Remember the Party!

Because of the storm, the date of our Christmas party has been changed to December 14th.  Place and time and all other information stays the same.  Be there for lots of fun and good food!

Things to Remember

Our chapter Christmas party will be December 7th at noon at the home of Bill and Sharon White, 3285 E. Ruskin Court, Sandy.  We will collect items for the Road Home homeless shelter and Utah Book Bank if you want to contribute anything.

The Festival of the Trees will be December 4th-7th at the South Towne Expo Center, 9575 South State, Sandy.  You can find information here:  www.festivaloftreesutah.org

Tabitha's Way in Spanish Fork is having a dinner December 20th for the homeless or for families that need food. Would you like to help with food, supplies, toys, or by being a volunteer?

Kolb

The village of Kolb is also known as Peskovatka, Peskovka, and Peskowatka.

Location: 51º04' N 44º59' E
History: Established 13 May 1767
Religion: Lutheran, part of the Frank parish

Members of the Benzel family resided in Kolb for generations, beginning with Johann Ulrich who was born in Kautz, Russia in 1773 and died in Kolb 1847. Johann married Maria Dorothea Achziger, who was born 1775 in Kolb and also died in Kolb in 1850.

Known children of Johann and Maria are:
Friedrich, born 1795 Kolb, and died 1850 in Kolb
Johann Adam, born 1806 in Kolb
Johannes, born 1809 in Kolb
Georg Adam, born 1814 in Kolb
Dorothea, born 1818 in Kolb and died 1888 in Kolb

Johannes Benzel (1809 -) married Barbara Adler and their known children are:
Maria, born 1833 in Kolb
Friedrich, born 1835 in Kolb
Peter, born 1837 in Kolb
Heinrich, born 1840 in Kolb
Dorothea, born 1842 in Kolb
Barbara, born 1845 in Kolb
Georg Heinrich, born 1848

Georg Heinrich was born 1848 in Kolb and died about 1920. Georg married Maria Katrina Schmidt (1848-1920.) Known children of Georg and Maria are:
Conrad, born 1865 in Kolb
John Peter, born 1879 in Kolb
Heinrich, born 1881 in Kolb
Maria K, born 1881 in Kolb
Anna Maria, born 1885 in Kolb
Friedrich, born 1885 in Kolb
John, born 1888 in Kolb
Georg, born 1892 in Kolb
Katrina, born 1896 in Kolb
Emma, born 1898 in Kolb

Friedrich (1885 – 1973) married Marie Kathryn Schmidt (1889 – 1965.)   Both were born in Russia, immigrated to the US in 1912, and died and were buried in Hardin, Big Horn, Montana.

Surnames of interest: Achtziger, Adler, Benzel Koch, Scheibel, and Schmidt

Neu-Messer

Maria Kathryn Schmidt was born 2 August 1848 in Neu-Messer and died 2 August 1889.  Her parent may have been Heinrich Schmidt, born about 1866, and her mother Katrina Scheibel.

Maria had a known sister, Katherine Marie Schmidt born 2 April 1893 in Neu-Messer and died 1957 in Billings, Yellowstone, Montana. Katherine Schmidt married Jacob Lehr who was also from Neu-Messer, born 1885 and died 1971 in Billings, Yellowstone,Montana. Katherine and Jacob immigrated separately, approximately 1913-1914.

Maria K. Schmidt married Friedrich Benzel in Kolb, Russia. Fred was born 14 June 1885 in Kolb and died 3 November 1973 in Hardin, Big Horn, Montana. Maria and Fred immigrated in 1912 aboard the “Brundenburg.”  Fred and Maria are  buried in Fairview Cemetery, Hardin, Big Horn, Montana.

Family lore states that the Benzel-Schmidt family members were shot and killed at the local Kolb school among other local prominent citizens in about 1920. A Schmidt family owned and operated the local flour mill; perhaps our Schmidt’s were part of this family group.

