Alexanderwohl 18

We are two-thirds of our way through the Alexanderwohl Wirtschaften, which is a good time to take stock. Of the twenty Wirtschaften covered, we have identified the original settler in at least seventeen of them, more likely eighteen. The Przechovka association of the original founders claimed by the  community report has been proven largely correct but not entirely so. Fourteen of these seventeen settlers were indeed from the Przechovka church, but three (18 percent) were not of that group. It will be interesting to see if these figures change or remain the same over the course of the last ten families.

Wirtschaft 21

Three names are associated with Alexanderwohl 21:

Dalke, Johann Peter (b. ca.1803)
Dalke, Ludwig Peter (b. ca.1808)
Dalke, Peter Christian (b. ca.1778)

The first two are clearly the sons of the third, since their middle names are the same as his first name; the birth years also imply strongly the father–sons relationship, and the text of the census confirms it. 

The census reports further that the Dalke (or Dahlke) family arrived in Molotschna in 1821, which is confirmed by a 5 June 1821 visa identifying this family:

Peter Dahlke from Konopath, his wife Petronde (?) 35 (b. ca. 1786), daughter Elisabeth 15 (b. ca. 1806), Anna 7 (b. ca. 1814), Gottliebe (5) b. ca. 1816), sons Johann 13 (b. ca. 18108), Ludwig 9 (b. ca. 1812), Peter 3 (b. ca. 1818), Ephraim 1 (b. ca. 1820). Passport from Marienwerder issued on April 14, 1821. (Rempel 2007, 179)

The visa states that the family lived in Konopath, which is where many families in the Przechovka church lived. (Whether this was Greater Deutsch Konopath, Lesser Deutsch Konopath, or even Polski Konopat 3 miles northwest of the Deutsch Konopath villages is unknown and unimportant.) However, to my knowledge there is no Dalke/Dahlke listed in the Przechovka church book. The family was obviously Mennonite (they emigrated to a Mennonite colony), but we do not know if they were associated with the Przechovka church. It is possible that they were members of a different Mennonite church in the area. 

This might seem odd, but we encountered the same situation earlier with Heinrich Isaak Schroeder of Alexanderwohl 11. Although he emigrated from Schönsee a few miles from the Przechovka church, he was not a member of that church. It seems likely that similar circumstances might be at play with the Dalke family. That is, they moved from the same rough locale, possibly even the same village, as the Przchevoka church members but were not part of the Przechovka groups who emigrated. This should not surprise us, since Mennonites living in the same community would have shared information about the opportunities in New Russia and their plans to relocate, even if they did not attend the same church. That the Dalkes followed in the footsteps of the Przechovka groups makes good sense, since they probably knew these people already, even if they had not worshiped beside them in the past.

All that is somewhat speculative, but one thing is certain: Peter Christian Dalke (GM 3506) and his family were the original settlers of Alexanderwohl 21. The Russian settlement records leave no doubt about that fact.

Peter Dahlke (Петр Далке), whose family consists of 5 males and 4 females. On their move to Russia they brought possessions valued at 400 rubles, horses valued at 30 rubles. Settled in Alexanderwohl, Molotschna. Began receiving financial aid in the year 1822. (Rempel 2007, 187; see also 181)

In the end, the Dalke family complicates the neat picture painted by the Gemeindebericht, since they were another Mennonite family who had ties to the Przechovka area but not the church itself. The statement that the community “had existed as a church in Prussia for over 200 years” is seen once again to be largely but not entirely accurate.

Wirtschaft 22

The next founding settler offers a further disruption to the community report’s tidy picture. Peter Benjamin Frey is the only person listed for Alexanderwohl 22. However, Alexanderwohl is not the only Molotschna village listed for Peter Benjamin Frey. He first lived in Franztal (or Franzthal), then moved to Alexanderwohl, just as Jacob Jacob Buller of Alexanderwohl 15 had done (here). Before we get ahead of ourselves, we should give the basic background information on Peter Frey.

Peter Frey (GM: 35807) was, as expected, given his last name, a Przechovka church member: 1351 in the church book. According to emigration records, he moved to Molotschna with the 1819 group. His visa was issued by the Russian General Consulate on 20 July 1819:

Peter Frey Farmer from Jezio(r)ko with his wife, 2 daughters. Passport from Marienwerder issued on July 13, 1819. (Rempel 2007, 137)*

Russian settlement records from 1819 confirm that the family settled first in Franztal (Wirtschaft 27, the census tells us):

Peter Frey (Петр Фрей), whose family consists of 1 male and 2 females. On their move to Russia they brought 114 rubles cash, horses valued at 20 rubles and possessions valued at 80 rubles. They arrived in Russia in 1819 and settled in Franztal, Molotschna. (Rempel 2007, 158)

A second report, dated 1821, provides a fuller, and at times contradictory, accounting:

Peter Frey (Петр Фрей), whose family consists of 1 male and 2 females. Settled in Russia in the year 1819. They had no cash. They brought possessions valued at 400 rubles, no wagon, no horses, 2 head of cattle; wagon, horse or head of cattle cost 110 rubles. The local administration suggested providing financial aid for the purchase of 1 wagon, 2 horses and one 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, 145)

Leaving the discrepancies in cash and possessions aside, one wonders: Why are there two different reports separated by several years? The answer is actually simple: the 1819 report records Peter Frey and family taking up residence—but not establishing a household—in Franztal; the 1821 report has to do with their move to—and establishment of a household, or Wirtschaft, in—Alexanderwohl. Funding for establishing a household was provided only to those who had secured title to land; it was meant for settlers, not mere residents.

The fact that Peter Frey was provided funding for a household in 1821, the same year he relocated from Franztal to Alexanderwohl, confirms his status as a founding settler in Alexanderwohl, specifically of Wirtschaft 22.

In addition to identifying two more of Alexanderwohl’s founders, one from the Przechovka church and one from the same Prussian/Polish locale but not a member of that church, this post raises a new question that deserves attention down the road. Thus far we have focused on Alexanderwohl and asked how many of its settlers came from the Przechovka church. That is all well and good, but we should also turn the question around and ask about all the Mennonites who emigrated to Molotschna from the Przechovka church: How many of them journeyed there, and where in Molotschna did they start their new lives?

***

* The reference to two daughters in the visa is intriguing, since the Russian settlement report (Rempel 2007, 158) lists only Frey and two females in the family. GRANDMA knows of a daughter Maria but not the name of her mother or of the existence of a second daughter. If both the visa and the settlement report are correct, then either the unnamed mother or unnamed daughter died before the Frey family settled in Franztal (i.e., to account for the presence of two, rather than three, females in the family). Since Peter Frey married his second wife in 1821 or 1822, one might imagine that the mother was the one who died, apparently en route or shortly thereafter.

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

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.