohl 3 is an unfortunate omission.

Whatever the answers to these questions, at present we can supply names only for the first two slots in the running list of Alexanderwohl’s original settlers.

Alexanderwohl’s Original Settlers

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM Number	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	33801	PCB: 1250
	Anna Unrau	32780	first husband David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????

  

Work Cited

Zijpp, Nanne van der, and Richard D. Thiessen. 2013. Klein Lubin (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.

Alexanderwohl 7

The previous post established beyond reasonable doubt that Martin and Anna Unrau Kornelsen (or Cornelsen) were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 1. Nevertheless, several questions remained: What other evidence do we have that supplements what we know about these original settlers? Why are Anna’s grown sons associated with their stepfather’s house? Finally, how closely are Peter and David Buller related to our particular family line? These questions provide this post’s goal and organizational structure.

1. Immigration Records

We find the Kornelsen family not only in the 1835 Molotschna census but also in passports and visas issued by the Prussian and Russian governments. We have consulted these records in earlier posts (most recently here, in the Benjamin’s Father series), via a resource created by Peter Rempel. Martin Kornelsen and family are listed three times in that work, as follows:

1819 passport: Martin Kornelsen [written Knels] Mennonite from Konopatz with his wife, 2 sons, 3 daughters. Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 5, 1819. (Rempel  2007, 137)

1820 visa: Martin Kornelsen from Konopath, his wife Anna 32 (b. ca. 1788), step-sons Peter Buller 11 (b. ca. 1809), David Buller 7 (b. ca. 1813), step-daughter Anna Buller 9 (b. ca. 1811), daughter Maria 5 (b. ca 1815), Helena 1 (b. ca. 1819). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel  2007, 172)

1820 record of settlement: Martin Kornelsen (Мартин Корнелсел), whose family consists of 3 males and 4 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 405 rubles, 50 kopeks, 1 wagon, no horses and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 110 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 2 horses, 2 head of cattle at a sum of 210 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel  2007, 175)

The progression of documents is instructive. Frst an immigrant had to secure a passport that gave permission to leave Prussia; note that this passport was granted a full year before Martin and family actually left (see * note below). However, the passport was not sufficient in and of itself; the actual journey could not be undertaken without a visa in hand, which Rempel tells us elsewhere was issued from Danzig on 7 August 1820. The passport(s) was issued (I believe) by the Prussian government; the visa and settlement report came from the Russian government, who kept careful track of the number of people who immigrated, their financial condition, and, of great importance, the amount of money they were loaned to establish their household.

Worth noting is that Martin and family made the journey with a wagon but no animals to pull it. From this we can infer that the wagon was probably more like a cart that was pulled by family members all the way from the Schwetz region in Prussia/Poland to the Molotschna colony in New Russia/Ukraine, a distance of some 900 miles. With Peter the oldest child only eleven years old, the majority of the burden presumably fell on Martin and Anna, who would have been glad to arrive at their new home, Alexanderwohl 1—keeping in mind, of course, that there was no actual house there until they were able to construct it. Their story was no doubt replicated, with some variation, with all the other new residents of Alexanderwohl, who shall be the focus of our attention in subsequent posts. For now, we turn to the question of why Anna’s grown sons were associated with their stepfather’s house in 1835, when Peter and David were in their mid-twenties.

* I do not understand why there was an 1819 passport and an 1820 passport, followed by an 1820 visa. Perhaps the first passport was good only for a year, and a new one had to be secured before a valid travel visa would be issued?

2. Census Organization

As we will see time and again, multiple names are listed for the same Wirtschaft in Alexanderwohl, sometimes even more than the three names listed in this instance. A brief review of the information provided in GRANDMA for Peter and David Buller will help us to understand why this is.

The entry for Peter (GM 32781) includes a comment beneath his genealogical data that notes: “The 1835 Molotschna Census entry for Alexanderwohl #1 says that he moved away from there in 1830. He is listed at Liebenau #3, where it says he came to Russia in 1820.” For understandable reasons, this information is not included in the census index; it is recorded, however, in the full version of the census that has been microfilmed and translated (see the previous post). Nevertheless, the index does include two listings for Peter David Buller and thus reflects the reality of his past and current living situation. (We first noted this here.)