Submitted by Dee Hert

Watermelon Syrup

One cup of sugar, two hours of boiling, and five small watermelons later, I am the very proud owner of one quart of watermelon syrup! It was a traditional food staple of our German Russian ancestors. I'll let you know how it tastes. (aka watermelon honey)

Research Help Needed

I am searching for more information on my ancestors from Alexanderdorf, Russia. Father: John George Weltz (also found under "Welz"). They left Alexanderdorf in about 1901 for Canada and then changed the surname to "Wells." I can provide more information. I hope to hear from you. Deanne dpwells4u@yahoo.com

Upcoming Meeting and Class

Our next chapter meeting will be Monday, October 14th, at the home of Sharon White, 3285 E. Ruskin Court, Sandy, Utah. The meeting will start at 12:00 noon.  Bring food to share. Bill and Karen Dellos will be back from the board meeting at Lincoln and will let us know the latest from AHSGR. Remember to bring your used ink cartridges so Shirley can recycle them.

Also, for your information there will be a German class at the FHL. You need to register for it because seating is limited:  801-240-4950. The name of the class is Reading German Church and Civil Records. The date of the class is Saturday, October 19th, at 11:15 A. M. in classroom B1.

Many Thanks

I just wanted to thank all of you for your concern and kindnesses during our family tragedy.  Losing our daughter is of course extremely difficult, but having your support has helped us.  Special thanks to Pat and Shirley Ansley who attended the funeral, and also to all of you who sent cards, and for the flowers sent by the Intermountain Chapter.  Most of you didn't know her, so I included this picture so you could see our beautiful girl. You are all an important part of my extended family. Thanks so much.

Resources Added

I purchased a few more resources at the Fort Collins Conventions this year that I am happy to share.  I can bring them out for you to look at when we meet next if you let me know you're interested.

German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764- 1767); Brent Alan Mai

The Volga Germans in Old Russia and in Western North America: Their Changing World View; Timothy Kloberdanz

The Story of the Volga Germans; George J. Walters

The Christmas Keeping Germans; Neita Oviatt Friend

Letters from Hell; Samuel D. Sinner

More of the Convention

Photos by Pat Ansley

Estes Park Convention Tour

Photos by Pat Ansley

Fort Collins Convention Opening Night

Photos by Pat Ansley

AHSGR Fort Collins Convention Opening Session

Photos by Pat Ansley

August Meeting

Our chapter meeting will be Saturday, August 17th, at noon.  It will be held at the home of Bill and Sharon

White, 3285 E. Ruskin Court, Sandy.  We are hoping a lot of you will be able to attend this meeting. Chapter

members who attended the AHGSR convention in July at Fort Collins will be telling about the convention.

Bring food to share. 

Found

So thankful that I finally was able to find the resting place of my great grandparents who came from Warenburg, Russia. They settled in Fort Collins, Colorado, after immigrating from Russia. They were fine and good people who raised a large family and worked hard. This is a beautiful area, so I can understand why they settled here.

Germans from Russia Wedding Customs

It was a tradition for the young couple to choose two men to be their representatives, who went into the Volga River Valley to invite guests to their marriage ceremony.  These men carried with them a cane that the bride-to-be had tied a ribbon on.  At each household, they recited a poem, which was really an invitation to the wedding.  If the family tied a ribbon on the cane, it meant they were accepting the invitation.  Weddings were looked forward to and eagerly attended.  The ceremony must be held in the wintertime, on a weekday, and not during Lent.  Farm work was at its slowest season and there was ample time to prepare for it.  A Dutch Hop was held after the wedding, and everyone loved dancing to the music played by a polka band. The groom would tuck a flower in his left lapel and pin a long, wide ribbon under it.  The light colored sash would drape down the entire length of the dark suit coat. The bride would place a fancy handkerchief on her wedding gown, and as a man would dance with the new bride they would pin money to the handkerchief. The dance would go on until midnight, then begin again the next morning, lasting for two days.

