Alexanderwohl 24

The previous post began our process of working back through the Alexanderwohl founder material by settling on a relatively final list of the village’s original founders and the years in which they left Prussia to settle in Molotschna. We were able to identify the earliest settlers for twenty-seven out of the thirty Wirstschaften, an impressive 90 percent of the entire village. 

This post will extend that list by determining the years in which these twenty-seven settlers took up residence in Alexanderwohl. Significantly, the emigration year was not always the Alexanderwohl settlement year; sometimes a family went to some other village first. Distinguishing these settlers from those who entered Molotschna and went directly to Alexanderwohl will help us identify more accurately the main Przechovka party that supposedly formed the core of the village.

But first … as noted in the prior post, going back through our work will give us a chance to spot any errors that may have crept in along the way, such as the one discovered in the preparation of this post. The error relates to the original settler of Wirtschaft 6: Peter Johann Unrau.

Happily, we identified the correct person when we covered this farmstead (here); the mistake was in the year assigned to his emigration and settlement. Originally I identified this person with a Peter Unrau who emigrated in 1819 (Rempel 2007, 136) who had a wife and two daughters. This seemed to be confirmed by the GRANDMA listing for this individual. What I missed is that one of Unrau’s two daughters born before 1819 actually died in 1815, so his nuclear family in 1819–1820 consisted of Unrau, his wife, and one daughter.

These facts (and the names) fit perfectly the Peter Unrau family who had a visa dated 17 August 1820 (Rempel 2007, 173) who, together with a female servant, settled in Russia in 1820.

Peter Unrau (Петр Унрау), whose family consists of 1 male and 3 females. 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)

In light of this information, Unrau’s emigration and settlement date have been corrected to 1820 in the list below. 

The list is simple enough: it includes the Wirtschaft number, settler name, the year in which he emigrated to Molotschna, and the year in which he settled in Alexanderwohl. We will take special notice of cases in which the emigration and settlement dates differ. 

	Founding Settler	Emigration Date	Settlement Date
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	1820	1820
2	Heinrich Peter Block	1819	1823
3	????	—	—
4	Peter Jacob Voth	1820	1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	1819	1820
6	Peter Johann Unrau	1820	1820
7	David Bernhard Voth	1820	1820
8	Peter Franz Goerz	1819	1826
9	Jacob Peter Buller	1820	1820
10	David Johann Unrau	1820	1820
11	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	1820	1820
12	Jacob Jacob Pankratz	1820	1820
13	????	—	—
14	Heinrich Peter Unrau	1819	1819
15	Jacob Jacob Buller	1819	1822
16	Johann Peter Ratzlaff	1820	1820
17	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	1822	1822
18	Jacob David Schmidt	1819	1819
19	Peter Johann Reimer	1804	1822
20	Andreas David Schmidt	1819	1820
21	Peter Christian Dalke	1821	1821
22	Peter Benjamin Frey	1819	1821
23	Johann Peter Schroeder	1820	1820
24	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	1820	1820
25	????	—	—
26	Heinrich Jakob Buller	1820	1820
27	Peter Benjamin Wedel	1820	1820
28	Peter Heinrich Voth	1820	1820
29	Andreas Peter Schmidt	1820	1820
30	David David Unrau	1820	1820

The emigration and settlement dates differ for the following Wirstschaften: 2, 5, 8, 15, 19, 20, and 22.

1. Peter Reimer’s (19) case is unique among Alexanderwohl residents: he emigrated to Molotschna in 1804, the first year of the colony’s existence, resided in but did not own a plot in Lichtenau, then became a landowner in Alexanderwohl shortly after the founding of the village.

2. Peter Goerz’s (8) situation is also different from the rest: he emigrated to Molotschna with his father and siblings in 1819 and settled in Grossweide; in 1826, at the age of twenty-eight, he secured his own farmstead in Alexanderwohl.

3. Several of the settlers emigrated in 1819—a year before the largest group from Przechovka—and lived first in Franztal before moving to Alexanderwohl: Heinrich Block (2), Jacob Buller (15), and Peter Frey (22).

4. Heinrich Schmidt (5) appears on a visa dated 20 July 1819 (Rempel 2007, 137) but is not reported to have settled until 1820 (Rempel 2007, 176). Similarly, Heinrich’s brother Andreas Schmidt also is listed on a 20 July 1819 visa but is counted as settling in 1820 (Rempel 2007, 137, 176).

We will circle back to the groups in numbers 3 and 4 in the following post, but first we need to sort the remaining settlers into their larger groups.

5. The majority (sixteen) of the settlers emigrated and settled in 1820: Wirtschaften 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.

6. It appears that two settlers emigrated and settled in 1819: Heinrich Unrau (14) and Jacob Schmidt (18), the latter being the brother of the two Schmidts named in number 4 immediately above.

7. The list also reports that one person (Peter Dalke) emigrated and settled in 1821 and one (Heinrich Schmidt) emigrated and settled in 1822.

All the evidence thus far in hand is on the table, which makes this a good place to stop. The next post in this series will begin by reflecting on the presence of at least two and potentially four families who emigrated in 1819 and seemingly counted Alexanderwohl as their first home. This fact sits uneasily alongside the accepted history of Alexanderwohl, which reports that the first group arrived in 1820 and that the village was officially founded in 1821. How can—and should—we explain this apparent contradiction? The following post will begin with that very question.

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 23

We have completed the overview of the Alexanderwohl founders, but that does not mean that we are finished with this village. Rather, we should retrace our steps and observe carefully again, for a variety of reasons. 

First, we started the overview before we had available the English translation of the 1835 Molotschna census or John Richert’s investigation of the same question from a different perspective. Therefore, we should take a moment to check our work by comparing our results with John Richert’s and consulting the census or other records when we disagree.