Buller, Peter David (b. ca.1809): Liebenau 3
Buller, Peter David (b. ca.1809): Alexanderwohl 1

What are we to make of this? What the index implies and the census records is both where Peter had lived previously and where he was living in 1835, when the census was taken. In other words, the census was not merely a way of counting people or locating them at a specific point in time. Rather, the Russian censuses recorded, to some extent, the history of people, including movements from one locale to another and even a death that had taken place years before the census. The census was the Russian government’s means of keeping track of people (not in a sinister way) so that they knew not only who lived where at a particular time but also what had happened in their subjects’ lives from the time of the last census.

One result of this more expansive use of the census was that one household, such as Alexanderwohl 1, could appear with multiple names. As a result, we cannot simply equate a listing in a household with actual residence in that house. We need the full census, notes and all, in order to gain the full story about any person of that day.

What, then, about Peter’s younger brother David? The GRANDMA entry for David (GM 32783) also has a note, but it is not as clear: “In the 1835 Molotschna Colony Census for Alexanderwohl #1 he is listed with his stepfather, Martin Cornelson. Notes added to his entry in the 1835 Molotschna Census state that he moved to Hierschau in 1848.” At first blush, it seems that David was still living with his mother and stepfather. Why, then, was he listed in the census at all? To my knowledge, the census does not list all adult males, only heads of households (or perhaps families). 

The answer may be found in additional information provided in his GRANDMA entry, which states that he married Maria Nachtigal on 26 October 1835. One wonders if his 1835 marriage played any role in him being listed on the census, even if he (and his new wife?) did not have his own place. The later notes about him moving to Hierschau in 1848 were presumably added in anticipation of the next census.

Both the census notes and the two listings indicate clearly that Peter had left home by 1835; the fact that David is listed only once thus implies that he probably was still living at home, although he was in the process of starting his own family through his marriage to Maria Nachtigal. Details aside, the most important takeaway from this section is the reminder that the mere listing of a name on the census tells us little; each name must be examined within context and in light of other evidence before any conclusions about the person listed are formed.

3. Family Relationships

Finally, what relation are Peter and David Buller (and their sister Anna) to our family line? Recall that these two Bullers were named Peter David and David David, which tells us their father’s name: David. We have actually encountered David senior before (here): we noted that he was born in 1780 to Benjamin Heinrich Buller, married Anna Unrau in 1808, and died in 1813. In other words, David’s two sons were grandsons of Benjamin Heinrich Buller (who lived in Alexanderwohl 16 the last years of his life).

If our (Glenn Penner’s) reconstruction of our family line is correct, our ancestor Benjamin Benjamin Buller was David Benjamin’s younger brother, which would mean that Benjamin’s son David (father of Peter D, father of Peter P, and so on) was also the grandson of Benjamin Heinrich Buller, which would mean that our ancestor David was the cousin of Peter David and David David. Confused? The chart below shows the line of Peter and David Buller on the left and our line on the right. Both are descended from Benjamin Heinrich Buller through different brothers, which makes generation 3 cousins.

*****

So ends our investigation of the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 1. We will pick up with Wirtschaft 2 in the next post and see how far we can get. I do not imagine that we will go into as much detail with all the original settlers and their families, but we do want to pay close attention to all the Bullers who lived in that Molotschna village.

Work Cited

Rempel. Peter. 2007. Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828. Edited by Alfred H. Redekopp and Richard D. Thiessen. Winnepeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 6

The previous post in this series began our focused investigation of the village Alexanderwohl, the village in which our family first settled within Molotschna colony, the village in which Benjamin Heinrich Buller, presumably Grandpa Chris’s great-great-great grandfather, spent the last years of his life. We began by reading the 1848 Gemeindebericht (community report), which has been translated by a number of people, including a new one just discovered (here). 