Ancestry's Journey
Susan Davis

Next Meeting

The next chapter meeting will be on Saturday, June 8th.  It will begin at noon at the home of Bill and Sharon White, 3285 E. Ruskin Ct., Sandy.  Bring food to share, and also any empty ink cartridges.  If you have any donations for the Road Home or Utah Food Bank, bring them to any meeting. We will be collecting all year long.

Additional Resources: Dee Hert

This post replaces an earlier one from 2009.  Dee has added several new books, maps, and census to the previous ones.  Also,  remember to look back in April of 2009 to see a list of resources from other chapter members as well as a list of family names and villages.  It is really important to be able to link up with others who are working on the same names and villages as we are.  


BOOKS 
Naturalization Records of Immigrants from Russia in
Colorado; Denver Metro Chapter

Germans from Russia in the Yakima Valley Prior to 1940; Central WA Chapter

Index to Kirchenbote Obituaries 1956-1963; Mclean, Frank

The Czar’s Germans; Williams-Plum, Hattie

German Migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767); Mai, Brent & Marquard, Dona

Russian-German Settlements in the U.S.; Rippley, Lavern; Bauer, Armand

Index for the German Colonies on the Lower Volga, Their
Origin & Early Development; Beratz, Gottlieb

Genealogies of Barbadoes Families; Brandow, James

How to Write Your Own Life Story; Daniel, Lois

Lookin Back, Again; Big Horn Co, Montana Historical Society

Treasure County

Descriptive Inventory of the English Collection; Eakle, Arlene

Tales of Treasure County, Historical Essays of Residents of Treasure County, Montana; Treasure County

Rosebud – Treasure County Brand Book – Montana

The Way We Were, Miles City, Montana; Allison, A

Index, Letters from Hell. Volga-German Famine; Sinner, Samual

Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to the
Colonies on the Volga (1766-1767); Mai. Brent

Preliminary Survey of the German Collection. Finding
Aids to the Microfilmed manuscript Collections of the
Genealogical Society of Utah;

Dorf Buch, Landes-und Kulturgeschchte; Karl Schmerbach; In German

Index to Stumpp Map; Dr. Karl Stumpp; German colony locations

History of the Volga German Colonists; Jacob Dietz

The German Research Companion; S Riemer/J Anderson

Lists of Colonists to Russia in 1766; Igor Pleve; Surnames, ships, location

The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763
to 1862; Stumpp; Surnames, location

CENSUS
Alexanderdorf, Russia; 1941

1798 Census of the German Colonies Along the Volga,
Vol. 1 and Vol. 2; Mai, Brent

1850 Census of Alexanderdorf; Mai, Brent
1857 Census of Alexanderdorf; Mai, Brent

1834 Census of Anton; Mai, Brent
1857 Census of Anton; Mai, Brent

1834 Census of Diete; Mai, Brentl
1850 Census of Dietel; Mai, Brent

1834 Census of Dobrinka; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Eckheim; Mai, Brent

1862 (57) Census of Gnadendorf; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Kautz; Mai, Brent

1834 Census of Muller; Mai, Brent
1850 Census of Muller; Mai, Brent
1857 Census of Muller; Mai, Brent

1862 Census of Meu-Laub; Mai, Brent

1850 Census of Nieder-Monjou; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Rosenberg; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Rosenheim; Mai, Brent; Herdt, Katharina 1827

1834 Census of Schwab; Mai, Brent
1850 Census of Schwab; Mai, Brent
1857 Census of Schwab; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Stahl am Karaman; Mai, Brent; Herdt, Anna Katharina 1837, m Prager;
Herdt, Maria Katharina 1814, m Knoll

1857 Census of Stahl am Tarlyk; Mai, Brent

1857 Census of Unterdorf; Mai, Brent

MAPS
Karte der ASSR der Wolgadeutsche; Russia

Brunnental ,(#2); 1940

Kolb, (#4)

Frank (#55)

Walter, (#51)

Alexanderdorf (#224)

Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Primary German Villages of the Volga Region (#3) Copy

A complete set of maps from AHSGR, (other than the colored maps) ; purchases at the SLC convention

CD
German Russian Villages in the Volga Region; Postiethwaite, Hart

LDS Emigrant Roster and Voyage History, 1840-1869

Kautz, Our People; Frank, Michael

February 2013 Chapter Meeting

Date:   February 18, 2013
Time:   12:00 (Noon)
Location:  3285 E. Ruskin Court
    Sandy, UT

Bring a potluck food item to share with the group.  Annette Reynolds will be sharing excerpts from a fascinating Russian documentary about the Germans from Russia.