Second, we should also view our findings from other angles. Thus far we have compiled a simple list of Wirtschaften and individual settlers; we should also consider possible groups of settlers, generally based on their year of immigration, so that we see both the individual trees and the different sections of the forest. If we want to understand the village and its history, we must take a step back so we can see the groups that constituted it.

Third, once we have a more informed impression of the history of Alexanderwohl’s founding, we can compare that reconstruction with the Gemeindebericht, the 1848 community report, to determine if any aspects of our impression need to be revised or, conversely, if we need to view with suspicion one or more points in the report itself.

After we do all that, we will lighten things up by having some fun: identifying all the Bullers we can who lived in Alexanderwohl from the beginning. Then we will meander a little, broadening our search beyond Alexanderwohl to include other groups who emigrated from Przechovka and consulting and correlating other resources that may shed light on that seminal Polish Mennonite congregation. 

We begin with a simplified list of our original settlers numbered by Wirtschaft (no GRANDMA or Przechovka church book numbers), with John Richert’s list set to the right for comparison, followed by the year in which the settler emigrated to Molotschna.

	Buller Time List	John Richert List	Emigration Date
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	Martin Jacob Kornelsen	1820
2	Heinrich Peter Block	Heinrich Peter Block	1819
3	????	????	—
4	Peter Jacob Voth	Peter Jacob Voth	1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt	Heinrich David Schmidt	1819
6	Peter Johann Unrau	Peter Johann Unrau	1819
7	David Bernhard Voth	David Bernhard Voth	1820
8	Peter Franz Goerz?	Peter Franz Goerz	1819
9	Jacob Peter Buller	Jacob Peter Buller	1820
10	David Johann Unrau	David Johann Unrau	1820
11	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	Heinrich Isaak Schroeder	1820
12	Jacob Jacob Pankratz	Jacob Jacob Pankratz	1820
13	????	????	—
14	Heinrich Peter Unrau	Heinrich Peter Unrau	1819
15	Jacob Jacob Buller	Jacob Jacob Buller	1819
16	Johann Peter Ratzlaff	Benjamin Benjamin Buller	1820
17	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	1822
18	Jacob David Schmidt	Jacob David Schmidt	1819
19	Peter Johann Reimer	Peter Johann Reimer	1804
20	Andreas David Schmidt	Andreas David Schmidt	1819
21	Peter Christian Dalke	Peter Christian Dalke	1821
22	Peter Benjamin Frey	Peter Benjamin Frey	1819
23	Johann Peter Schroeder	Johann Peter Schroeder	1820
24	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	1820
25	????	????	—
26	Heinrich Jakob Buller	Heinrich Jakob Buller	1820
27	Peter Benjamin Wedel	Peter Benjamin Wedel	1820
28	Peter Heinrich Voth	Peter Heinrich Voth	1820
29	Andreas Peter Schmidt	Andreas Peter Schmidt	1820
30	David David Unrau	David David Unrau	1820

Assuming I have understood John Richert’s list correctly (I ask him to write if I have gone astray on any points), then there is only one point of disagreement. Ironically enough, it relates to Wirtschaft 16, where our ancestor Benjamin Heinrich (not Benjamin) Buller and Johann Peter Ratzlaff lived. 

The question is simple: Who was the original owner of the Wirtschaft? John lists Benjamin Buller, and I opt for his son-in-law Johann Ratzlaff. The evidence of the census supports John’s conclusion by listing Benjamin first; the evidence of the settlement report supports my view, by reporting that Johann received a government loan to establish a household. In the end, it does not matter which option is correct: both Benjamin and son-in-law Johann lived in Alexanderwohl 16, and one of them was the original owner.

The main takeaway from this exercise is to confirm that we have a fairly clear idea of who initially owned Alexanderwohl’s thirty Wirtschaften. They were not the only early residents of the village, to be sure, and we will fill out the village roster as much as we are able. All that we do from this point on, however, will be constructed on the foundation of this list, which records those citizens who were primarily responsible for the birth and growth of this influential Mennonite village.

Przechovka Resources

Our interest in the Molotschna village of Alexanderwohl, to which we will return shortly, does not exist in a vacuum. That is, we are not interested in Alexanderwohl strictly for its own sake, not even because it was the final resting place of Benjamin Heinrich Buller, great-great-great-grandfather to Grandpa Chris. In fact, Alexanderwohl is but one branch of a much larger tree, a tree that was rooted in the Schwetz area and at various times had branches extending west to the Neumark churches of Franztal and Brenkenhoffswalde, east to Mennonite groups in Volhynia, southeast to the Deutsch-Wymsle congregation of Poland, and much farther southeast to villages and/or churches in Molotschna, including, among others, Alexanderwohl, Gnadenfeld, Waldheim, and Franztal. 

Not only is Przechovka the tree trunk from which these branches extend; Przechovka is the church where the Bullers’ Mennonite history begins, with George Buller and Dina Thoms and their children. We remain interested in all of the branches, and we will explore each one as thoroughly as we are able, but inevitably we always return to the tree trunk, since that is what holds all the pieces together.

A pivotal resource for learning about the Przechovka congregation is the church book that records the names and noteworthy dates of many of its members. We have consulted that book in numerous posts to expand and supplement and correct details of our family history. Recently that book has become much more accessible to anyone who would like to explore its contents—including those with neither the expertise nor the patience to read its cursive German writing.

Specifically, Rod Ratzlaff has transcribed and edited online the English translation of key parts of the church book by Jacob A. Duerksen, Velda Richert-Duerksen, and the Mennonite Immigrant Historical Foundation staff in Goessel,  Kansas (see here). In addition to a listing and brief description of the church families by surname (the Gültige Numbers), individual files record information according to different categories: names, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and an index register. An added bonus is a brief introduction that provides background to the book and even offers a list of equivalencies for the diminutive and full forms of ten feminine names (e.g., Ancke = Anna). 

