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WP1970 3.Pdf INDEX President's Letter ...................................……………………………………….………… 1 Dr. Karl Stumpp-The Individual German Settlement Areas in Russia............................... 3 Glueckstal Colony.......................................…………………..………………………… 7 Rev. Hessel Stevens' Letter.............................….………………………………………...14 Reformed Colonies in South Russia-T. C. Wenzlaff.......………………………………. 16 John E. Pfeiffer Letter and Bibliography................…………………………………….. 24 New Books for our Society Archives - Emma S. Haynes.....…………………………… 29 Rev. Jacob Eichhorn Bibliography......................…………………………………………33 The Arrival of Volga Germans in the U.S.A. - Emma S. Haynes...................................…39 The Russian Germans Come to the United States -T. C. Wenzlaff.............................…...43 T. C. Wenzlaff letter.................................……………………………………………….. 47 Hope Valley Church - Paul E. Reeb.......................……………………………………... 49 Peter Heinze First Immigrant Ancestor - Esther L. (Heinze) Miller.............................…..61 Fred Ostwald News Story...............................…………………………………………….67 Miscellaneous Recent Newspaper Article..................…………………………………….68 Genealogy Section - Gerda S. Walker, Chairman...........……………………………….. 69 Map Back Cover - German Colonies on the Volga Map of German Colonies in the area of Odessa - inside back cover IMPORTANT! ! ! ! ! The first annual international meeting will be held June 19 and 20, 1970, at Greeley, Colorado. Membership Meeting - Lincoln, Nebraska - National Bank of Commerce Trust and Savings, March 8, 1970 at 2:00 P.M. Translation of Index to map on front cover: AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GERMANS FROM RUSSIA 1004 A Ninth Ave. P. 0. Box 1424, Greeley, Colorado 80631 February 18, 1970 The first annual international meeting of members of our Society will be held at Greeley, Colorado, June 19 and 20, 1970. Church visitations will be made June 21, 1970. John H, Werner, Vice President, will serve as convention chairman. The program will appear in Work Paper No. 4. The choice of the name Work Paper was made with the thought in mind that the members would share with each other the work which they have done. In this Work Paper, we are also reproducing some letters which are not only interesting but carry a very sincere message. It is my hope that as you read through the Work Paper, you will make notations of items which you can add or points at which your experience or your reading may differ from what is presented. Those of us who contribute to the Work Paper will value your comments. We seek the true facts. We need most of all the personal experiences of the early immigrants to the United States and Canada and the story of how they became a part of the community, the state and the nation. We have dispensed with the list of members in Work Paper No. 3. Many of you have not sent in your membership data sheets and your selection of committees on which to serve. Please send in your membership data sheets if you have not already done so. To those who have sent them in, we will furnish the information on others who come from the same village, are of the same profession, or indicate the same interest. A chairman will be selected to coordinate and to further the work of each group within our Society. Mr. Joseph Schnurr, editor of the Heimatbuch der Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, seeks pictures of the churches of the German colonies in Russia and has requested that a notice be published in our Work Paper. The information requested on churches should include the following: location of the church, denomination (Lutheran, Catholic or Reformed), type of structure, (wood frame, stone or brick), seating capacity, name of the church, diagram of the floor plan, approximate dimensions, when built, description of the altar, organ, statuary, if any, and bells. The pictures are sought regardless of age. Pictures of church interiors are especially desirable. The photographs should be sent to American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Collection, c/o Miss Esther Fromm, Librarian, Greeley Public Library, Community Center, Greeley, Colorado, 80631. Miss Fromm will arrange for duplication of the photos for the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia at its expense and mail the originals to editor Schnurr for his use and ultimate return to Miss Fromm. The early history of 19 German Lutheran colonies in Cherson and 33 German colonies in Bessarabia, was collected by George Leibbrandt and published in Germany by the Deutsche Ausland Institute Stuttgart, in 1926. These reports were prepared by the city officials of each colony and cover the first half of the 19th Century. Translations of the reports on the colonies of