Continuing Our Donations

The many items that our chapter donated to The Road Home in December were greatly appreciated.  Because the need is so great, we have decided as a chapter to continue our support.  Bring items as you are able to the meetings.  When we have accumulated a good supply, we will deliver it.  Below is a list of needed items.

PILLOWS   BLANKETS   BATH TOWELS   HATS   GLOVES

 POTS & PANS   DISHES   SMALL KITCHEN APPLIANCES

 SMALL MICROWAVES   BABY BOTTLES   STROLLERS

PACK AND PLAYS   DIAPERS   NEW UNDERWEAR   PULL-UPS

 BABY WIPES   BABY FORMULA   NEW CAR SEATS

 TEETHING RINGS   SOCKS   COATS   SHOES   BOOTS   PANTS

BRAS  ADULT SWEAT PANTS   PLASTIC STORAGE BINS

MOVIE PASSES   PADLOCKS WITH KEYS

FLASHLIGHTS AND BATTERIES   COFFEE

 UMBRELLAS   WATER BOTTLES  PAPER CUPS & PLATES

PLASTIC UTENSILS   HEAVY GARBAGE BAGS

READING GLASSES   MESH LAUNDRY BAGS

 NON-PERISHABLE SNACKS AND FOOD

FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS   SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER

 LOTION   DEODORANT   RAZORS AND SHAVING CREAM

 TOILET PAPER  MOUTHWASH   CHAPSTICK   HAIR BRUSHES

 BODY WASH    BUG REPELLENT   NIX   HIGH CHAIRS

Folk Remedies of the German-Russian Peasant

Sharon White gave an interesting and informative presentation on folk remedies at our January chapter meeting.  Following are a few hi-lights from her presentation.

RHEUMATISM:  When taken from the oven, six to eight loaves of bread were immediately placed on the bed sheet, half of the sheet folded over the bread.  The other bedding piled on top to hold in the heat.  After the bed was thoroughly warm, the loaves were removed and the patient placed in bed.

Among poorer families where enough bread was hard to come by, sand was heated in cauldrons, poured onto the bed sheet which was folded over, and the person laid on top. The patient was then covered with all available garments.  The poor did not commonly use bedding.

STOMACH DISORDER:  Make a low, flat loaf of unleavened bread out of white flour (a rare commodity) and the broth, plus crumbled leaf of wormwood.  Bake, and while pleasantly warm, place on the patient's stomach, wrapping snugly with several woolen garments.  Additionally, they could be given wormwood tea.

Wormwood was also used to make brooms to rid the house of fleas.  To insure a good night's sleep, free from bothersome pests, place several bundles of wormwood under the bed.

NAVEL PAIN:  To expel navel pain and deep nausea caused by strain or heavy lifting, hollow out the center of a small crust of bread.  Place a slip of rag or string in the depression as a wick and put a half spoon of kitchen lard around the string in the depression as a wick.  Set the small crust right side up on navel while the patient is reclining, and light the wick.  When the wick holds a steady flame, slowly invert a narrow rim cup or glass tumbler over the entire crust.  The vacuum created will put out the light and draw the navel and surrounding small area slightly into the glass.  Let tightly anchored glass set in this position about five minutes, or until it releases of its own accord.

POULTICES:  The ideal year round poultice is bread and hot milk.  Some villagers reasoned that moldy bread was the best.  (Modern day medicine has proved this true in the growing of penicillin as an antibiotic.)