We will have many occasions to draw upon this valuable work, including the translation of the Buller entry (number 2) in the Gültige Numbers file. The scan below presents the original of our family entry as it appears in the church book; the translation immediately follows.

This is the first time that this family name appears. All the Bullers are descendants of this family.  His given name and original residence are not known. He died at a very old age.  The only information about his marital status is a notation found with No. 930B and No. 339. This indicates that he was married to Jacob Thomsen’s daughter, Dina, and that she survived him. Jacob Thoms, No. 930, lived at Dorposch.

We will return to this and the other family summaries in the near future, to imagine the implications that might follow from the opening sentence of the Buller entry: “This is the first time that this family name appears.” In the meantime, visit the page and explore all the files made available there. It will be a good way to become familiar with our own roots in a small but influential Mennonite church in  the Vistula River valley of central Poland.

Alexanderwohl 22

The previous post identified the original settlers of Wirtschaften 29 and 30: Andreas Peter Schmidt and David David Unrau, respectively. The 1835 census does not end here, however; it lists additional Alexanderwohl residents and assigns numbers to them. The following list records the household heads named, along with explanatory notes included in the census.

31. Franz Adrian
32. David Peter Schroeder
—  in the year 1821
      Isaak Isaak Thiessen
—  in the year 1822
      Jakob Jakob Ratzlaff
      Andreas Johann Funk
      Heinrich Heinrich Nachtigal
      Peter Jakob Schmidt
      Peter Peter Voth
      Jakob Daniel Tesmer [or Ziegler]
—  in the year 1829

33. ——— | Maria Unrau [widow of Heinrich Unrau]

—  in the year 1832

      Bernhard Martin Unrau

What are we to make of all this? We know beyond doubt that these were not additional Wirtschaften, that is, plots with land allotments and voting rights. Alexaanderwohl had only thirty Wirtschaften until the early twentieth century.

Clearly, these were residents of Alexanderwohl but not landowners in Alexanderwohl. They were, for one reason or another, households without land. Some in this group might be labeled the temporarily landless. These households moved to and apparently lived in Alexanderwohl until a Wirtschaft in some other village became available.

For example, the census reports that Jakob Jakob Ratzlaff first lived in Alexanderwohl (emigration in 1822) and then moved to Friedensdorf 11. Similarly, Andreas Johann Funk settled in Alexanderwohl in 1822 and moved to Friedensdorf 22 in 1824. Heinrich Heinrich Nachtigal followed the same course but did not gain a Wirtschaft in Friedensdorf and died a year after moving, in 1825. Others likewise moved to a different village several years after arriving in Alexanderwohl, although not all were able to secure a Wirtschaft in the process.

Several of the early residents of Alexanderwohl did not live long after emigrating. For example, Isaak Isaak Thiessen died in 1826, as did Peter Peter Voth in the same year. No other information is given about either individual. Each man’s presence and death in Alexanderwohl was dutifully recorded, even though the recorder apparently knew nothing further about him.

What is the point of this noting this? Listing the resident landless in Alexanderwohl complicates the issue of who counts as a founding settler of the village. Identifying these landless residents reminds us that not all Mennonites were farmers, that some, either out of choice or of necessity, earned a living and contributed to the general welfare through other means, without ever owning a Wirtschaft.

Soon we will read of a Heinrich Buller who falls into this category. This blacksmith in Molotschna colony never owned land until he emigrated to the United States. That is another story for another time; for now it is enough to remember that Alexanderwohl consisted of a variety of individuals, many of whom owned land and earned their living from it but some of whom performed one or another service that enriched the community and enabled the worker’s family to survive. To the extent that we are able, as we re-create Alexanderwohl’s history, we should give space to both categories of residents, the landed and the landless who were part of the Alexanderwohl story from the very beginning.

***

Note: I wonder if the long list of names given for Alexanderwohl 30 (see here) is a misreading of the way the census is laid out. Is it possible that the names listed after the head of household actually begin the general listing of landless persons who inhabited Alexanderwohl? Perhaps there is no need to associate Jacob Heinrich Ratzlaff, Heinrich Paul Dahl, and Peter Heinrich Pauls with Alexanderwohl 30 at all. Ratzlaff died in 1822, so his listing resembles those of Isaak Isaak Thiessen and Peter Peter Voth, both of whom died in 1826. The other two persons listed “with” Alexanderwohl 30—Heinrich Paul Dahl and Peter Heinrich Pauls—moved to other villages (Dahl to Alexanderthal 4 in 1830; Pauls to Schardau 23 in 1826), which puts them in the same category as Jakob Jakob Ratzlaff, Andreas Johann Funk, Heinrich Heinrich Nachtigal, and others above who lived in Alexanderwohl while they waited, apparently, for a Wirtschaft in some other village to become available. In short, we may be mistaken to associate these three individuals with Alexanderwohl 30. They may have been part of the landless group listed at the end of the census.

It is probably significant that the men listed after the Alexanderwohl 30 main entry are not identified as having been “accepted into the household,” as others have been labeled earlier in the census. This probably indicates that they lived on the outskirts of town, on the margins, as it were, of the main body of Alexanderwohl’s Wirtschaften. It may well be that we should think of multiple classes of landless residents in the early days of Alexanderwohl (and presumably other villages): those who lived with another family temporarily while they waited for a plot elsewhere to become available (i.e., those “accepted into the household”); the landless who settled on the outskirts temporarily while waiting for a plot elsewhere to become available; and the permanently landless who earned a living through a means other than farming (e.g., linen weaver,  blacksmith, carpenter). 