The plan is to work carefully through various details recorded in the report, as a way of expanding our knowledge of one of our ancestral Russian villages. Thus we begin with the establishment of the village in the first half of the 1820s. The Gemeindebericht reports:

In 1821 22 families from District Schwetz in the Prussian administrative district of Marienwerder settled here; followed in 1823 by 7 families and in 1824 by yet another family. (trans. M. L. Garbin; see link above)

This sentence raises an important question: Who were these thirty families who first established the village of Alexanderwohl? They are not named in the Alexanderwohl report, but, fortunately, we have additional resources that will likely permit us to construct a reasonably complete answer. 

The first such resource is the 1835 Molotschna census. We have mentioned that census several times in the past (e.g., here and here), but now it merits even closer attention. The original census has been microfilmed several times (I may purchase a copy of that) and translated into English (a copy from the Mennonite Heritage Centre is on order); for the purposes of this post the index of names prepared by Richard D. Thiessen (here) will suffice. 

The screen shot below provides an example of the information contained in the index.

The entries are arranged alphabetically by last name, then alphabetically by first name for repeated surnames. An approximate (indicated by the abbreviation ca. = circa) date of birth is then specified, followed by a village name and number. The village name is self-explanatory; the number is the lot (or Wirtschaft) within the village (see the numbers in the corners of the Alexanderwohl Wirtschaften below; the map is from 1874, so the names on it can be ignored for our present purposes). 

Since all the entries include the village name and Wirtschaft, it is a simple matter to search for all the occurrences of Alexanderwohl and then list the heads of households in Alexanderwohl in numerical (i.e., plot) order.

We will begin to list names in a moment, but first we must remind ourselves that the census was taken in 1835, fourteen years after the village was established in 1821. Consequently, we cannot assume that any name listed in the census was an original Alexanderwohl settler: some probably were, but we cannot assume that every original settler was listed. 

Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that the index lists sixty-nine names for Alexanderwohl, spread across thirty-four Wirtschaften. Clearly, we will need to explain why a given plot has multiple names listed. There are, in general, reasonable explanations for this duplication; we will deal with all of them as we work through the list.

Instead of listing all sixty-nine names all at once, we will begin by examining Alexanderwohl 1 (in the upper left corner of the map above), which presents us not only multiple heads of household for one plot but also two Bullers listed with a Kornelsen (or Cornelsen). The three persons listed are:

•  Kornelsen, Martin Jakob (b. ca.1790)
•  Buller, Peter David (b. ca.1809)
•  Buller, David David (b. ca.1812)

I list them from oldest to youngest not only because the oldest was most likely the original settler but also because the two Bullers were still children when Alexanderwohl was established in 1821. If any of these three were the original (1821) settler of Alexanderwohl 1, it had to be Martin Kornelsen. We will return to that possibility in a moment, but first we need to explain why two Buller children are listed in the household of a Kornelsen in 1835, when Peter was twenty-six and David was twenty-three.

We can probably guess the source of the explanation: these two young men must have lost their father David (notice that both have the same middle name), after which their widowed mother married Martin Kornelsen. A quick check of GRANDMA confirms our hunch.

After Peter and David’s father David Buller died, their mother Anna Unrau married Martin Cornelsen and started a second family with him. Notice also the Immigration date for Anna (and the family): 17 August 1820. This is exactly the time during which the Przechovka church emigrated from Prussia to Molotschna (recall the Gemeindebericht mention of their meeting of Tsar Alexander 1 along the way on 14 September 1820). 

It seems clear, then, that Martin and Anna Cornelsen were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 1 in the year 1821. We have identified our first original settlers rather easily—but more remains to be said. We have access to still other records that will supplement the information we have covered thus far, and we also need to explain why now-grown Peter and David Buller are listed at Alexanderwohl 1 as well. Not least, we want to determine how closely related Peter and David are to our own family line. All that will require some discussion, which will be offered in the next post in this series.