Others might use finely cut onion and village soap in equal parts, mixed together and  placed on a cloth, then tied to the sore.  This was especially beneficial for sore breasts.  Additional relief  may be had by filling the wooden butter churn almost to the top with warm water; stir in one pound of flour, make patient lean forward and submerge breasts.

Cabbage leaves and beet tops were tied over festering wounds.  Cabbage leaves were also used to set loaves of bread on while baking.

Chewed tobacco can take the fire out of a bee sting.

Other quick poultices can be had by using the warm entrails of a chicken, or fresh warm cow manure.

AILING BABIES:  Give weak, undernourished babies a pacifier and feeding at the same time with bread soaked in sweetened hot milk.  Dip a spoonful in center of soft rag, fold all four corners together and tie a knot above the warm bulk and give it as you would a nipple.  Refill as often as needed.  Make the cloth large enough that the child cannot draw more than the nipple part into the mouth and choke.  This method is ideal if the mother dies and there is no wet nurse.

If sickness goes beyond hunger, gather the white part of sparrow droppings, mix with warm breast milk and feed to baby.  The white part of sparrow dirt is also used for babies with constipation.  (I did a little research of my own on this because it sounded so awful.  The white part of the sparrow droppings is composed of uric acid.  Maybe someone who knows about such things could comment on exactly what eating uric acid would do to the body.  All I know is that it is related to gout in humans.  Hmm...can anyone tell us more?)

A very premature baby must be wrapped in dry bran mash the minute it is born and kept warm.

SORE EYES:  With this remedy, the patient will experience excruciating pain, so have two strong members of the family hold the person.  Lay the eyelid back and wipe blue stone across the infected part.  (This was probably blue and/or white vitriol.)

Blue stone is good to wash mouth sores.  Often it is enough to touch a dampened finger to the stone and apply to the tongue.

A more gentle treatment for mattered shut eyes is to dip two freshly baked buns in warm tea, steppe or wild licorice root tea, and let tea seep under lid.  Leave on until all warmth is gone from bun.  Repeat often.  You may also use two freshly laid eggs and hold to eye lid.

Wandering Gypsies have another cure.  Lick the eye lid thoroughly three or four times each day, until the eyes are healed.  Quick results were almost guaranteed.

RID BEG BUGS:  Take three bed bugs, one copper kopeck, and a small measure of flour.  Tie all in a rag and give to the first beggar who comes to the door.

Mela Meisner Lindsay;  1975 AHSGR Workpaper #19

Take Note

I have recently been having trouble with a lot of spam in the comments for this blog.  To ensure that inappropriate comments are not allowed on this blog, I have changed the settings so that I will now moderate all comments.  All that means for you as viewers is that if you make a comment it will not immediately show up on the post.  Instead, it will be displayed after I read it and allow it to show.  I check comments frequently, so your comment will show soon.

January 2013 Meeting

Date:   Jan 19, 2013
Time:   12:00 (Noon)
Location:  3285 E. Ruskin Court
    Sandy, UT

Check Out These Sites

 Just click on the address below, and it will connect you:

https://www.facebook.com/RussiaGenealogy?ref=stream

http://volgaarchives.com/

Chapter Christmas Party

I am posting  a portion of The President's Message, by Sharon White, because it sums up some of the events for our chapter this month:

Thanks to all of you for all the donations to the Utah Food Bank and The Road Home homeless shelter.   It was a good thing Bill and I took our SUV and not our small car.  There were so many donations that our SUV was stuffed.  The person who took the donations at The Road Home said,  “You don’t know how much we need these.”  The donations were gratefully received.  The local news said there were 16,522 homeless in Utah now.  I think we helped make a difference.

Vira and Jeff Bahr and their family attended our chapter Christmas party.  All of us were glad to meet Tanya and learn the adoption was successful.  Vira told us about the trip to Ukraine for the adoption and the adoption process.  Tanya turned 16 in mid December.  If the adoption had not been successful, she would have been released  from the orphanage and  would have been  left  on her own at age 16.