Glueckstal, Freudental, 1 Rohrbach, Johannestal, Cassel and Hoffnungstal were mailed to me. I verified their source against my copy of Leibbrandt. Either the person sending the translations to American Historical Society of Germans from Russia failed to write, or I inadvertently separated the letter from the translation. I extend to the person sending these translations my very sincere apologies. I hope that you will write me so that we can make the proper acknowledgement for the tremendous amount of work in making these translations. We have chosen Glueckstal for this Work Paper as it is more inclusive of general conditions. Leibbrandt's collection covers the following colonies in Cherson: Peterstal, Freudental, Neufreudental, Helenental, Grossliebental, Alexanderhilf, Neuburg, Gluecktal, Neudorf, Bergdorf, Cassel, Rohrbach, Worms, Waterloo, Johannestal, Gueldendorf, Lustdorf, Odessa and Hoffnungstal. Bessarabian colonies are Sarata, Gnadental, Lichtental, Alt-Arcis, Brienne, Toeplitz, Friedenstal, Neu-Arcis, Fere-Champenoise I, Katzbach, Fere Champenoise II, Dennewitz, Plotzk, Paris, Tarutino, Malojaroslawetz II, Malojaroslawetz I, Culm, Leipzig, Klostitz, Beresina, Borodino and Hoffnungstal. The map of the area was prepared by our newly elected director, Paul E. Reeb, whose home is St. Francis, Kansas, but spends part of the year in Denver, Colorado. His ancestors came from Hoffnungstal, Ukraine, South Russia. We are also indebted to director Reeb for his history of Hope Valley Church. Bessarabia was partly annexed to the USSR after World War II. We hope to have volunteers complete the translation and publish the translation if there is enough interest, and sell the publication to members and others. We hope to include the account of the Leikers' and Flegels' trips to Russia, and the Millers' trip to Germany and visit with Dr. Karl Stumpp, editor Joseph Schnurr and visit to the Frankfurt Chapter of Die Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland in the next Work Paper. We wish to thank all contributors. Perhaps someone can give us a short account of one of the Catholic colonies in South Russia. A membership meeting of the Society will be held in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the National Bank of Commerce Trust and Savings, on Sunday, March 8, 1970, at 2:00 P.M. All are urged to attend. Membership solicitation letters are included in each packet, Mail them to your friends. Very truly yours, David J. Miller, President * Several Catholic Colonies are included in Keller, Rev. K., The German Colonies in South Russia, translated by A, Becker, M.D.,619 7th Avenue, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, $4.50 postpaid. NOTE: Change in P. 0. Box to 1424. 2 DR. KARL STUMPP THE INDIVIDUAL GERMAN SETTLEMENT AREAS IN RUSSIA The areas of settlement extending from Bessarabia to the Caucasus and to the Volga cover some 1,500 km or about 922 miles. The climate, land use, and business are different. The type of farming varies greatly. In Volynia, grain and lumber in the Crimea in Southern Bessarabia and in the Southern Caucasus, vineyards - on the Volga, industry. All areas raised grain except the Southern Caucasus. The areas varied not only in their economy but also in their culture, customs, habits, dialect, education and time of settlement . 1. TIME OF SETTLEMENT (1763 to 1824)(Volynia 1863). 2. STATES OF ORIGIN: Wuerttenberg, Baden, Palitinate, Hesse and North Germany. 3. RELIGION: Evangelican (Lutheran), Catholic, Mennonite, Separatists. 4. DIALECTS: Swabian, the Palitinate, North Germany and Hessian. Only one group showed no variation--the Mennonites. They all came from Danzig or West Prussia, spoke the same dialect (Low German) practiced the same religion. This group remained the most "Closed" (Geschlossenste) for almost 200 years. To the contrary, the other emigrants from Germany to Russia differed chiefly as to religion. Hence, the true place of origin from Germany could not always be verified. It is true there were pure Swabian Evangelical colonies (Caucasus, Odessa area, and Crimea (Tauric). Low German (Plattdeutsch) speaking Evangelical colonies in Grunau area, Palatinate Catholic colonies in Odessa, and Hessian colonies on the Volga. In most cases, the emigrants in a given colony came from many parts of Germany. In by far the largest number of cases the inhabitants of each colony came from the many different parts of Germany. In each colony, the most diverse traditions, dialects, and work habits met each other and merged into a new culture—a fusion of old customs into new conditions. It is not the purpose in this article to go into specifics, but only to give a general picture of the different areas. The colonies may be divided into mother colonies, primary settlements, and daughter colonies. The date order of the primary settlements
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