Alexanderwohl 21

We are nearing the end of our attempt to identify Alexanderwohl’s founders. Of course, after all is said and done we should reflect on what we actually mean by the word founders or comparable terms such as original settlers. All in good time; for now we have two more Wirtschaften to cover.

Wirtschaft 29

The census lists only one family and one head of household for Alexanderwohl 29:

Schmidt, Andreas Peter (b. ca.1777)

Considering his surname (well-attested in Przechovka), age (a young adult when Alexanderwohl was founded), and the fact that no one else is listed for the plot, we can reasonably suggest that Andreas Schmidt was a founding settler. Emigration records confirm the proposal, particularly a visa issued, like so many others, on 17 August 1820:

Andreas Schmidt from Konopath, his wife 38 (b. ca. 1782), son Heinrich 12 (b. ca. 1808), Andreas 3 (b. ca. 1817), daughter Helena 5 (b. ca. 1815), Anna 1 (b. ca. 1819). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

The settlement report completes the picture:

Andreas Schmidt (Андреас Шмидт), whose family consists of 3 males and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 304 rubles, 5 kopeks, 1 wagon, no horses and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 70 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, 176)

Andreas (GM: 13309) and his wife Anna Ratzlaff (GM: 13312), who for some reason is not named on the visa, are entered into the Przechovka church book: 834 and 110, respectively. The couple thus represent another case of Alexanderwohl being founded primarily by former Przechovka members. 

Wirtschaft 30

The final Wirtschaft in the village presents a more complicated situation, since the index lists six different heads of household for this single plot. To muddy the waters further, the index misses one person listed on the back of the page, who has been supplied as number seven in this list:

Ratzlaff, Jakob Heinrich (b. ca. –)
Buller, Peter Peter (b. ca.1807)
Buller, Heinrich Peter (b. ca.1811)
Dahl, Heinrich Paul (b. ca.1793)
Unrau, David David (b. ca.1775)
Unrau, David David (b. ca.1809)
Pauls, Peter Heinrich (b. ca. –)

Fortunately, the census itself presents a somewhat clearer picture. The first David David Unrau listed is entered as the head of household, and the census then lists his son David David Unrau 2 and his stepsons Peter Peter Buller and Heinrich Peter Buller. Three more individuals follow: Jacob Heinrich Ratzlaff (more below); Heinrich Paul Dahl, who apparently first lived at Alexanderwohl 30 before he moved in 1830 to Alexanderthal 4; and Peter Heinrich Pauls, who lived at this plot before relocating to Schardau 23 in 1826.

Although seven possible candidates are listed, only two need be considered seriously: David David Unrau the elder and Jacob Heinrich Ratzlaff. Both are listed in the immigration records, with visas issued on the same day as so many others: 17 August 1820. (Actually, there are three David Unraus listed for that day; the names of the wife and children and especially David’s father David help us know which is the one associated with Alexanderwohl 30.)

David Unrau from Konopath, his wife Sarah 40 (b. ca. 1780), step-sons Peter Buller 12 (b. ca. 1808), Heinrich [Buller] 8 (b. ca. 1812), Jacob [Buller] 6 (b. ca. 1814), son David 10 (b. ca. 1810), step-daughters Helena Buller 20 (b. ca. 1800), Maria [Buller] 16 (b. ca. 1804), daughter Elisabeth 5 (b. ca. 1815), father David Unrau 60 (b. ca. 1760). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820.  (Rempel 2007, 172)

Jacob Ratzlaff from Groudowko, his wife Sarah 60 (b. ca. 1760). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 173)

Unrau is also recorded as settling in Molotschna colony: 

David Unrau (Давид Унрау), whose family consists of 5 males and 4 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 250 rubles, 25 kopeks, 1 wagon, no horses and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 50 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, 177)

It is conceivable that Ratzlaff is also listed in the settlement records, but only if one can explain how the husband and wife on the visa above became one male and two females in the following report:

Jakob Ratzlaff (Якоб Рацлав), whose family consists of 1 male and 2 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 408 rubles, 70 kopeks, 1 wagon, 2 horses, 3 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 420 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for building a house and establishing the household at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 176).

Although we know of no other Jacob Ratzlaff who emigrated to Molotschna in 1820, it seems most likely that the settlement report refers to someone other than the Jacob Ratzlaff of the visa above, a second Jacob Ratzlaff for whom we have no emigration record (passport or visa).

Why is this the best explanation? Notice that both settlement reports record a government loan of 589 rubles for establishing a household. Only one of those loans could have been used for Alexanderwohl 30. Since we know beyond doubt that David David Unrau received a loan to establish a household in 1820, and since the census report that David David Unrau lived in Alexanderwohl 30 but nowhere else in Molotschna, we can conclude with a high degree of probability that David David Unrau was the founding settler of Alexanderwohl 30 in late 1820 to early 1821.

It is possible that Jacob Heinrich Ratzlaff lived with the Unrau family for a few years, although we do not know that for certain. All we really do know is that Ratzlaff was associated with Wirtschaft 30 in some way and that he passed away, according to the census, in 1822.

Before we leave Unrau and Alexanderwohl 30, we should take note of the fact that Bullers also lived at this Wirtschaft. David Unrau had two stepsons named Peter Buller and Heinrich Buller (the Jacob listed was more likely his own biological son) and two stepdaughters named Helena Buller and Maria Buller. These were the children of his fourth (apparently) wife, Sarah/Sarcke Schmidt, whose first husband had been Peter Peter Buller (the last one in the middle column, PCB 379).

Here we have four more Bullers among the earliest settlers of Alexanderwohl, ranging in age from eight to twenty. If time and patience permit, we may devote a post to listing all of the settlers with direct Buller connections at the founding of Alexanderwohl. For now, however, we end by entering David David Unrau as the original settler of Alexanderwohl 30. The formal list of landowners in the new village is as complete as we can make it—although there are other residents who deserve to be mentioned and identified as best we can.

