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.