Check It Out

Visit the Warenburg, Russia post from February of this year. It has been edited to include more information I just recieved.

Warenburg Church

Sharon White contributed these two pictures of the Warenburg Church. The bottom one was taken in August 2003 by Sharon. It was the pride of the village when it was built. The roof has collapsed. There is no longer a floor, and animals now wander through it. The bricks were once white washed or painted. The first Warenburg Church was a wooden structure. It was replaced by this brick building that was built in 1902 or 1904, and seated 1200 people. It was built in the Kontor style which was chosen by the Saratov Kontor, the Office for Administrating the Colonies which dictated the style and plans.

Natural Disasters and Geneology

I recently read an article in Family Chronicle that talked about the natural disasters that left well-remembered landmarks in the lives of many of our ancestors. It got me thinking about a significant disaster that is part of my family story. My grandfather, Joseph George Burghardt, traveled to the U.S.A. from Russia via Germany. His arrival in Galveston was shortly after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. His first introduction to this country was helping clean up the bodies from that disaster. Over 8,000 people died in that hurricane which destroyed most of the Texas port city. It has definitely been a landmark for me. Because so many records were destroyed, I've never found any record of his arrival on a particular ship. (I'm still looking.) I believe that many of our family stories are related to some sort of natural disaster. Below I've listed some sites that might be helpful in filling in details of our ancestors' stories.

www.tornadohistoryproject.com
This site has 52,000 tornado maps of storms dating from 1950 to 2008. Search by date, state,and county.

www.erh.noaa.gov/aly/Past/WINTER.htm
This site lists major winter blizzards beginning in 1888.

www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/doctor.htm
This is the site map for Weather Doctor, and its Weather Diary lists notable snowfalls and extreme temperatures over the past centuries in the US, Canada, and the world. It is arranged chronologically and sorted by month.

www3.gendisasters.com
This site gives an overall listing of disasters. Browse for reports by date, type of disaster, and state or Canadian province.

www.cyndislist.com/disasters.htm
This site has a collection of links regarding natural and man-made disasters.

March Meeting

 

 

We had a great time at our last meeting held on March 20th. Suzanne Heinitz-Dodge entertained us with Bits and Pieces of her family history. Planning continued for the 2011 AHSGR Convention to be held in Salt Lake City, and several new members were welcomed to the chapter. The basket raffle was won by Gwenn Oryall. We had a wonderful luncheon and invite any and all interested people to attend our next meeting to be held on April 17th.

More of Shirley Ansley's Family Pictures

 

Back row, left to right: Mary (Laffery), Anna (Cullip), Henry, John
Front row, left to right: Dorothy (Walchle), Esther (Knight), Lydia (Hastings), Emma (Knoche)
Not pictured: Louise (Grat), Pauline (Norris), Donald

 

Back row, left to right: Emma, Dorothy, Mary, Anna
Middle row, left to right: Esther, Pauline, Lydia, Louise
Front row, left to right: Conrad, Helena, John

Anna is Shirley's mother.

Wedding Picture

 

Here is the first of three family pictures submitted by Shirley Ansley. This picture is of her maternal grandparents.
What a treasure!

Who Do You Think You Are?

You've probably already heard about the new television series called Who Do You Think You Are?, but if not, I wanted to tell you about it. The series is on KSL at 7:00 P.M. on Fridays. I watched it and was so impressed. The series spotlights different actresses, actors, etc., as they trace their family tree. I don't care so much about their fame, but any search for ancestors is interesting to me. This week it was Sarah Jessica Parker's search. I loved the things she said because they were just what we feel when we find another piece to our family puzzle. She commented that,"These are my people," and, "It changes everything about who I thought I was." It also made me realize how one pivotal day in a family's history can change generations. If you haven't watched it, you'll definitely want to!

Next Meeting

The next chapter meeting will be March 20, 2010, at:

American Heritage Retirement Community Clubhouse
3040 Homecrest Street
West Valley City, Utah

The board will meet at 12:00 noon,and the general meeting will start at 1:00 P.M.