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen Anna Unrau	33801 32780	PCB: 1250; emigrated 1820 first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	Przechovka; emigrated 1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt Maricke Buller	32966 32967	PCB 1345; emigrated 1819 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
16	Johann Peter Ratzlaff	60394	Przechovka; Benjamin Heinrich Buller son-in-law
17	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	50991	Przechovka; emigrated 1822
18	Jacob David Schmidt	32895	PCB 1302; emigrated 1819
19	Peter Johann Reimer	46418	emigrated in 1804; settled 1822
20	Andreas David Schmidt	43155	PCB 1272; emigrated 1819
21	Peter Christian Dalke	3506	Konopath but not PCB; emigrated 1821
22	Peter Benjamin Frey	35807	PCB 1351; emigrated 1819
23	Johann Peter Schroeder	60432	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820
24	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	42259	PCB 661; emigrated 1820
25	?????
26	Heinrich Jakob Buller	32901	PCB 393; emigrated 1820
27	Peter Benjamin Wedel Elizabeth Buller	32275 32950	PCB: 1328; emigrated 1820 PCB: 1332; emigrated 1820
28	Peter Heinrich Voth	13295	PCB: 1171; emigrated 1820 first wife: Eva Buller (PCB 1224)
29	Andreas Peter Schmidt	13309	PCB: 834; emigrated 1820
30	David David Unrau	13309	PCB: 1030; emigrated 1820 Buller stepchildren

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.

Marienwerder Land Sales 1

The last Buller Time post (Moving to Molotschna 4) ended by referencing a list of Mennonite land sales that Adalbert Goertz extracted “from a microfilm of records deposited in the Berlin archives under A181 Nr.11657 and 31520” (here). I have copied the list that Goertz created and pasted it into an Excel file, so that it can be sorted and viewed and analyzed from a variety of perspectives. This post begins a new series by providing a general description of the entire list.

The list records 203 sales between the years 1803 and 1856 (the year is unknown for twenty-three sales). The year 1819 has by far the largest number of sales: fifty-two, or 25.6 percent of all of the sales recorded for  the fifty-four years represented. The broader period 1811–1822 reflects a similar high rate of sales, with eighty-six sales reported for this twelve-year period: an average of over seven sales per year. A second period of high sales volume extended from 1833 to 1839, with thirty-six sales, or an average of five sales per year.

The sales are also reported by Kreis, the specific county (roughly speaking) within the Marienwerder district.

Culm	16 sales
Marienwerder	32 sales
Schwetz	81 sales
Stuhm	59 sales
Thorn	15 sales

Schwetz, the county of greatest interest to us, since that is where the Przechovka church was located, has the most sales listed by a fairly significant margin. The list also reports sales by village name, from Adamsdorf to Zieglershuben. Fifty-five different villages are listed (so an average of fewer than four sales per village). The table below lists the six villages with the most sales:

Przechovka	19 sales
Gross Usnitz	12 sales
Schulwiese	12 sales
Klein Nieszewken	10 sales
Ostrower Kämpe	9 sales
Konopat	9 sales

What is striking about this distribution is that three of these villages (Przechovka, Ostrower Kämpe, and Konopat) were associated with a single church: Przechovka.

Before we go further with any analysis, we should stop and reflect on what we know and see. First, although some of these lands sales may have been from one Mennonite to another, the majority were in all likelihood from a Mennonite who was planning to emigrate to a non-Mennonite. How can we say this? During this period of Prussia’s history, it was nearly impossible for a Mennonite to buy land, since such a purchase required a Mennonite buying land to agree to fight for Prussia when called upon to do so. Consequently, Mennonites who owned land and who intended to remain in Prussia held on to that land at all costs; if ever they sold their land, they would not be able to replace it without giving up a crucial tenet of the Mennonite faith.

Second, it is probably not coincidental that the highest concentration of land sales took place at a time and place where we have documented a significant amount of emigration: during the period 1811–1822, and especially in 1819, in the Schwetz area, specifically the villages of the Przechovka church. The sales records support the impression one gains from looking at Peter Rempel’s Mennonite Migration to Russia, 1788–1828, namely, that the Przechovka church accounted for a large amount of the emigration to Russia during that period. That was not the only period of high emigration, to be sure, nor was it the only area from which Mennonites emigrated, but it was a noteworthy time of large-scale movement to Molotschna colony.

We should allow for the possibility that the records that Goertz extracted are only partial and that the picture of Przechovka dominance is thus overstated. For the time being, however, until we are proven otherwise, we will take these records at face value as sketching an accurate picture of Mennonite land sales and migration to Russia during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Moving to Molotschna 4

Thus far this series has covered the distance that our forebears traveled to emigrate from Przechovka to Alexanderwohl, the time required to make such a journey, and the documents authorizing them both to leave West Prussia (passport) and to enter Russia (visa)—as well as the frequency with which people, including Mennonites, we may assume, left West Prussia without authorization to do so, that is, engaged in secret (illegal) immigration. 

This post takes up another aspect of the move to Molotschna: finances. We cannot at his late date offer a reasonable estimate of how much the actual journey cost a typical family. However, we can outline some of the general financial demands imposed by the relocation and resources available to those who made the effort to move to a new land.

In addition to the costs of the journey, those wishing to emigrate were obligated to pay a special tax for the privilege to do so. Heinrich Goerz writes: 

The Prussian government was not pleased that so many of its best farmers were leaving the country. In order to impede the exodus, the emigrants were compelled to pay an exit tax which amounted to 10 percent of their assets. (Goerz 1993, 4)

The choice of the word assets is probably not accidental, since it seems that the tax was levied not just on cash in hand but on the value of all the assets that would be removed from West Prussia (see also Adalbert Goertz’s comment here). In all likelihood, this emigration tax had to be paid before a passport would be issued. The only way to avoid paying the tax, of course, was to leave secretly and immigrate illegally.

