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