Food assignments are:
Salad: A-Ha
Entrée: He-R
Dessert: S-W

Pfeifer, Russia

 

 

Pfeifer is located in the Saratov gubernia, on the hilly side of the Volga River, along the Ilavlya River and Gnilushka Creek. It was originally inhabited entirely by those of the Roman Catholic faith. Small children were taught reading, writing, and religion by a schoolmaster under the supervision of a priest in a special building. The land of Pfeifer is sand, clay, and saline. Because of that, in even the most fruitful years, there were no harvests of any sort of grain. As a result, they farmed on state owned steppe lands adjacent to the colony. The hay lands were in abandoned wasteland. They pastured livestock on their own lands. There were no forests, so they used mostly dung for fuel. Because of inadequate hay for livestock, they sometimes purchased it. All of the colonists engaged in farming and were favorably disposed toward work. The buildings for the most part were old, but repaired. Their yards were fenced with wattle, and their kitchen gardens were close to the banks of the Ilavlya River. They had no orchards or aviaries, but they did have two flour mills. Their harvests were only mediocre, and every year a large quantity of the harvest was consumed by gophers. The only means they had for destroying the gophers was by flooding. Pfeifer was founded in 1767 by 328 persons. The Russian name for the colony is Gnilushka, meaning "dead tree stump."

The house shown on the top was my Grandpa Burghardt's family home.

Warenburg, Russia

These pictures were taken by my son while he lived in Russia, about ten years ago. He was able to visit our ancestral villages. In the top photo he is visiting with Leongadnya Peterson from the village of Warenburg, who knew the Constanz and Miller families (two of my family names.) She has Bier and Lehman ancestors on her mother's side. Her father came from Riga, Latvia. He came to help build the church and stayed. Because of her father's nationality, her family was not deported with the others. She had written the date of their exile to Kazakstan in her bible, September 17, 1941. She corresponded with them for a long time after they were shipped off. The next picture is a view of Warenburg with her house in the front of the picture. In the bottom picture my son is standing along the shore of the Volga River.

If you would like to spotlight your ancestral villages, please send me the information, and I will add it to the blog.

February Meeting

Saturday, February 20th, was the monthly meeting for the Intermountain Chapter of AHSGR. Both the conversation and food were great! Plans continue for the AHSGR Convention to be held in Salt Lake City in 2011. Gwen Oryall gave the "Bits 'n Pieces" on the tradition of bread and salt, and showed a beautiful cross stitched bread linen from the Ukraine. Other valuable and interesting information was shared by members. Three new positions were filled by appointment:

Corresponding Secretary- Shawnette Malan
Publicity and Membership- Dee Hert
Chaplain- Darrell Weber

My Grandfather

 

I need your help. I have been able to go back many generations on my grandmother's German Russian line, but I am stuck on my grandfather's line. I feel confident that if I could get back a couple more generations on his line, that I could easily link into several more generations. If anyone that visits this blog comes across anything on him, I'd greatly appreciate any clues you might have for me. The information that I have on him is as follows:

Joseph George Burghardt
Born: 17 May 1876, in Pfeifer, Saratov, Russia
I believe his parents to be George Burghardt and Mary Kisner, but have no other information on them. He had brothers and sisters, one who immigrated to Argentina. My grandfather came to the United States in October of 1900, and had relatives in Pfeifer, Kansas. My grandmother was Catharina Elisabeth Klamm (aka Mary.)

If you have any information for me, please comment on this blog so I can give you contact information.

Reminder

Just a reminder of the next AHSGR Intermountain Chapter meeting. It will be Saturday, February 20--weather permitting. It will be at the home of Carol Harless and Shawnette Malan--10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. The officers will meet at 12:00 noon and the general meeting will start at 1:00 P.M.
Food assignments:
A-Ha--Dessert
He-R--Salad
S-Z--Entree

We have added $78 to the Chapter treasury thanks to the November, December and January raffle drawings. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5.
Gwen Oryall won the raffle in January and will bring the February raffle surprise.

If you are visiting this blog but have never attended one of our meetings, please come and join us!

Family Picture

 

Here is a wonderful family group picture shared by Sharon White. It is of the Johann Conrad Kisling, Jr. family, her great grandparents. Thanks! Remember, I'd love to spotlight pictures from your family.

Next Meeting

The next AHSGR Intermountain Chapter meeting will be held on January 9. It will be held at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless: 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan.
The board will meet at 12 noon and the general meeting will start at 1:00 P. M. If there is bad weather, the meeting will not be held. If you are not a member, but interested, you are invited to come to the meeting.