Some of the Mennonites would have been landowners who needed to sell property before emigrating; those who owned only livestock and household goods would have had a smaller tax to pay and fewer arrangements to make before they were ready to leave.

We have seen the value of the assets listed in many of the settlement reports for Alexanderwohl’s earliest citizens. The following list presents only a representative sampling:

Heinrich Buller: They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 330 rubles.
Peter Voth: They had with them 2150 rubles cash, possessions valued at 335 rubles.
Johann Schroeder: They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 308 rubles,  75 kopecks.
Andreas Nachtigal: They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 250 rubles, 10 kopeks.
Peter Dahlke: They brought possessions valued at 400 rubles, horses valued at 30 rubles.
Peter Frey: They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 400 rubles.
Andreas Schmidt: They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 304 rubles, 5 kopeks.
Jacob Pankratz: They had with them 2300 rubles cash, possessions valued at 610 rubles, 40 kopeks.

Even with only eight listings, we can see some trends. Only two of the settlers reported cash on hand when settling Alexanderwohl. If all the others reported their lack of cash accurately, then one might conclude that those without cash had no land to sell; they would have paid the 10 percent tax on the value of their possessions and prepared to leave. Those with cash, it seems reasonable to think, had sold property, paid the emigration tax on that amount and the value of their other possessions, and brought the remainder to fund their new lives in Russia.

Those who had no cash on hand owned possessions of roughly comparable value: 330 rubles, 308 rubles, 250 rubles, 400 rubles, 400 rubles, 304 rubles. The most commonly listed cost for establishing a household in Alexanderwohl is 589 rubles, which significantly exceeds the total value of all of their possessions. Obviously, these individuals required some funding in order to build and set up their homes; we will return to that part of the story in a future post.

For now we close by noting that Adalbert Goertz compiled a list of Land Disposals by Mennonites in the Marienwerder District, 1803–1856 (here). His list contains nineteen Mennonites from Przechovka and nine from (Deutsch) Konopath who sold land in 1819, the year before the large migration that led to the founding of Alexanderwohl in 1821. We will examine the entire list in the following post, but I leave you with the following abbreviated entry as a teaser:

Nachtigall, Andreas       Przechowken 8       –  26 –       1819       1266

What the entry signifies is that Andreas Nachtigal of Przechovka 8 sold 26 Morgen (ca. 14.5 acres) of land in 1819 for a sum of 1,266 Reichsthaler (= ca. 1,180 rubles). Notice anything unusual about this entry as compared to the settlers list above? If so, what might that imply about the amounts reported in the Russian settlement records?

Work Cited

Goerz, Heinrich. 1993. The Molotschna Settlement. Translated by Al Reimer and John B. Toews. Echo Historical Series. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.

Alexanderwohl 20

It has been a little while since we have encountered an Alexanderwohl Buller. That changes with the first Wirtschaft of this post.

Wirtschaft 26

Both the index to the census and the census itself list only one family for this plot, whose head was:

Buller, Heinrich Jakob (b. ca.1787)

The last Buller settler we covered was Jacob Jacob Buller, of Alexanderwohl 15 (here); before him we identified his father, Jacob Peter Buller, of Alexanderwohl 9 (here). Obviously, the question that comes immediately to mind is whether Heinrich Jacob Buller was another son of Jacob Peter Buller. He was, as Heinrich’s GRANDMA entry makes clear (GM: 32901). Specifically, he was Jacob Peter’s oldest son, Jacob Jacob’s senior by eight years.

The census also reports that he settled in Molotschna in 1820, which happens to be the same year that his father settled. In fact, Heinrich’s visa was issued the same day as his father’s visa, as well as those of a number of Przechovka Mennonites: 17 August 1820.

Heinrich Buller, Teacher from Przechowko, his wife Anna 30 (b. ca. 1790), daughters Anna 4 (b. ca. 1816), Maria 3 (b. ca. 1817), Eva 1 (b. ca. 1819). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

Unlike most other heads of household in this group, who are generally identified only by village but not by occupation, Heinrich is identified as a teacher. We probably should not make too much of that, since Peter Fodt (Voth) of the same group is also identified as a teacher, and several others have their occupation listed (e.g., weaver’s apprentice, miller). The one occupation not mentioned in the August and September 1820 groups is farmer. It may be that only the nonfarmers were identified, under the assumption that it would be understood that everyone else was a farmer.

A later settlement report may be for this Heinrich Buller, although the numbers of males and females do not match what we expect. Because GRANDMA records no other Heinrich Buller who emigrated in 1820, we will tentatively (!) conclude that the male and female counts are in error (whether in the original report or the transcription we cannot say) and that the report is for this Heinrich Buller.

Heinrich Buller (Гейнрих Булер), whose family consists of 2 males and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 330 rubles, 1 wagon, 1 horse and no cattle; wagon, horse or cattle cost 113 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 589 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 175)

It is clear that Heinrich was a founding settler in Alexanderwohl, along with his father Jacob Peter and, several years later, his brother Jacob Jacob.

Wirtschaft 27

Like Alexanderwohl 26, this Wirtschaft has only one head of household listed, another person with a family name well-attested in the Przechovka church:

Wedel, Peter Benjamin (b. ca.1791)

Like Heinrich Buller, Wedel emigrated to Molotschna in 1820, and, like many others, his visa was issued on 17 August 1820.

Peter Wedel Mennonite head of household <…?> from Przechowko, his wife Elizabeth 28 (b. ca. 1792), son Peter 1 (b. ca 1819), brother Benjamin 16 (b. ca. 1804), his mother Sarah 50 (b. ca. 1770). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

Several things about Peter Wedel (GM: 32275) are worthy of special notice. First, his wife Elizabeth was not only a Buller but a daughter of Jacob Peter Buller and thus sister to Heinrich Jacob and Jacob Jacob Buller. The family connections of the Alexanderwohl settlers were more extensive than is apparent at first glance.

Second, Peter Wedel, who was born in 1792, was the elder (Ältester) of the Przechovka church. According to the church book, as reported in GRANDMA, he became teacher in 1813, when he was twenty-one, and elder one year later at the age of twenty-two. He married Elizabeth (Elscke) Buller three years after that; Elizabeth died in 1832.

As elder, Wedel is credited with leading his congregation from Przechovka to Alexanderwohl, and it seems indisputable that he was the driving force behind the 1820 emigration. Whether this was the first Przechovka group to emigrate remains to be considered, but it seems safe to conclude that the 1820 group was most significant group of Przechovka immigrants, even if it was not the first. (Let us not forget that other Przechovka families had previously relocated to Volhynia, including our own ancestor Benjamin Benjamin Buller, so the entire question of who from Przechovka was first will always be a bit messy.)

Peter Wedel deserves his own focused post outside the confines of this series, but those who cannot wait may read the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online article about him here. Suffice it to say for now that Peter Wedel clearly was a founding settler in Alexanderwohl.

Wirtschaft 28

The final Wirtschaft covered in this post also involves a well-attested family from Przechovka and even another Buller, although the latter only indirectly. The only head of household listed is:

Voth, Peter Heinrich (b. ca.1796)

The census gives Peter Voth’s age as thirty-eight, which implies a birth year around 1796. However, this is an apparent error in the census, since the age of Peter Voth’s oldest son, by his first marriage, was twenty-three. Unless Peter married much younger than we have seen thus far, his age given in the census is in error.

In fact, this is the same Peter Voth (GM: 13295; PCB: 1171) identified a few paragraphs above as a teacher. He was actually born 26 October 1783, so his age in early 1835, when the census was taken, was fifty-one. His 17 August 1820 visa identifies not only his role as a teacher but also the members of his household.

Peter Fodt, Teacher from Przechowko, his wife Eva 24 (b. ca. 1796), sons Heinrich 8 (b. ca. 1812), Peter 5 (b. ca. 1815), daughters Eva 9 (b. ca. 1811), Anna 2 (b. ca. 1818), female servant Anna 19 (b. ca. 1801). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

The settlement report offers additional details.

Peter Voth (Петр Фот), whose family consists of 3 males and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had with them 2150 rubles cash, possessions valued at 335 rubles, 2 wagon, 2 horses, 4 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 590 rubles. Settled at their own expense. (Rempel 2007, 177)

The Voth family was relatively wealthy, with more cash and livestock than we have previously seen. As a result, they paid their own costs of settlement (e.g., constructing a house), instead of accepting a government loan to cover those costs. In any event, Peter Voth and family clearly were the founding settlers of Alexanderwohl 28.

Before we leave the family and end this post, we should note their Buller connection: Peter’s first wife, and the mother of his oldest children, Eva and Heinrich, was Eva Buller (GM: 13296). It will likely come as no surprise to learn that she, too, was a daughter of Jacob Peter Buller—and thus sister of Heinrich Jacob Buller, Jacob Jacob Buller, and Elizabeth Buller Wedel. Eva Buller Voth died in 1813, so she never saw Molotschna colony. Her two children, however, made the journey with their father and stepmother Eva Ratzlaff Voth. The family connections among Alexanderwohl’s original settlers were indeed extensive. 

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM	Notes
1	Martin Jacob Kornelsen Anna Unrau	33801 32780	PCB: 1250; emigrated 1820 first husband: David Buller
2	Heinrich Peter Block	29475	settlement year: 1823
3	?????
4	Peter Jacob Voth	268847	Przechovka; emigrated 1820
5	Heinrich David Schmidt Maricke Buller	32966 32967	PCB 1345; emigrated 1819 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
16	Johann Peter Ratzlaff	60394	Przechovka; Benjamin Heinrich Buller son-in-law
17	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	50991	Przechovka; emigrated 1822
18	Jacob David Schmidt	32895	PCB 1302; emigrated 1819
19	Peter Johann Reimer	46418	emigrated in 1804; settled 1822
20	Andreas David Schmidt	43155	PCB 1272; emigrated 1819
21	Peter Christian Dalke	3506	Konopath but not PCB; emigrated 1821
22	Peter Benjamin Frey	35807	PCB 1351; emigrated 1819
23	Johann Peter Schroeder	60432	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820
24	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	42259	PCB 661; emigrated 1820
25	?????
26	Heinrich Jakob Buller	32901	PCB 393; emigrated 1820
27	Peter Benjamin Wedel Elizabeth Buller	32275 32950	PCB: 1328; emigrated 1820 PCB: 1332; emigrated 1820
28	Peter Heinrich Voth	13295	PCB: 1171; emigrated 1820 first wife: Eva Buller (PCB 1224)

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 19

With only eight Wirtschaften to go in the series, this post picks up the thread with Alexanderwohl 23.

Wirtschaft 23

The census lists only one family for this village plot:

Schroeder, Johann Peter (b. ca.1763)

Schroeder is not a name we associate with the Przechovka church, and GRANDMA confirms that the Johann (GM: 60432) and family lived elsewhere in West Prussia/Poland: in a village named Podwitz, which lay 5 or 6 miles east of the Przechovka church. According to Glenn Penner’s list of Prussian villages (see here), the Mennonites of Podwitz were typically associated with the Schönsee church. 

If this sounds somewhat familiar, recall that we have already encountered a Schroeder from Podwitz: Heinrich Isaak Schroeder of Alexanderwohl 11 (here). We do not know that the two Schroeders were closely related, although it is worth noticing that both not only emigrated in 1820 (as stated in the census itself) but actually were issued visas on the very same day: 12 September 1820 (Rempel 2007, 174).

The settlement report provides additional details:

Johann Schroeder (Иоган Шретер), whose family consists of 4 males and 2 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 308 rubles,  75 kopecks, 1 wagon, 2 horses and no cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 200 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 2 head of cattle at a sum of 110 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing the household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 176)

Because Johann Schroeder emigrated to and established a household in Russia in 1820, and because he is not listed with any other Molotschna residence nor any other family located at Alexanderwohl 23, we can safely conclude that Johann Schroeder was a founding settler of the village.

Once again we discover a Mennonite from the general area of Przechovka who was not a member of the Przechovka church emigrating to Molotschna at the same time as a Przechovka group and settling alongside them in Alexanderwohl. It is hard to escape the impression that the community report of 1848 oversimplified the origins of the village in the early 1820s.

Wirtschaft 24

With the names listed for Alexanderwohl 24 we return to more familiar ground, in terms of family names from the Przechovka church:

Nachtigal, Andreas Jakob (b. ca.1771)
Nachtigal, Peter Andreas (b. ca. 1808)

The names and dates once again reflect a father–son relationship, and GRANDMA confirms both the relation and the identity of these two individuals. Andreas Nachtigal (GM: 42259) appears as number 661 in the Przechovka church book, which reports that he was born in Jeziorka. 

Andreas and family are also found in emigration and settlement records, first in a visa dated 17 August 1820, then in an 1821 register of new families settled:

Andreas Nachtigal from Przechowko, his wife Maria 34 (b. ca. 1786), sons Peter 11 (b. ca. 1809), Andreas 6 (b. ca. 1812), David 4 (b. ca. 1816), Jacob 1 (b. ca. 1819), daughters Catharina 17 (b. ca. 1803), Maria 2 (b. ca. 1818). Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 11, 1820. (Rempel 2007, 172)

Andreas Nachtigal (Андреас Нахтигаль), whose family consists of 5 males and 3 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1820. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 250 rubles, 10 kopeks, 1 wagon, 1 horse, 1 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 150 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 1 horse and one head of cattle at a sum of 105 rubles, and also for building a house and establishing a household, at a sum of 589 rubles. (Rempel 2007, 175–76)

Since the Nachtigals emigrated to Molotschna in 1820, along with many other Przechovka residents, and settled in Alexanderwohl, we can consider them the founding settlers of Wirtschaft 24.

Wirtschaft 25

The information available for Alexanderwohl 25 is intriguing and ultimately unsatisfying for the task at hand. The primary person listed for this Wirtschaft is David Andreas Richert, who was born in 1806. Clearly, he would not have been old enough to establish a household in the early 1820s, when Alexanderwohl was founded. 

To complicate matters further, we find an apparent contradiction between the census, which dates Richert’s arrival in Molotschna to 1832, and a visa dated 17 August 1820, which lists Andreas Richert and family—including fourteen-year-old David—among other Przechovka emigrants. To add an additional complication, another standard source of immigration records agrees that David moved to Molotschna, specifically Alexanderwohl, in 1832 (Unruh 1955, 375). 

Other evidence points in the same direction. According to GRANDMA, David’s first child was born in 1831 in Deutsch Konopath, a village near the Przechovka church in West Prussia. Further, the 1835 census also reports that David’s father Andreas also emigrated in 1832 and settled in Friedensdorf. The weight of the evidence seems to leave no other conclusion but that the Andreas Richert family had prepared to emigrate in 1820 but ultimately decided not to. It was only twelve years later that Andreas and his wife and David and his family moved to Molotschna, where the father settled as a cottager in Friedensdorf and the son acquired his own property, Alexanderwohl 25.*

It is not surprising that David Richert moved to Alexanderwohl, since he was part of the Przechovka church (PCB: 1501; GM: 48282). Unfortunately, this does not help us to identify who lived in this Wirtschaft before he did. The census does list one other person—Martin Martin Dueckmann (spelled Dikman in the census)—but he had been “accepted into the household” of Richert and thus certainly was not the first settler of this Wirtschaft.

In the end, therefore, we cannot say who first settled Alexanderwohl 25. For the third time in twenty-five Wirtschaften, we must leave the question undecided.

*Interestingly, we have previously brushed against the Richert family, in the person of Peter Richert, who was Andreas’s oldest son and David’s older brother. He emigrated to Molotschna in 1819 and settled in Franztal 5, the same Wirtschaft where Jacob Jacob Buller of Alexanderwohl 15 first resided, presumably as a guest of Richert’s (see here). If you recall, Peter Richert died in 1821, which led Jacob Buller to relocate to Alexanderwohl. Eleven years later the younger brother moved into the same small village, no doubt to live among people whom he had long known.

Wirtschaft	Settler	GM	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
16	Johann Peter Ratzlaff	60394	Przechovka; Benjamin Heinrich Buller son-in-law
17	Heinrich Jacob Schmidt	50991	Przechovka; emigrated 1822
18	Jacob David Schmidt	32895	PCB 1302; emigrated 1819
19	Peter Johann Reimer	46418	emigrated in 1804; settled 1822
20	Andreas David Schmidt	43155	PCB 1272; emigrated 1819
21	Peter Christian Dalke	3506	Konopath but not PCB; emigrated 1821
22	Peter Benjamin Frey	35807	PCB 1351; emigrated 1819
23	Johann Peter Schroeder	60432	Schönsee church; emigrated 1820
24	Andreas Jakob Nachtigal	42259	PCB 661; emigrated 1820
25	?????

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.